Why HR Leaders Should Be Creating Content

At Transform 2026, I sat down with Rebecca Taylor to unpack what’s really holding HR and Talent leaders back from showing up online—and why that needs to change.
We get into the real risks, the perceived risks, and the responsibility that comes with having a voice in HR. Because whether you’re posting or not, the narrative is being shaped—with or without you.
Rebecca also shares a deeply personal career story that highlights how power, identity, and early decisions can shape everything that follows.
If you’ve been hesitant to create content—or questioning whether it’s worth it—this conversation will challenge that thinking.
What You'll Learn:
- Why most HR leaders think they’re restricted from posting online — and why they’re wrong
- How to navigate corporate constraints while building a personal brand in HR or TA
- The difference between using AI as a thought partner vs. letting it write your content
- Why using personal vs. enterprise AI tools matters when you handle sensitive company data
- How to stay consistent on 1–2 content pillars instead of posting on everything and standing for nothing
- How HR leaders can lead change initiatives they privately disagree with — and maintain credibility doing it
- How to create community space for HR voices that can’t post publicly — and why it matters
Resources Mentioned
- If you've been wanting to post more consistently on LinkedIn, try Stanley for FREE - https://workfluencerpodcast.com/stanley
- Listen to Rebecca's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hr-voices/id1833927442
Connect with us
Connect with Rebecca - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccataylor2/
Connect with Rhona https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce/
Want to turn your team into creators? Visit workfluencermedia.com to learn how we help companies build video-first content systems that attract, engage, and retain talent.
FAQs
Should HR professionals create content on LinkedIn?
Yes — and most HR professionals are far more permitted than they think. The biggest barrier isn’t policy, it’s self-censorship. Rebecca Taylor argues that the real cost of staying silent is invisibility: louder, less experienced voices end up defining the narrative about HR. Starting with 1–2 specific content pillars makes it manageable and sustainable.
How do you build a personal brand when you work in HR?
The key is separating what you believe from what your employer has approved, and understanding that most opinions about how work should function don’t violate any policy. Rebecca recommends starting with your honest professional observations and sticking to topics you can discuss without exposing confidential company information. For those who truly can’t post publicly, she creates private roundtable spaces where their voices can still shape the conversation.
What AI tools do HR content creators use?
Rebecca Taylor uses Claude as a thought partner — she uses it to find the through-line in her thinking, not to write for her. Rhona Pierce uses Stanley, a LinkedIn-focused tool that tracks content pillars and flags when you’re drifting off-brand. Both use AI to think faster and stay consistent, not to replace their voice.
How can you create content when your employer might not approve?
There’s an important distinction between content that reflects your professional observations and content that exposes proprietary company information. Rebecca’s advice: never put employee data, legal matters, or confidential strategy into a personal AI tool or public post. But your genuine perspective on how HR functions, what’s broken, and what works? That’s yours to share. If you truly can’t post, find creators who can amplify your ideas anonymously.
What are the best content pillars for HR professionals?
Choose 1–2 topics you can speak about from direct experience: hiring, performance, employee relations, leadership, or the human side of tech decisions. Hiba Akhtar’s advice (referenced in this episode) is to start narrow: pick the specific thing you’ve lived through and talk about that. Consistency on one topic trains your audience to know what to expect from you, which builds the trust that creates real reach.
What are the real risks for HR professionals who create content on LinkedIn, and how do they manage them?
The risks for HR professionals creating content are mostly overstated. According to Rebecca Taylor, Head of Community and Content at All Voices, the greatest actual risk is sharing confidential company information — employee data, legal matters, proprietary strategy — either in posts or in personal AI tools. The theoretical risk of “getting in trouble” for sharing professional opinions is real but far less common than people assume. Rebecca’s framework: your perspective on how HR functions is yours; your employer’s confidential data is not. If you work at a company where you genuinely cannot post, seek out private roundtables or anonymous amplification. The cost of silence — invisibility, missed networking, ceding the narrative to louder voices — usually outweighs the risk of posting thoughtfully. For anyone using AI to help with content, Rebecca and Rhona both recommend using personal tools only for your own ideas, and enterprise accounts for anything touching company information.
