Redefining the Manager’s Role, with Former Kimberly-Clark CHRO Liz Gottung

Mid-level managers are sandwiched between pressure from business
leaders to retain employees and rising employee expectations for
personalized support and communication. In this Talent Angle
episode, former Kimberly-Clark CHRO and member of Gartner’s CHRO
Global Leadership Board Liz Gottung encourages organizations to
rethink their expectations for mid-level managers or risk losing
these critical managers to burnout and fatigue. She suggests
organizations use technology and rethink role design to free
manager capacity for more high-impact work.


After a 35-year career with Kimberly-Clark, Lizanne (Liz) Gottung
retired as senior vice president and chief HR officer in 2017. At
the time, Kimberly-Clark was a $20 billion global company with
nearly 45,000 employees in more than 63 countries. Under her
leadership, Kimberly-Clark’s talent strategies were widely
recognized for excellence and innovation in HR management,
winning multiple global awards for diversity, equity and
inclusion; succession and development practices; and
Kimberly-Clark’s employer brand. Liz has been a member of the
board of directors of the Louisiana Pacific Corporation since
2006 and is chair of the governance and corporate responsibility
committee. She joined the board of Sylvamo Corporation in 2021
and chairs the management development and compensation committee.
Liz works with a number of non-profit organizations in the
Atlanta area, where she lives. She is also a member of Gartner’s
CHRO Global Leadership Board.


Peter Aykens is Chief of Research in Gartner's Human Resources
practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for defining research
coverage within the practice and building and leading research
teams addressing client's key initiatives. In prior roles at the
firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on
banking and financial services strategy producing numerous
studies that addressed business strategy, channel, marketing,
customer experience and product issues in financial services. He
holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Olaf College; a
MSc.(Econ) degree in International Politics from the University
College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a MA and Ph.D. in Political
Science from Brown University.