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Ask anyone what kind of music they like and there’s a strong chance they’ll mention their favorite Spotify playlist. Since breaking into the audio streaming business in 2006, Stockholm-based Spotify has offered a huge variety of tunes and become the world’s leading music streaming service. 

Behind the great music, of course, are great people. And leading them is Katarina Berg, the company’s chief human resources officer, who joined Spotify in 2013 after working in the automobile, oil, telecommunications, finance, and retail industries. In part, Spotify founder Daniel Ek lured Katarina to his young streaming service by asking her, “Why wouldn’t you want to be part of spreading the joy of music to the world?”

It was in this spirit that Katarina sat down with LinkedIn’s chief people officer, Teuila Hanson, for the first in a new series of interviews with CHROs. In this series, we’ll ask some of the smartest, most innovative CHROs around the globe to share their perspectives on the changing role of talent leaders and how their organizations are navigating the ever-shifting landscape of work.

The best part of being a CHRO 

Teuila kicked off the conversation by asking Katarina what she wished people knew about the CHRO job. 

“I wish people knew how complex and exciting and challenging and fun it is,” Katarina said. “For anybody who has the mindset that they want to come to work and learn new things every day, I think it’s one of the best jobs you can have.” She said that people also probably don’t know that the job entails about 50% business acumen and 50% HR — and how fulfilling that combination can be.   

This prompted Teuila to ask what Katarina found most fun about the job. “That I come to work and I plan to do something and then the day turns out to be 100% totally different,” Katarina said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”  She explained that for someone who’s controlling or likes things to go according to plan, the job might cause anxiety. “But,” she added, “for a person who wants to constantly stay passionate, curious, and learn new things about people, the business, or org design that will pivot the company forward, it’s perfect.” 

Spotify embraces a culture of change even as they “believe in the homegrown” 

Teuila mentioned that at many companies, managers want to hoard talent. But Spotify is known for being innovative while also embracing internal mobility. “So, is there anything special about Spotify’s culture,” she asked, “that explains why you’re able to do it?” 

It helps, Katarina replied, that Spotify is headquartered in Sweden, a country known for its openness and transparency. “Collaboration is one of the things we’ve cracked in Sweden because we’re small,” she said. “If we didn’t collaborate, we wouldn’t be able to compete.” 

Because Spotify has its roots in tech, she said, the company also embraces innovation and leans into the idea that everything is constantly changing. But when Spotify makes changes, Katarina said, they explain why they’re making the change, so that employees understand their reasoning. 

They take the same approach with talent. The company explains to managers why they want to move an employee to a different role, even as they emphasize that it’s not the manager’s talent, it’s Spotify’s.  

“Something that we said from the get-go,” she said, “is that we believe in homegrown and we’re going to recruit from within.”  Of course, Spotify recruits external talent when they need a special kind of knowledge or skill set. But their preference is to look within. “It keeps the institutional knowledge,” Katarina said, “and it makes us move much, much faster.” 

The company is upskilling by staying open and transparent

Teuila was also curious about Spotify’s approach to AI. “Given AI’s massive impact on skills, many organizations are feeling the pressure to upskill and do it fast,” she said, “how are you thinking about upskilling for AI in HR and other support functions?”

Katarina explained that the company’s L&D department — which they call The Greenhouse — is central to their people strategy and to everything that HR does. “It’s a typical Swedish smorgasbord of everything,” she said, “and it’s not just for engineers, but for everybody, to make sure they’re employable both now and in the future.”  

Betting on which skills employees are going to need, however, can be a guessing game, Katrina said. Sometimes, Spotify has hit the mark. Other times, not.

“When we go wrong, we talk about it openly,” Katarina said, “and it’s not so much about how stupid we were or ‘Who came up with that?’, and more of ‘What did we learn, so we don’t make that mistake again?’ 

“So, we try to be very open, very transparent,” she said, “and build a culture where it’s OK to try new things.” 

That’s also one of the reasons Spotify considers curiosity to be one of its core skills, a subject that came up after Teuila mentioned that LinkedIn’s core skills are agility and gen AI. 

“Plus one on the agility,” Katarina replied,” even if we don’t talk about it that way.” At Spotify, they call it adaptability. And alongside adaptability, they want employees to be curious. 

Why? Because when people are curious, Katarina said, they’re more willing to embrace new technology and they’re more tolerant and open to people who are different than they are. 

Even though a lot has changed, the company’s “Band Manifesto” has remained the same

With all the talk of change, Teuila wondered what has stayed the same at Spotify. “You’ve been there 11 years now,” she said. “I’m sure a lot has changed over the years. I’d love to hear from you what’s stayed the same.” 

“We have something we call The Band Manifesto, which is our culture manifesto,” Katarina said. The manifesto includes a set of principles — including that everyone should be given a voice, should have opportunities to grow and thrive, and should have fun when they come to work — that remain a constant in the company.

“It’s a contract between all of us,” she said, “and the values that have survived have withstood a number of pressure tests.” 

Spotify works hard to ensure that as people join the company, new voices and perspectives are heard. “But we also want to say to the people who’ve been with us a long time, that we’re not going to throw everything out and that what they’ve done does not matter,” she said. “It’s been very intentional, how we’ve built a culture, how we make sure everybody has a voice, and also how we make sure that we evolve, but not too fast.” 

At Spotify, belonging means they’re playing your song

“I love that you’re applying those core design principles into what it means to join and stay at Spotify,” Teuila said. “And one thing I know that we share in common is our passion for fostering a culture of belonging. What does that mean to you and what are some of the things you’re doing at Spotify to make sure everyone feels as though they belong?” 

Katarina replied by mentioning the work of Vernā Myers, a diversity, equity, and inclusion leader.  “I love Vernā’s description of diversity, that diversity is when you get invited to the party and inclusion is when you’re being asked to dance,” Katarina said. “And at Spotify, we like to add that belonging is when they’re playing your song.” 

She emphasized Spotify’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging. “Do we succeed on a daily basis?” she asked. “I don’t think so. Have we come a long way? Yes. Do I think we have to be very intentional about this work? For sure. Do I think it goes fast enough? No.” 

If diversity and inclusion work weren’t so hard, she added, companies and the world would look a lot different. “But this work,” Katarina said, “is at the very center of what we try to do.” 

Final thoughts: The songs that get Teuila and Katarina pumped

The mention of songs prompted Teuila to take the conversation in another direction. “Just taking a little side turn here,” she said to Katarina, “but what is your go-to song when you’re getting ready to go onstage and give a presentation, or when you need to get pumped up?” 

Teuila shared that her song was Run This Town by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West. “It gets the adrenaline going,” she said, “and it kind of makes my shoulders go back, feeling a little more confident.”  

“For me, it’s a Swedish band,” Katarina replied. “They’re called The Knife, and I love their song, Silent Shout.” But then she added that there are so many good songs on Spotify, her favorite often changes day to day — which speaks to why she joined the company in the first place. She wanted to help spread the joy. “And there’s nothing more true,” she said, “than that any change, any revolution, anything,  it always starts with music.”

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