Jevan Soo Lenox on building AI-first cultures & high-performing teams at fast-growth Unicorn WRITER

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Jevan Soo Lenox, the Chief People Officer at WRITER, a leader in agentic AI for the enterprise. Founded in 2020, WRITER helps businesses launch products faster, run deeper financial research and clinical trials. The high-growth startup is backed by some of the best investors, including Balderton, Radical Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, and many more. Before joining WRITER, Jevan already held multiple CPO roles in hyper-growth businesses, including Blue Bottle Coffee, Stitch Fix and inistro. In today’s conversation, Jevan shares a masterclass on the modern people function - from building AI-first cultures and scaling people teams globally, to hiring with self-awareness and building high-performing cultures. If you’re a Founder, Operator or People leader building a hypergrowth culture or looking for ways to embed more AI into your teams, this episode is packed with valuable insights for you. 📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ From McKinsey to AI - Jevan’s career path [03:00] ➡️ Finding a calling in People & Culture leadership [04:00] ➡️ What makes a truly great Chief People Officer [09:30] ➡️ How technology and AI are transforming the People function [16:45] ➡️ Inside WRITER: culture, values and what “AI-first” really means [18:40] ➡️ When to hire your first CPO [23:00] ➡️ How to hire exceptional leaders [34:40] 🔍 Find out more: ✨ Connect with Jevan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevansoolenox ✨ More about WRITER: https://writer.com/ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices