In Episode 80, I sit down with Amber Foucault, SVP of Product at Dayforce, to unpack their acquisition of Agentnoon — and what it signals for the future of workforce planning.

We explore the growing gap between strategy and execution, and why workforce implications continue to lag behind strategic intent. Amber shares her perspective on the “language problem” between HR, Finance and Strategy — and why technology isn’t just about features, but about creating a shared operating language across the enterprise.

We dive into shorter planning cadences, dynamic workforce architecture, and the emerging reality of agents sitting on org charts. But we also inject some realism — AI isn’t replacing everyone overnight. Organisations are experimenting carefully, balancing capability shifts with governance, ownership and accountability.

If workforce planning is moving from periodic exercise to operational discipline, this conversation explains why — and what that means for HR leaders navigating the next wave of change. Another delightful SWP Podcast guest - Amber is a true breath of fresh air with deep technical insight!

In Episode 79 (bonus episode), I sit down with my good friend Vincent Barat, founder and CEO of Albert, for a conversation that almost didn’t happen this year. Vince joins me fresh off an unexpected medical drama that forced him to miss his SWP London session — and yes, we get into that story to start. From there, we dive into the material he never got to share on stage, including his “SWP Cookbook” and the four ingredients he believes define mature, scalable workforce planning: governance, data, skills, and drivers.

We talk governance models — centralized, local, and hybrid — and why ownership, accountability, and resourcing remain make-or-break factors. Vince also unpacks why organisations are shifting toward flexible, driver-based planning, how skills have moved from theory to pragmatism, and why scenario planning is now the real marker of SWP maturity.

It’s practical, candid, and classic Vince — insights, humour, and a few sharp takes along the way.

In Episode 78, I sit down with Fiona Vines, Chief Inclusion & Wellbeing Officer at BT Group, to trace her unexpected path from banking to HR to leading inclusion across mining and telecoms. I explore with Fiona why diversity alone doesn’t deliver performance without real inclusion embedded in the work, the worker, and the workplace. We connect inclusion to strategic workforce planning—from customer empathy and accessibility to risk, safety, and measurable outcomes. Fiona shares lessons from BHP’s gender balance journey, why leaders must pull (not just be pushed), and how policies like shared parental leave change workforce modelling and capability planning. We dig into job design, “greedy jobs,” and how AI and flexible models can unlock talent without sacrificing performance. It’s a practical, leader-first conversation on turning inclusion from an HR mantra into a core business system.