Your Happy Hour - Changing Corporate

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

In this episode, we chat to Diana Fayad about her journey from engineering to human leadership and the importance of empathy in embracing the shift in workplace dynamics and corporate culture post-COVID. Diana shared her learnings in fostering human connections, practicing active listening and how personal experiences shape our understanding of being human, finding joy in adversity and feeling fear but going for it anyway. The Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here. Joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well, whatever it is, this moment is just for you. And we're back with another episode. It is the feel space, your happy hour podcast.

Welcome back and we're in March and we're talking about the theme, Your Human Hardway. A very important theme. And thanks to Omar last week for giving us some insight on this. And today I'm talking to a wonderful human who I got to meet through another guest who has been on the podcast before, which is wonderful, and at a meetup, and we're all kind of living and working in Paris and making it home in our own way, finding out what it's like to be human here.

So a very big welcome to you, Diana, to the field space, the Your Happy Hour podcast, and it's just really wonderful to have you here. Thanks, Nicole. I'm really happy to be here too and have that conversation with you. Thank you so much for the opportunity. It's such a pleasure and I thought it would be really nice for you to start off just to kind of take us through your journey. I mean, I know you've walked quite a path already in your life and a lot of what you do is very much on point for this topic. And I know you've also very, very passionate from the first time we spoke about human leadership, about organizational culture, about change. But yeah, tell us a little bit about how you came to be where you are today.

Paris, why, what you're doing, what you're doing? Sure, Nicole, and I'll try to make it a bit short. So I started off my career. I'm an engineering, I did engineering studies. So back in Beirut, so I grew up between Montreal and Lebanon and did part most of my engineering school in Lebanon. And now when I finished school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to work in. I knew I didn't. want to be doing engineering work. And I got lucky because I got accepted into a graduate program in a company called General Electric. At the time, it was a much bigger conglomerate than what it is today. And I still work for that company. And at the time, I had started off on a commercial track. So the graduate program was designed to take on young engineers into the program so that they

can equip them to become the future commercial leaders of the company. So after finishing the program, I went, I onboarded a role in the company in commercial. I did that for eight years and at the time I was living in the UAE in Dubai and then I made my way into France that answers a bit part of the question of why I'm in Paris. Like a lot of people loves bring you to Paris. and it was the same for me because I was in a relationship at the time and my now ex-husband was based in Italy and we decided to meet in Paris and I had the opportunity as well with the global company to move internally keeping my commercial role so that's what brought me to

Paris which I still live in after now 13 years it became home and throughout my career journey I was, so at least during those eight years that I was doing commercial work, I was very much driven by performance, by the excitement of a big company. It was really intense and I was really learning like a sponge. But came a point where when the learning pace was getting lower and it was more about performing and delivering, I started running thin. And there was really for two reasons.

one was because I never really asked myself what I loved doing and whether what I was doing on a daily base was really a passion or even a career aspiration. And second, because the environment was really tough. It was such a big company and the commercial world was a very intense, high pressure, no mercy kind of. environment where you're after very big amounts of orders and contracts, which for some people could be so exciting and fun, but for others, if you're not into the, you know, that kind of drive or motivation looking, getting money and getting deals, getting business, if you don't have that in your DNA, but you're more after human impact or people impact kind of a self-driven person, you start running thin, and that's exactly what happened to me. And just maybe going back

to one thing, a childhood, a childhood important precision, when I was deciding, you know, when you're 15, 12, 15 teenage time, you start thinking about what you want to be in the future, I was always thinking about wanting to be a doctor. But that, that ambition faded away when I, when I realized that to become a doctor, you have to study at least 10 years. And I'm not a person who likes to study. I like practice. I like to just get on the job as early as I could. And engineering was going to get me faster to work.

And that's why I did not pursue a medical path. But then when I was, so going fast-forwarding again into after eight years in a company doing commercial, my desire to have more of a human people impact in my day-to-day efforts and work, resurfaced, but resurfaced really seriously because I was really questioning my sense of purpose. Working so hard every day, sometimes on weekends, I felt that I was not doing something that meant anything to me. Maybe I was performing and the company was happy with me, but I was not happy with what I was giving. And I felt I really had no purpose in this world if I'm not touching on something more human. So I resigned at the time very simply. I was so convinced.

