Melanie Steinbach comes from a family of doctors, so when she chose a
Steinbach launched her first business, a
"The CEO believed deeply that having the best people made a huge difference in the success of the company," Steinbach says. "From my very first full-time job, I had this belief that the quality of the people really matters."
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Steinbach continued as a recruiter for the next 15 years, moving her way up to management positions within executive search firms. Eventually, she realized her passion was fostering people's growth and success within their current organizations, and made the transition to CHRO. It was a learning experience for her, too.
"I would say I knew about 30% of the job, so I had to spend a lot of time learning," she says. "But I learned that my hypothesis was correct: You can solve business problems with levers other than just replacing people."
Today, Steinbach is the chief people officer at MasterClass, and has helped build out MasterClass at Work, which offers classes on leadership, communication and critical thinking skills — a continuation of her goal to help people become more confident, capable professionals.
"Part of HR's role is to give people access to growth," Steinbach says. "That looks like classes, great coaching and mentoring, and creating opportunities for people within their jobs. Our mission statement is to 'unlock human potential by inspiring a learning lifestyle in everyone.' Finding a company where the external mission is so aligned to my personal mission felt like a really unique opportunity."
Steinbach spoke with EBN about the responsibilities of a people manager, how she contributes to others' success outside the workplace and the importance of authenticity.
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You talk a lot about your mission — why is being transparent about that an important part of being a leader?
Technology, the pandemic and changing societal expectations have led us to a point where authenticity is one of the most prized traits in leaders today. As a working mom for most of my career, I was honestly too tired to create multiple versions of myself, so my authentic, complete self was the one who showed up. Although this wasn't appreciated by everyone, over time it has become a hallmark of my leadership.
I also encourage my teams to lead in this way. Leaders who embrace their humanity are most credible to their organizations. Who wants a leader of human resources who doesn't seem human at all?
How did your former roles inspire the work you're doing at MasterClass?
I knew from all of my previous experience that one of the biggest things people want is access to great learning in their jobs and great development and the opportunity to grow. I just kept thinking, we have this really amazing opportunity to make people so much happier at work.
I joined MasterClass because I was so excited about the opportunity to bring incredible content and instructors to all types of workers in all types of companies, and what we're doing with MasterClass at Work. [It gives] employees the tools to invest in not only their skills at work, but also skills outside of work. When people feel their organizations invest in their well-being, they are happier overall.
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What are some of the main ways you equip your own team to be successful?
Role clarity — here's what's expected of you, here's what "great" looks like in this role, here's what's not going to be tolerated in this role, and if you want to continue to progress, this is what it's going to require.
[Another is] making sure that people feel safe and that they have access to the resources that they need for physical and psychological safety. That's something that became very obvious to us during COVID. People want to do a great job at work, and we need to help facilitate that.