How should HR and talent acquisition professionals use AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT for content creation without compromising confidentiality?
HR and TA professionals should treat personal AI tools like Claude as a thought partner for their own professional observations, and enterprise AI accounts for anything that involves company data. Rebecca Taylor uses her personal Claude instance to untangle her own thinking — she rattles her ideas in, asks it to find the through-line, and then rewrites the output in her own voice. She would never put All Voices’ proprietary information into that personal account. Rhona Pierce makes a parallel point: if you’re writing about your company, using AI to process that information in an uncontrolled environment creates real legal and reputational exposure — especially as AI-related lawsuits are just beginning to emerge. The safest practice is a clear mental firewall: your ideas go to your personal AI tool, your company’s information stays in your enterprise account. Tools like Stanley are a middle path — LinkedIn-specific, focused entirely on public information, and built to keep your content aligned with your stated pillars without touching confidential data.
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Rebecca Taylor (00:00.13)
You shouldn't sacrifice your own potential future, your own potential networking opportunities just to make someone bigger, comfortable. I can guarantee that most people's content would not be something that they would get fired for. You can't necessarily be posting about things through the lens of your job if your job could punish you for it. Let's do like a real talk. Like what are the challenges and issues that you're facing in employee relations, in performance, in hiring, right? I started creating content because I just saw so many bullshit
opinions being shared on LinkedIn. There was a lot of really fluffy thought leadership. I have a better perspective. I have someone who's done this job before. I have an opinion that I think matters. I see it as like sort of like my responsibility to help to surface those conversations. What's
Rhona Pierce (00:42.444)
The darkest moment of your career that no one knows about.
Rebecca Taylor (00:46.112)
In one of my first recruiting jobs, I was in a job interview and the CEO of the company told me that...
Rhona Pierce (00:52.408)
Hey everyone, this is Rona Pierce here with Rebecca Taylor live from Transform 2026 and we're doing something I've never done before. We're doing an interview that I just prepped for a few minutes ago. We're going to talk about all things creators, all things HR tech and who knows, some hot takes or not. Welcome to the show.
Rebecca Taylor (01:13.422)
Thank you Rona, thank you for having me.
Rhona Pierce (01:17.494)
So, for those who haven't met you yet, can you give us the Rebecca Taylor story in 30 seconds?
Rebecca Taylor (01:22.222)
30 seconds, okay. So I spent about 10 years of my career in HR before co-founding an HR tech company that focused on performance management, development, coaching, and now I'm the head of community and content for All Voices. So my job is to help HR people find really great HR tech solutions, specifically All Voices, and to really generate conversations around what's broken in HR so that HR tech vendors are prepared to meet the moment and help the people who are building these products for have the tools that they need to do their job.
Rhona Pierce (01:51.778)
voices. Why did you choose to work there?
Rebecca Taylor (01:54.602)
So I have to say they're a vibe. I've known the All Voices team for a couple of years now. We actually met for the first time IRL at Transform last year. So from a connection standpoint, from a value standpoint, there was a lot of alignment there. But that only goes so deep, right? Because it's like you have to be solving interesting problems. And All Voices is focused on employee relations. It's an AI-powered employee relations platform. So you're looking at something that handles the most sensitive aspect of work.
You're looking at employee relations challenges. You're looking at leave of absence, performance. And so I thought that they were just solving a really, complicated and complex problem. And they wanted to work with HR people to solve it. And they wanted me to be that HR person, one of those HR people who they brought in. And I couldn't say no, because it's one of those problems that is so nuanced and it's not being solved well enough by other vendors that I had to make it my business to be part of it.
Rhona Pierce (02:49.806)
So let's talk a bit about your content creation journey because you've been creating content for a long time way before All Voices. yeah. When did you start creating content?
