Humanizing the Workplace: DEI, Leadership & Culture Trends You Can’t Ignore

What if the biggest threat to your HR career... is NOT AI, but how you choose to work with it? 

Most companies are missing the mark on DEI, struggling with real employee engagement, and fearing AI will replace them. But here’s the truth: The future belongs to HR professionals who know how to co-create with technology while keeping human connection at the heart of workplace culture.

Join Olajumoke Fatoki and cultural leadership expert Dr. Frank Gonzalez as they reveal:

💡 The BIGGEST HR trends shaping 2024 and beyond
 🤖 How to co-create with AI without losing the human touch
🌍 Why most DEI strategies fail (and how to fix them)
🧠 The power of mindfulness & psychological safety at work
🔥 How to stay relevant, impactful, and inspired in a rapidly changing world

If you're serious about career growth, building better workplaces, and leading the future of HR—this conversation is your blueprint!

👇 Drop a comment: What's YOUR biggest challenge with AI or DEI in your workplace?

🔗 Connect with Dr. Frank Gonzalez: linkedin.com/in/frankgonzaleziv

Transcript

Olajumoke Fatoki (00:00)
The only way to do great work is to love what you do and constantly evolve with it. (Steve Jobs.) 

Welcome to another exciting episode of the Thrive Careers podcast, where we dive into the world of career growth, HR strategies, and workplace transformation. I'm your host, Olajumoke Fatoki, an experienced HR professional and career coach, passionate about helping individuals and organizations build

thriving workplaces. Now, HR isn't what it used to be. We've gone from being seen as policy enforcers to strategic business partners who drive culture, innovation, and business success. The future of HR is very dynamic and today we are going to explore the key trends shaping people and culture in organizations worldwide. And guess what? I'm not doing this alone

Joining us today is Dr. Frank Gonzalez, a cultural and inclusive leadership measurements professional with over two decades of experience, applying evidence-based practices to improve employee experiences. Dr. Frank specializes in relationship building models.

and he uses his engaging facilitation style to bring unique perspectives to leadership and workplace culture.

I know that you're definitely going to love this conversation. Dr. Frankie, welcome to the Thrive Careers podcast.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (01:24)
Thank you my friend. What a wonderful welcome. Thank you for the honor and privileges being here. I'm excited to have a just an engaging conversation between the two of us for ourselves, but also for the listeners. I love I love I love the purpose of your platform. One of the things that sits out to me is the lasting confidence building lasting confidence. Really excited. Thank you, thank you.

Olajumoke Fatoki (01:46)
We're excited to have you here too. So the feeling is mutual All right, and I'm always excited to talk about HR especially, you know the future of HR and you are a leading force in that field So I'm excited to do this with you today. So Let's talk about the big picture HR has evolved so much in the past decade, we've moved from being heavily process-driven to

becoming more strategic and people focused. From your experience, Dr. Frankie, what are the biggest trends shaping the future of HR today? Let's take it from there.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (02:18)
Yeah, absolutely my friend. There's there's so much, if I can create a little bit of simplicity for it, it's still going to be human connection, right? Still going to be human connection. We absolutely are evolving tremendously around us. I would say some of the big topics are still going to be hybrid and flexible workplaces, right? The balance of our time where and we talk about work life balance. I'm talking about the balance of time of where you spend your hours throughout, right? The globalization.

piece of it, the expectations, even the structure of how our organizations are, that's a little bit more antiquated, right? And we're still evolving with that because the structure of the organization really can influence and encourage both collaboration and communication, which is actually a lot of that human connection piece, Well-being, but not just the well-being programs that we...

Advertise out there, right? The endless PTO and we've got this and we've got this food and we've got this to energize you. We've got all these kinds of half day Fridays and additional holidays and observances. How often are they being used? And what's driving the human connection as we co-create with AI, right? And I would say last but not least is the adaptability with that.

