Brandon Sammut is the Chief People and AI Transformation Officer at Zapier, the fully remote automation and AI orchestration company. He joined Zapier in 2021 as Chief People Officer after roles at LiveRamp and Teach For America. — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).

Visual summary of operating lessons from Brandon Sammut.

Part 1: The AI Transformation Framework

  1. On AI Transformation Being a People Challenge: Sammut on expanding his role: "true AI transformation is a people challenge, not just a technical one." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  2. On Starting With Culture: Sammut: "Start with culture, not tools. Do a health check: Do you have a strong sense of psychological safety? Trusted management? A genuine culture of experimentation?" — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  3. On AI as a Tool: Sammut: "Think of AI as a tool, not an outcome," so you stop chasing it for its own sake and ask what problem it solves. — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  4. On Publishing Guardrails: Sammut: "Publish your guardrails early. Without clear boundaries, people will constrain themselves further than necessary. This limits creativity." Zapier's AI use guidelines "unlocked more experimentation, not less." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  5. On a Single Accountable Leader: Sammut: "Name a single accountable leader. Not a committee. Not a working group that meets monthly." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  6. On the Rule of Three: Sammut: "If your team does something manually three times, they automate it the fourth time. Or, they defend why it cannot or should not be automated." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  7. On the AI Fluency Framework: Zapier's AI Fluency Framework "with four levels: Unacceptable, Capable, Adoptive, and Transformative." Transformative means "AI has fundamentally changed how you work," influencing your team or organization, not just your own productivity. — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  8. On Evaluating Every Candidate: Sammut: "We now evaluate AI fluency across 100% of candidates, for every department and every role." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  9. On Rate of Learning: Sammut: "We replaced it with a learning philosophy anchored in rate of learning over stock of knowledge. We don't have a formal AI curriculum at Zapier." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).

Part 2: Remote Work and Distributed Excellence

  1. On Remote Versus Distributed: Sammut distinguishes the terms: remote is about where an individual works, distributed is about where teams are, and Zapier's 800-person team is spread across 42 countries. — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  2. On Writing Things Down: Sammut: "Zapier cares a lot about writing things down," so anyone, in any time zone, has the context to do their job and make good decisions. — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  3. On Outcomes Over Process: Sammut on Zapier's flexibility: "It's very much an outcomes based culture. So we care about what you produce, not necessarily how you get there." — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  4. On Asynchronous Work: Sammut says Zapier works "across time zones by doing a lot of work asynchronously, rather than having more of a meeting heavy culture," and is a writing-heavy culture. — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  5. On a Six-Month Onboarding: Sammut says Zapier's onboarding "lasts really six months in total," and many training moments in it are automated by timing or triggers. — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  6. On Automation Making Onboarding More Personal: Brandon Sammut: "The best applications of automation that I have seen in the Zapier onboarding experience is a good example of this, actually makes things more personal at scale, not less." — Ep 613: Talent Automation - Recruiting Future.
  7. On Connection Through Good Hard Work: Brandon Sammut: "But human connection, for the most part, at work, happens in, like, doing good hard work together and, hopefully, most of the time, winning together, learning together, doing hard things together." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  8. On Performance Managing the New Expectation: Brandon Sammut: "They are performance managed on the new expectation, along with the two KPIs they have always been accountable to." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  9. On AI as a Means: Brandon Sammut: "AI is a means it is not the end." — Ep 721: Inside Zapier's AI Transformation - Recruiting Future.

Part 3: Culture, Transparency, and Trust

  1. On Default to Transparency: Sammut: "Default to transparency is not a value that's about transparency for its own sake," but working in public helps everyone get the information they need and builds trust between management and the team. — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  2. On Private Slack Channels: Sammut: "You cannot create a private Slack channel at Zapier without like three layers of approval." — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  3. On Sharing Notes Publicly: Sammut says "Meeting notes from board meetings and exec meetings are shared in public channels. Financial statements are shared in public channels." — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  4. On Build the Robot: Sammut on the Zapier value: "don't be the robot, build the robot." It starts before people join, since candidates often show something they built with automation and AI. — Culture Uncovered: "Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier" (2026).
  5. On Experimentation Culture: Sammut: "If your culture doesn't support experimentation — if people don't feel safe trying, failing, and sharing — no amount of AI tooling will get you where you want to go." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  6. On Writing Things Down: Brandon Sammut: "It was just so obviously important for Zapier starting remote that the company got really good at making sure that things are written down." — Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier.
  7. On Behaviors Matching Words: Brandon Sammut: "I think it's really important for leaders to answer to that explicitly, and then for our behaviors in those moments to reflect what we're saying." — peoplemanagingpeople.com/podcast/why-ai-transformation-starts-with-organizationa.

