Heart at Work with Trina Sunday

What if the thing sustaining great HR leaders isn’t resilience, but community? In this solo episode, I talk about why so many HR and people leaders feel emotionally isolated despite being constantly surrounded by people, meetings and professional networks. I talk about the hidden weight of people work, the science behind contribution and connection, and why genuine support systems matter more than ever in leadership. I also share why I believe the future of HR will be shaped less by bigger ...

Are you feeling like you’re giving more at work but getting less back? Something has shifted at work. You can feel it, I can too. And in this episode, I unpack what’s really going on beneath the surface. This isn’t just burnout. It’s something deeper. A quiet change in the deal between people and organisations that no one has clearly named. I walk through what the research is saying and what it means in real life. From rising expectations and shrinking support, to the growing pressure arou...

What happens when the world feels unpredictable, and even showing up as yourself starts to feel risky? I’ve just come out of a week inside the United Nations, and what stayed with me wasn’t just the conversations on gender equality. It was something more personal. A moment where I questioned how safe it really is to fully show up, even in environments we assume are stable. In this episode, I talk about how global uncertainty is shaping psychological safety at work. Why geopolitics is no lo...

Have you ever sat in a leadership meeting where everyone agrees that people come first, until the pressure hits? In this episode, I talk about the uncomfortable gap between what leaders say they value and how they actually behave when urgency, performance pressure or competing priorities take over. Because knowing what good leadership looks like is one thing. Practising it under pressure is another. I tell you about my Head, Heart and Hands framework and share why integration is the real le...

Are you still being seen as the compliance department with good intentions, when your organisation needs your influence? In this episode, I tackle HR’s identity crisis head on. I share why I believe HR’s biggest threat right now isn’t compliance failure, it’s irrelevance. After 25 plus years in HR leadership and consulting, I’ve seen brilliant HR professionals shrink themselves to fit outdated expectations. Reliable, responsive, diplomatic and often invisible at the executive table. I explo...

There’s a quiet tension in HR. We’re told people are our greatest asset… right before people strategy gets pushed aside for operational urgency. So what if there’s a braver way to lead work? Heart at Work with Trina Sunday is for HR leaders and change-makers who believe people and performance can thrive side by side, and who refuse to let people become the collateral damage of ambition. Hosted by human-first leadership strategist and creator of the HEART Work™ model, Trina Sunday brings 25...

Ever been pulled aside for a “quick chat” that blew out your whole day? In this episode of Reimagining HR, I’m pulling back the curtain on what HR really looks like in Australia. From “she’ll be right” risk management to navigating the weird mix of informality and high-stakes regulation. This one’s for the HR professionals holding it all together, often with a straight face and a cancelled lunch. You’ll hear what sets Australian HR apart. What makes our leadership style so uniquely low-key,...

Is your reward system really reflecting what you value most, or just what’s easiest to measure? As the year wraps, I sat down with Warren Land, Director of the Reward Practice and one of Australia's leading experts in remuneration and incentive design, to talk about what rewards are really saying in our workplaces. This conversation goes beyond the bonus to look at fairness, transparency, and the power dynamics hiding in our pay structures. You’ll hear what’s changing in total rewards, what l...

What does fear look like in your workplace, and what would happen if we replaced it with trust? This episode of Reimagining HR is a heart-first, straight-talking conversation between me and workplace transformation expert Prina Shah. We unpack what fear-based leadership really looks like, how it shows up in our systems and behaviours, and what it takes to lead with trust and courage instead. We talk about HR’s unique role, absorbing fear, protecting trust, and helping leaders do both. We also...

Feeling the weight of holding it all together in HR? What if your exhaustion isn’t just stress... but accumulated trauma? HR fatigue is real, and it’s quietly burning out the people at the heart of our workplaces. In this solo episode, I talk about the emotional weight of being the organisational shock absorber, and why traditional HR models are no longer sustainable for many of us. You’ll hear why exhaustion in HR goes deeper than just being busy, what people fatigue really looks like, and h...

Are your people spiritually starving at work and is that quietly costing your business? In this episode, I’m talking about soul food at work. Not catered lunches or coffee tabs, the real stuff. The kind that nourishes your spirit and shifts a workplace from transactional to transformational. I’ll walk you through what feeding the soul looks like inside an organisation, and why it’s far from fluffy. You’ll hear how practices like gratitude, purpose alignment and emotional awareness are backed ...

What if the skills you’ve honed in HR are exactly what’s needed to be a CEO? In this episode, I challenge one of the most frustrating myths in the business world. That HR leaders can’t become CEOs. I spotlight some standout CHRO-to-CEO success stories, from Leena Nair’s leap from Unilever to Chanel, to Mary Barra’s transformation of General Motors, to Anne Mulcahy pulling Xerox back from the brink. These aren't just career highlights; they’re proof that people leadership is business leaders...

What if leading with heart was the most strategic move you could make? In this episode of Reimagining HR, I challenge the old-school discomfort around emotions in the boardroom and unpack why heart-led leadership isn’t fluffy, it’s functional. From the red dust of the Pilbara to the pressure of the C-suite, I share real stories, data and practical tools that prove heart is hardwired for performance. You’ll hear about the ripple effects of compassion in action, autonomy that works, and conne...