And adaptability has been a word that's been used quite often, but I'm really talking about showcasing your usage of the tools that we have.

right, getting in front of the work that you are doing. And that's where we talk about the in-group out-group that we can unpack a little bit later. that's not gonna leave us, is the human connection. What is gonna, we have to evolve is how we co-create those human experiences. Absolutely, my friend.

Olajumoke Fatoki (04:02)
Absolutely how

we co-create those human experiences and you you said something very important

you talked about human connection and I want that to be the focus of this conversation. Like how can HR really bridge that gap, that human connection gap

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (04:18)
Yeah, absolutely my friend. would keep it. You gotta keep it simplistic, but also still very powerful, right? We tend to look at the what's next. What's better? How do we go further faster? But further faster without that strategic plan that you're talking about their strategy is not humanistic. So let me let me break it down even, you know, very, very simplistic and kind of two different buckets. One is just from the human side of us. We all want some.

sort of flexibility. We want to be validated and realized and recognized for our skill sets, but we also want some sort of sense of belonging, a connection. And we talk about that, but we often don't have a plan that reinforces that beyond these initiatives and programs, beyond the surface level.

And generally we do have that information available in our engagement surveys that we do in organizations, skip levels, exit plans, stay surveys, or even when you do an onboarding experience, right? How was your first 30 days, your first 90 days, et cetera, right? You do have nuggets of experiences and qualitative and quantitative throughout that, but really it's just those three buckets. We want to be validated. want flexibility as humans. I'm an adult, but this connection.

piece? Yes, organizations have a role in that piece, but also as HR professionals, as people enthusiasts ourselves, we do have to curate that. We have to be intentional with that piece of it, right? And what I mean by that is we can't just say we're going to create connection and just have that kind of fun or the pizza parties or the food and things like that. What are we doing to really drive connection? Because outside of sleep, my friend,

Work is where we spend the most amount of time, whether we're remote or not, whether we're hybrid or not, right? We spend more time with work and work colleagues than we do with our friends, our family, our hobbies. So we have to have that piece somewhere embedded. The other bucket I'll say is just from that research piece of it, that in-group out-group. How do we get ourselves in?

And how do we as HR professionals invite people in? Of course, there's questions like we can always ask, almost like a consultant, whose needs are met, whose needs are not met, who's at the table, who's not here, who benefits, who's harmed by whatever policy or procedure or program or initiative you have. But below that, or beneath that,

It's a dual relationship. think us as employees, we're all employees to someone else. We have to go beyond these transactional pieces. So what I mean by transactional is professional respect is one thing in the workplace. These are your resumes, your skill sets, your knowledge, all the tangible things of why we hired you in the workplace.

Olajumoke Fatoki (06:48)
So does

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (07:02)
Right above that is this enthusiasm and residual effort is what I'll call it. Contribution. What are your contributions? Your ability to want to log in early, stay laid, be around colleagues. You get so infused in the work. And by the way, if you don't have that, that should be a red flag right there, right? But it's also a conversation you have with your HR professional, my friend, right? This is something that you should bring up and say, you know what? What does Frank need to survive?

Olajumoke Fatoki (07:18)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (07:29)
What is Olajumaka need to survive here? What excites you? What makes you come in early, stay late? What do you like that, right? And you put actions to those words because it is individual for everyone, right? But those are still transactional. Those two pieces, professional respect and contribution. Let me tell you the highest level that we don't often talk about in the workplace. It's something called what we would, in research, would call workplace loyalty.

Said differently, site safety. Said differently, skip leveling. This is where do you really feel comfortable that your leader, your coach speaks on behalf of your work in the places that you're not in. But better than that, do you speak on behalf of your work? Meaning, hey, I just completed this project. There's a senior leader meeting coming up. The work is going to be showcased.

