The End of an Era: Bidding Farewell to the Amplify Talent Community
From magic moments to lasting friendships: How a pioneering HR community changed lives and careers.
I don’t want to bury the lede here - so I’m sharing the news first and the context second.
I’ve made the difficult decision to wind down the Amplify Talent Community. It will close on November 15th, 2024.
I assure you this wasn’t an easy decision, but I feel it's best when honoring the spirit of why this community was founded in 2021. Let me explain.
This community was first launched in 2021, several months after my last book, Redefining HR, was published. The response to the book was overwhelmingly positive, and the question I got from so many readers around the world was, “Where can I go to continue my education on progressive people practices?”
At that time, I didn’t have any answers that I felt would build upon the lessons from the book. So, I decided to build something to fill that void.
It all starts with Alpha
The Alpha Cohort, which began in May 2021, was the genesis of this community. The cohorts were peer learning programs that focused on foundational elements of modern HR and people operations, a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning, connection, and community. In that first Alpha Cohort, we brought 50+ practitioners from around the world together to connect, learn together, support each other, and grow.
It was magic.
Over the next several years, we ran seven more cohorts and supported 250+ emerging people leaders.
We connected students with over 30 word-class people leaders from my network who were kind enough to share their hard-earned wisdom. It was an HR leadership masterclass.
There’s so much that I‘m grateful for when I reflect on this experience.
True friendships were built (some even leading to launching a new company together)
We ran scholarship programs to create more developmental opportunities for underrepresented people leaders
We celebrated wins and promotions
We built open-source resources to support the broader HR community
We rallied around and leaned on each other through dark and difficult times
We celebrated the career booms and growth opportunities members experienced during the great resignation, and shared our support and commiseration as our peers were impacted by RIFs and a brutal job market
We cemented our friendships IRL at Transform and other events (disco balls, forever)
One of the things I’m most proud of is that we created a space in the aftermath of COVID-19 that helped HR leaders feel less alone.
Sooooo, that all sounds great. Why are you shutting this community down?
In September, I announced that I plan to return to an in-house role. While I don’t yet know where that will take me, I know that I will commit myself fully to that role and team.
After ten years of running different communities, from the Amplify Talent Community to HR Open Source, I’m acutely aware of an irrefutable fact - running a community well requires a lot of work.
I know that I won’t have the bandwidth to run this community at the level I’d need to keep it going.
Over the last month, I contemplated and explored several exit and acquisition scenarios. Ultimately, I felt that if I was not involved, wherever that would take it would be in a direction different from my initial vision.
This decision on the community’s future was always about what was best for the community members, so it was always centered on any financial gain of an acquisition.
I originally announced I’d decide on the community by the end of 2024. In honoring what’s best for the community members, I felt it best to make this call now so subscribers who are using learning budgets for membership can allocate those dollars elsewhere in 2025.
The State of HR Communities Today
The field of HR has come a long way in resources for modern operators since this community launched in May of 2021.
If I were asked that same question about where to go to continue learning modern people practices that led to the creation of the Amplify Talent Community today, I’d have a very different answer.
People Tech Partners
Knoetic’s CPOHQ
Andrew Bartlow’s People Leader Accelerator
Transform’s new community
The MAZI CPO 100
Lattice’s Resources for Humans
Culture Amp’s Culture First Community
Berkeley’s Transformative CHRO Leadership Program (w/Laszlo Bock)
TroopHR
Bersin Academy
Academy to Innovate HR
LifeLabs Learning
Hacking HR
Disrupt HR
PeakHR
Secret HR Society (Berlin)
Community for Strategic HR Partnership
This list is far from comprehensive, but you get the gist.
We have ample opportunities to learn, connect, and grow today beyond the traditional alternative platforms that are still a decade behind today’s world of work.
What will happen to the cohort instructor presentations?
Over the last three years, I’ve partnered with amazing CPOs to harness their wisdom and deliver amazing presentations to the community cohorts.
I will begin open-sourcing that content publicly as those lessons and wisdom are gold, and I want more practitioners to benefit from their wisdom.
Ending on a high note of gratitude.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get excited about building something new. I always do.
As a community leader, I feel it’s essential to take just as much care - if not more - in bringing products to an end. I plan to honor that over the coming weeks.
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to community members who have left their mark on the community, its members, and me.
My amazing wife Janet co-captained this ship and was the steady hand who helped me take this beyond my imagination. Her partnership (in life and work), sense of humor, and attention to detail were invaluable, and I’m so grateful we were able to work together on this.
Balbina Knight, our lead volunteer Community Catalyst (and literally the first purchase of the first Alpha Cohort group). Balbina has been a rock for this community from day one. It wouldn’t have been the same without her infectious energy, vision, and tireless support.
Ciara Lakhani was here from day one and was incredibly generous with her time and wisdom, especially for early career people leaders who needed that support. As a CPO I know she never has idle time, yet she always had time for community members.
AJ Thomas for being a three-time cohort guest instructor, an inspiration, and a muse for creativity and following your heart. AJ has been a trusted confidant since this community was an idea and has remained such to this day. A true friend.
I could individually recognize countless others based on their contributions, but I will do more of those as personal outreach.
Let me share a collective thanks to amazing humans including all of our cohort guest instructors and community members Chloe Sesta-Jacobs, Dom Merritt, Noah Warder, Lisah Barry, Val Kirilova, Erica Spitale, Stacey Nordwall, Danielle Haslton, Nadia Vatalidis, Sharon Schmidt, Kraig Docherty, Janelle Peterson, Jeff Calvin-Nethercott, Mariss Rafuse, and Kimiko Mainprize.
I wrap this post with a deep feeling of gratitude and appreciation.
We built something that had a real impact in this space. We made friends. We learned. We lifted each other up. We laughed…a lot.
Those memories and friendships will last long beyond the day this community closes.
To all the builders out there running communities, working out loud, or just being proactively helpful - thank you. Our field needs you.
Keep dreaming.
Keep building.
Keep helping.
Keep pushing us to be better.
Here’s to the future. Onwards. ✌🏼
End of an era indeed. But the impact of this incredible community will ripple out for years to come.