Human Centered Design, Coca-Cola, & People Insights - Sue Lam - #173

Thanks to HRBench for powering this episode. To find out more about the company building the future of people intelligence, reach out to book a demo at hrbench.com/directionallycorrect ! Check out this episode of the #1 people analytics podcast with special guest, Sue Lam, VP of Global People Insights, Culture, Strategy & Planning at The Coca-Cola Company! In this wide-ranging and highly practical conversation, Cole Napper sits down with Sue Lam, VP of Global People Insights, Culture, Strategy & Planning at The Coca-Cola Company, to explore what it actually takes to turn people analytics into meaningful organizational change. Returning to the podcast after her original episode was lost during a platform migration, Sue reflects on how the field has evolved and why analytics teams must move beyond dashboards and reporting to influence real-world behavior. Sue shares how her role at Coca-Cola blends people insights, culture, and strategy to help leaders make better decisions through data—but with an important distinction: her team focuses on behavioral change, not just surfacing insights. She walks through a compelling example of Coca-Cola’s culture transformation, where analysis revealed employees were still being rewarded for behaviors tied to an outdated operating model. Rather than stopping at the findings, her team partnered across leadership development, rewards, talent, and local culture teams to redesign manager conversations, interventions, and training to reinforce desired behaviors. A major theme throughout the episode is human-centered design and why HR must shift from building programs to designing experiences. Instead of asking what training managers need, Sue argues organizations should ask what it feels like to become a manager, where friction exists, and what unseen pressures employees face. By focusing on the employee experience rather than the HR process, organizations can create systems that improve both performance and wellbeing. Cole and Sue also discuss the overlap between social psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, and behavioral science, exploring why ideas from adjacent disciplines like marketing and design thinking may be essential to HR’s future. Sue reflects on her unconventional path as a social quantitative psychologist and how it unexpectedly prepared her for culture and organizational work. The conversation expands into larger workplace debates, including whether industrial-organizational psychology is doing enough to influence real business decisions. Together, they discuss why evidence-based research often struggles to shape practice in elite organizations, where hiring decisions may rely more on credentials, networks, and backchannel references than formal science. They also explore how stronger partnerships between researchers and practitioners could accelerate more applied insights. AI’s growing impact on hiring becomes another key focus. Cole and Sue debate whether resumes and traditional credentials are becoming less meaningful signals of competence in a world where AI can generate polished applications and work samples. While public proof of work and personal brands may surface talent, both question how organizations will distinguish genuine expertise from polished outputs and whether recruiting may ultimately shift back toward trust, relationships, and human networks. Alongside the serious topics, the episode balances humor and storytelling as Cole and Sue unpack shows like Industry and Silicon Valley, reflecting on what they reveal about workplace incentives, analytics, and organizational behavior. The discussion also touches on workplace jargon, organizational “BS,” high performers, academic publishing, and the future of people intelligence. Throughout the conversation, Sue brings intellectual rigor, practical wisdom, and humor, offering listeners a thoughtful look at how organizations can create better employee experiences while driving stronger business outcomes. If you like this episode, you’d also love exploring prior episodes—visit colenapper.com for the full archive and show links.