A Legal Mind in an HR World

You went to law school but built your career in HR rather than traditional legal practice. What pulled you in that direction, and how does your legal background show up in your work today?

My parents both worked for GE during a time when the company was known for being incredibly innovative in leadership and talent development. My father was a General Counsel, and I always enjoyed hearing about the challenges he worked through. At the same time, I found myself drawn to the people side of business.

As I pursued my business degree, I became especially interested in employee relations, labor relations, leadership, and organizational dynamics. I chose law school not because I intended to become a practicing attorney, but because I believed understanding the law would make me a better HR professional. While in law school, I earned a certification in Sports Law and focused much of my coursework on labor relations, including collective bargaining in professional sports.

The legal training has proven invaluable throughout my career. Beyond understanding laws and regulations, law school teaches you how to issue-spot, evaluate multiple perspectives, assess risk, and build practical solutions. It trains you to see both sides of an argument and think critically before acting. I passed the Texas Bar, but I've spent my career applying that legal mindset to leadership and business decision-making—balancing compliance with practicality.

Inside the Energy Industry

Most of your career has been in oil and gas—refineries, union environments, remote locations. What does HR look like in that world, and what has it taught you that you might not have learned elsewhere?

I've had the privilege of spending most of my career supporting one of the most critical industries in the world. Energy powers nearly every aspect of modern life, and being close to that mission gives you a unique appreciation for operational excellence and the people who make it happen.

Moving back and forth between operational environments and corporate offices gave me a much deeper understanding of how businesses actually create value. It taught me that HR is most effective when it understands the realities of the frontline and connects people strategies directly to business outcomes.

Working in unionized environments has also been incredibly valuable. Labor relations teaches contracts, regulations, and negotiation skills—but more importantly, it teaches relationships. The most successful labor-management partnerships aren't built on winning arguments. They're built on trust, respect, and finding common interests. Whether you're working with union leadership, operators, supervisors, or executives, people generally want the same things: to be respected, heard, developed, and treated fairly. When organizations can align employee needs with business objectives, extraordinary things become possible.

The Case for Certification

You hold your SPHR and a J.D. What made you pursue HRCI certification, and what does it add for someone who already has a law degree?

Like any educational experience, both my undergraduate degree and law degree provided a tremendous amount of foundational knowledge. They taught me how to think, analyze problems, and understand broader concepts. But education alone doesn't guarantee relevance.

I've always believed that if you stop learning, you start falling behind. The business world evolves too quickly, leadership expectations change, and the HR profession continues to grow in complexity. Pursuing my SPHR certification was an opportunity to challenge myself, deepen my expertise, and ensure I remained current as an HR leader. It forced me to revisit areas I hadn't focused on recently and strengthened my understanding across the entire HR discipline—not just the areas where I had the most experience.

For me, the certification wasn't about adding letters after my name. It was about maintaining a commitment to continuous learning and demonstrating the same growth mindset I encourage in others.

Strategy, Alignment, and the Business of People

You've worked deeply in labor relations—grievances, contract negotiations, collective bargaining. How has that expertise influenced how you think about talent strategy at the enterprise level?

Whether you're negotiating a labor agreement, resolving a grievance, or implementing a talent initiative, success ultimately depends on people understanding the purpose, trusting the process, and believing the outcome serves a meaningful objective. The best talent strategies aren't HR programs—they're business strategies enabled through people.

Labor relations also teaches patience, listening, and perspective. Every issue has multiple viewpoints, and long-term success requires balancing those perspectives while maintaining trust. Relationships and credibility are often more powerful than authority.

You've overseen talent acquisition, talent management, HRBPs, inclusion initiatives, and labor relations. How do you keep those functions aligned around a common vision?

HR's primary purpose is to help the business succeed by reducing disruption, building great leaders, and creating an environment where people can perform at their best. Too often, HR gets reduced to administrators or problem solvers who get called after something has already gone wrong. Great HR teams are part of the leadership system—they should be shaping outcomes, not reacting to them.