How about I ask my leader to go showcase the work? Right. And that's, think all this is all a kind of a culmination of us as HR professionals. got to have people be connected, have a little bit of autonomy, have a sense of connection, but you have to have a conversation with them about transactional pieces of work, but also more transformational development exposure pieces of that work, which is a lot of times.

getting outside of your kind of realm, your function and showcasing and getting in front of that work in many times and feeling this sense of safety that your coach has your back. You feel you feel that sense of exploration and you can you get excited. You get excited about work. Something as simple as that, my friend.

Olajumoke Fatoki (08:57)
Amazing.

Amazing amazing you spoke about so many things and very critical and very important

you said so many things that I heard but I also heard workplace loyalty being the highest that's psychological safety that assurance that my coach can represent my interest and I can go to bed

It's an encourager and it's a booster. it makes people wake up to want to come to work every day and you know, it makes people go above and beyond their job descriptions, to get the job done and I understand exactly why you call that the highest level because that's where people get to do their best work and thank you so much, Dr. Frank for sharing that with us.

now to the disruption that everyone has been talking about you know something that

we don't have a choice but to just embrace and that's AI AI and automation and it's changing how we hire, how we engage with employees and how we even approach DEI. So how do you see AI and automation reshaping HR processes like talent acquisition, like DEI and employee engagements?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (10:05)
my gosh, it is coming at us very, quickly. And there's so many things to say about this. I'm going to go back to the co-creating and I'm going to umbrella this by saying you have to...

Olajumoke Fatoki (10:11)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (10:17)
co-create with AI both from a positive organizational behavior standpoint, but also watch out for the negative operational behaviors. And I'll explain what I mean by that. But AI is so awesome to be able to allow you the mental space to create even more. Right? You don't have to spend a long time going to chat, GBT or any other platform, co-pilot and

typing something out for a long time, right? You can say, hey, I need ideas on X, Y, and Z, and it will generate that. And what I've seen in the workplace already is, you know, just from a kickoff call with your talent acquisition partner, just getting with the coach, getting with the hiring leader, right? And saying, what do you need? And then consolidating that 12 page, I literally spoke with a TA leader that said, I came up with 12 pages of what they were asking for.

I can't turn this into a job description, much less a job post. So using AI to say, can you consolidate this down to the five or less bullet points? Because the DNI piece of that is that we need less language. Many of us cross-culturally and globally are multilingualistic, right? So the added prompt to that may be is how do I make this more inclusive? Literally give that prompt.

right? And not make the words so sexy that you don't even understand them. If you don't understand them, then cross culturally with your talent, folks are not going to understand. There's too many catchphrases, too many acronyms, too many euphemisms, right? There's just so many words that you're just, I don't know what this means, but I've seen not only TA use that, but even from the hiring, right? You've seen this so many times now. You see it pop up where

Olajumoke Fatoki (11:36)
you

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (12:00)
you're using platforms and it sounds like once you get the resume going, then the platform is listening or is trying to interpret your resume. And now you're using AI to maybe come up with questions and now it's AI versus AI and these kinds of things. But that's where I said you still as an HR strategist, how do I still humanize this and still make it a human connection? Because now what's going to differentiate you between AI is that little quirkiness, that little bit of a human side of it, right?

Olajumoke Fatoki (12:12)
You

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (12:28)
You can't just read off of a prompt and say, you know, tell me about yourself or what are you, you know, have you ever been in a conflict situation? How do you handle it? And then use a star method or situation behavior, right? SBO to, to, to generate that you can't just the resumes, the platforms, but you know, let me, let me tell you this. I'll kind of end with this. It's the storytelling piece of it. What's going to differentiate you from AI.

is gonna be the ability to story tell. But I will tell you even as a practitioner, I use AI a lot. So using them for panels or discussion points, I may say, give me some additional questions for others to use so that they get some ideations on how to tell their story in the panel, right? And now what that does is I can focus more of my time.

on the actual experience itself, the music, the setting them up, making sure that I can curate questions from an audience, both virtually or live, right? But not just the storytelling piece of those great experiences and development, because storytelling can really, really help others get exposure, talk about their lived experiences, build up their confidence, right? So that they're showcasing these things, and I've seen it work so often.