Part 4: Internal Mobility and Talent Development

  1. On Human Review of Applications: Sammut: "A human at Zapier still reviews 100% of applications at the company." Zapier chose not to use AI screening because the technology is not yet there to inspire the needed confidence. — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  2. On Where Humans Stay: Sammut: "at Zapier, all applications are reviewed by humans and all assessments are done by humans," even though scheduling, outreach and follow-up are automated. — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  3. On a Shared Growth Goal: For the first time, Zapier asked everyone to set the same personal growth goal: "to find at least one meaningful way to put generative AI to work for you in your daily work." — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  4. On Betting on Current Talent: Zapier staffed its AI automation engineer roles from the existing People team: "while disruption will occur in the range of jobs we have, we are betting on our current talent." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  5. On Talent Density: Sammut: "We also raised compensation from the 50th to the 90th percentile — a concept we call 'talent density.'" — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  6. On Support Handle Time: Sammut says the Customer Support team "reduced average ticket handle time by 50% through AI-powered summarization" and is now paid at the 90th percentile of the market. — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  7. On Rate of Learning: Brandon Sammut: "This is the type of learning where how much we know at any given point in time is much less important than our rate of learning." — Ep 721: Inside Zapier's AI Transformation - Recruiting Future.
  8. On Something in It for the Team: Brandon Sammut: "But if you want the whole team to row with you, you have to create the psychological safety and honestly just the job security conditions where folks feel like not only are they going to learn some stuff, but that there's something in it for them at the end of the day as well." — Episode 123: TRANSFORM EPISODE: Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier | Built By People Podcast.

Part 5: Modern Leadership and Strategic HR

  1. On Focus Without Fear: On the AI code red, Sammut says "We weren't trying to create alarm or fear or anxiety, but we were trying to create focus and purpose on this topic." — Recruiting Future Podcast Ep 613: "Talent Automation" (2024).
  2. On Adding No Headcount: Sammut: "We added no new headcount for our AI transformation across the entire business, not just HR. We moved no reporting lines." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  3. On Impressive Versus Useful: Sammut: "The question isn't 'How impressive is this?' It's 'Does this genuinely improve someone's work?'" — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  4. On Complexity and Value: Sammut: "start with the simplest build that solves a real human pain point. Don't confuse technical complexity with business value." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  5. On an Iron Man Suit: Of Zapier's one-on-one coach for managers, Sammut says it is "an 'Iron Man suit' for managers — it enhances their capability — rather than an AI overlord watching over their shoulder." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  6. On Redesigning Performance Reviews: Sammut: "The traditional performance review cycle — annual or semi-annual, backward-looking, heavily dependent on a manager's memory and writing skill — needs to go." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  7. On the AI Code Red: Brandon Sammut: "a year ago we declared, we called it an AI code red, AI call to action for the entire company." — Ep 613: Talent Automation - Recruiting Future.
  8. On Where the Best Ideas Come From: Brandon Sammut: "if you want to figure out new ways of working, especially using new technology, usually the folks that have the best ideas for that, it's not leadership of that part of the organization." — Episode 123: TRANSFORM EPISODE: Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier | Built By People Podcast.

