The Breaking Views Thu, 21 May 2026 00:05:15 -0400 https://thebreakingviews.buzzsprout.com en-us © 2026 The Breaking Views yes c32d1e42-b95b-56fc-a7e1-471d498c898c Theresa episodic false Two seasoned HR leaders sit down twice a month to talk about what's actually happening at the intersection of HR, AI, and business. No scripted intros. No 10-minute bios. Just Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto pulling headlines, reacting to what's real, and breaking down what it means for people leaders trying to keep up.


Theresa is a 25-year HR Executive, and the founder of peoplepower.ai, an MIT-certified AI Strategist, and author of People Powered by AI. She spends her days training HR teams to build real fluency with AI tools and stop waiting for permission to lead.


Anthony is the creator of AI in HR Today, VP of Platform and Product Marketing at 15Five, and author of The New Employee Contract: How to Find, Keep, and Elevate Gen Z Talent. He's been a CPO, scaled teams from 40 to 3,000, founded an HR AI company before ChatGPT existed, and has lived through every major tech wave from dot-com to mobile to social.


Together, they bring a combined perspective that's hard to find anywhere else: deep HR experience, real fluency in AI and technology, and zero interest in sugarcoating the hard parts.


Each episode starts with what's in the feed - LinkedIn, the news, the latest lawsuit or product launch - and turns it into the kind of conversation HR leaders actually need. When the topic calls for it, they'll bring in specialists. But mostly, it's the two of them doing what they do best: making sense of the chaos, calling out the hype, and figuring out what actually works.


For CHROs, CPOs, HR leaders, and anyone in the people space who's tired of being told AI will change everything without anyone explaining what to do on Monday morning.
















]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Theresa https://storage.buzzsprout.com/lsa7c3zywodeovtevn22uyrvua2x?.jpg The Breaking Views Anthony Onesto Theresa Fesinstine Episode 4: HR's Identity Crisis: Are We Business Leaders or Not? Episode 4: HR's Identity Crisis: Are We Business Leaders or Not? In this episode of Breaking Views, Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto explore the intersection of HR, business strategy, and the evolving role of human capital.

The conversation begins with reflections from the Troop HR Retreat, highlighting the importance of connection, intentional design, and creating space for meaningful dialogue beyond traditional conference formats.

From there, the discussion expands into a broader critique of today’s HR landscape. They examine the gap between HR-focused content and true business fluency, questioning whether current conferences and conversations are adequately preparing HR leaders to operate as strategic business partners.

The episode also dives into topics like resilience, leadership mindset, and the need for more rigorous, standardized ways to measure human capital’s impact on business outcomes.

Throughout, the conversation challenges assumptions, surfaces tensions, and pushes toward a more integrated view of HR as a core driver of organizational success.

A wide-ranging, candid discussion that connects what’s happening in the world of work to what’s needed next.

]]> In this episode of Breaking Views, Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto explore the intersection of HR, business strategy, and the evolving role of human capital.

The conversation begins with reflections from the Troop HR Retreat, highlighting the importance of connection, intentional design, and creating space for meaningful dialogue beyond traditional conference formats.

From there, the discussion expands into a broader critique of today’s HR landscape. They examine the gap between HR-focused content and true business fluency, questioning whether current conferences and conversations are adequately preparing HR leaders to operate as strategic business partners.

The episode also dives into topics like resilience, leadership mindset, and the need for more rigorous, standardized ways to measure human capital’s impact on business outcomes.

Throughout, the conversation challenges assumptions, surfaces tensions, and pushes toward a more integrated view of HR as a core driver of organizational success.

A wide-ranging, candid discussion that connects what’s happening in the world of work to what’s needed next.

]]> Theresa Buzzsprout-19127726 Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 2427 1 4 full true Episode 3: Fired by Text, Hired by AI Episode 3: Fired by Text, Hired by AI Theresa and Anthony unpack why every HR conversation right now seems to be either 100% AI or nothing, and what that leaves out. They dig into the wave of AI-justified layoffs at Snap, Oracle, Block, and Allbirds, the Gen Z backlash showing up as employees refuse to train their own replacements, and where the unions are in all of it. Theresa makes the case for a workforce that's part W2, part 1099, part agent, and what that means for benefits, loyalty, and accountability. Anthony shares the AI layoff tracker he vibe-coded for himself and asks whether employees are starting to keep receipts on the companies doing this. They close with a pivot for next time: shifting the lens from who's getting it wrong to who's getting it right.