but also you can use AI to aggregate the things that are not going so well. So those are all the positive organizational behaviors. What about the exits, the intent to leave, maybe even a little bit of the not so great stories that you get out of the stay surveys, right? AI can help you aggregate themes that can then, you can drive your strategic initiatives toward.

because you have to have balance, right? My friend, you have to have balance. I know I'm not the only one saying this or thinking this, right? You have to have all these feel good things that are like, yes, I'm so proud to work here. But you also have to recognize and surface the things that can be improved upon. And if you have that balance, AI can help you generate in a very much shorter time those kinds of things. I, I, I'll end by saying you gotta watch out.

Olajumoke Fatoki (14:18)
I've studied.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (14:38)
You gotta watch out because AI still is learning. It's generated by parameters by humans. It's still learning. And so what I've seen in the workplaces is making sure things are accessible. AI doesn't know that it shouldn't use this color or this sound or have this kind of setup, both from a customer standpoint, from a worker standpoint or a platform standpoint. And if you don't watch out for those things, they become inaccessible and inaccessibility.

Olajumoke Fatoki (15:01)
you

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (15:05)
is not the way that you want to do to curate cultural opportunity, belonging, or D &I, right?

Olajumoke Fatoki (15:12)
Fantastic, I think that was really insightful. Thank

you, Dr. Frank. Just to add a bit

AI is an enabler, right? but a lot of people tend to totally rely on it. And like you said, yeah is still

evolving, know, is still learning and We can only work together with it. So for me, I also use AI but I use more as a research assistant in talent acquisition for instance I don't allow AI to give me a first draft and in almost everything that I do You know, I try to create that first draft what I have in mind then I see it enhance, expand

and then we can begin to fine-tune things together? I think that's a great way, to approach AI in terms of best hiring practices in terms of how you recruit people into your organization in terms of your DEI, principles and practices and all of that so that there is no disconnect because really only humans understand humans and the end of the day robots can only help they can only enhance

All right. Thank you so much, Dr. Frankie.

I know that this is one topic that is also often misunderstood. know, too many organizations tend to treat DEI as a checkbox rather than an integral business strategy. So as an expert in leadership and workplace relationships, what are some of the most impactful ways companies can integrate DEI beyond surface level initiatives?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (16:37)
Well, you have to go beyond the surface, right? So I think one of the quickest things you can do for those that are listening and building your own continuous confidence, which is the purpose of this platform, one of the purposes, right? Is it do a quick search, maybe AI, since we're talking about AI, and say, explain to me about something called the diversity wheel. Tell chat, tell chat, GPT or co-pilot or go online and search, tell me.

Olajumoke Fatoki (16:51)
Absolutely.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (17:02)
what the diversity wheel is because within the diversity wheel, this is mindfulness. This is well-being both for an organization, a team, but also the relationship between you and your coach, your leader, your manager, whatever you want to say. I prefer coach or the relationship you have with yourself. Oof. Oof. Let me, let me say that again. The relationship you have with yourself.

Olajumoke Fatoki (17:19)
Mm.

yourself.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (17:23)
This mindfulness, this organizational well-being starts with personality, who you are, how you navigate the world, how you build relationships, how you have walls up or walls down, the worry you have, the anxiety you have, the willingness to take risks, right? The warmth that you project or that you're willing to accept. But we often focus a lot of organizations for the last several decades around the things that I see.

Right? The guests that you are ethnically and if are you what your age may be and you know, are you do you have abilities or you have disabilities? We all these guesses, these stereotypes, these assumptions we have, but beneath the surface that you're talking about, or what are the other values that I find important? Am I am I father? I am a father. Am I a partner? Am I husband? Yes, I'm actually be celebrating my 14 year married anniversary this month and I'm so excited.

