AI will make the R in HR more important. Katarina Berg explains why.

After 12 years with music streaming giant Spotify, Katarina Berg joined Swiss athletic shoe and performance sportswear specialist, On, in August 2025.

UNLEASH sat down with Berg ahead of her appearance at UNLEASH 2026 in Paris, to discuss her first year at On. The conversation touched on her priorities within the first 12 months in the role, the challenges and opportunities of rapid growth, and the future of HR’s relationship with AI.

It's been nearly one year since you joined On. What did you prioritize in that period, how did you tackle those priorities, and what results have you seen so far?

My first priority wasn't to change On; it was to understand what already made it exceptional. Too many leaders arrive with a playbook – I arrived with curiosity. I spent my first months walking and talking with founders, athletes, store leaders, team members and leaders across continents. You can't evolve a culture you haven't understood.

You start with understanding, applying and then tweak and iterate; focusing on creating clarity. Simpler structures. Clearer ownership. Stronger leadership. Better operating rhythms. Premium organizations don't happen by accident.

At the same time, we've invested heavily in leadership, onboarding, talent and building an HR function that is every bit as premium as the product we create.

The biggest result? More alignment, faster decisions, better conversations, and an organization that's increasingly ready for its next chapter of growth. Culture scales through clarity, not complexity.

After 12 years at Spotify, a company built around tech and data, what did you carry over into your role at On, and how did you decide what to bring and what to leave behind?

I didn't come to recreate Spotify. Every great company builds its own story. What I did bring was a deep belief that culture is a competitive advantage when intentionally designed, a belief I held long before Spotify and brought to Spotify. That data should inform decisions, not replace judgement. And that leadership should create context, not control.

There is nothing I happily left behind. I wanted to do something new and continue learning – different founders, products, teams and growth stages. The best ideas travel; the best solutions don't.

Katarina Berg will be on-stage at UNLEASH 2026 in Paris, speaking about why the future belongs to organizations that develop people faster than technology changes.

Make sure you’re in the room to hear the discussion about where the next generation of talent strategy will be won.

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You've previously emphasized "putting the H back in HR" in the AI era. What does that mean concretely at On?

AI will make the R, as in Relations, more important. No transformation has succeeded without trust between people, represented by the quality of your relations and who you are supporting and driving the new ways of working and organizing yourselves.

That makes being human even more valuable. We're automating administration so managers spend more time coaching. Using AI to enable faster, smarter, human-led decisions, not outsource judgement. Making talent discussions richer because we have better data, not because an algorithm dictates the outcome.

The future isn't AI versus humans. It's AI for humans if done right. The most valuable managers won't be the ones with all the answers, they'll be the ones asking the best questions, creating psychological safety and helping people grow faster than technology changes.

The more AI you add, the more your quality of leadership and change agents matters.

Where is AI already reshaping roles or skill needs inside On today and what build-buy-reskill decisions are you actively considering?

Almost every knowledge role is changing. The question is no longer whether AI will change work, it's whether organizations will redesign work quickly enough. We're looking at where agents can remove repetitive work, where team members need to become AI-native, and where entirely new capabilities emerge.

Sometimes we'll build, sometimes we'll buy, but increasingly we'll reskill, because the fastest way to acquire great talent is often to grow the talent you already have. For HR, the role is shifting from 'structuring jobs' to designing work.

On's workforce has grown significantly over the past three years. What specific challenges has that growth created for you as CHRO, and what tough calls have you had to make in response?

Growth is wonderful. Growth is also expensive if you don't simplify while scaling. As organizations grow, complexity grows even faster. No team has become faster as it grows.

There were no real exceptional challenges connected to our growth; clarifying ownership, streamlining structures, being crystal clear about who decides what.

People often think scaling means adding. More often it means removing.

The goal isn't a bigger organization; it's a faster one. Every new layer should solve more problems than it creates.

With On's push into direct-to-consumer retail, how are you thinking about frontline and retail talent differently from corporate talent?

Retail isn't where our brand is explained, it's where it's experienced. Our store teams aren't the last step in the customer journey; they're often the first emotional connection with the brand. That changes everything.

Career paths need to be real, not symbolic. Learning needs to happen continuously. Recognition needs to be immediate. Leaders need to be coaches.

The best retailers don't just sell products, they build communities, consistently. Every store leader is a culture leader.