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Meet Saliha Latif, a transformative people and culture leader with over two decades of expertise in HR strategy, transformation, and leadership development. She is renowned for empowering multiple startups and multinationals, driving tangible business results. Currently, as the CPO at Reform HR, Saliha leads with a vision to transform workplaces and unlock human potential. Under her leadership, Reform HR continues to make ameaningful impact in the world of HR.
Global Expertise: Shaping People Strategies Across Borders
Saliha’s extensive experience spanning EMEA, APAC, and North America has profoundly shaped her approach to HR and people strategy. With a keen understanding that people’s challenges may be universal, but solutions must be tailored to local contexts, she has developed a people-first, value-driven approach that prioritizes cultural context. Her global expertise has equipped her with the agility to devise effective people strategies that balance global standards with local nuances.
For example, when building a global mobility framework for Agri-tech companies, Saliha successfully navigated diverse visa systems, labor laws, and cultural expectations to maintain a consistent employee experience. This ability to harmonize global best practices with local nuance is now a core part of her strategic approach.
Global Leadership Lessons
Saliha’s transition from the UK to working internationally, particularly in the UAE with over 70 nationalities, was a transformative experience that reshaped her approach to HR and leadership. This notable shift taught Saliha the importance of cultural flexibility, active listening, and adaptability in leadership. She learned to embed best practices with a deep understanding of local cultures, recognizing that what works in one context may not be effective in another.
For instance, when designing performance systems in Asia, Saliha aligned incentives with collective achievement rather than solely focusing on individual metrics. This experience transformed her into a more thoughtful, collaborative leader, skilled at co-creating solutions with her teams.
Navigating Global HR Challenges with Local Insight
Saliha has observed recurring HR challenges across continents, including attracting top talent, driving engagement, and developing leadership. However, she emphasizes that solutions must be tailored to the local environment.
In the UAE, the focus is often on nationalization, compliance with evolving labor laws, and building scalable HR infrastructure for high-growth companies. In KSA, it’s about transformation at scale, but each city brings something unique. What resonated with teams in Jeddah didn’t necessarily land the same way in Riyadh. Same country, different dynamics, different expectations from both talent and leadership. In Europe, the focus is on transparency, work-life integration, and employee autonomy. There’s a heavier emphasis on sustainability, ESG, and long-term workforce planning, whereas in the Middle East, speed and scale are often the priorities.
Saliha’s experience has taught her that successful HR leadership across borders requires careful listening, thoughtful adaptation, and cultural sensitivity instead of simply replicating successful frameworks.
Putting People at the Heart of Business
Saliha brings her people-centric philosophy to life by embedding HR into the core of business strategy. At BOUNCE, she aligned workforce planning with business goals during a hyper-growth phase, resulting in a 35% reduction in ramp-up time and a 22% increase in engagement through digitized onboarding and performance tools.
In M&A scenarios, Saliha focuses on culture integration using discovery workshops to understand each business’s unique dynamics and build a unified culture that honors legacy while driving growth.
Leading with Heart: Empowering People, Driving Success
For Saliha, “winning the hearts and minds of the business” means prioritizing people over profit and empowering organizations to succeed long-term. She embeds this philosophy into leadership development by fostering a culture of trust, self-awareness, and feedback. At Vault Hill, she worked closely with founders to move them from reactive management to intentional leadership, resulting in a 40% improvement in team alignment, reduced attrition, and the creation of a culture that encourages innovation.
A Purpose-Driven Approach to HR
Reform HR started as a passion project. While working full-time, Saliha was often approached by CEOs and HR professionals who needed quick advice on labor law, policies, or navigating tricky people issues. She offered pro bono support, especially during the early days of COVID, when so many people needed help but couldn’t access it.
It grew from there, first helping people affected by the pandemic, then expanding to global transformation projects and high-impact local ones, like working with DIFC Courts. Reform HR was built on purpose, not profit, and that’s still the compass.
Living the Values: Authenticity in Action
Saliha ensures that Reform HR’s core values of honesty, integrity, humility, and passion are lived, not just stated. She embodies these values through actions, such as having tough conversations, turning down misaligned clients, and calling out bias at the senior level. By celebrating team members who make bold, human decisions, Saliha fosters a culture that truly reflects Reform HR’s values.
Strategic HR Alignment for Growth
Saliha approaches HR strategy alignment by prioritizing clarity and scalability. In high-growth environments, she ties workforce planning to business objectives, such as investor roadmaps and expansion timelines. At Pure Salmon, she introduced KPI dashboards for real-time visibility into key HR metrics, enabling data-driven decisions. Saliha also focuses on building scalable infrastructure, as seen at Drone Champions League, where she established flexible HR systems that supported the team’s expansion across EMEA.
Building Truly Inclusive Cultures
Saliha advocates for meaningful inclusion by going beyond mere policies. She emphasizes listening to people’s stories and embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of the business. At BOUNCE, Saliha implemented learning programs that filled 50% of leadership roles internally across five countries, promoting diverse leadership growth. By integrating DEI into recruitment, performance evaluation, and the decision-making process, she ensures that inclusion is a lived experience, owned across the business.
HR’s Role in Fostering Equity and Psychological Safety
Saliha positions HR as both the architect and protector of safe workplaces, ensuring equity in hiring, pay, promotion, and conflict resolution. She fostered psychological safety by building trust, enabling employees to speak up without fear. At Pure Harvest, Saliha introduced anonymous engagement tools and restructured grievance channels, allowing honest feedback to drive meaningful change.
Making a Lasting Impact in HR
Saliha’s motivation stems from witnessing the transformative power of HR when done right—empowering people, growing businesses, and fostering unstoppable cultures. She is driven to redefine HR as a strategic force that goes beyond policies and payroll. Saliha is passionate about lifting and advising others, showing up with purpose, and building trust with clients by offering honest, human, and strategic guidance.
Shaping the Future of Human Resource
Saliha embodies the McKinsey vision of next-gen HR. She partners with CEOs and executive teams to shape strategic people agendas, leveraging technology to drive growth. Currently, she is developing an AI-powered HR chatbot that provides real-time guidance on employment practices, enabling HR to focus on leadership, trust, and strategic alignment. Her broader vision is to empower HR teams to scale their impact through smart, accessible solutions that blend technology, insight, and empathy. At the same time, she continues to directly support CEOs and executive teams on high-stakes growth and transformation journeys, from navigating M&A and restructuring for scale to entering new markets and aligning people strategy with business goals. Saliha’s ability to combine board-level thinking with grounded, people-first execution has made her a trusted advisor and a bold voice helping to redefine what HR looks like when it’s not just supporting the business, but driving it forward. With her expertise, she is redefining HR’s role in driving business forward.