Olajumoke Fatoki (18:15)
Amazing.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (18:15)
Right? That's what excites beneath

the surface. But also these are things that create a bit of obstacles for me, meaning that I want to spend time at my son's school to be a good father. I want to provide something, an opportunity for him that maybe I didn't have opportunity. That's another one, right? I want, that's where I want to spend my time. That's what energizes me. I want to be a good husband and supportive for my partner. Those are valuable things. All these beneath the surface.

Olajumoke Fatoki (18:39)
No.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (18:42)
things, it's what's important to you. So let me sum it this by giving you a formula. So if you're listening, this is the time to to really grab your pen paper or let's use digital use your laptop, co create, save, record, whatever you need to do, right? And really co create with that. Your lived experiences, who you are, may create may have some purpose and they also may have some obstacles.

Olajumoke Fatoki (18:53)
Yeah. Good, dog.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (19:07)
because maybe you're the first in the workplace and your family incorporated, or maybe the first time you're explaining your job because nobody understands what you do for a living, your friends and family, they're like, I don't know what you do for a living. You may have lived experiences, and if we can reduce less your friction, your obstacles, plus create exposure for you, then we have opportunity. So said differently again.

lived experiences, less obstacles, plus exposure is opportunity. And that is the thing that I often see in the future of the workplace when it comes to the D &I element is that we don't have enough mindfulness when it comes to that, enough well-being to see how we interact with the world. don't balance lived experiences, the obstacles that people are personally dealing with, create exposure for them so that they do have those opportunities.

And we don't storytell enough around those opportunities. I'll tell you a quick story is that those same T.A. partners that were excited about using A.I. to create job descriptions and job posts, right? They were the same people that said, you know, as I'm interviewing folks, screening, or maybe they're further on the process, I don't have any talking points of what differentiates us from other organizations.

Because yes, you, the listener, you have the power and you should have confidence in that power that you can leverage and put your organization or your future organizations almost on notice. What differentiates you? And these TA partners were really struggling with, don't know our story. I don't have any talking points. And that's huge for the future of workforces. Keep it very simple, telling your story.

and using this formula as a balance of interaction.

Olajumoke Fatoki (20:53)
Amazing

amazing stuff. Thank you so much. Dr. Frankie. So I want us to have a follow-up question based on what you've shared

And I want us to, see how we can actually incorporate this into the workplace in terms of how can mindfulness, you know, this thing that helps people come to terms with who they are, be incorporated into, our workplace practices.

improve people experience.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (21:17)
So with the mindfulness piece and starting with yourself, one of the easiest things I think is that is to make it to actualize it, to put it in front of you. And what I mean by that is so worry, anxiety, perfectionism, these things can actually be inherited in our formative years. And when I mean formative, it's not just all the way your childhood I'm talking about as your brain is developing all the way up until around 30 years old.

Not just as a teenager, not just as a first time in the workforce, your brain is still developing on the ways of interacting with others all the way up until about 30 years old. And this is why we often go through a second or third or fourth career, because we're like, losing the purpose of ourselves. How do you reduce the worry and anxiety that you've inherited then? You got to talk about it. You got to write it down. You have to converse with someone else about it.

And then you do have to seek validation from those that you trust. And it may not be in the workforce. It may be outside, but if you do feel comfortable as an HR professional, this is something where it's as other duties assigned. You are also creating the mindfulness for someone else that they're not just lost in. So there's a difference between anxiety and worry. Anxiety and worry. Both are feelings, but anxiety.

is it has no imagery. You just feel a sense of anxiety or worry. How do you create maybe this risk base, like actualize it? It's by writing it down. Writing it down and then you can take the, you can almost quantify it and say, okay, from a scale of one to five, how worried am I really about this? And what am I worried about? And then you can find out what's actually tangible and what's not.

Olajumoke Fatoki (22:34)
you

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (22:55)
And then you can find out exactly what's discouraging yourself, right? How are you discouraging yourself said differently? And that's the mindfulness is being in the moment right there and actualizing the worries, the burdens that you've both inherited, but you're also experiencing in the workforce. Write it down, talk with somebody about it, right?

