HR Insights: The Podcast, Series 6 - Career Stories: Bridging Cultures, Building Careers

When building a career within HR it is important to consider the building blocks to success and the necessity to nurture and adapt to different cultures and ways of thinking. Today, joining our host, Stuart Elliott is Chief Talent and Learning Officer at Jardine Matheson, Peter Attfield to discuss his long spanning HR journey and his keys to success to ensure a flourishing and fulfilling career.  

In this episode, Stuart and Peter delve into how Peter moved from external consulting into an internal HR function, the important building blocks that have aided him throughout his career including embracing different cultures and building a strong network of peers who challenge and push the boundaries of your thinking, as well as his key takeaways from living and working in over nine countries. Peter highlights his greatest achievements throughout his extensive career and how he believes the HR function has adapted over this time, notably referencing technological advancements, employee expectations and the significance of upskilling to stay relevant.

Peter Attfield is a Senior HR leader (Group HRD, SVP, CHRO level) with a proven global track record in strategic Business Partnering and HR Expertise leadership roles across multiple sectors and geographies in developed and emerging markets. He also holds deep expertise and over 30 years of experience in both large scale organisation and cultural transformation as well as HR functional transformation in both MNC’s and large regional family owned businesses.

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 Key Timestamps:

·      04:15 – Intro into Peter
·      06:03 – How and why Peter made the leap into HR
·      11:00 – The key building blocks in Peter’s career 
·      16:20 – The significance of influential mentors
·      18:45 – HR Business Partnering vs Centre of Expertise 
·      21:23 – What Peter has learnt from working all over the world  
·      27:50 – Peter’s greatest career achievements 
·      33:35 – How the HR function has adapted over time 
·      40:13 – Advice for people beginning their career in HR