Rebecca Taylor (03:02.242)
I saw that there was a lot of people, can I curse on this? Yeah. Okay, just wanna make sure. So I started creating content because I just saw so many bullshit opinions being shared on LinkedIn. There was a lot of really fluffy thought leadership even before everyone was just putting thought leadership focused on AI. And I was like, I have a better perspective. I have someone who's done this job before. I have an opinion that I think matters. And I was in a seat where I was the founder of an HR tech company.
Rhona Pierce (03:05.72)
Yes.
Rebecca Taylor (03:32.394)
So I was in the position where if I had a spicy opinion, if I disagreed with the common, you know, thought around what HR was supposed to be doing or not supposed to be doing at that time, I was in a seat where I could share that and where I could generate those conversations. And I kind of thought that it was sort of like my responsibility to do that. I also I mean, it's also a really great way to meet people and to.
make opportunities like we met because we're always putting content out there. You become like friends with people you're fans of and it's a really really great way to just learn more about how to do your job but also just like who else is out there doing things you want to do.
Rhona Pierce (04:10.414)
I love that. So let's talk a bit about the responsibility that comes with being a content creator in our space because I personally think and maybe you agree or not with me that the people who create, if you work in HR, if you work in TA, you have a different type of responsibility with what you put out there in comparison to any other B2B content creator. What do you think? Hey, have you subscribed?
Let's fix that. It's the easiest way to support this show.
Rebecca Taylor (04:42.978)
I agree because we're talking about work tech. We're talking about decisions and topics that can be very charged and can be very emotional, but importantly also things that actually impact people's lives beyond just the content that we're putting out there.
I don't, you when I look at the content that I'm putting out there, I'm trying to start conversations or I'm trying to bring awareness in some situations to things that people might not be thinking about, about how we work, how people are treated at work and where there's opportunity for the people in my audience, HR leaders, to do something about that. And I would ideally love to say that.
our content can change the world. generate conversations that gets the people that can really take action to take the action that will save the world. And that's how I think about what we do. And I think that that's like a really, you we're not filming TikTok dances. We're not, you know, we're not doing like a get ready with me, although maybe we will at some point, who knows, right? But like, and no shade to any of that, because there's value in all of it. But like, we're just in this spot where, you know, we're trying to talk beyond
just the sake of fluffy content and really getting to the root of problems.
Rhona Pierce (05:54.57)
So talk to us a little about, because you were telling me before this, how you're wanting to create a space for HR leaders. Well, let's back up a little. You think or that everyone in HR or in TA should be creating content. Yes. Why?
Rebecca Taylor (06:15.534)
Because we're the ones and you're the ones who are doing the job. And so if you're creating the content, then the issues that are at the very level of doing the job, the challenges, the issues, but also the wins are gonna be more broadly understood, celebrated, shared, all of the things, right? And I don't like to tell people what they should or shouldn't do unless I'm like being really, really real. Because I'm an older sister, I'm an eldest daughter. I'm like, you should all be doing this.
But I also acknowledge that not everybody can and also not everybody wants to. And I respect that because it is weird. It is weird to be always putting stuff out there. And I'm only making content on LinkedIn and I do a podcast, I do webinars. I'm not on TikTok, not on Instagram. You I'm not on any of those. But I just think that the more voices that are out there talking about real issues or talking about real wins within your field and within your business are just more important to have out there.
Rhona Pierce (07:13.07)
What do you say to the people who understand this but they just don't want to? Is there any way that you are creating a space for them to be able to?
Rebecca Taylor (07:24.834)
Yes, and I'm so glad you asked that. So, you know, I get it if you don't want to or you can't, because sometimes you can't. If you're the CHR of a company and you have a spicy take about what you think that HR should be doing or shouldn't be doing, and you're not in a position to do that for reasons, right? Maybe your leadership team isn't bought in. You you can't necessarily be posting about things through the lens of your job if your job could punish you for it, right?
