Ep. 54 - “Getting Back On Your Feet” w/ Rhonda Brandon

Reignite your career passions with Rhonda Brandon as she gives advice on how to act when you’re burnt out or feeling unvalued in the workplace. Rhonda is the Chief Human Resources Officer and SVP at Duke University Health System, and her purpose statement is to “set the stage, so the brilliance of others may shine.”

“In the pain that I experienced, I am grateful because I chose to be grateful.”

– Rhonda Brandon

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Learn more about Rhonda’s career starting as a burned-out employee to becoming the Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President at Duke University Health System. Rhonda is also a valuable mentor and executive coach, and she loves to help individuals and nurture them to be their best self in the workplace.

Rhonda’s journey as an executive in human resources started at Nike, where she was the Director in Human Resources for their Global Information Technology department. Rhonda started as a senior worker, reporting to the company’s first Vice President and Chief Information Officer. She was later promoted as Director and led a team of HR employees to globally assist over 40 IT and HR directors and 1,200 IT employees across US, Asia, and Europe. As Director, she drove a major change in management to align Nike’s IT resources with their new vision for technology.

After Nike, Rhonda worked as the Vice President in Human Resources for Colonial Pipeline Company in Atlanta, where she improved overall business performance by leading systemic organizational and cultural changes. At Colonial Pipeline Company, Rhonda’s HR team served geographically-dispersed clients in “areas of staffing, recruiting, HR information systems, employee relations, payroll, total rewards.”

In 2006, Rhonda moved to Missouri where she worked as the Vice President in Human Resources and Organization Effectiveness at Missouri Baptist Medical Center for 5 years. During her time there, she progressed healthcare services and solutions before moving to St. Louis to work for BJC Healthcare as their Vice President in Human Resources Operations. Rhonda was promoted as the SVP & Chief Human Resources Officer in 2012, where she led 200 HR professionals. At BJC, Rhonda’s team was responsible for establishing standardized practices across 26,000 caregivers and ensuring that all human capital programs were aligned with BJC’s mission.

In 2016, Rhonda moved to Durham, NC to work as the SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer for Duke University Health System.

“Within my well-researched body of work, I’ve created links between individual career agility and workforce agility, two essential behaviors for thriving in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

The flexible agility model enables individuals and organizations to better assess fluid circumstances with the goal of adapting to change in a strategic manner.

According to my research the agility mindset can be learned and is one of the most needed power skills in the workplace today. Organizations require agility thinkers to move their organizations forward, especially in times of disruption and uncertainty.

Job seekers and the employers who hire them benefit from the nimble and forward-thinking approach of those who forge the future and cultivate agility, rather than stop in their tracks via stagnation.

The World Economic Forum when referring to organizational resilience in response to the pandemic, mentioned,

“When asked about “being more agile”, having fluid teams and workers with broad skill sets were most important to companies – above agile work practices, or agile organization design.”

Contact me for keynote speeches, training and coaching:

Job search strategies for mid-careerists in a time of change

Agility skills training for individuals and teams

Personal brand development for individuals, teams, and leadership with organizations

My processes and exercises will help you cultivate observation skills, flex your personal agility muscle, and develop adaptability intelligence for your job search or business strategies.”