There is no clean playbook for building a People function inside a scaling business. Priorities shift, structures break, and what worked six months ago quickly becomes a constraint. The challenge is not just growth, it is deciding what to build, what to rebuild, and what to let go of as the organisation evolves. This session explores what it actually takes to scale People, culture, and structure without a fixed blueprint. From navigating rapid headcount growth to resetting after failed models, it looks at the trade-offs leaders make to keep the business moving while building foundations that last. Drawing on experience across high-growth environments, this keynote goes beyond frameworks to unpack the reality of scaling under pressure, where decisions are imperfect, timing is everything, and the cost of getting it wrong is visible fast. Key takeaways: - Understand how to prioritise what to build first when scaling the People function under pressure - Learn how to recognise when existing structures are breaking, and how to reset without slowing the business - Explore how leaders balance speed, culture, and operational discipline as organisations evolve Take away practical approaches to building People systems that scale with the business, not against it