So like, especially when you're in HR, it's like you don't always have the freedom of expression that someone like you or I might because it's our job or it's our roles or, you know, we're a little bit more neutral. So, you know, part of what I'm doing at All Voices is I'm really opening up conversations between HR leaders and this one HR tech company, but also like the community that is coming together around it to sort of say, OK, your opinions still matter. The challenges that you're facing matter. Even if you're not making content.
and posting about it on LinkedIn, let's have a more private roundtable conversation. Let's do like a real talk. Like what are the challenges and issues that you're facing in employee relations, in performance, in hiring, right? And let's talk about that and use that as a way to inspire real discussion that gets to the vendors who are trying to solve those problems. You know, I see it as like sort of like my responsibility to help to surface those conversations.
source from people who might not be the ones making content but are very much feeling the pain of the issue. And, you know, I think it's kind of our responsibility as creators to create that platform because otherwise those people are just going to be stuck in silence and you're only going to have the loudest people in the room saying something. It's the same problem you see at work. At work. It's just the digital version of it, right?
Rhona Pierce (09:13.62)
What's something that you wish HR leaders would admit out loud?
Rebecca Taylor (09:18.616)
Hahaha
Rebecca Taylor (09:23.362)
that they wouldn't admit out loud. Something that they would. Like if they could. So this is funny because I'm actually asking a lot of people here like a very similar question. Like what's one thing that's misunderstood about HR that you wish that like people could say? And a lot of it is about, a lot of it is like HR doesn't always necessarily agree with the decisions that are made, but they still have to champion them and they're still responsible for implementing
Rhona Pierce (09:24.748)
they would admit out.
Rebecca Taylor (09:53.292)
whatever it is that's coming out of those decisions. Sometimes they can admit that out loud in situations like this when you're sort of among peers and friends, but you can't get in front of a company as a CHRL that, let's just say, decides to cut half of its team in half because they're going to be reinvesting in AI. As HR, you could have been the person behind the doors saying, no, this is stupid, don't do this. But if that's the decision,
You have to get out there and you say, this is the best direction for the company. You have to find the messaging that finds the piece of it for the employees to change whatever behavior it is that they have to do to actually lead that change initiative, even if you don't agree with it. And you can't say like, I don't agree with this, but it's my job to make it happen. And that's really hard.
Rhona Pierce (10:39.156)
It is really hard and I think we've all been in that situation. How do you reconcile it? what has been your strategy when you've been faced with situations like that?
Rebecca Taylor (10:54.348)
Yeah, it's kind of one of those scenarios where vulnerability is appreciated. It's not always earned by everybody, but small moments of vulnerability among your team really, really help in situations like that. So like if I had to lead a change initiative that I didn't agree with, I've worked for companies where, you know, I had to orchestrate layoffs, right? Who hasn't? And, you know, even if I didn't agree with...
the fact that it had to happen or who had to get laid off. I still had to make it, you know, I still had to do the work to actually make it happen. But it really helped to have conversations with my team who was there to support and say like, look, let's be real, like this is going to be difficult. This is going to be hard. We're going to get through it or we're going to have to get through it one way or another. It's almost like just acknowledging the difficulty without even having to share why.
Like you don't even have to say like, disagree with this, right? Because then you're undermining your own strategy in ways, but it's okay to be vulnerable and just say, this is going to be hard. We're going to figure it out and we're going to get through it together. And sometimes people are going to agree with that. And sometimes people are going to just sort of grin and bear it. I think the most important thing is like, you can't try to anticipate other people's reactions and you can't try to control other people's responses and reactions. You have to give people the space to just.
process whatever it is that's going on and to acknowledge like hey you might be upset, you might be mad, might be angry, like that's fine but this is still what doesn't change what has to happen.
Rhona Pierce (12:34.082)
Have you found that people know? Like if people in the company know you enough, they know when a decision is maybe not something that you were wanting and you're like the voice of someone else.
