Mandeep Dhatt says HR is underestimated in almost every business, and a true CPO must have the bravery to challenge. She leads by empowering teams, guiding rather than controlling and adapting her style to different businesses.
You’ve led people strategies across a wide range of industries, from construction and engineering to automotive and now consulting. How has working across such diverse environments shaped your leadership approach? Were there moments where you had to adapt your style to different organisations, and what factors do you think helped you secure some of your key roles?
What’s drawn me to working across such diverse industries is that they’ve all been trying to tackle something and do something different. I enjoy being in environments where people are breaking the mould rather than playing it safe. I like daring to be brave. I love being around a board table and really getting my teeth into something. Working across different sectors has meant I’ve experienced businesses at very different stages of their lifecycle. People don’t always realise that it’s actually rare for a business to be truly stable.
This has shaped my style. For me, over-communication with teams is non-negotiable for a leader and a business to be successful. Standing up in front of people twice a year doesn’t cut it. It’s so easy for teams to slip into negative thoughts, so the communication piece is crucial. It’s something I learned early on, partly because of how I was treated by my own leaders.
Why HR? People often ask me that, but I find human beings truly fascinating. At university, I did a general business degree with no clear idea where I’d land. I studied everything: economics, financial modelling, compliance and the HR side. I ended up following what made the most logical sense to me, and I really enjoyed organisational design. There’s so much structure and complexity to get to grips with. I’ve always been curious about the brain and neuroscience. Over the years, I’ve worked with people who have been obsessed with cars, buildings, skylines, motorways and books. For me, I’ve always been obsessed with people.
My leadership style is still evolving. To be a good leader, you are never finished and are always learning. Moving across industries has stretched me in different ways and shown me that your default style won’t work everywhere. I’ve had to adapt to who’s in front of me and the environment I’m in.
I’ve also had the opportunity to lead teams outside of HR – in operations, health and safety, and compliance. What I’ve learned is that having the right mix of people is essential, because you’re never going to know it all yourself. I learned this the hard way. I once knew more than my leader technically, but they were still the leader for a reason. They were never the subject matter expert, but they knew how to lead. That’s stuck with me. I’ll always surround myself with the most intelligent and pragmatic people I can, then line them up in the right way so together we can win the game, whatever that game is.
You spent almost a decade at McLaren Automotive, which was a period of significant growth and innovation for the business. What were some of the biggest leadership challenges you faced there, how did you approach them and what skills did those experiences teach you?
One of the biggest challenges was the sheer ambition of the CEO and the board – translating that ambition into tangible solutions while working with perfectionists. You need those kinds of people, the ones who push boundaries, smash through red tape and drive businesses forward. But the challenge for me was: how do you take that ambition and get the whole workforce behind it? How do you get everyone to give 1,000% every single day?
Another challenge was balancing rapid growth with the need to nail down a legacy. Growth brings excitement, but it also means making difficult decisions, and sometimes getting them wrong. For example, having the wrong mix of skills, or building something in the wrong shape, and then having to undo what you’ve done. That was a tough, but hugely important learning.
The Covid pandemic, of course, was another defining moment. We had to downsize resources, and I recall a particular conversation with the CEO and saying, ‘Are we doing enough to restructure now, because we cannot afford to go through this again?’ The moral and ethical responsibility of making the right decisions, standing by them and ensuring they were enough to protect the business long term was huge. Thankfully, we got it right, but we’ve seen many other organisations go through round two, three and even four of restructuring.
How does your commercial or ‘business brain’ influence the way you approach HR? You seem to grasp situations and problems quickly and take a pragmatic approach. How does this help when many HR professionals tend to make safe moves and avoid rocking the boat? How do you see the difference between the role of a CPO and a typical HR director in this context?
I think there’s HR, and then there’s people and culture. Really early on, when I was at university, I did some HR roles and met some very traditional HR people. I knew straight away I would never do that. As my career evolved, I saw that HR looks very different across organisations. It depends on the leader and the construct of the business. For me, a true CPO has to be brave enough to step up and challenge.
