01
The exit isn't the failure
What HR actually sees when someone leaves, and why the profession still treats departure as a defeat instead of a design choice.
An Executive Nomad podcast
The HR Sessions
Up to six HR voices.
One table.
Every month.
Four to six HR professionals sit down together and talk about the parts of the job nobody puts in a LinkedIn post. We record with two or three if that's who we have. Not a solo interview. Not a webinar. A room.
Monthly, on the second Tuesday at 4pm UK (11am US Eastern). Remote, worldwide.
A short intro from Jamie (1 min)
Also on video
Next up
See all datesHow it works
Five steps. One of them optional.
- 1
Apply
Tell us where you sit in HR, freelance or in-house, and which of the six angles you'd take.
- 2
Optional alignment call
Book one if you'd like to talk first. Not required.
- 3
You're booked
Date, theme, and fellow panelists confirmed ahead of recording.
- 4
Record
45 to 60 minutes, remote, video and audio.
- 5
Your episode goes live
Usually within two weeks, you get the YouTube link to share. Reserved and Season seats also get the full video and every clip in one shared folder.
Upcoming sessions
Pick your Tuesday.
Monthly, on the second Tuesday at 4pm UK (11am US Eastern).
10Nov
2026
2026
Losing the role, not the value
When a senior leader is made redundant, the job disappears but 25 to 30 years of know-how doesn't. What should happen to it?
“A company can make a director's role redundant. It can't make 30 years of experience redundant.”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
8Dec
2026
2026
Beyond outplacement: should HR help leaders go independent?
Outplacement usually means CV help and job hunting. Should HR also help leaders who want to start their own consulting or advisory business?
“What if the best outcome of outplacement wasn't another job, but a business built on everything that leader already knows?”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
12Jan
2027
2027
AI is reaching managers
AI cuts used to be about junior roles. Now companies are removing management layers too. What's left for experienced leaders?
“AI isn't only coming for junior roles. It has reached the management layer.”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
9Feb
2027
2027
The portfolio career: is one job enough anymore?
More senior people are combining several roles (board seats, consulting, part-time leadership) instead of one full-time job.
“The one-employer career is ending for senior leaders too. Is your next chapter designed or accidental?”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
9Mar
2027
2027
Public sector cuts: supporting senior leaders through exit schemes
Governments, the NHS and councils are cutting senior roles and offering exit packages. What support do these leaders get beyond the money?
“An exit package buys you time. It doesn't buy you a plan.”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
13Apr
2027
2027
Burnout at the top: who supports the leaders (and HR)?
Many senior leaders are exhausted and thinking of stepping away, and HR people running restructures are burning out too.
“Wanting to leave leadership isn't the same as wanting to stop leading.”
Tuesday, 4pm UK
(11am US Eastern)
Not sure which date suits you? Chat first.
Seat types
Three ways to take a seat.
Panel seat
Free
Join the conversation. Book a free seat on the panel and share your view with HR peers. Once the episode is live, you’ll get the YouTube link to share with your network.
Book a panel seatReserved seat
$50
Your date, guaranteed. Pick your Tuesday and your seat is locked in the moment you pay. Afterwards, you get the full episode video to download, plus every clip we cut from it, all in one shared folder. Your booking helps cover the cost of producing each episode.
Reserve my dateSeason seat
$100 a month
Be a regular voice in HR. A guaranteed seat every month, so your network sees you in the conversation again and again. After every episode you join, you get the full video and every clip, all in one shared folder. You book your date through your private members’ link.
Become a memberEvery seat joins the same conversation with the same panel. Paying never buys a script. It buys your date and your footage.
Topics for HR professionals
Six angles. One conversation you don't usually get to have.
You're not booked for one lane. Bring the angle that fits where you sit, or range across all six.
02
Redundancy, done properly
The gap between the process HR is handed and the process HR wishes it could run. What dignified actually looks like when nobody's budget agrees with it.
03
HR as the last honest function
Why HR ends up holding the truth about a business that leadership doesn't want to say out loud, and what that costs the people who carry it.
04
Freelance HR and the trust problem
Building an independent HR practice when the market still assumes "freelance" means "couldn't get hired."
05
AI, and what HR is actually worried about
Not the panic headlines. The real operational question: what does HR's job look like in three years, and who's deciding that.
06
What happens to the people who leave well
The senior leaders HR has helped exit gracefully. Where they end up. What HR never finds out, and maybe should.
Who it's for
Senior HR. In‑house or freelance.
You've sat in the room when the redundancies were decided, run the exit interviews nobody wanted to run, and watched the org chart get redrawn twice in one year while everyone asked you to make it feel dignified.
You have a point of view. You've mostly kept it to yourself, because HR isn't supposed to have opinions out loud.
This is where it goes on record.
"I've spent thirty years watching HR carry the reinvention conversation for everyone else in the business. Nobody has one for them. So we built a room for it."
The format
Up to six voices. One table. Every month.
- When
- Monthly, on the second Tuesday4pm UK (11am US Eastern)
- Panel
- 4 to 6 HR professionals, freelance and in‑houseWe record with two or three if that's who we have.
- Length
- 45 to 60 minutesStructured around one theme, not a free-for-all
- Recording
- Remote, released as video and audio
- Commitment
- One episode or a recurring seat, your call
What panelists take away
Being recorded is the smallest part of this.
Here's the rest.
Your episode, ready to share
Once the episode is live, you get the YouTube link to share with your network. Every seat, including the free one.
The full video and every clip
With a Reserved or Season seat, you get the full episode video to download, plus every clip we cut from it, all in one shared folder.
An audience that isn't already yours
We promote the episode to our list and network. You're in front of people who've never heard of you.
The room itself
Four to six senior HR peers, in one conversation, more than once if you come back. This is the actual reason to apply.
Your host
Jamie Sylvian.
Jamie Sylvian is the founder of Executive Nomad. He has worked independently since 1991, co-founded SIRA Utilities, the business that led to the creation of uSwitch.com (sold for £210 million in 2006), and has built client bases in thirteen countries. Advisory work spanning the British Royal Family, the House of Lords, and the Chairman of British Gas.
Executive Nomad Limited.
The HR Sessions exists for one reason: HR professionals see career reinvention up close, more often than anyone else in a business, and get asked about it the least.
Ready?
Apply for a panel seat.
Monthly, on the second Tuesday at 4pm UK (11am US Eastern). Four to six voices. One table. Available worldwide, remote recording.
Showreels