Rebecca Taylor (12:47.402)
my god, yes. I'm the worst liar. I'm so, so bad at like being someone's propaganda machine. Like I just can't do it. And it's why I've never done well in situations where I had to get up and like read the script of this is what is happening and this is why. And I think it's why I had to find my way of like figuring out how to be vulnerable but also still maintain the level of like alignment that I had to to do my job.
And I only learned that because people have called me out on it. They're like, you're a different person when you're saying things that you don't believe. And I'm like, maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. I think it's a good thing. But at least for, I also found myself aligning more with companies that appreciate that and don't try to hold that back, which is a very privileged position to be in. And not everybody's in that spot. And so I think it's like, try to find that balance of.
reiterating the message because the message is there and saying this is going to be hard, we're going to get through it, you know, take your time to process, do what you have to do. And sometimes it's just the best that we can do. think it's important to also separate work from life in that way. Like, so much of our identity is tied up in work. So leading a strategy that we hate or that we don't disagree with.
And I'm talking something that's not egregious, right? I'm just talking something we just don't like. Like, I'm not talking fraud. I'm not talking anything dramatic, which is like, I don't like the directional decision of the brand that we're taking, right? It's really important to separate your identity from your job in some ways. Because if you're like, my whole identity is wrapped up in this version of who I had to be to do this. And now I'm being asked to do something else. It's like, it's fine. It's a job.
It's okay. It's not who you are. It's just the series of tasks that you do to earn a paycheck. It can be so much more than that, but when you're really struggling with it, like it helps to kind of break it down that way. It helps you reframe your own identity crisis when there is big change coming.
Rhona Pierce (14:51.31)
So, switching gears a little bit, we're at a conference. You know, if you've been to a conference in the past, I don't know, two, three years, we always have to talk about AI. I hate it, we all hate it, but we're going to talk. So on a scale of what's AI to AI has taken over my job, how much have you integrated AI into your workflow?
Rebecca Taylor (15:01.998)
We're gonna talk about it.
Rebecca Taylor (15:15.438)
Maybe like a five. So not to the point where AI has taken over my job, but to the point where it does make things easier for me. You know, I do a lot of content creation, obviously, right? That's why I'm here. I do use AI to help me frame my thought processes. So I use it as like a thought partner, because sometimes I'm like, I have a lot of thoughts, but I don't really know where I'm going with them yet. And so it helps me to kind of just like,
rattle that out into Claude or something and just sort of say like, here's what I'm thinking about this. this is what I think the through point is, help me find that. But Claude's not writing my posts for me. It's not writing my content for me. It's not automatically like putting that stuff out there. It's just like, it does help me to kind of have something to start with that I can then sort of make my own and make it different.
Rhona Pierce (16:09.966)
So are you mostly using Claude?
Rebecca Taylor (16:12.822)
I am mostly using Claude and that was before everyone like that was before we said I've always been a Claude girl for the record. But yeah, I have mostly been using Claude. I mean, I do have, you know, we have an enterprise chat GPT account. So there's like there are some things that, you know, I use my personal Claude or like an enterprise chat GPT for different tasks, different things. There's been a lot of talk about the about using enterprise tools.
to do your AI work versus personal tools to do it. And I'm actually curious if I can flip the script on you and ask you a question. Because what I've been hearing is like, there are voices that are encouraging creators or even employees just in situations where they're being asked to use generative AI to use their sort of personal instances of these tools to do that work instead of feeding it into the enterprise account that they have.
Rhona Pierce (16:49.622)
Yeah, of course you can.
Rebecca Taylor (17:10.081)
because then it's a lot easier for them to replace you. Quote unquote, right? This is like the narrative. If you're just training the bot basically to do your job versus training the bot to make you irreplaceable. Do you have a thought about it?
Rhona Pierce (17:26.694)
I mean, at the end of the day, everyone's replaceable and they're going to replace you if they want to. So whether you train the bot or not, if someone wants to replace you, they're going to replace you. So I'm like the worst person to tell you like, do this to keep your job or what it like, it doesn't matter. You might lose your job and it's not the end of the world. I've always had multiple streams of income, like portfolio career, all of that because of that. That being said.
