316 - Doing things that don’t scale but actually matter: Daniel Bay, Chief People Officer at Underdog

Daniel Bay, Chief People Officer at Underdog, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why HR teams in hypergrowth should stop copying big-company playbooks, how Underdog invests deeply in manager coaching, and why impact matters more than activity.----  Sponsor Links:🔗 Explore the 2026 ​Deloitte Human Capital Trends ReportMPL Links:🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.----  (13:32) The Misconception About Hypergrowth HR(14:42) Why Startups Should Not Copy Google, Meta or Big-Company HR Playbooks(17:08) Pick One or Two Things That Do Not Scale But Actually Matter(18:24) Why World-Class Managers Are the Biggest Unlock at Underdog(20:49) The Case for Giving Every Manager a Coach(29:17) Rethinking One-Size-Fits-All Performance Processes(33:39) Running HR Like a Political Campaign(36:38) Why Impact Matters More Than Activity(40:26) Why the People Team Should Never Become a Drag on the Business(42:19) The Simple Test: Will Employees Actually Want to Do This?(44:21) Rethinking Overly Structured Interview Processes(49:33) Why Daniel Would Not Hire a Traditional HR Leader Today(52:22) Why Thinking Differently Is HR’s Competitive Edge in the Age of AI---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.