it didn't happen in 24 hours, but when I had taken that decision, it was a very simple act to say to the company that I really appreciated that I didn't fit the environment, that I really need to, I'm going to go, I need a space and time to think about what I wanted to build, but it had to be something that has a much more human impact, whether it's coaching people or, or a, coaching companies to become more human. And when they heard me say that, it felt a bit like a criticism because I was saying I wanted to do something

to coach companies to become more human. And it was a bit of a criticism because at the time, and I'm talking 2016, big companies were very rough on the edges and people were numbers. They were not human beings. And it was performance,

results, well-being, if you compare to today, well-being was not a word, part of corporate vocabulary. It didn't even exist in that context. So they were trying to retain me, and long story short, they offered me a position on part-time that I consider would be interesting while I could also pursue some side activities in entrepreneurship, which I really wanted. And fast-forwarding all that, that mission that I accepted at the time because it was an interesting experience that was tapping into the psychology of employees got me to where I

am today, which is an HR role that I never, to be honest, Nicole, have ever thought I would land an HR in a corporate, in a corporate. HR was never in my mind when I was 10, 15, 20, and it happened because when, and that's really something I learned in life that sometimes you have a plan but life takes you through another course that can be really lovely at the end so always being open to opportunity is a great thing to do because you don't know what you don't know so I love my job today because of various reasons I have a big role to play and that's my own decision it's not my job description and reinforcing a more human culture and big companies,

especially when it comes to leaders of the company. And why is that important? Because leaders in the companies are always watched. They're watched by people like me 10 years ago, when I used to sitting there and looking at those leaders that have grown and that I will become one one day. Am I admiring those people? or am I or they're scaring me off.

And that's where the human leadership becomes such an important concept. If a company really wants to develop, retain talent in the company, they have to be inspiring and they've got to be the human, there is nothing more inspiring than being human, having a strong human skin. Because people connect with you more. and when people connect with you more, they want to follow you and you inspire much stronger

rather than a previous, a very old, or let's say, I don't want to say old, but rather old school model that worked in the past, which was more like the authoritative image of the leader, the leader that knows everything, the leader that you follow because of intimidation and power. This doesn't work anymore because the world has really changed. It changed because especially during, I think that the tipping point of that change happened during COVID times because we recognize during, and sorry, I'm speaking a lot, Nicole, but I'll pause. Please go for it. I'm enjoying, like, listening to you. During COVID, there was a huge realization that the world is so.

much bigger than us and that there is something we have we all have in common is being human and but we can't the fact that we got all isolated and all suffered that meant that there is one thing that we cannot live without is the human connections so everything changed and then the importance of of having a human culture in a workplace because became so important for all companies because they realized that the lack of it made some companies just collapse. And it was the biggest threat for all companies. Remember, everybody was talking about the technology of video. We all started doing videos because they realized we can't be with each other. We can't have human connections. Companies were worried about

employees losing track and not performing, the engagement issue. the isolation issues, we had the high rates of depressions. So since then, well-being became not only a vocab in corporate, but one of the top priorities of all companies that we hear of a lot today. So this is great for someone who kind of felt it was, I couldn't have put my finger on it 10 years ago saying death was missing. But having it happened naturally, then now I think, I love being an HR in companies today because we have all the opportunity in the world to reinforce that culture now that it's there.

But it's just a matter of building it more, of nurturing it and taking it to greater heights because companies have seen the advantage of having a stronger human culture and companies having a strong human hardware. Thank you for sharing all of that. I love what you do, and I think it's super important. And I've seen the shift a lot. I mean, I remember when I started working back in, I can say, it was at KPMG and corporate, you know, a few years ago. And it was different. You know, yeah, you're kind of just part of the wheel.

I was lucky enough to be part of like a bit of a family within a wheel, you know, as a part of a team. But at the same time, I also noticed. because I was a financial crime investigator and we used to go into companies and actually see the problems, see what would happen if someone wasn't happy or greedy. I mean, it always came from some kind of motivation. But if someone's really happy in their company, it's very unlikely that they are going to create misconduct or situations to disrupt that, that relationship with their company. And I used to always go back and say to the management consulting team,

you guys and we should work together because where we see the gaps, where we see the problems, you guys can come in and create a better corporate culture. I kind of came up with these models of working towards that. And you're reminding me of that now. And so I think it's really important that we have more and more of this in the world. And I mean, who knew that lockdown would happen? Who knew that we would be in these situations? And we would all crave more human connection.

we would all kind of start thinking about what are we as humans more and more. And I feel like now on the back of that, even with AI and technology and chat GPT becoming a bit like a friend, you know, or mentor in a way to some people, more and more we're starting to be pushed. What is authentic art? What is human? What is his body? What do we do with it?

