Bolt’s Co-Founder Eliminated Its HR Department, Asserting That People Management Is Crucial for Success in the AI Era

• In today’s CEO Daily: The discussion intensifies regarding how to handle personnel during the AI revolution.
• The major leadership update: Significant reductions at Meta
• The markets: Profitable as investors stay optimistic about AI.
• Additionally: All the latest updates and casual conversation from .

(SeaPRwire) –   Good morning. For businesses embracing AI, what is the significance of the human resources department? For Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow, the response is zero. As he informed participants at ’s Workforce Innovation Summit this week, “We eliminated our HR department.”

To be fair, Breslow dismantled HR  last year alongside thousands of other staff members when he reclaimed the CEO position. The fintech company he co-founded in 2014 saw its valuation fall from $11 billion in 2022 when he initially stepped down to an estimated $300 million two years later. The workforce shrank from a “peacetime” headcount of 2,500 to what he now refers to as a “wartime” level of approximately 100 employees. 

Although Breslow claims his company operates more efficiently without HR, I contend that the art and science of personnel management is more critical now than ever—and it is also changing rapidly. I recently interviewed Himanshu Palsule, CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand, a talent management software firm. With 140 million users and 7,000 enterprise clients scrutinizing their HR expenditures, Palsule has a strong stake in this discussion. However, I was impressed by the agentic platform unveiled yesterday that utilizes AI to assist in evaluating, training, and deploying staff. “People will empower agents to take over the enterprise,” he stated to me at a customer event in New York. “If you lose your people, those agents cannot function in your company—they will simply create chaos.” Additional insights:

Regarding Gen Z: “The biggest irony of our era is that we are excluding a generation that is most capable of using AI. We must make space for that generation if we want AI to succeed within a company. We dismiss them as if they have done something wrong. These are individuals we asked to grow up digitally distinct. We handed them an iPad at ages 3 and 4.”

Concerning ‘knowledge’ workers: “The body of knowledge you possess will be far surpassed, but you can utilize it to generate value and stand out. My tax agent now provides me with wealth advice because his tax duties are automated. Everyone will become the world’s best coder. However, your ability to construct products, exercise judgment, apply reasoning, and bring delight to the market—that will never disappear.”

On leadership during the AI age: “Be very clear and establish board expectations regarding what success entails—and sometimes educate them on the upcoming challenges. Explain to your team that their roles are evolving. There will be workforce reductions. Do not avoid these conversations—but simultaneously, empower them to succeed. Cultivate the humility to realize that your 10, 30, or 40 years of experience is valuable but may not be applicable at the current speed of change. Be a lifelong learner.”

CEO Daily will be on break for Memorial Day and will return in your inbox on Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend!

Reach CEO Daily at diane.brady@.com