The HR Power Model™: What Comes After Ulrich

Why Strategy Isn’t Power, Alignment Isn’t Leadership, and HR’s Future Won’t Be Earned—It Will Be Reclaimed

The Cliff and the Cage

There’s an old parable about a town built at the base of a cliff. One day, people began falling. So the townspeople did what made sense—they built a hospital. When the injuries got worse, they added a trauma team. Eventually, they funded a morgue. But no one ever walked up the hill to ask why people were falling—or whether a railing could be installed.

For years, HR has played the role of the hospital at the bottom of the cliff. We’ve built policies, programs, offboarding protocols, manager training, pulse surveys, DEI scorecards, and countless engagement initiatives. And still, the people kept falling. Not because HR wasn’t trying—but because no one gave them the tools to install the railing. Worse, the system itself was designed to pretend the cliff wasn’t dangerous.

When I posted that “most CHROs aren’t lacking intelligence or intent—they’re trapped inside roles designed to maintain optics, not engineer change,” I knew it would strike a chord. But I didn’t expect the avalanche: over 50,000 views, dozens of executives weighing in, and even direct replies from Dave Ulrich himself.

I didn’t start that conversation to go viral. I started it because someone had to name the betrayal built into the structure.

The Cost of Being Polite

Let’s stop pretending this is about academic debate. I’ve coached CHROs who’ve sat silently in executive meetings while CEOs dismissed systemic abuse as “interpersonal dynamics.” I’ve watched brilliant HR professionals try to challenge the very dysfunctions they were asked to report on—only to be labeled “uncooperative.” I’ve seen performance management systems weaponized against whistleblowers while HR was told to “keep it strategic.”

And the impact? It’s not theoretical.

It’s culture fatigue masked as engagement.
It’s top talent exiting quietly with smiles on their way out.
It’s overextended HR professionals burning out behind polished DEI dashboards and “Best Place to Work” awards.
It’s entire departments living in compliance theater while power goes untouched.

I once worked with a billion-dollar tech company whose HR team was lauded in board meetings for high satisfaction scores. But internal exit interviews told a different story. High performers were leaving because nothing ever changed. Toxic leadership remained. Feedback loops were circular. And the CHRO? A Harvard-educated, highly respected executive who told me, in confidence, “I wasn’t hired to change the system. I was hired to make the system look better.”

That’s not strategy. That’s survival under cover.

The Betrayal of Influence

We were promised a seat at the table. What we got was proximity without power.

The Ulrich model—let’s be honest—offered order, not insurgency. It gave HR structure, language, and a presence in the C-suite. But somewhere along the way, “strategic partnership” became code for polite compliance. HR Business Partners were trained to be credible and consultative—but not confrontational. Not systemic. Not powerful.

And in the process, we taught an entire profession that its value was measured by how close it could get to the decision-makers, without actually disrupting the decisions.

That’s not evolution. That’s entrapment.
And it explains why some of the most competent HR leaders are the most silent: they know the system isn’t broken.
It’s doing exactly what it was built to do—protect power and maintain optics.

Which is why I stopped trying to fix the model.
I replaced it.

The Power Model

The HR Power Model™ starts with a single premise: HR’s job isn’t to align with leadership—it’s to hold it accountable.

This model isn’t about influence. It’s about embedded authority. It’s not about HR getting better at messaging—it’s about HR redesigning the leadership architecture itself. Not polishing dysfunction, but dismantling it. And not waiting for permission to intervene when culture turns toxic or trust erodes.

Three foundational principles define it:

1. Authority by Design
   HR doesn’t request a seat—it occupies one through formalized governance, structural veto power, and system-level intervention mandates.

2. Systemic Trust Architecture™
   Trust isn’t a cultural initiative. It’s a design principle enforced through feedback loops, power audits, and leadership consequence frameworks.

3. Culture as Infrastructure
   Culture isn’t a vibe—it’s a series of systemically reinforced patterns. HR is responsible for those patterns, not just their perception.

We’ve implemented this model in organizations where HR was previously handcuffed. In every case, once HR had the structural tools to act, dysfunction became visible, addressable, and no longer deniable. That’s the power of embedding—not advising.

And the professionals leading this change? They’re not neutral. They’re insurgents.

The Takeover Begins Here

This is where the Principled Centered Insurgent Framework™ comes in. It was never meant to be subtle. It’s a manifesto for those ready to stop managing around the edges and start leading from the center.

The framework is built on three mandates:

1. Redesign Systems, Don’t Just Navigate Them
   If a system punishes integrity or rewards silence, you don’t adapt—you rebuild.

2. Protect People, Not Power
   Leadership’s comfort cannot outweigh organizational justice. HR doesn’t report to culture—it enforces it.

3. Lead Without Apology
   Influence that’s contingent on approval isn’t influence. HR must claim its position as a design discipline—not a service desk.

If the Ulrich model taught us how to earn influence, the HR Power Model™ teaches us how to use it. Not for access. For authority.

This isn’t about academic disagreement. This is about power.
And if your HR function still needs permission to intervene in a system that’s harming people, it’s not strategic—it’s subjugated.

The HR Power Model™ isn’t an iteration of what came before. It’s the end of it. It’s the moment we stop performing credibility and start building counterpower. It’s where we stop “aligning” and start auditing. And it’s the line that separates those who manage dysfunction from those who dismantle it.

To everyone who shared, commented, and questioned the original post: you already know what needs to happen.
You’ve seen it. You’ve lived it.
You’ve cleaned up the mess after others protected the people who caused it.
And now it’s your move.

We are not evolving.
We are replacing.
We are HR insurgents.
And we’re not waiting anymore.