So, yeah, I mean, what has that been like for you and your own personal journey, experiences? yourself as being human and I mean your own hardware and your physical body and looking after that. Yeah, I think, you know, it's being human can be, can have a lot of interpretations. And the way I like to describe it and how I feel is being human is being empathetic. That's, I think, the biggest, I mean, that's the best word for me to describe being human because an empathy is being able to put yourself in the shoes of another person. And if you think about it, there is one common element to all of us. We're all human.

Otherwise, we're all very different. I can't think of anything more common than that because we're so different. If you think about our DNA, how, I mean, you and I are two ladies, but we're so different. you know but we have one thing in common is being human having we have we have that same what we call the species and and therefore i will always be able to understand you because we're both human and that's when sometimes i tell uh let's say very junior people or kids or when they're worried let's say to go in front of their teacher or when someone Again, Junior is worried about their boss because I tell them they're human.

They're like you. Just demystify it in your head. You shouldn't feel intimidated going to your teacher to tell her something or presenting to your boss or presenting to the head of the company. Because he or she are also human. They're not God or they're not superpower that. So just be yourself. and they're going to like you if you're going to be clear and you're doing a good job. So and it's and that's where empathy is important.

Back to empathy, when I'm in different whether personal work, any kind of relationship that I'm building or in my daily connections with people, I'm always trying to, I'm a big listener. I like to listen to people's lives and I'm very often. the confidante of a lot of friends, which I really enjoy, because it's very enriching for me to learn from others. I always put myself in the shoes of that person. And to be honest, Nicole, it became, I don't know when I started doing that or it just happened. I've always done it, but it's so natural for me. It's not that I think about it. Empathy is a very natural drive. Maybe in the beginning for people who may not have it as a first trait, they, they might want to do it more intentionally, but then it becomes a natural approach. So I immediately

am living what the person is living. And that's super powerful because when you do that, and let's say a person is looking for advice or your opinion, you can really get much more relevant and add value to that person when you're not just looking at it from your perspective. Because again, we're so different. So if I'm going to react or give my opinion based on Diana, that person might feel almost not listen to or might not really take advantage of what you're saying because it's very much relevant to how I see things. The magic happens when you're able to put yourself in the shoes of that person.

and give them that recommendation based on who they are. And empathy is not always easy because it's not always easy to really put yourself in the shoes of the person in perhaps maybe some context that is not familiar to you. But the more you practice it, the more it becomes easy. And I think that's for me the biggest human hardware that actually we all have. We all have empathy. I think it's not something some people have, some people don't, we're born with it, we're not born with it.

It's a muscle you develop, and the more you do it, the more it becomes part of your hardware. Yeah, yeah. I think that's really interesting because I was thinking about it recently. Often life throws you into different situations so that you can feel what it's like to go through something. You know, sometimes unexpected things happen to you, and you would have said like, oh, I would never do that.

And then next thing, you know, life happens. And then you can actually relate to someone who's been in that situation before. But we're not necessarily going to live every single situation in our lifetime, many multiple lifetimes, maybe. But for this one specifically, how do you do that? Like, how do you get yourself out the way when you were somebody? Do you have a technique or how do you exercise that muscle? To be able to put yourself in the shoes of.

someone in an experience you've never lived. Yes, exactly. What I call that active listening, which means first I really have to listen well to that person's situation. And again, that's something that happens naturally now. And active listening is not just listening, keep continuously listening, it's kind of interjecting and stimulating the conversation. The person will start getting deeper and deeper.

into the story. And you're trying to get more out of that person and listening more so that you really, it's like trying to think of an analogy, but you start really getting into the, it's as if you're in a theater and you just get closer and closer to the podium until you become part of the play. And it's by getting deeper into the subject when you're conversing with that. person. So I give you an example. So imagine someone comes to me tomorrow and they start a conversation to say, oh, I'm struggling because I have a presentation in one week. I'm super anxious. And I don't

feel I'm up for it. So someone like listening can be you listen, then you say, don't worry about it. It's going to be fine. I was there once and you help. You say it happened to me and you can listen for half an hour for that person will say everything on their mind. This is listening and you're a good listener. Active listening is you sit with that person and then you prompt that person with more questions. What is it exactly that is worrying you? Is it the fact that it's your boss or is the fact that you feel unprepared, then the person answered. And then you build up and you keep on prompting and getting more out of the person so that you really get more into the what's in that person's head.

