HR Bytes S5Ep1: Jay Polaki in conversation with Kandi Gongora

2025-09-27

Jay Polaki, Founder and CEO of HR Geckos (https://hrgeckos.com/), sits with Kandi Gongora—Chief Transformation and People Officer at Goodway Group and now CHRO at The Car Group, a visionary HR leader with over 20 years of global experience. In this episode, Kandi shares a practical approach to embracing AI in HR: start with curiosity, experiment with small processes, and seek learning opportunities from mentors and digital forums. Key takeaways: Being open and adaptable is critical—yesterday’s best practices may not solve tomorrow’s problems. Human-AI collaboration is essential; tools like “Ruby” ...

In this episode, Kandi shares a practical approach to embracing AI in HR: start with curiosity, experiment with small processes, and seek learning opportunities from mentors and digital forums.

Key takeaways:

Being open and adaptable is critical—yesterday’s best practices may not solve tomorrow’s problems.
Human-AI collaboration is essential; tools like “Ruby” enable strategic impact while keeping the human touch at the core of performance management.
AI empowers HR to move faster, become more strategic partners to the business, and focus on high-value work.
Start experimenting on a personal level, remain proactive about new tech, and always align technology adoption with business objectives

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Reach Jay on Social:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpolaki/

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Reach Kandi Gongora on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kandigongora/

Kandi’s connection recommendations: Eva Feng

Kandi’s Podcast recommendation: The Ready

Kandi’s HR Playlist recommendation: Love Shack

Give our work from anywhere Spotify HR Music Playlist, Geckos Grooves, a listen: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cgLqXsUutUyfBha9ICNFT?si=06dd8ea87f0a4810

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