From Cyber Warfare to Chief People Officer with Seagate's Patricia Frost

Rob sits down with Patricia Frost, EVP and Chief People and Places Officer at Seagate Technology, whose path to the C-suite ran through 32 years in the US Army, culminating as Director of Cyber Electronic Warfare and Information Operations. Patricia brings a framework for AI adoption that is military in its discipline and deeply human in its values: leave no one behind, train before you field, and let the people tell you where the friction is. The conversation covers how Seagate built a 400-person AI Forward Collective of certified champions, why HR, not IT, should own the AI transformation, how to measure impact beyond time saved, and what it looks like when a CPO uses AI to run her own week. This is one of the most operationally detailed AI adoption conversations the show has had.

Key takeaways

• The AI transformation is not a technology problem. It is a people problem. HR needs to own it alongside IT, not wait for IT to lead it.
• Seagate built an AI Forward Collective of 400 certified champions who went through rigorous training, built and deployed agents, and now mentor peers across the org. Peer trust moves faster than top-down mandates.
• Don't just measure time saved. Measure energy, enthusiasm, and whether people feel more or less burdened. Some of the most important AI outcomes can't be quantified.
• The military never fielded new equipment by just handing it out and saying figure it out. Neither should your company. Train first, build confidence, then change the workflows.
• AI adoption has to come from the bottom up. HR leaders don't know where the friction lives in daily workflows. The champions and the employees do.
  
  

  Patricia on LinkedIn

  A Soundbeam Studios Production