Seek that seek that kind of validation from someone and I promise you my friends, this is something that even I do. You have to do those positive affirmation. Dialytic reinforcement is so powerful. It's the reason that we have mantras and missions and mottos and you have to do it daily. Sometimes you have to do it multiple times a day and that's how you can just something very simple is have that mindfulness by actualizing it.

Olajumoke Fatoki (23:38)
Absolutely. Thank you so much. I don't want us to drag that further,

as you were speaking, I really,

laid black into some of my experiences and the issues I've had with some employees that are deeply rooted in some of the things that you've highlighted here. If people would just understand the concept of mindfulness and deal with things personally, they won't bring them into the workplace and we won't have some of the chaos and some of the issues that we have that translates. Some of those things are personal issues that people are dealing with

thank you Dr. Frankie for giving us that formula you know to address some of these things

Olajumoke Fatoki (24:15)
let's talk about the future of HR. HR is evolving so fast and that staying relevant requires continuous learning. What advice would you give HR professionals looking to stay ahead and thrive in this rapidly changing landscape?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (24:30)
So I spoke a little bit about that mindfulness before, that's where I'm gonna start there and then say something that's just really simple and I want folks to just think about that. So I think as you evolve, the structure has to evolve around you. So what I mean by that is our organizations, I go back to that, organizations are still structured to either reduce or increase the collaboration and communication of our organization.

So for HR professionals, as you keep up with technology, I want you to think about your environment in the workplace, whether it's hybrid remote or in office, or some sort of combination of all those. How is your organization structured? Because that will increase the usage of how we either interact with each other or only interact with technology. know, you still see those workplaces folks come in, they're opening up their laptop, they're engaging with their tools around them.

and not a lot of engagement with each other. But the organizational piece beyond that and that that mindfulness piece of it is really looking at your yourself in the sense of getting in front of that work. OK, try it. I know I know that there's this sense of you're taking a risk, right? You're taking a risk on something.

but I promise you as you, as you start to just explore it and use it, you will, I guess I'll end like this advice almost is you will absolutely not become obsolete. Have the confidence that you will not become obsolete. I'm going say that one more time. You will not be obsolete. The folks that will,

Olajumoke Fatoki (25:47)
you

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (26:01)
be differentiating themselves now and in the future are those that can co-create with technology. You mentioned it yourself, my friend. You said my first draft, I use it and then maybe use AI to give me some ideas to do. Exactly. Take a risk. Nobody's going to get hurt, right? Hopefully you have that site safety. Hopefully you have an organization that values the exploration and deepening of your exploration.

take a risk on yourself, you will absolutely not be obsolete because there's always going to be somebody to humanize it, but utilize it and try it. And I promise you, you will find that you have much more time to do the things that you love.

Olajumoke Fatoki (26:42)
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Dr. Franke.

I think that's a really great place to land this conversation. And I crafted something from what you said. In a nutshell, the future belongs to those that can co-create with AI.

AI in 2030 AI in 2040, how is it going to have you ever thought about it?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (27:06)
I have, but let me tell you, you, I think you mentioned it too, that, okay, think about the Google phase that we went through 20, 25 years ago. Everybody thought, okay, so yes, the reduction of traditional libraries and doing things like that, but all they did was actually create more time for us to be able to, less time doing the actual research. You are able to generate more ideas, but you're still going to need somebody, a human to synthesize that problem statement, that problem.

Olajumoke Fatoki (27:13)
Mm.

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (27:32)
prompt? What are you looking for? And so in 2030, 2040 2050 is the same thing. The difference is AI can now co create our decks with us job descriptions. Think about employee experiences, develop initiatives for us, create a strategy. You still see need someone to synthesize it and then actualize it right? Execute on that AI is not going to execute for you, at least not in the next 2030 years. Not yet.