I would be more worried, especially working in HR and TA, for putting information from my company out in an LLM that's like out in the world and not in a corporate one where we know what that information is being used for. Yes. Because we haven't gotten into the part of AI where there's going to be lawsuits, there's going to be all of this stuff of where that information is going to end up. I don't want my name on it.
Rebecca Taylor (18:24.834)
Yeah.
Rhona Pierce (18:25.176)
So if I were somewhere working with information that I don't own, which is your employee's information, whether you're using it for content or not, you're writing stuff about your company. I personally would stick to the corporate one, even if that means I'm training my replacement.
Rebecca Taylor (18:44.398)
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's cool because like there's it's funny because there's what's the line between content that you're making as a creator? What's the line for the content that you're making for your company versus the content that you're making for your personal brand, which is sort of also in line with the company? Because this is my crisis, right? Like I don't for the record, I don't put any all voices information in my own like private thought account. Right. Like that's all in the enterprise like GBT. But if we're having conversations, if I have a thought about employee relations.
that's mine, that's inspired by conversations like this or something that I'm hearing. I might use Claude as my thought partner for that because Claude also knows more of my thought process because I've been using Claude longer than I've been in my current job, like my Claude instance. So that's kind of like the interesting thing. But to your point, it stops at putting in proprietary information or even like I would never use it to make like infographics for, you know.
Rhona Pierce (19:42.912)
Do you want to hear? So I'm not a Claude girl. I try to like Claude. I'm also not a chat GPT girl when it comes to content because most of my content is on LinkedIn. I use Stanley. I absolutely love Stanley. Everyone knows I have a link that will be in the show notes, all of that stuff, fun stuff. But I use it the same way as you. And I like it because it's literally only focused on my LinkedIn content. I don't know where it's getting other information and all that. And it's not.
as far as I know, feeding my information that anywhere else, right? It's all public. Anything you put on LinkedIn is public. But the way I use it is similar to you. It's like, I'll have this, I'll just jot down notes or do a voice note while I'm driving or thinking of something and then go like, hey Stanley, this is what I'm thinking I'm posting. What I like about Stanley, because I don't use it to write my post, but it will tell me like, cool, but your content pillars are X, Y, and Z.
You haven't been writing about X, Y, and Z content pillars and this is way out of there. So while this is a good topic, it's not aligned with your content pillar.
Rebecca Taylor (20:51.854)
I'm gonna check out Stanley.
Rhona Pierce (20:53.944)
Yes, it has a little graph there that tells you like this is how percentage of your content that is on this content pillar, this is percentage that is on this content pillar. So it's like I just use it to like keep me like straight on what yeah.
Rebecca Taylor (21:10.102)
Ooh, I gotta check that out. Because like that is something that could really come in handy if you're trying to figure out how to start in content too. Yes. Because that's where a lot of people get stuck is they're like, I don't know what to talk about. I don't know what I want to do. And it's like, I think Hiba gave this advice yesterday in her summit that she was that she was talking about. She's like, if you struggle with consistency or you struggle with, you know, figuring out where to begin, think about like one or two content pillars to start with, because then you can start to at least keep talking about those same things otherwise.
Right, you can just be everywhere. No one knows what you stand for because you stand for everything and nothing.
Rhona Pierce (21:44.878)
And I have millions of ideas. I'll come here and I'll talk about something. It's like, cool, great opinion. However, this has absolutely nothing to do with the gold. But if you want to do it, I'll help you. insist. Yeah, exactly. It's like at the end of the day, I can be like, OK, cool. But I want to write this post. So go ahead.
Rebecca Taylor (22:02.798)
I love that. I definitely need to check that out. that's the thing is like, especially when you have a lot of different audiences that you're talking to, at some point it's like you have to sort of just like, you know, want to understand your audience, but you also want to build more of your audience because they're interested in what you're posting. So then you'll find more people who like, they don't even have to agree, but they're just interested in that specific thing and consistency.
will at least help them understand like, okay, I follow Rona because I know she pokes about this. I follow Rebecca because I know she posts about this. That's half the battle. Because like, it's not all about followers, but it's also not not. It is about the size of your audience. Because the bigger your audience, the bigger impact you can make if that's what you're here to do.