]]> Theresa and Anthony unpack why every HR conversation right now seems to be either 100% AI or nothing, and what that leaves out. They dig into the wave of AI-justified layoffs at Snap, Oracle, Block, and Allbirds, the Gen Z backlash showing up as employees refuse to train their own replacements, and where the unions are in all of it. Theresa makes the case for a workforce that's part W2, part 1099, part agent, and what that means for benefits, loyalty, and accountability. Anthony shares the AI layoff tracker he vibe-coded for himself and asks whether employees are starting to keep receipts on the companies doing this. They close with a pivot for next time: shifting the lens from who's getting it wrong to who's getting it right.

]]> Theresa Buzzsprout-19067180 Fri, 08 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400 2490 1 3 full true Episode 2: AI Security, Layoffs, and the HR Leader's Dilemma Episode 2: AI Security, Layoffs, and the HR Leader's Dilemma Theresa and Anthony take on a full news cycle of AI security breaches, the wave of layoffs tied to AI bets at Disney, Amazon, and Block, and the pressure HR leaders are facing from every direction. They talk about what it means when companies announce layoffs in the name of AI and then quietly start rehiring, whether employees are "keeping receipts" on employer behavior, and why the people function has to grow its own AI fluency to lead through this moment. Plus a detour into Disney's knockout video, Danny Meyer's employee-first playbook, and why intentional culture still separates the companies that scale from the ones that stall.

]]> Theresa and Anthony take on a full news cycle of AI security breaches, the wave of layoffs tied to AI bets at Disney, Amazon, and Block, and the pressure HR leaders are facing from every direction. They talk about what it means when companies announce layoffs in the name of AI and then quietly start rehiring, whether employees are "keeping receipts" on employer behavior, and why the people function has to grow its own AI fluency to lead through this moment. Plus a detour into Disney's knockout video, Danny Meyer's employee-first playbook, and why intentional culture still separates the companies that scale from the ones that stall.

]]> Theresa Buzzsprout-19067163 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0400 2058 1 2 full true Episode 1: The Break Out! Episode 1: The Break Out! Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto kick off their new podcast the only way that makes sense: by pulling a headline straight from LinkedIn and ripping into it.

The conversation starts with the class action lawsuit filed against EightfoldAI in California, alleging the company scraped social media and public data to build candidate profiles without consent. But instead of piling onto the fear cycle, Theresa and Anthony dig into what's actually worth paying attention to and what's just noise. They unpack the media hype machine around AI, the predictable rotation of panic topics (safety, environment, water usage), and why HR leaders keep getting caught between "adopt everything" pressure from the C-suite and "trust nothing" instincts from a career spent managing risk.

The real thread running through this episode: HR's relationship with permission. Why are so many CHROs still asking IT if they can have the tools they need instead of directing what their function requires? Anthony shares the story of being Workday's 61st customer because he refused to wait for approval, and Theresa breaks down the difference between requesting technology and presenting a business case with ROI expectations attached. It's a distinction that changes the entire dynamic.

They also get into the parallels between AI hype and every previous tech wave (dot-com, mobile, social), why lawsuits can actually be a good thing for the industry, and how tools like Gemini and ChatGPT's Pulse feature are shaping how they stay sharp day to day.

]]> Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto kick off their new podcast the only way that makes sense: by pulling a headline straight from LinkedIn and ripping into it.

The conversation starts with the class action lawsuit filed against EightfoldAI in California, alleging the company scraped social media and public data to build candidate profiles without consent. But instead of piling onto the fear cycle, Theresa and Anthony dig into what's actually worth paying attention to and what's just noise. They unpack the media hype machine around AI, the predictable rotation of panic topics (safety, environment, water usage), and why HR leaders keep getting caught between "adopt everything" pressure from the C-suite and "trust nothing" instincts from a career spent managing risk.

The real thread running through this episode: HR's relationship with permission. Why are so many CHROs still asking IT if they can have the tools they need instead of directing what their function requires? Anthony shares the story of being Workday's 61st customer because he refused to wait for approval, and Theresa breaks down the difference between requesting technology and presenting a business case with ROI expectations attached. It's a distinction that changes the entire dynamic.

They also get into the parallels between AI hype and every previous tech wave (dot-com, mobile, social), why lawsuits can actually be a good thing for the industry, and how tools like Gemini and ChatGPT's Pulse feature are shaping how they stay sharp day to day.

]]> Theresa Buzzsprout-18955534 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0400 1749 full false