‘123456’ password? LOL
Heyheyhey,
If you’re like me, you’ve reached the point where every damn conversation somehow circles back to AI these days. 😐
It’s in our tools, our meetings, even our small talk, and worst of all?!
It’s ruined the em dash by overusing it into oblivion!
(You didn’t deserve this, my beloved —.)
But hey, at least we’re all figuring it out together, RIGHT???
On the bright side, we’re also being reminded just how important the human being using the tools is, otherwise you risk ending up with an avoidable mess. I got receipts below.
Time to sprinkle some ✨mood boost✨ energy on this busy Wednesday!
🗞️ Here’s the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied
🍟 McDonald’s hiring AI bot used ‘123456’ password, exposing data of 64M applicants
The TL;DR: McDonald’s AI hiring platform, McHire, leaked 64M job applicants’ data due to a hilariously weak password on a vendor’s system. The breach highlights third-party vendor risks, AI security gaps, and the costly fallout of negligence, even if (supposedly) no malicious actors accessed the data.
My POV: This breach isn’t just about McDonald’s, it’s a flashing neon sign for your tech stack!
Every AI tool or vendor you onboard without rigorous security checks is a future liability waiting to pop off.
Demand third-party audits, enforce password policies (yes, even for vendors), and remember: "innovative" means nothing if it’s built on digital duct tape.
Trust is your currency, so don’t let a few cut corners bankrupt it!
🎙️ Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied
“Your employees will respect you more if you just tell them why they’re paid what they’re paid.”Copy anchor linkCopied
On the mic this week: At the start of the year, I brought along a crew of my favorite HR brains to share their boldest, most unhinged, most necessary wishes for the year. We talked compensation, candidate experience, cross-functional disruption, and what it means to defy gravity as an HR leader (yes, there are musical references and yes, I regret nothing).
All-star cast includes:
- Tara Turk-Haynes, Founder of Equity Activations
- Sarika Lamont, VP of People at Vidyard
- Cassidy Edwards, People Operations at Homebase
- Noah Warder, VP of People & Culture at Accent Inns
- Cassandra Babilia, Creator of Make Work Suck Less
Pin this:
- You can’t be strategic in HR if you’re still playing by someone else’s rules.
- Compensation isn’t just salary, it’s the full picture. HR needs to own that narrative.
- Candidate experience is still a disaster. Fix your ATS, fix your messaging.
- HR deserves to be believed the first time we say something will be a problem.
My H*ly Sh*t Moment: The real flex this year (so far) isn’t doing more with less, it’s finally doing less of the wrong 💩!
▶️ Press Play
📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied
Stat: More than 55% of employers are having difficulty hiring and retaining people
My spiral: To me, this is a screaming indictment of how companies still treat talent like an afterthought!
I mean, a lot of People Leaders have been screaming about this for years. This stat is just as much about being a hiring issue as it is about being a systems issue.
People aren’t leaving because they don’t want to work, they’re leaving because they’re tired of being undervalued, overworked, and offered VIBES instead of vision!
Compensation, culture, and career growth aren’t “nice to haves” anymore, they’re the whole game.
🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF
You spend most of your days advocating for your team, whether it’s through coaching, firefighting, holding boundaries, or building culture.
But have you paused to consider the version of you your team experiences every day?
Here’s something to sit with:
“If your team described you in three words, what do you hope they’d say?”
Not what they might say, what you want them to say. That gap? That’s where the work lives!
🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:
You know how we obsess over engagement scores and retention strategies?
Sometimes the most powerful fix isn’t a program, but a question!
Try this tomorrow:
“Ask someone how they want to be recognized, not just how often.”
Because a Slack shoutout doesn’t hit the same for everyone, and no one wants “appreciation” that feels like a checkbox, y’know?
👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE
I’m recklessly eyeballing the posts in Safe Space AND SO SHOULD YOU.
Free to apply and free to hang out with the coolest people in our industry.
See ya there?
See ya on Friday!
