PFunc Intro & AMA

Message from our CEO’s Desk

The CEOs who dominate headlines today - the Donald Trumps and Elon Musks, and even the Charlie Kirks of the world - are masters of the absolute declaration. They are certainty personified. While that style grabs attention, I personally wouldn't want to work for ANY of them.

Why? Because I believe in a principle that's become a lost art - strong opinions, loosely held.

One of my favorite CEOs who I ever worked for (shoutout to Fred Dijols, CEO of Mixlab!) had a clear strategic vision (the strong opinion). But he never confused conviction with infallibility. If I walked into his office with data, logic, and a thoughtful argument, he would pivot. Not grudgingly, but on the spot. His ego wasn't tied to his initial idea or to being right. It was tied to finding and working towards the best possible outcome for the business.

Today’s celebrity leaders thrive on rigid certainty. Their decisions are often about performance and personal brand, making them disastrous to work for. This is what rigid, ego-driven leadership costs your company:

• Talent Attrition: Why would top talent bring forward a challenging idea if they know the CEO's mind is a fortress?

• Missed Opportunities: Rigidity means missing market shifts when data proves the initial path is wrong.

• Innovation Loss: Fear replaces creative debate, causing teams to default to 'yes' instead of searching for 'better.'

The lesson for us in the People Function space is critical: Humility is the ultimate competitive advantage. We must be the leaders who know the strategic direction, but we must also foster a culture where the best idea wins, regardless of whose mouth it came out of.

Emma

CEO & Founder, People Function

ICYMI Compliance Tips

Below are a few of the latest HR regulatory and compliance updates published within the last month:

• Federal, (eff. 10/1/2025) - On September 19, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation order imposing a $100,000 processing fee on all new H1-B visa applications submitted by U.S.-based employers. This order is likely to have both financial and operational implications for companies that plan to hire or sponsor foreign talent.

• California, (eff. 10/1/2025) - California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) regulations have been amended to include employers’ use of automated-decision systems (ADSs) that discriminate against applicants or employees based on protected characteristics.

PFunc Recommended Resources

Check out a few of our favorite resources and partners, vetted and recommended by us!

• CandorIQ - CandorIQ offers a unified SaaS platform that helps organizations automate and optimize compensation, headcount planning, and total rewards decisions. Their tools provide data-driven insights, AI-powered recommendations, and integration with HR systems to streamline workforce spend management.

• Plane - Plane is a unified people platform that helps companies manage global payroll, HR, and compliance across employees and contractors in 240+ countries. It automates payments, handles local labor laws, and streamlines cross-border workforce operations.

• Modern People Leader Podcast - The Modern People Leader podcast features conversations with CHROs, Chief People Officers, and other workplace experts about how they’re reimagining HR and leading through evolving workforce challenges.

On The PFunc Market

Talent Spotlight

Check out this vetted candidate who is actively on the market looking for a new role: Please reach out directly to the candidate or reply to this email if you’d like to learn more!

• Jen Keefe, Senior Manager, Customer Success - Jen has lead Customer Experience teams at startups for the past 7 years —including 4 years as Senior Manager of CX at Gainful and is now are pivoting to Customer Success. Jen is eager to apply her customer-centric perspective, relationship-building skills, and product communication expertise to full-time, part-time, or temp-to-perm Customer Success roles.

If you’re on the market for a new role in HR/People Operations, Business Operations, or Leadership & Executive and Executive support roles, and you’d like to be featured in our “Talent Spotlight” section, please submit your information here.

Open Roles in our Network

• Bedrock Ocean Exploration, PFunc Client: VP, Sales - this role will own full-cycle sales and lead go-to-market efforts, close high-value commercial and government contracts, and build a world-class sales organization.

• Everpass, PFunc Client: Director of Content & Business Development - this role will lead efforts to identify, structure, and execute high-impact content deals, develop long-term content roadmaps, and serve as a trusted thought partner to the CEO and executive team.

• Hachette Book Group, PFunc Client: VP, Managed Service Operations - this role will oversee a diverse portfolio of on-prem and multi-cloud enterprise systems that have gone through transformation and are in steady state and build holistic understanding and expertise across various systems, business processes, databases, integrations, IT workloads, and infrastructure.

If you have an open role at your company that you’d like to highlight in our next newsletter, please reply to this email!

PFunc News

PFunc Highlights

People Function is co-hosting an intimate breakfast for with Runtime Revolution to talk "AI in Action," and you're invited! Come hang with our founder and CEO, Emma, plus leaders in engineering, business, people and venture capital, for a lively chat about a slew of topics, from easing team resistance to reimagining engineering teams in an AI-powered world. We’ll wrap with networking and an open Q&A, and no question is off limits! Use our code (pfuncf&f) for a complimentary ticket.

Stay in Touch!

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