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In this episode, I sit down with Suni Lobo, Chief HR/People Officer at Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ), a publicly traded fintech that helps companies issue cards with flexibility, control & scale with an open API platform.
Founded in 2010, Marqeta has now issued hundreds of millions of cards across 36 countries, and works with customers like Square, Klarna, Uber, Coinbase, and JP Morgan.
In this episode, we discuss:
Company Culture in a remote world. Has remote work made it easier or harder to build community, increase productivity, and level the playing field?
“I am of the firm belief that a remote culture, or as we call it, our flexible first policy… can drive more connection, but it has to be intentional. So we have to be more intentional about how we drive connection.”
Why is it that at startups the role is called Head of People, but at large companies we call it Head of Human Resources?
Suni Lobo reminds us that people are the center of how businesses evolve and accelerate, making the people function a crucial part of any organization. So, it’s absolutely critical for the Chief People Officer to report directly to the CEO. Without a direct line to company leadership, it becomes virtually impossible for HR leaders to have any significant impact on people and company culture. The Head of People or Chief People Officer should be a strategic thought partner who has full context of company matters and can prioritize business strategy, followed by people and culture strategy. Managing board relationships is also a crucial aspect of the role, with the CEO, CFO, and Chief People Officer being the three main relationships that should be managing board relationships tightly.
How to build a culture of innovation and purpose, and why compensation is almost never the main reason people leave companies.
“Consistently, in any organization that I've been at, whether that's large, global, small, or more national. When we talk to people about why they leave an organization, or why they join an organization, it is most definitely not compensation. You have to make sure that you're being competitive… but it is not the reason why people stay.”
Reflections and lessons for leaders building culture in a fast-growing company… and a lot more!
Company leaders should think holistically about the entire employee experience, from hiring to retiring, and not just focus on talent acquisition. It's crucial to ensure that resources are distributed equitably throughout the whole operation, including people operations, total rewards, compensation, systems, and analytics. HR leaders also need to think about how they develop and promote people within the organization while keeping culture at the center of it all. Interestingly, Suni thinks HR Technology is ripe for disruption. She’s not happy with the existing solutions and argues there’s a big investment opportunity in the category (VCs, take note!)
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Suni Lobo, Marqeta Chief HR/People Officer – Building a Culture of Innovation and Purpose, & Key Lessons For Leaders in Fast-Growing Companies