And the more you do that, the more you start, you're almost, you know, you're with that person in their head. So that's how you become, you are able to much better understand what's going. on and be part of the play and help more giving them rather than saying, don't worry, I did it a month ago, it went well, you know, you just have to feel confident. That might not be as relevant as when you dig deeper because you ask a lot of questions, you've got more info, and you can understand perhaps that person is just suffers of anxiety in general in life.

And I think the person perhaps over-prepared because as you were prompting them, they were preparing for maybe the last year. So it's not about preparation. And perhaps they need to stop preparing and just think about the fact that this is just one presentation and there's no reason for it to go wrong. So you see that the speech and the feedback to that person can be so different depending on how far you went into getting into their mind, you know. It's funny because, you know, you just reminded me of something, Nicole, as I'm speaking now, you remember when sometimes they ask you, if you had one power, what would it be? We used to play that game a lot when you were little. I used to say, I want to be in people's heads.

And now you are. It's the first time I made the link that I always wanted to understand what people were thinking in their heads. So being able to go into their head. It's interesting now that I realize is the first time I make that connection. Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. I think often when you young, you know the things that you really want, you know, you should go back to those feelings. I think my answer would have been to teleport.

So hopefully in the future, that is possible. But through storytelling and productions and things that I do, I get to tell stories over time. so that's great. But thank you. That's really helpful. And I think more and more of us can practice active listening. I mean, sometimes it takes a bit of time to have that conversation.

And I think in the meantime, if you don't have that time, I've noticed just being compassionate is a really great space to be because you don't know what's going on in that person's life and what they're feeling and just giving them a kind word or kind of sending them good vibes and good feels, you know, that's the best you can do in that moment. But not judging is definitely a decision. And also, just like you say, honoring that we're all human

and we're all having this crazy experience in this hardware, this vessel, you know. So, yeah, I like this idea of being a player in someone's life. And I actually want to use this quick moment, if I can, to say thank you to the players in our lives in this podcast. which is our partners rs s.com and they help us distribute this platform and this podcast into the world so thank you to them and then also blender bums which is a nutritious snack that feeds our hardware and you can order it from them with a discount code the fields and a 20% discount for our audience and then recently we partnered with bn e-sim which is a called best network

ever sim it's an amazing sim you can have it all across the world that's really changed the game for me as I traveled and hopefully as I teleport in the future. So thanks to our partners, you can definitely DMS on the socials if you want to learn more about that. And I do want to do a quick segment with you, Diana, a few of them, but I'll start with the one called The Gems.

And that is like something we do each time talking about our gratitude or our learning for the week. And I thought it was great that you mentioned it earlier, you know, that being human is such a weird experience and this last week has been for me it's been a kind of a letting go of small stuff just focusing on what's the basics what is really the things that just bring you joy

watching people in the metro and we're all so different and looking at someone's jack and she looks like she's supposed to be in a spaceship and she's standing next to someone who's from a different country and we're all just beautiful, beautiful beings So it was really great for me. I was feeling a little down. And I looked around and I thought, actually, don't sweat the small stuff.

Just experience what is here. So that was really a gem for me. And how about for you? That's nice, Nicole. So a gem in the last week. Yeah. I have to think about it a little bit. Because, you know, it's nice you're asking the question because sometimes we may have a lot of gems

but we just don't reflect back and think of them. Yeah. where in the last few days or last week, I think one that, yeah, I would say so I got a little, it's not an accident, it was exercise overuse and I got an inflammation in my foot because of over-exercising and not being too, not listening to my body, which is a big learning for me in 2025 and 2026. And it started in December. and it was meant to recover in a month or so. And now we are in almost end of February,

and I'm still unable to walk as I normally walk. I don't have a crutch anymore, but I'm still limited to maybe 20 minutes of walking every day, and walking is my biggest pleasure living in Paris. So I've been punished for that, but again, for the right reasons because I didn't listen to my body. And last week, the doctor said that it's going to take another month for it to really get back to normal. And for the first hour coming back home, I was very, I was down thinking that, you know, I got fed up and I wanted to get back on my lifestyle.

And then suddenly, I don't know, it came just like you were saying, you suddenly saw another side of things. and more of the bright side of things. And I thought to myself, Diana, when it happened to you, because I had that same positive approach to it when it happened to me in December, it was for me a reason to slow down and to also shift my activities, an opportunity for me to find another pleasure.

Fine, I can't walk for another month. But nobody ever said that walking was the only pleasure in the world, and some people hate it. So you can easily find something else. And it's an opportunity for you to go and fetch something, another pleasure, that eventually when you start walking again, you have two rather than one. And that's how I looked at it. And to be frank, I'm totally fine.

