Today’s HR and Total Rewards leaders are expected to be strategic partners—but earning a seat at the table is only the beginning. Making that seat count requires influence, credibility, and a deep understanding of how business leaders make decisions. In this timely webinar, Amy Dufrane, CEO of HRCI, Scott Cawood, CEO of WorldatWork, and leadership advisor Andrew Sykes come together for a candid, research-informed conversation about what it truly takes for HR professionals to shape strategy at the highest levels.
Guided by Andrew Sykes’ perspective on “Getting a Seat at the Table and Making it Count,” the discussion moves beyond titles and technical expertise to explore trust, influence, and executive presence. Amy Dufrane and Scott Cawood add data-driven insights from across the HR and Total Rewards profession, grounding the conversation in research and real-world leadership experience. Together, they examine how HR leaders can elevate their impact, navigate high-stakes conversations, and prepare for what the next generation of leadership will demand.
This insightful session offers a first look at the themes shaping the HR@TR conference this April 2026.
Join Dr. Amy Dufrane, Scott Cawood, and Andrew Sykes for this webinar presented by HRCI and WorldatWork.
Andrew is the founder and CEO of Habits at Work, an experiential sales training company on a mission to make sales the most trustworthy profession on the planet by empowering sellers to practice and embody the mindsets, skills, and habits that build and maintain customer trust.
Andrew is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and part of the Kellogg Sales Institute Executive Education Team where he teaches the award-winning course “Entrepreneurial Selling.”
Andrew has been a salesperson, entrepreneur, speaker, and behavior change expert for 30 years, having begun his career by building one of South Africa’s largest healthcare consulting companies. As a world-renowned expert on habits, Andrew coauthored The 11th Habit, distilling the work of the organization he founded – the Behavioral Research and Applied Technology Laboratory (BRATLAB) – which seeks to understand which habits really matter for sustained high performance, competitive differentiation, trust building, and organizational growth, and how to help people to practice those habits.
Scott Cawood brings more than two decades of leadership experience at the intersection of organizational effectiveness, employee engagement and workplace transformation. As CEO of WorldatWork since 2015, Scott has led the organization through a period of strategic growth and innovation, championing the mission to make work, and workplaces, better for all.
Prior to joining WorldatWork, Scott served as Global Leader for Organizational Effectiveness at W.L. Gore & Associates, where he led enterprise-wide efforts to align culture with business strategy and drive associate engagement across a 10,000-person workforce. His earlier roles include President of Synygy, a global compensation and sales software company, and senior leadership positions at Revlon and the Great Place to Work Institute, where he contributed to the development of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work list.
A dynamic speaker and bestselling author, Scott’s most recent book, The New Work Exchange: Embracing the Future by Putting Employees First, was published in 2023 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller. He joined the WorldatWork faculty in 2023 and teaches with a passion for helping organizations unlock the full potential of their people.
Scott holds an EdD in Organization and Work-Based Learning from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School and Graduate School of Education), an MS in Learning Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University, and a BA in Organizational Communication from Michigan State University. He holds multiple WorldatWork certifications, including Certified Compensation Professional (CCP®), Global Remuneration Professional (GRP®), Certified Sales Compensation Professional (CSCP®) and Certified Benefits Professional (CBP®).
Amy Dufrane is a dynamic global leader in human resources and workplace management. As CEO of HRCI®, the leading provider of learning and credentialing for HR professionals and their organizations, she brings decades of experience in human capital management and employee wellness to interviews and media appearances.
Dufrane helps set the standard for HR, serving as the international secretariat for Global HR standards through ISO, the International Organization for Standardization.
Her numerous honors include the Global Impact Award of Distinction from the Bowman Foundation for Workplace Equity and Mental Wellness and the Globee Award for Women in Business. For the past four years, she has been named one of the top 100 HR Tech Influencers by HR Executive magazine.
Under her leadership, HRCI was named a 2024 Top Workplace by The Washington Post and the 2023 ISA Business of the Year. Dr. Dufrane regularly speaks at the best-known HR conferences throughout the world and has participated in White House initiatives on workplace standards and employee wellness.
She earned a doctorate in education from George Washington University and holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources® (SPHR®) certification from HRCI®.
