Vladimir E. Barrios-Avila

Director of People at Cozero (51-200 employees)

With over ten years of experience in organizational development and design, I am a passionate and data-driven leader who empowers people and drives performance. I currently oversee the people function at Cozero, a fast-growing startup that provides sustainable mobility solutions. My core competencies include labour law, people analytics, strategic workforce planning, and culture-based organizational performance management. I have successfully advised and supported multiple companies in these areas, leveraging my social science background and people strategy skills. I am motivated by the impact I can generate with my work and the change I can enable in the people I work with.

9:00 - 9:30 am

Tuesday 14 October 2025

When Google’s Playbook Backfires: HR Trends That Can Kill Culture & Performance in SMEs

From unlimited vacation to KPI-driven performance cultures, many SMEs rush to adopt HR trends that originated in Silicon Valley giants like Google or Amazon. While these practices may have driven innovation at scale, blindly copy-pasting them into smaller businesses can do more harm than good. In this provocative and practical session, I’ll share how trends like OKRs, radical transparency, or hyper-flexibility can backfire in SMEs — and what to do instead. We’ll look at real-world examples, explore why KPIs often fail, and provide a simple decision framework to help leaders assess which people practices fit their company’s culture and maturity stage.