Maggie Bahou is the Chief People Officer at PopHealthCare.

She is a winner of the OnCon Icon Award which recognizes leaders in the Human Resources field.

I met Maggie 20 years ago when she was an HR Director for a state retirement system.

I remember being impressed with how wise and how highly respected she was even in the early stages of her career, and have watched her become a widely respected HR leader on an even bigger stage.

In this info-packed interview, Maggie shares her experience of doing a significant career shift and the keys to making it work.

She also provides great advice to career changers as well as people considering the  Human Resources field as a profession.

I was truly amazed at how much valuable insight Maggie packed into a short interview!

Just a quick aside about the circumstances of how we met that I hope will provide you with encouragement if you are in the process of networking and reaching out to people in the hopes of discovering your next opportunity.

It’s a story of how you never know what step you take can be a total game-changer.

It’s like that Woody Allen quote about 80% of success in life is just showing up.

I remember the event I spoke at where Maggie learned about my work, because driving there was a total nightmare.

It was about 90 minutes of white knuckle driving in snow and sleet.

I don’t remember the details of what went on my head as I squinted through the near white out conditions, but I’m sure they weren’t thoughts along the lines of “What a great opportunity! I’m glad I’m doing this!”

But…because I did show up and did my best–despite the harrowing drive—Maggie liked what I had to say and introduced me to her Executive Director, which resulted in me working with their leadership team.

That project resulted in the Executive Director asking me to work with three subsequent organizations he led.

As I white knuckled it through Maine and New Hampshire that evening, I had no idea that the decision to speak at this event—which I was regretting the whole way there—would translate into a LOT of business over the years.

So you never know what one little “Yes”, one bit of outreach, will make a huge difference on your journey.

OK…let’s get to the interview.

Here’s some of what Maggie shares in this info-packed interview.

0:00 – Maggie talks about what she does as a Chief People Officer

7:40 – Maggie talks about her career journey and how she “literally fell into HR”. She started out in IT as a programmer for a large consulting firm and quickly discovered that with all the travel, it was not a good fit for her. She used her network to search for opportunities, and discovered a temporary role in HR to fill in for an employee on maternity leave.  She talks about learning the ropes and adding to her skill and experience portfolio on the job.

11:30 – Maggie talks about the keys to her making a successful pivot.

13:30 – Maggie’s recommendation to people in their 20s  about their anxiety over not having a clear idea of what they want to do for the rest of their lives

16:00 – Maggie’s thoughts about how career changers can show they can do the job even though they don’t have that specific experience. She also gives other advice.

18:30 – Maggie’s opinion about functional resumes (I was surprised).

20:40 – Maggie talks about what skills and values have been most important to her success as an HR professional. She draws on her background in technology in thinking about HR as being the “user interface” between managers and employees. She also demonstrates part of what has made her so successful: she thinks and acts like a successful business owner…always thinking about how she can provide value to her customers.