Alignment starts with a shared understanding of purpose, which is fundamentally the same for every role in HR: help the business win through people. When everyone sees themselves as an indispensable business partner rather than a support function, the conversation shifts from "What does HR need to do?" to "What does the business need to achieve, and how do we help make that happen?" That's where HR creates its greatest value.

Building Talent from Within

What's your philosophy on building internal talent pipelines, especially in an industry with specialized skill requirements?

The strongest organizations build talent as much as—if not more than—they buy it. External hiring will always play an important role, particularly in specialized areas. But relying exclusively on external talent can create struggles with continuity, engagement, and long-term development.

Building internal pipelines requires intentionality: identifying potential early, creating meaningful development experiences, providing coaching, and helping leaders understand that developing talent is one of their most important responsibilities. One of the best indicators of leadership effectiveness is whether a leader leaves behind a stronger bench than they inherited.

Culture as a Business Conversation

In an operationally driven industry like energy, how do you make the business case for culture?

I think we've done ourselves a disservice by talking about culture as if it's separate from business performance. Culture is simply the collection of behaviors that occur every day throughout an organization—and those behaviors influence safety, reliability, productivity, retention, innovation, and financial performance.

In operational environments, strong cultures create clarity, accountability, trust, and engagement. They reduce disruption and allow people to focus their energy on execution rather than navigating unnecessary obstacles. Organizations with strong cultures often outperform because they spend less time dealing with preventable problems and more time creating value. When leaders understand that connection, culture quickly becomes a business discussion—not an HR discussion.

What Good Leadership Looks Like

What does good HR leadership look like to you, and how has your definition evolved over 15-plus years?

Early in my career, I believed great leaders were the people with all the answers. Over time, I've learned that great leadership has much less to do with expertise and much more to do with influence.

The best HR leaders understand the business deeply, build trusted relationships, provide authentic counsel, and help leaders make better decisions. They create clarity during uncertainty, remain steady during disruption, and have the courage to speak the truth when it matters most. Most importantly, they build capability in others. Their success isn't measured by how many problems they personally solve, but by how many leaders become more effective because of their guidance.

I've also learned that simplicity matters. Great HR leadership isn't about creating complicated programs or impressive presentations. It's about reducing noise, solving real problems, helping people succeed, and making organizations stronger than they were before.

What's Next for HR in Energy

What's the biggest challenge you see coming for HR leaders in the energy sector over the next few years?

The biggest challenge will be developing the next generation of leaders and critical talent while navigating an increasingly complex business environment. Many organizations are facing evolving workforce expectations, increasing technical demands, and growing competition for skilled talent—all while technology and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing how work gets done.

While technology will continue to transform the workplace, leadership will remain the ultimate differentiator. Organizations that invest in leadership capability, succession planning, workforce development, and culture will have a significant competitive advantage. The challenge isn't simply attracting talent—it's creating an environment where talent can grow, perform, and stay.

What would you tell someone early in their HR career who wants to eventually step into a strategic leadership role?

First, learn the business. Too many HR professionals become experts in HR while never fully understanding how their organization creates value. The more you understand operations, finance, customers, strategy, and the realities of the frontline workforce, the more effective you become.

Second, earn credibility through execution. Deliver on commitments, solve problems, and follow through. Don't be afraid to take on hard things and jump into situations you aren't fully ready for.

Third, spend time with people at every level of the organization. Some of the most important lessons of my career came from conversations with operators, union representatives, supervisors, and frontline employees—not just senior leaders.

Finally, never stop learning. Curiosity is one of the most valuable traits any leader can possess. Leadership isn't about titles or authority. It's about influence—helping people succeed, improving organizations, and leaving things better than you found them.

Michael "Keith" Cutter is the Vice President of Talent Strategy at Delek US Holdings Inc., a downstream energy company. A licensed attorney in Texas, Keith has over 15 years of experience in human resources and labor relations. Passionate about culture and leadership, Keith has led strategic initiatives in talent management, diversity, and organizational development, primarily in the oil and gas industry.

Achieve Excellence with HRCI Organizational Certification

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