I’ve been lucky to work alongside traditional HR leaders, radical functions, brilliant people leaders and amazing business leaders. I love to learn, so by default I’ve picked up both the good and the bad. The thing that stays with me most is the way people made me feel. I’ll never forget that, and it still shapes how I lead today.
I do think my skills are different. HR is underestimated in almost every business, and if you can understand that, you can work out how to get where you need to and bring people with you. Because I’ve worked across different industries at different stages of their lifecycle, I’ve had to flex my style over and over again. Sometimes that’s painful, but without stretch and growth, you end up with decay.
On LinkedIn, you describe your leadership as empowering teams and driving meaningful, lasting change. How do you approach achieving this, and what advice would you give to other leaders looking to do the same? What barriers have you faced when empowering teams, and how important is it that leadership alignment drives business culture from the top down?
For me, real empowerment and lasting change are about the medium to long term. It’s easy to restructure or hand issues off to HR, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. People can be with you for decades. In construction, I was working with individuals who had been there for 30 years, while I’d only just arrived. That experience really shaped me because it showed me that the people side of leadership is a long game.
For it to stick, you have to have a clear vision of the endpoint – whether that’s a culture of transparency or a new way of working – and you need to be brave enough to ask the right, and sometimes tough, questions. But it has to be constructive; it’s not about throwing fire at leaders. It’s about getting under the human psyche, which takes real graft, patience and often trying different angles.
You have to be willing to face both the good and bad, and stick to your end goal even when decisions are tough. My responsibility as a leader is to be frank. If we’ve agreed where we’re going, then we have to do the things that get us there. I’m relentless in my pursuit of helping people and businesses reach that place, even when it’s uncomfortable at times, because that’s what meaningful change really takes.
At McLaren, your team faced significant challenges, and you didn’t just give them the answers, even though you knew them. You navigated carefully, enabling them to make decisions for themselves and guiding them without handing over a rule book. There was pain, but also gain. Was that an intentional approach?
That approach didn’t come naturally at first. Early in my career, I was very intentional but tended towards micromanagement, and I lost some really good people because of it. Experiencing that forced me into a process of self-reflection and helped me understand that leadership isn’t about having all the answers or controlling every decision.
Now, it’s intentional in a different way. I constantly remind myself of the need to step back and give people the space to think and act. For me, leadership is about building teams that can ask and answer the exam questions when you’re not in the room. It’s about creating the conditions for people to learn, grow and take ownership, while knowing you’re there to guide rather than dictate. At McLaren, I reached a point where I could step out completely, and the team kept running seamlessly. That was a really proud moment – to see something working beautifully without me having to be in the middle of it.
After many years of leading within global organisations, you’ve recently moved into consulting. How has this changed the way you approach leadership and influence, particularly in terms of relationship-building, credibility, and adapting to a new environment?
Consulting is a very different world. The structure, the dynamics – everything shifts, and you quickly realise that what worked in a corporate environment doesn’t always apply here. What it really amplifies is the relationship-building and credibility piece; you’re constantly navigating new contexts and different expectations. In consulting, you’re playing a very different game compared to the corporate world, and success depends far more on the trust and confidence you can quickly establish with both clients and colleagues.
I’ve seen a lot of ex-colleagues who were incredibly successful in the corporate world assume that their past success would translate directly into consultancy – but in reality, it doesn’t. I’ll be honest, I underestimated that myself at first. Over the last eight months, I’ve had to learn fast, adapt continuously, and step into situations where I’m wearing multiple hats at the same time. It’s stretched me, challenged the way I think about influence, and forced me to reflect on how I operate as a leader. At the same time, it’s sharpened my awareness of where I truly add value and how I can build trust effectively, even in entirely new environments.
In your view, have we made as much impact with diversity and inclusion as we should have? Have you seen meaningful improvements over time, and how do you think the next generation of leaders will influence change – both through policy and by creating environments where people feel safe to speak up, challenge the status quo, and model behaviours that make lasting change possible?
