QueeHR Leader Spotlight: Brooke Sullivan

What immediately strikes me about Brooke (aside from the joy she brings) is how seriously she takes her responsibility as a leader. As the Principal People & Talent Partner at Hyperproof, she knows the kind of impact she can have on people’s lives, and honors that with her level of commitment to the work. For Brooke, it’s not about checklists, roles and responsibilities. She is helping people thrive.

To me, Brooke embodies what it means to be people first. That’s why I’m so excited to spotlight her thoughts on leadership and bring you her personal insights with this interview.

What would you like our readers to know about you?

I’m a New Englander, a mom to two littles under 5, a partner, a dog mom and womens soccer enthusiasts. I’ve worked in the Talent Acquisition and Human Resources space for several years within a few different industries from higher education and health care to more recently within the tech start-up space.

What’s important and meaningful to you about your work?

When people ask me this question, I constantly think about the end. And by the end, I mean, looking back at my life in a retrospective. Thinking about how I know I did “good work” on this earth. What it comes down to for me is the People, ultimately the individuals I’ve had the pleasure to meet along the way and help.

Maybe it was helping a recent college grad find their first job or maybe it was helping a mom transition back into the workforce after a break, maybe it was helping a team really think about diversity in a new way and attract more impactful candidates. All of these moments accumulate for me into feeling like the work I am doing is meaningful and impactful.

What's most important is being helpful and useful to those around me. I enjoy the partnership and collaboration of my work but I am always seeking new ways to be more of a resource.

What does it mean to “bring your authentic self” to work? How do you practice this?

Bringing my authentic self to work means being seen for who I am but also feeling safe and vulnerable enough to do that no matter the audience. It's also holding space for others who may not be ready to share or be seen and helping them feel ok with how they would like to be seen in each moment.

I try to build strong relationships and lead with humanity and empathy in conversations. Everyone's journey is unique and personal. I’ve worked in a few different orgs in my life and sometimes I felt comfortable to share and other times I kept a very surface relationship. I used to tell myself it was to help others feel more comfortable with me but I realized it was me being scared to share.

In the last few years I have really deepened my toolbelt to help me navigate and help others around me. One tool I utilize when I can is to celebrate others and if I am not the best resource then to find resources around me. I also love to celebrate holidays or milestones people want to recognize or national moments or news that affects our colleagues. Celebration can be a powerful tool for allyship and invitation to those new on their allyship journey.

Inviting others to bring their whole self to work and feeling authentically them is not only a challenge personally I work on as a leader in the HR space but also I feel being in a position of influence its my role to find and develop my own confidence to use my voice.

Another tool I utilize is a Thoughtful Challenge. When I see an opportunity to educate or facilitate a learning moment for someone I try to approach it as a thoughtful challenge vs. a correction. I pose questions vs. state corrections. For example if an incorrect pronoun is utilized, its, “do you want to try that again with the person's preferred pronoun?” giving someone the chance to lean in and do better gives them the confidence to continue to show up for others.

What is your definition of leadership?

My definition of leadership would be someone who is a natural connector and can build influence through not only action or words, but also in celebration of others success. Someone who can see gems of possibility and help others to see them for themselves.

Also someone who is accountable for not only success but also failures. I’ve had the joy of working with my mentor and leader for several years and learning from her in so many ways. She has shared with me that she measures her success as a leader by how many leaders she has created. I feel similarly that I hope to measure my own success as a leader in how I have been able to empower others.

What is something you still struggle with as a leader who identifies as LGBTQ+?

Language and timing, I still struggle with sharing my story in a concise way or one where I don’t stumble over what to share or how much is needed to know me. My relationship presents straight to those who do not know our story and is not obvious or known and is often not acknowledged. In my own journey I realize this can be true for others and often it's not a “tell it all at once” conversation, maybe it's learn as you go.

What resources do you tap into for support?

I love our QueeHR group and the people I’ve met through the group. I now meet weekly with a few outside of our monthly connections to discuss work and challenges we are each tackling in our HR space. I find networking and meeting new people will forever be my go to resource.

Tell us about something you’re especially proud of, work or non-work related.

It's something I’m working on right now actually, this year within my current org we are offering a new discussion series, “Exercising Empathy” and I can’t wait to tackle so many rich topics this year with our teams.

What excites you about the future of work/leadership?

So many things, through the hard moments of covid and the new work life we are creating I am enjoying seeing the mold breaking and a new mold emerge with leaders who are eager to understand and learn how they can build a culture where their employees are more than just a job they fill or a project they work on. I love this refresh of investment in individuals.

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For more information about the QueeHR community we’re building, you can visit my community page and request to join our LinkedIn group.