The Work of Being an HR Executive: Navigating Expectations, Influence, and Role Boundaries with Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes, DBA Candidate
The Work of Being an HR Executive: Navigating Expectations, Influence, and Role Boundaries
Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 12:00-1:15 pm
This session has been approved for 1.25 SHRM PDCs and 1.25 HRCI Business Credits
Summary
What does it really take to succeed as an HR executive when expectations are not always clear or aligned?
Drawing on 105 workplace interactions identified through in-depth interviews with 26 senior HR executives across eight industries, Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes will examine the often-unspoken expectations that shape executive leadership. An executive’s role is not defined solely by formal authority or a job description. It is also shaped by recurring interactions in which expectations may be aligned, unclear, or in conflict.
Participants will explore how HR executives navigate these situations by framing challenges, demonstrating value, exercising strategic restraint, responding selectively to stakeholder needs, bringing people together, and adjusting their approach to influence. The session will provide a practical, research-based framework to help leaders respond more intentionally to complex interactions while strengthening their credibility, influence, and overall effectiveness.
Key Takeaways
- Identify and analyze different expectation conditions, including aligned, under-specified, and misaligned expectations, and assess how they shape the executive role work required in a given interaction.
- Evaluate alternative executive actions for navigating consequential role interactions, including framing situations, demonstrating value, exercising strategic restraint, selectively accommodating, convening collective action, and calibrating influence.
- Apply a process-based framework for executive role navigation by considering how conditions, executive actions, stakeholder responses, and interactional settlements combine to shape credibility, influence, and subsequent leadership interactions.
Speaker
Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes , Senior Vice President, HRBP, Research & Development, Bristol Myers Squibb
Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes is a human resources executive and doctoral candidate at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. He currently serves as Vice President and Head of Human Resources for Research at Bristol Myers Squibb and has held leadership roles at Novartis, Google, Harvard University, and McKinsey & Company.
His work spans executive leadership, talent, organizational strategy, and the changing role of senior leaders in complex organizations. His doctoral research examines how executives navigate expectations, role boundaries, identity, and influence, drawing on in-depth research with 26 senior HR executives.
Jamaal holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a B.A. from St. John’s College. He is also a Harry S. Truman Scholar and former Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.
This Virtual Lunch and Learn is presented in partnership with Drexel University, which is generously sponsoring our featured speaker.
Tickets
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$40.00
This is a donation, not an event ticket.