If I’m honest, no – we haven’t made as much impact as we should have. We all say the right things, and there have been marginal gains, so let’s not dismiss the progress entirely. But true sustainability, making change stick, is a 30-40-year play. We’re dealing with the fundamentals of society and culture, and those don’t shift overnight. Incremental improvements are positive but they need to be reinforced consistently to become lasting change.
My biggest learning has been the importance of creating environments where people feel genuinely safe enough to call out issues when there is detriment. That’s the real test. Too often, I’ve seen individuals raise concerns only to be shut down, and that’s incredibly damaging both to them and to the organisation’s culture. Handling those moments with care, transparency and integrity is critical. When leaders respond constructively, it builds trust and sets a standard for the organisation.
I’m optimistic about the next generation of leaders. They tend to have a more instinctive understanding of inclusion and are willing to challenge the status quo. Their influence will be shaped not just by policy, but by modelling behaviours that normalise open conversations and accountability, which is ultimately how meaningful, lasting change is achieved.
Having worked in HR, you’ve likely seen many approaches to leadership development across organisations. What do you think is most important when developing future leaders? Do you believe there is such a thing as a natural-born leader, and how can individuals actively invest in their own growth?
I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Leadership programmes can be useful for laying down a base layer of expectations or sharing tools and methods, but the real value comes when people are given the space to make those tools their own. With executive teams in particular, it’s about providing intelligent, stimulating opportunities – not patronising them with the basics, but elevating what’s on offer.
My role is often to identify people’s strengths and guide them towards the right development paths. I can’t sit across the table, at the table, and next to someone through every step, but I can create an environment that supports them. Over time, I’ve also learned the importance of tailoring programmes to the context. Having worked with global teams, I’ve seen how ineffective it is when there’s no real connection or logic to the training. That’s why I often build something bespoke, packaging it in a way that’s relevant.
The skill set required of leaders has also shifted. It’s no longer just about the basics. It’s far more intricate now, from understanding internal politics to being able to navigate something as complex as preparing for a stock market listing. That’s where development needs to be heading.
I’m not sure if leadership is something you’re simply born with. Some people are naturally better at bringing others with them, but that doesn’t automatically make them great leaders in the long run. Leadership takes conscious effort and consideration.
Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds: the accidental leaders who land in the right place at the right time but struggle to fit in because of their style or way of thinking; the leaders who are always chasing the latest fads but can’t translate them into practice; and the seasoned players who don’t need to say much at all but you just feel their authenticity and presence. A big part of leadership, especially as a CPO, is being able to spot these differences. It’s like a vast board game, and you need to be smart enough to see who’s who, and how the external ecosystem is shaping what’s happening inside the organisation.
Who has had the greatest influence on your leadership style, and in what ways has that shaped how you support, mentor and develop others? Are there specific experiences, pieces of advice, or turning points in your career that have stayed with you and guided the way you lead? How have those lessons influenced the decisions you make, the risks you encourage your team to take, and the way you foster growth and potential in others?
I’ve been fortunate to work with amazing leaders wherever I’ve gone, but I’ve also learned a lot from awful leaders – sometimes even more than from the good ones. The most fun and formative experience I’ve had was at McLaren with Mike Flewitt. That man tested me every single day, challenging me to raise my game and think differently. While it wasn’t always easy, the challenges kept me engaged and ultimately helped me grow. By the end, we had developed a real partnership – what I often describe as ‘partners in crime’.
Mike taught me a huge amount about operating effectively in a business, particularly in navigating both internal and external politics, and understanding the levers of influence. One lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career is the importance of giving people a chance. If they seize it and run with it, that’s fantastic; if not, at least you’ve provided the opportunity. That approach has become central to how I support and develop others. I try to create an environment where people feel trusted to take risks, learn from mistakes and grow, because that is how potential is truly unlocked.