Part 6: Productivity, Efficiency, and Human Potential

  1. On Revenue Operations Workflows: Sammut: "Revenue Operations now runs 25 AI workflows and agents, saving the equivalent of 34 full-time work weeks every month." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  2. On Faster Month-End Close: Sammut: "Finance reduced month-end close by 25% despite increased complexity — with an 8-person team for a business exceeding $5 billion in annual revenue." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  3. On One Demand Gen Workflow: Sammut says one Demand Gen workflow "reclaimed 4.5 FTEs of capacity, saved $15–20K in tooling costs, and generated $1.2M in pipeline." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  4. On More Human Work: Sammut: "When we automate repetitive tasks, people do more creative, strategic, human work." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  5. On Blob Notes: For performance evidence, a manager or teammate reacts to a Slack message with a specific emoji; "That reaction triggers a Zapier workflow that captures the message, summarizes it using AI, and logs a clean performance evidence entry into a structured document." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  6. On Learning AI by Using It: Brandon Sammut: "AI is the first technology I have ever used deeply where one of the best ways to learn it is to use it." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  7. On Siloed Expertise: Brandon Sammut: "It's always been a risk for organizations when expertise is siloed, and really just lives with a couple people who know how to do this." — peoplemanagingpeople.com/podcast/why-ai-transformation-starts-with-organizationa.
  8. On Building Talent Density Through Skills: Brandon Sammut: "one of the next most important ways that we build talent density is by making sure that our team has the skills to use automation and these days, AI in their daily work." — Ep 613: Talent Automation - Recruiting Future.

Part 7: Ethics, Integrity, and Accountability

  1. On Human Accountability: Sammut: "If AI contributes to the work, humans remain accountable for its accuracy, tone, and impact." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  2. On Eroding Accountability: Sammut warns of "an erosion of accountability because of the convenience AI creates": leaders "may ship things without genuine human review." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  3. On Vendor Overload: Sammut: "AI vendor overload is real," and Zapier learned the hard way that "consolidating into a small number of core platforms is essential, rather than accumulating ten-plus point solutions." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  4. On a Durable Foundation for Connection: Brandon Sammut: "But I think this focus on customer and product is actually a very durable foundation for connection, rather than the ping pong table or the coffee bar or whatever, because maybe those feel good." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  5. On Not Substituting AI in Moments That Matter: Brandon Sammut: "One thing I would never ask AI to do, I would not ask AI to stand in for me in, like, a moment that matters with anyone in my work life or my family life." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  6. On People Being Capable of Greatness: Brandon Sammut: "I believe that people are capable of greatness, but we don’t always do great things." — Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier.
  7. On the Right Thing at the Right Time: Brandon Sammut: "When I look back on that two and a quarter years later, I think we did the right thing at the right time." — Ep 721: Inside Zapier's AI Transformation - Recruiting Future.

Part 8: The Future of Work and Career Evolution

  1. On Individual to Institutional AI: Sammut: "Internally, we call this the shift from 'individual AI' to 'institutional AI at scale,' and it's our primary focus for 2026." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  2. On the People Function: Sammut: "The People function has rarely been more important than in the AI era." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  3. On Open-Sourcing the Playbook: Sammut's bonus tip for leaders: "open-source your playbook. Share what you're learning." — People Managing People: "Zapier's Chief Says the Real AI Advantage is Culture, Not Technical Sophistication" (2026).
  4. On the New Performance Standard: Brandon Sammut: "If, technically, you can meet the new performance standard, if you wanna work twenty more hours a week and not use the new way of working because you're a glutton for punishment, or we know whatever the case may be, then that is technically allowable." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.
  5. On Starting Remote: Brandon Sammut: "one of the most remarkable things that’s had a lot of influence on our culture is the fact that they started the company as an all remote company 15 years ago." — Automation Does the Busywork, You Do the Big Work | Careers at Zapier.
  6. On What Young People Can Do: Brandon Sammut: "And I think we’re going to be surprised—pleasantly—by what young people can do with the tools they now have access to." — humanistxyz.substack.com/p/ai-at-work-what-zapiers-chief-people.
  7. On Technology That Helps People Thrive: Brandon Sammut: "technology could, if used really well, transform our ability to put people in situations where they could thrive." — Episode 123: TRANSFORM EPISODE: Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier | Built By People Podcast.
  8. On Technology as a Tool: Brandon Sammut: "Because the neat thing about a technology, any technology, is that it's really a tool, right?" — Episode 123: TRANSFORM EPISODE: Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier | Built By People Podcast.
  9. On What Differentiates Adopters: Brandon Sammut: "It typically doesn't come down to whether you chose, like, the perfect iteration of that technology at first or whether you have the perfect policies or governance frameworks; those are all very important." — Are human-first teams possible in the age of AI? ft. Brandon Sammut of Zapier | Mews.