Executive Perspective: Lars Minns

Before being named the CHRO at Mercedes-Benz, North America in 2018, Lars Minns worked for three years as the company’s head of HR operations and talent acquisition. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with Home Depot in various HR leadership roles.

What brought you to the field of HR?

MINNS: I think I pulled myself into the field. I had visions of moving in the direction of economics and finance or into sports psychology. This felt like the best fit. It’s been fascinating; [HR is] a true study of art and science. I love the integration of people and business. People are really the heartbeat of any business. And while some businesses are born on great engineering concepts or innovation, it’s usually great minds and great individuals that have brought them to the table. The second part is that HR is ever-changing. It’s been exciting the last 20-plus years.

Which HR initiative that you’ve led are you most proud of?

MINNS: Previously, I led the rollout of a competency framework in my former company for our supply chain division. We built an assessment tool that married both leadership competencies and employees’ operational performance. The initiative really proved to me the sheer importance of sticking with something and having incremental gains. You can extract value out of the incremental gains as much as with one robust strategy.

Presently, at Mercedes, we overhauled our overall job architecture. We were operating in a primitive way of doing things, which really set up the notion of having one foot in the present and one in the future. Now, with some upcoming technological implementations, our backbone is firmly set. It was a multiyear process that now gives us a unique opportunity to rebuild the compensation structure.

How would you describe your leadership style and philosophy?

MINNS: I believe in the power of working harder on yourself than you do on your job. Finding unique ways to continue my development process has been big. I can derive confidence knowing that it’s less about what I do and more about how I grow.

Do you use certain practices for self-development?

MINNS: I believe in the power of stoicism. I believe in the power of listening, even if the message takes awhile to resonate with you. We often talk about accountability, but I think it’s less about accountability and more about responsibility.

There’s a level of ownership that you need to have. I think people appreciate it when someone is willing to take ownership, even when it’s not their fault. Also, I am constantly asking myself the tough question: Am I better today than I was yesterday?

How do you envision the CHRO role changing over the next decade?

MINNS: I think what’s important is how the macroeconomic and socioeconomic things happening on the outside are infiltrating or impacting things on the inside. Also, the power of analytics and how intelligent technology is used. Obviously, the world of AI and how we utilize it will change the CHRO role. But more importantly, how we squeeze more juice out of it in a thoughtful way will be very important. Finally, it’s important to have the willingness to see the HR organization as a true business enabler or even a business function, as opposed to a support function.

What is one piece of advice that has shaped you the most in your career?

MINNS: There are two of them. First, understand how the cash register rings. Every company is based on profit and loss. To the extent that I can understand that is directly proportional to how valuable I might be to the organization.

Two, don’t be afraid to use your common sense. Many different decisions cross my desk, and I can pull any amount of analytics. But at the end of the day, sometimes the thing I’m left with is practicality. I’m just left with the prospect of using my common sense, and that’s been huge.

It’s important sometimes to take a step back and ask: Are we overshooting what we should be really looking at? Maybe the best adage is: “Don’t build a rocket ship to get to the corner market.”