Olajumoke Fatoki (27:59)
Yeah

Yeah, thank you so much For there to be a balance for whatever it is that AI is doing, to be effective

What you need to do is to just embrace the technology and how to use it like we have explained and elaborated on this conversation today. And thank you so much Dr. Frank for that insightful conversation. I love the way you always came with those formulas. It's very memorable and easy for people to remember.

Before we let you go, we just have a quick round of some rapid fun questions. I hope you're ready. Okay. All right. So quick questions. The first thing that comes to your mind, no overthinking. Let's go. So what HR trends to watch? If there's one emerging HR trend professionals should pay attention to, what would it be?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (28:36)
Let's do it. Let's do it.

In collaboration with that co-creating of AI, you have to create genuine human experiences for others.

Olajumoke Fatoki (28:59)
create genuine human experiences for others. And listeners, mean so much on this conversation today. I love that, I love that, I love that. So what's one piece of career advice that you would give to your younger self?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (29:01)
Thank

I'm

You will have to evolve beyond the teachings and experiences that have been given to you by those that raised you. But enjoy the ride. Your formative years, they gave you emotional security, resilience, and ways to cope. And they are brilliant. Your elders are brilliant. The people around you are brilliant. But you will have to evolve beyond those teachings. Take a risk on yourself.

Olajumoke Fatoki (29:40)
Powerful Very powerful and very profound thing yourself. They've done a good job It's now it's on you, to evolve. Thank you so much Alright, so this one is like a sneak peek, you know, like your secrets. So what's your favorite HR tech tool?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (29:56)
Currently co-pilot, I'm becoming a fan of co-pilot only because it's not necessarily geared just for HR. It could be integrated on a number of platforms and it's a quick idea. can summit virtual meetings. You can review resumes with it, generate decks, get ideas. Co-pilot is a really cool one.

Olajumoke Fatoki (30:15)
Amazing. Thank you. That's a top secret guys. Do not take it for granted Alright, so are you a team remote work? Hybrid or in office. What is it for you? That's Frankie

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (30:30)
Hybrid, hybrid, definitely hybrid.

Olajumoke Fatoki (30:32)
Why hybrid?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (30:33)
I think because I still, okay, so for me, the balance of being available really close to my son's school around personal things, I can get a lot of work done and I am self-sufficient having done what I've done for almost two decades, right? I could be self-sufficient, but as a people enthusiast myself and as a human, a fellow human, I do, I do enjoy the mindset shift that happens when you're face to face with others.

office from time to time, but it has to be very purposeful and intentional. And so I enjoy both. I enjoy the autonomy of being by myself and doing the work as much as I need to do, but then the collaboration and communication that takes place face to face and in the workplace. Yeah.

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:16)
Amazing and I'm also team hybrid and For the same reasons that you have shared and I think hybrid is really the future So thank you so much. Dr. Frankie for this conversation

But before we go, where can our listeners connect with you and how can they learn more about your work?

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (31:32)
Yeah, absolutely. I'm very, very much involved in LinkedIn. So you can definitely reach out to me. Connect with me. Let me know how can be of encouragement. I don't have a very, very active TikTok or Instagram right now, but I post videos and fund, you know, just kind of free advice or you'll see videos of my family and just I get ideas about influence just from the environment around me. So LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, or you can reach out to me, frankenzoll.

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:43)
You

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (32:00)
at DrFrankieG.com.

Olajumoke Fatoki (32:02)
Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that

with us. And yes, i've seen some of those videos They are really really, you know interesting and exciting to watch And to our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode And if you've enjoyed this one, please be sure to subscribe Leave us a review and share it with your network

Dr. Frankie what's your final words as we wrap up

Dr. Frank Gonzalez (He/Him) (32:25)
Be your own hero. Continue to expire yourself because I tell you, you are inspiring others who may not even tell you so. So be your own hero.

Olajumoke Fatoki (32:35)
Amazing. Thank you so much, Dr. Frankie. Thank you for that amazing piece. Be your own hero. And our listeners, there you have it. Thank you for joining us and enjoy the rest of your week.