The Heineken Company: Company culture is like a spider’s web, and higher-performance shouldn’t cost a great work environment

Everyone will have a different definition of what makes a good leader – empathy, recognition, integrity. These may be just some of the skills that first come to mind.

But what’s the difference between a good leader and a future-ready leader?

To find out, UNLEASH sat down with Paddy Hull, Head of Talent, Leadership, and Culture at The Heineken Company, after he took to the stage at UNLEASH World 2025 to share his knowledge on the topic.

For Hull, inspiration on leadership came from a famous Charles Darwin quote: ‘It’s not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the ones that are most adaptable to change.’

Throughout the exclusive conversation, Hull reiterates the importance of adaptability – for both organizations and leadership alike, while discussing the impact of AI and how to cultivate psychological safety.

Creating an AI-driven talent marketplace

During Hull’s sessions at UNLEASH World 2025, he discussed the importance of moving beyond static plans to embrace agile talent ecosystems.

To explain what this looks like in practice at Heineken, he used the example of being adaptable to change.

“For years in HR, we’ve relied on fairly static succession planning processes that take six months to identify people who are going to be successful for roles – we put them into boxes in terms of readiness, which can take hours,” he shares.

“But then we found that it’s not that successful in actually making sure that people get the roles they desire, so we realized we needed to adapt to find another more reliable way of achieving this.

“If AI can match us to an Uber or an Airbnb, why can’t it match me to a job? That’s the question we asked ourselves.”

Heineken has been leveraging AI to better match people to jobs, with Hull noting that the technology is becoming “more available and getting better every day.”

This effort is part of the brewing company’s broader journey to build an AI-driven talent marketplace that intelligently matches people to roles.

However, Hull insists that hiring managers will still make the final decision on who gets appointed roles – AI will rather be utilized to shortlist candidates, ensuring there’s an unbiased, diverse pool of potential employees. From this, hiring managers can make more informed choices.

In fact, this was one of the most important points that Hull wants to share with other HR leaders – not to ‘forget’ the human in the loop.

The one thing we must never give up is human judgment – with context and compassion,” he warns. “We must always make sure we recognize the human in the data.”

Creating change through psychologically safe workplaces

When discussing company culture, Hull describes it to be like a spider’s web, “you don’t know it’s there until you walk into it,” he says.

And as Heineken has a long and intricate history of more than 150 years, changing this culture to fit modern day needs can be challenging.

“There are all these hidden cultural aspects that aren’t written down anywhere, but they define how things work around here,” he notes.

To tackle this, Hull explains that you need to find a way to ensure culture change doesn’t get rejected by the existing system, “a bit like how your body’s immune system rejects anything foreign.”

“You have to make culture change look like it fits with the way things get done, even if it’s not,” he adds.

He provides an example from Heineken, expressing that the business wanted to drive more discipline within the organization. But rather than framing it directly, employees were asked to become ‘more pioneering’.

“Everyone at Heineken loves being a pioneer – being entrepreneurial, trying new things,” Hull comments.

“So we encouraged employees to be just this, stating that great pioneers have discipline and rigor in the way they do things. That’s the key.

“So for me, culture change is a lot about ensuring you don’t get organ rejection and can find a way for the current culture to adopt new elements.”

When shaping company culture, one of the most fundamental aspects HR leaders need to be mindful of is cultivating an environment where employees can learn and feel psychological safety.

This can often cause issues for HR professionals, because of the tension between organizations achieving goals, delivery, and achievements, and being focused on the people side – making sure they are thriving and that they’re in a great place to work.

Hull identifies that some senior leaders can fall into the trap of wanting to drive more of a performance culture, believing their current environment is too easy and relaxed. However, he highlights that people only give discretionary effort when they feel they’re in a good place to work.

I try to balance this by reminding leaders that, yes, we want to drive a higher-performance culture, but that can’t come at the cost of a great working environment,” he says.

He therefore believes that a great working environment tends to be made up of five things: autonomy, connection, belonging, skills growth and purpose, and inclusion.

“People want to have influence over their work, they want a place where they can meet people and connect, a sense of belonging and relatedness, to build their skills and competence, and to feel that their work has purpose,” he explains.

“They also want to know that fairness and inclusion are valued and that everyone has equal opportunity.

“Those are the five things that HR has to keep as the conscience of our leaders, because that’s how we’ll achieve both business performance and psychological safety.

“That’s what we really want – not one or the other.”

Stay tuned for more UNLEASH World 2025 content.