Business Leadership
Umair Aziz, author of the PeopleOps Manifesto, serves as the Managing Partner of Creative Chaos, a technology holding company. He oversees a diverse portfolio that includes experience design, fintech, app development, accounting and remote staffing agencies. His teams are situated in development hubs across Asia, Europe, and Latin America and collectively employ over 300 professionals.
Industry Impact
Umair is a results-driven leader and through his firm, has helped multinational firms such as Staples, Advance Auto Parts, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Stericycle, Foxtons, Weir, Emaar, GNC, Telenor, GoPro, Spark Telecom, TicketPro, and many others. His guidance has helped these companies achieve scalable growth through strategic planning, technological innovation, and product development.
Investment and Mentorship
Umair is as an angel investor and manages a micro VC fund. He has mentored and helped startups from ideation to exit, including Jill’s List, which was acquired by Mindbody; Podium Data, acquired by Qlik; and BEZNext, acquired by Dynatrace. His current investment portfolio includes promising startups such as Cloaked, Vertosa, Willport, Teamlift, and Litterati.
Expertise and Community Involvement
Umair advises startup founders and CEOs, primarily focusing on strategy, culture and technology. He contributes to the community through mentorship and participating on various advisory boards.
Personal Life
Umair resides in Lexington, MA, a Boston suburb, with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, who inspire him to advocate for a world that empowers women. He’s a music enthusiast, and plays the guitar and drums.
Why the PeopleOps Manifesto?
Umair is not a HR leader. With a strong background in strategy and technology, being in roles of a CTO and Managing Partner, his interest into PeopleOps may seem unconventional. However, this stems from 25 years in leadership and a critical insight: the most challenging issues in business are about people, not technology or operations. Traditional HR, generally limited to enforcing policies hasn’t been able to resolve these challenges, even though they frequently take the blame.
Tired of constant crisis management related to people issues at Creative Chaos, Umair decided to dive deeper. Adopting a beginner’s mindset, he immersed himself in the disciplines of organizational psychology and the dynamics of human interaction, aiming to truly understand the underpinnings of these persistent challenges. Inspired by thought leaders who emphasize teamwork, and being a strong proponent of Agile which is all about working together with different stakeholders, Umair concluded that enhancing the employee experience wasn’t just the job of HR; it’s a strategic opportunity for the entire organization, one that should be led by the CEO.
Umair took action, and applied these ideas. He fine tuned various strategies that have proven effective globally. The outcome is the PeopleOps Manifesto—a wake-up call for CEOs, HR leaders and managers. It encapsulates the lessons he learned during his own transition from a tech-centric leader to a people and culture champion.