Becks Port, Chief People Officer at Okta, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why AI agents should be treated like digital coworkers, how Okta is thinking about agents on the org chart, and what the future of HR, career development, security, and team design could look like as humans work alongside machines.
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(07:45) AI Agents as Coworkers and Digital Workers
(08:20) Why Agents Need Managers, Accountability and Clear Handoffs
(09:00) Which AI Agents Belong on the Org Chart
(11:10) Deconstructing and Reconstructing Roles Around AI
(13:15) How AI Is Creating New Roles at Okta
(14:00) Dex, Okta’s Internal Agent for Employee Queries and Tasks
(15:45) Why Okta Is Adding an Agentic Coach to the Org Chart
(18:20) Decision-Making With Human and Agentic Coworkers
(19:10) Why Task-Level Granularity Matters for AI Delegation
(20:45) Okta’s Head of AI Transformation Role
(21:15) Building Agentic Coaches and Onboarding Agents
(22:00) Upskilling Employees to Become AI Proficient
(23:15) The Future Structure of the People Team
(25:00) Coaches, Advisors, Workforce Architects and Embedded Tech Talent
(27:10) Why AI Proficiency Is the Safest Career Bet
(29:10) Why Graduate Programs and Rotational Programs May Make a Comeback
(32:35) Why Getting an Agent on the Org Chart Is a 12-Month Process
(34:35) Securing AI Agents, Access and Kill Switches
(37:30) Digital Colleagues That Never Sleep
(40:05) Why Future Teams May Be Organized Around Processes Instead of Functions
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Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.