Rhona Pierce (22:46.56)
Exactly. All right. So if you've ever watched the show, you know, there's always a segment. There's always some questions. And I might do a few segments this time. We're at Transform. We don't have any rules. So say it with your chest, right? First thing that comes to mind, no PR speak, no like polishing, not that you would.
What's the darkest moment of your career that no one knows about?
Rebecca Taylor (23:18.338)
that no one knows about. I talked about everything that people don't know about.
Rhona Pierce (23:29.646)
Or that most people don't know about.
Rebecca Taylor (23:31.246)
Yeah, I don't know if it's my darkest moment, but it is something that a lot of people don't know about that I have gotten. It's my thoughts about it have changed over the years since it happened to So in my first, in one of my first recruiting jobs, I was in a job interview and the CEO of the company told me that he didn't like my last name. And he's like, we got to do something about that last name. He's like, it's too complicated. It has too many letters. He's like, we're not.
He's like, this cannot be here. This cannot represent this brand. I was a little baby, 22, 23 year old who needed a job and was like, that's fine. I'll make it whatever you need it to be. And that's how Rebecca Taylor was born. Taylor is not my real last name. Wow. I did not know that. Yes. Yeah. And so I have conflicted feelings about it, right? It's just like, well, my name is my name. But also you start to make a name for yourself. So.
in a lot of ways, like I've made a name for myself and a name that's like, you know, that I've made mine that and I've kept it because that's how people started to know me. My real last name is long. hard to give out the email if you're trying to be like, it's this, that, that, whatever. But there is like, I wish that I said to that CEO, like you like, how dare you say that to someone? How dare you say that that's a contingency of being hired at this company that you have to tell people they have to change their name. And my first day.
I walked around, like half the people were in the same situation. And it's crazy when you don't have power in a conversation, like what people can convince you to do without really trying that hard. And it's crazy how quickly we give up, how quickly we can give things up when we're young and we don't know any better. And that's why I do content like this too, just to kind of be like, hey, this is the stuff that happens. So maybe if you're put on the spot.
maybe you have a better response than I did. So I have like no regrets, but I'm also like, I don't know. I don't know if I did the right thing at the moment because of like, I hate the way that it happened.
Rhona Pierce (25:34.914)
think the way that it happened is really what I'm having it like physical raps like what?
Rebecca Taylor (25:42.766)
Yeah
Rhona Pierce (25:44.972)
We've heard of this for, like, I remember way back when I started working, I worked for Dell and I was in the call center in Panama. They had a call center in India. And I remember you would see like the name, because like when you had to transfer someone to India or whatever, you would see the name of the person that you're transferring them to. And it would be a totally different name from they would answer the phone and say like, thanks for calling Dell. This is Tim. No, your name's not Tim. Right.
But they were, and they weren't required, by the way, I'm gonna say this, because I love Dell, or I loved it, lately, weren't requesting this, they weren't encouraging this. But for whatever reason there, they just changed it to make it easier for Americans to understand their name. And I was like, I was never in that situation. There were also people in the call center in Panama who did this type of thing.
Rebecca Taylor (26:22.51)
Everything changes.
Rhona Pierce (26:42.424)
But it's like, my name was in English. So I didn't have that issue. But for me, was always like such a big, it's like, no, this is your name. Don't change your name for a job. go eat, like, if that were to happen today, what would you tell that CEO?
