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Troy Poe’s guitar of choice says a lot about his approach to people. The chief people officer at Motivate favors a Fender Stratocaster, maybe the most versatile guitar on the planet for those who know how to wield it.
Poe is an HR leader, speaker, consultant, author, and, above all, an analytical thinker who knows how to find the right notes. And those skills, as varied as the tones of a Strat, have helped the CPO create high-performing teams and make HR a critical business function across multiple industries for nearly two decades.
Music is also what brought Poe to HR in the first place.
Kind of Blue
“I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be where I am in my career today if it weren’t for music,” Poe explains. “There are so many experiences that wouldn’t have opened up to me had it not been for that part of my life, a part of me that’s still incredibly important today.”
Poe spent his late teens and early-to-mid-twenties touring with his guitar, forming relationships with the most famous blue heads in the world, the Blue Man Group. Eventually, Poe took on an official HR manager role with the organization, and his HR career was born. “It turned out that it was something I was really good at,” Poe remembers. “I liked it, and it just made sense to me. That’s where everything took off.”
The HR leader came to Motivate, a company that services bicycle-sharing systems across major metropolitan areas, in 2022 to aid the company’s expansion overseas. The company currently has strong operations in Chicago; New York City; Washington, DC; Boston; Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; and the Bay Area. And the growth continues.
Currently, Motivate is already in Euro markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and France. Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Croatia, and Austria are all on the way.
“They’re all separate countries with separate HR requirements [that] we need to learn about in order to operate effectively,” Poe explains. “But with that work, I’ve found that the culture here is so much fun. There’s excitement about what we’re doing, and I think you’ll find people in the micromobility space are really passionate about what they do.”
Market Research Future predicts that the global market cap for micromobility will grow from $89.4 billion in 2022 to $210.5 billion by 2030, spurred by increased demand and initiatives undertaken by communities and cities looking to implement bike and scooter infrastructure for residents and tourists alike.
A 2017 transportation study by RethinkX Cofounder Tony Seba and tech investor James Arbib predicts an ambitious 80 percent drop in private car ownership by 2030 in the US alone. While the logistics and definitions of that study created controversy, it does create a compelling narrative for why people may choose to forgo automobiles in favor of something more environmentally friendly.
What isn’t up for debate is the fact that Motivate got in early and continues to operate in one of the primary industries poised for massive growth over the next decade.
“There’s excitement about what we’re doing, and I think you’ll find people in the micromobility space are really passionate about what they do.”
Troy Poe
Making HR Make the Difference
As an HR pro who has managed success across multiple industries, Poe says it’s imperative to take the time to understand one’s business model, and to learn exactly what one’s organization does, and how they do it.
But that’s just the table stakes.
“Once you truly understand your organization’s business model, you need to go back to your HR skill set and find ways to develop HR programs that help advance organizational goals,” Poe explains. “If you can achieve that, rather than just ‘doing HR,’ other leaders in the organization will see how much value the HR function can bring to the conversation. That’s when HR becomes transformative.”
Poe lauds Motivate for creating a culture and a brand that is attractive to both potential and current talent alike. By communicating a clear identity and vision, the CPO says everyone within Motivate and those interested in learning more about the organization see the same thing: a company forging a sustainable and environmentally minded transportation model for the world.
That passion, Poe says, is just another differentiator in the ever-escalating war for talent, a war that will continue in its complexity as Motivate continues to grow globally.
While he has only been at the organization for a year, the HR leader has been able to demonstrate his function’s ability to add critical and lasting value to a company on the rise. That’s the power of an HR leader intent on innovation and not content to fit into the mold of what has come before. This role is anything but the same old song, and Poe is still confident taking a lead.
