The CEO who fired HR was right about the problem, but wrong about the solution
This Fortune analysis examines Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow's decision to eliminate his entire HR department, which he claimed was 'creating problems that didn't exist.' The author, an HR professional, argues Breslow was correct that something was broken—namely, that many people functions are built as reactive compliance mechanisms rather than strategic drivers. However, the author contends Breslow was wrong to blame the function itself, noting that he later had to staff a 'people ops' team to handle the same essential tasks. The piece contrasts compliance-focused HR with strategic people operations, citing Google's Project Oxygen as an example of the latter. It concludes that rebranding HR as 'People Ops' does not change the mandate given to it, and that true strategic value comes from empowering the function to read leading indicators and provide systemic insight across the organization.
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