Rebecca Taylor (26:57.784)
I would tell that CEO so many things that it's not, and that was the least egregious thing that he did or said to people in interviews. If I were me today, I would tell him like, you have a lot of nerve acting like you have that kind of power over someone. You are, this is a dime a dozen job. It was a staffing recruiting job. Like they're hiring everybody all the time for the most part, at least when this happened too. And it's like, you do not get, you don't get to have that type of influence over people. You don't get to ask people to be like a completely different name.
a completely different person. And there's a lot of, so it's also my gripe with LinkedIn and LinkedIn verified profiles. My profile will never be verified because this is not, and it's still not my legal name. Maybe one day it will be, don't know, I haven't decided yet. But my profile will never be verified because it doesn't match the name of my government ID. It doesn't make me any less me. And so I look at people in other situations like trans people who are living in states where they can't change their ID or they have
haven't yet because of steps and roadblocks and now they're not gonna get a LinkedIn verified profile because of some stupid freaking rule and it makes them less visible, looks less credible and that's that narrative now. The narrative is like, if you're not using your real name, you're less credible but your real name has to also be something that we approve.
Rhona Pierce (28:17.602)
Yes. We could have an entire episode about that whole verified on LinkedIn. I get why they're doing it. I get it. It's the easiest way with the ID. But I also think of all the platforms, LinkedIn should have a different approach. Yeah. That's all I'll say. So the biggest lie leaders tell themselves about why they're not creating content.
Rebecca Taylor (28:42.062)
Because they're not allowed
Rhona Pierce (28:45.035)
Tell me more, tell me more.
Rebecca Taylor (28:47.19)
I don't think your company's paying as much attention to you as you think they are. And I think that you shouldn't sacrifice your own potential future, your own potential networking opportunities just to make someone bigger, comfortable. And I don't think that people should be holding themselves back. Like, you are more allowed than you think. And I can guarantee that most people's content would not be something that they would get fired for. And if it is...
There's always other ways, there are always other people that you can talk to. You can come to me and you can be like, this is an opinion that I have that I might get fired for sharing. Can you help me amplify this without crediting me? Yes, sure. Same. Absolutely. But no one's paying as much attention to you as you think you are.
Rhona Pierce (29:31.87)
I love this conversation, like every conversation with you. Thanks so much for being on the show. Where can listeners connect with you?
Rebecca Taylor (29:38.926)
Yes, so check me out on LinkedIn, Rebecca Taylor, head of community and content at All Voices. And also check out my podcast, HR Voices. It's on every single platform that has podcasts. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, all that. It's a scenario-based podcast, not like the one that we did before, but not unlike the one that we did before. We read fabricated or real-life headline employee relations scenarios and HR scenarios to my very, very wise HR guest.
And we talk through the nuances of what happens. So it's not about finding the best solution and the best answer. It's like, what makes this hard? What makes this complicated? What are the 10 different pathways that this could go down and how would you make the call? So it's fun. Thank you, Rona. Thank you. Bye.
Rhona Pierce (30:20.364)
Amazing. Thanks again for being here. If you're enjoying the Workfluencer pod, share it with someone who's changing how we talk about work or who should be. And hey, if this episode gave you ideas or inspiration, leave us a five-star review. Reviews help other listeners find us. And honestly, it makes my day. This show is produced by Workfluencer Media. Visit workfluencermedia.com to learn how we help companies build video-first content systems
that attract, engage, and retain qualified talent. That's WorkfluencerMedia.com. Thanks for listening, and I'll chat with you next week.

Head of Community & Content | Founder
Rebecca spent 10+ years in HR watching companies make the same mistakes: good people leaving, cultures eroding, "professional development" meaning nothing. So she co-founded SkillCycle to fix it.
As Co-founder, COO, and Chief Customer Officer, she scaled the company to Inc.'s Fastest Growing Companies list three years running, made Inc.'s Female Founders 250, and earned recognition from the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas. She built People strategies for Fortune 500 companies and startups that actually moved the needle, and not just checked compliance boxes.
Now she's Head of Community & Content at AllVoices, where she builds the content, community, and thought leadership program that senior HR and People leaders actually want to engage with. Podcast. Webinars. Research. Roundtables. All of it made for CHROs, CPOs, and VPs who are tired of vendor content dressed up as insight.










