As an HR leader, your influence is often directly tied to your relationships with key business heads. But the most pivotal connection for me wasn't with the CEO or a divisional president; it was with the head of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). Most people in HR view the finance team as a roadblock—the department of "no" that scrutinizes every budget request. This perception creates an adversarial dynamic where HR brings ideas and Finance brings skepticism. I realized early on that if I couldn't speak their language and frame people initiatives as sound financial investments, I would always be seen as a cost center, not a strategic partner. Instead of fighting this reality, I embraced it. I began meeting with our FP&A lead, not to ask for anything, but to learn. I'd ask her to walk me through the company's financial models and show me how headcount and attrition impacted the bottom line. I started bringing her problems, not solutions. Instead of saying, "I need a budget for a new manager training program," I'd say, "Our mid-level turnover is costing us X in recruiting fees and lost productivity. How would you think about modeling the ROI of an initiative to fix that?" By inviting her into the problem-solving process early, she became a co-author of the solution, not a critic of it. I remember we were struggling with high attrition among our junior sales team. Instead of building a big presentation on engagement, I first sat down with my finance partner. Together, we built a simple model showing the cost of replacing a salesperson, including the six-month ramp-up time where they weren't hitting quota. When we finally presented our proposal for a revised onboarding and coaching program, she was the one who explained the financial case for it. The conversation in the room shifted from "can we afford this?" to "can we afford *not* to do this?" True influence isn't just about getting your ideas approved; it's about reframing the conversation so the right idea becomes the obvious choice.
Building a strong working relationship with our CTO strengthened my leadership as an HR executive significantly through alignment of people strategy and technology priority. Together, we crafted a shared talent acquisition and internal mobility model that facilitated speedy scaling without sacrificing culture. I built the relationship through regular and transparent communication and through the demonstration of how HR metrics could translate directly to product velocity and innovation outcomes.
The strategic relationship that dramatically increased my influence was with the Head of Logistics and Parts Inventory. My role was field operations; his was internal supply chain. The conflict was the trade-off: operations often blamed logistics for delays, while logistics blamed poor planning. I needed his cooperation to solve the crew's biggest structural failure—waiting for materials. I nurtured the connection by trading administrative efficiency for hands-on, real-time data. Instead of sending logistics formal reports that they could ignore, I committed to sending the Head of Logistics a picture and a two-sentence text update of every single successful and unsuccessful material drop right when it happened. This gave him immediate, hands-on field visibility into how his heavy duty system was truly performing, allowing him to fix small structural failures before they became major delays. By helping him solve his logistical problems with verifiable field data, I secured the crew's trust and his ear on strategic decisions. My field recommendations gained influence because they were tied to proven operational solutions, not just abstract concerns. The best way to increase influence is to be a person who is committed to a simple, hands-on solution that prioritizes trading immediate field data for strategic administrative support.
My business doesn't deal with "HR leaders" or abstract influence. We deal with heavy duty trucks operations, where influence is measured by the ability to enforce operational discipline and eliminate risk. The one strategic relationship that dramatically increased my influence was the connection with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). My job was to pivot the conversation from abstract HR policy to verifiable financial impact, which is the only language a CFO truly understands. I didn't nurture this connection with social rapport. I nurtured it with quantified failure reports. I routinely presented the CFO with audits showing the precise dollar cost of internal operational failures—the total financial liability caused by high employee turnover or poor training regarding OEM Cummins part verification. I used objective data to prove that the soft costs of HR mismanagement were, in fact, the hard, measurable financial liabilities on the balance sheet. This connection worked because it transformed my role. I stopped being the Marketing and Operations Director asking for budget and started being the strategic partner who guaranteed the integrity of the company's financial defense. My influence grew because I successfully proved that disciplined operational training directly reduced our financial risk exposure. The ultimate lesson is: You increase influence by translating the soft challenge of people management into the non-negotiable financial language of the executive suite.
The most impactful relationship for me, wearing my HR hat, has been with our customers. I've spent years reading thousands of reviews from people desperate for skincare that wouldn't cause more problems. When it came time to build a team, I brought that voice into every interview. My influence came from a deep understanding of our user, not from HR theory. It allowed me to champion candidates who demonstrated true empathy for our customer's journey, which is a far better predictor of success at Era Organics than a perfect resume. Nurturing this connection meant refusing to delegate the customer voice. I personally read our product reviews and support tickets, and I still do. We built this into our operations by making customer stories a central part of our team meetings. When your team feels the customer's problem, their work is worth more than their paycheck. They work to create a genuine solution for the real people buying your product, and that has been the foundation of our culture and our hiring strategy.