Live from isolved Connect in Charlotte, Ryan Leary and William Tincup sit down with industry analyst and keynote speaker Stacey Harris for a candid conversation that starts with leveling up HR—and doesn’t let up.

From who really controls HR tech budgets (hint: not always HR) to why women in HR leadership still need more data to be trusted, this episode breaks down the hidden dynamics shaping the profession.

Stacey unpacks why "HR is female-led" is both true and misleading, and how bias, brand perception, and clustering tech stacks intersect with business outcomes. The trio tackle tough topics: why women hold back other women, what trust really looks like in the C-suite, and the silent shift of HR tech decisions back to IT and finance.

If you think compliance is boring, or gender equity is a solved problem, this one will force a second look.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Live in Charlotte: pre-show chaos, banter, and keynote aftermath

01:00 — Leveling up HR: bias, perception, and why it still holds the function back

03:01 — Budget control shifts: from HR to IT, and the strategic consequences

04:43 — Branding HR tech to the C-Suite: who needs to know your name

06:00 — The Frankenstein effect: point solutions, data silos, and creeping IT takeover

08:04 — The “clustering model” explained: 3-4 anchors + best-of-suite agility

09:05 — Who should own vendor relationships? HR vs IT and business outcomes

10:00 — Why native integrations beat shallow “whizzy-wig” solutions

10:33 — The gender gap at the top: 70% female in HR, but not in leadership

13:00 — Why time tracking is a leadership issue, not just a process

14:50 — AI, wearables, and HR's frontline role in privacy and compliance

17:10 — The new compliance reality: constant change, no time to catch up

18:33 — Selling HR strategy: know your execs, brand, and organizational dynamics

21:25 — Women holding women back: the zero-sum trap in executive rooms

24:30 — Bias vs preference: how unconscious filters shape hiring and promotion

27:00 — Why women in HR bring more data—and why it’s expected of them

30:00 — Transformational leadership traits: how gender impacts process priorities

32:11 — Metric visibility gaps for female HR leaders

33:30 — Trust, retention, and why staying power matters more than ever

This episode was recorded live at isolved Connect on the UNC Charlotte campus.

The Heroes of HR podcast is a limited series sponsored by isolved. isolved is an HCM platform that modernizes HR, benefits, and payroll across Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more.

Learn more about isolved: https://www.isolvedhcm.com/

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  William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

  
  


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  Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

  
  

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