Read on to discover more about the worst things about working in HR, and how to get HR professionals on the board.

8. What's the worst thing about working in HR and the best?

You run the risk of being accused of creating needless bureaucracy and, when managers do a poor job, you’re the one who has to sort it out. But the up sides are plentiful, from having the chance to influence and shape an organisation from the top with your own ideas to helping people in a thousand small ways from the bottom.

9. What are the key issues preventing HR professionals from getting a seat on the board?

It’s easy to mistake being on the board for having organisational influence. The former is less important than that HR is an equal voice in senior management – shaping the business, not subservient to it.

10. If you have a mantra or motto what is it?

Always keep your promises – and never assume anything.

11. What are you currently reading?

I’ve just read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, a fascinating study of how small ideas can generate huge changes in thinking and behaviour.

12. What would be your desert island disc?

Van Morrison’s Poetic Champions.

13. If you could have lunch with three famous people, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Elizabeth 1st – I’ve always admired her for the way she brought the country to order and for her political nouse – a vital skill in business.

Bill Clinton – Intellectually he towers above his contemporaries… and with what charisma!

Jane Austen – A great social observer and an excellent companion for a gossipy lunch.

14. If you'd like to be remembered for one thing what is it?

For questioning the status quo and being a catalyst for organisational change.