By Kelly Cross—our fictional Chief People Officer, but with stories that feel a little too real.

Some stories in HR don’t fit in handbooks. They unfold in Slack threads, late-night texts, and quiet moments after a meeting that went sideways.

That’s what Behind HR Lines is…a storytelling series built from the chaos, politics, and small wins that define life in HR.

Every week, Kelly Cross, the CPO who can read a room before anyone else notices it’s on fire, shares a scene that feels equal parts familiar and uncomfortably close to home.

Each edition includes:

✔️ One story pulled straight from the trenches
✔️ The “Pattern” — the leadership truth hiding in the chaos
✔️ “Kelly Recommends” — a small fix or framework worth stealing

Subscribe today. Delivered every week. No buzzwords. No vendor pitches. Just the messy, human truth of work.

Why Subscribe?

Because HR doesn’t need more advice…it needs honesty.

Behind HR Lines isn’t about best practices or five-step frameworks. It’s about what actually happens when the policies hit the people…the unfiltered, all-too-human side of HR that never makes it into the slide decks.

Brought to you by Klaar, the performance management platform built by real HR leaders who’ve lived this chaos. We’ve seen the politics, the pressure, and the spreadsheets, and we built Klaar to make performance human again.

If you’ve ever found yourself cleaning up a mess you didn’t make, rewriting an exec’s 3 a.m. brainstorm, or holding space for a team that’s barely holding on…this is for you.

Written for the ones who steady the chaos, make the hard calls, and still care enough to show up again tomorrow.

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From Episode 1: The Policy That Appeared Overnight

“The email landed at 7:04 a.m. — Mandatory Return to Office. Effective Next Week. My coffee spilled before I did. The cat jumped off the chair. Slack exploded. Welcome to another day in HR.”

Where HR’s Real Stories Come to Life

You’ve probably already lived half of Kelly’s stories. Now read the rest. Subscribe to get Behind HR Lines in your inbox every week...one unfiltered HR story at a time.

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