I would like it to get over that it's just another month. But it was just to say it was like everything in life, any experience you get. Now, it's easier said than done because sometimes there are tough things that happen. it's a it's a shift in the perspective and there is always a silver lining somewhere coming from it even when you hurt your leg or you have a car accident and you just hurt your leg nothing worse but there is always something that comes out of it that is enriching feeds into your longer term so that was the realization yeah oh I love that I love that well I really hope you do recover quickly. I love walking too, so I can feel, I feel the pain. But wonderful

that you can experience other passions and discover other passions. So that's really awesome gem. And I agree. I'm generally also always looking for the silver lining everywhere. And it is there. It's just a with which eyes you look at the world, like you say. So that's a great gem. And I also want to then say a quick shout out on that, thinking about different passions. We do, a segment called People, Places and Spaces on here, and it's a person or an organization or a place that we feel have the fields. And so this week, the shout-out goes to Blombos. It used to be called Savoard designe.

And it's in the 11th arrondissement. I'm practicing my friendship in the 11th arrondissement in Paris. And I discovered this space, and it's a beautiful kind of like art workshop space, Atelier with a cafe and I've just every time I go past or I go in there people are just so friendly and lovely and we're hoping to do a collaboration with

them soon via the fields but yeah I just want to give them a shout out I think they have a great space and what they do is amazing and thank you to the barista for being so kind so that's all shout out for the week and then I just have one more

question for you and that is what is in your reading list So it's a segment called The Stack. And whether it's a stack that you still need a read or a stack that you have read and you would like to recommend to the audience, we put all the books recommended by the guests on the website. And yeah, so what is in your stack, Diana? Yeah, I love the question, Nicole. So it's a book I read, but I will always reread. It will remain on my reading list.

It's called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. I don't know if you had someone have. I've mentioned it too before. I just need to, I think if you Google it, you'll find it. And it's all about the concept of how we dread things, which is called fear. The concept of fear. And that fear has no meaning because whatever happens, and that maybe relates to what I was saying earlier, whatever happens in life, we cope.

as humans we cope and and no matter what so the fear is is a very negative a feeling that just slows us down but also keeps us in a negative moment or like let's say I'm fearing that I will lose my job so I spend days just living that negative feeling of fear and if one day I lose my job, which could happen, I will cope. I'll cope and will be fine. Another example in the book, but I don't want to say too much about it is if someone is in a bad relationship and they know they have to separate, but they fear the separation. They fear the loneliness. It's also keeping them away from doing the right thing. While, if they're, if they're, if they're, they, let's say it was forced on them and they separate, they'll cope and perhaps they'll be in a

much better place because they are going to, they're going to swim towards the better place, which is either healthier relationship or being alone, which sometimes is healthier. So it's all about that. It's about the fact that when you first not to be, not to dwell in fear, because there's no point, it's not going to change anything and you're living a situation that doesn't exist. Fear is projecting yourself in something. that may never happen. There's no points.

Right? Like I fear I'm going to lose my job. I might never lose it. And it's also sometimes preventing us from doing something because of an outcome that we've never been to. But reality is we've always coped. Humans cope because that's our nature. So back to the humanity as well. It's our nature to go.

So it's a beautiful book for anyone who I, reason why I say I read it from time to time because whenever I feel fear and I'm not able to push it away, I go back to the book. I don't read it in full, but I read some sections of it it because it's such, it makes so much sense that it's life changing. That's a great recommendation and I feel like very much on point for me right now. So thank you for that. And I, it is. It's like it's such an illusion, but love is real, you know, and love, always conquers and yeah if we just keep putting that into our situations then everything will always work out i i think we always feel like the universe is against us but it's so for us you know which is

which is wonderful to know and we supported and yeah we're all in this together you know as a collective of humanity and like you said we are the only ones that really understand each other's experience and so how beautiful is that that we get to to to know that so and i just want to say that thank you for you coming on here being human being sharing your your journey your experience and just open so openly and honestly today with us we really appreciate it it's a pleasure nicole thanks so much big pleasure if you haven't just yet follow friday fields on instagram facebook ticot and lincoln you can share with us all your fields this week by tagging us at fridayfills and you can also find the website at that handle.

And now, as you ease into this weekend, take a moment. Celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome and what is yet to come as you do, the crazy and cool things that you do as the authentic you. You know, the truth about life and work is that it's hard, but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are not together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week. And of course, keep it raw and real. Until next time.