Exclusive Interview with Yanina Bustos, New CHRO of N5

In this interview, Yanina Bustos, with more than 25 years of experience in Human Resources across industries such as steel, oil, insurance, and fintech, shares her vision of the future of work, the main challenges of her career, and the skills that will make the difference in the coming years.

Career in Human Resources

You have worked for many years in Human Resources; what would you say are the main functions you performed in that area? What key skills did you put into practice there?

I have worked in the “People” area for over 25 years in different industries (steel, oil, insurance, fintech) and in various Latin American countries.

In the past 15 years, the main challenges focused on co-building, alongside leaders, organizational spaces where people could achieve an authentic and genuine connection between their personal purpose and the organization’s purpose. And, through this virtuous process of self-realization, generate and achieve extraordinary results, results that are worthwhile and that proudly give back the meaning of what we do.

In the last 12 years or so, I had the great opportunity to share my professional life with different CEOs and learn from their joys and struggles, managing cultural processes of different kinds: mergers, sales, acquisitions, changes in business models, expansions, and reductions. A world as complex and human as it is fascinating.

The key skills I developed were achievement orientation, resilience, creativity in times of uncertainty, dealing with ambiguity, humility, listening, and managing my own ego.

Professional Challenges and Lessons Learned

What has been the biggest professional challenge you have faced in your career? How did you resolve it? Do you have any advice from that experience?

The biggest professional challenge that tested my skills was when, during a reorganization process and a change in company policy, the decision was made to terminate my employment. At that time, I was leading the Human Resources Department of an organization with 2,500 employees, managing four departments and a total HR team of 26 people. And, at the same time, it was the best gift that organizational life put in my path at age 45. That event allowed me to “pause,” engage in a deep process of self-discovery, reinvent myself, and choose again based on my values.

My advice is precisely to be faithful to our convictions, to be authentic with ourselves. That is our best version, and it is what will always allow us to give the best of ourselves—what we call “value contribution,” which is unique and non-transferable.

Balance Between Personal and Professional Life

At times, it is difficult to balance work with personal life. Your case, however, is disruptive and perhaps exemplary for many women. Could you share something about your choices in this regard?

Yes, of course. For me, too, it was difficult to complement different roles (professional, mother, daughter, wife, friend, woman). But I always defended and preserved my own space—physical, spiritual, intellectual, and financial. When I got married, I spent 7 years without children, enjoying life as a couple and traveling the world. When I became a mother (my children are 16 months apart), I didn’t work for four years and fulfilled myself as a full-time mom (I even took naps with them—what a pleasure!). When they started kindergarten, I returned to work full-time, and my husband and I created our own household “organizational chart” with role descriptions and functions (laughs), with a structure that helped us with parenting and life itself (my husband is an industrial engineer and worked the last 10 years in Asia, specifically in Indonesia, returning to Argentina every month and a half). On the other hand, I was an expatriate for six years, my husband joined me, and our two children were born in Ecuador, though they are Argentine by choice.

Over time, as our children grew up (today they are 19 and 18), they came to understand that they have passionate parents who love their professions and find fulfillment in them every day. And, at the same time, that we are a team—the four of us. I don’t know if a high-performance team, but most importantly, a TEAM after all!

The Challenge at N5

You have just joined a leading software company that has doubled its portfolio year after year since its founding in 2017. What purpose excites you within N5? What will be your challenge? What motivated this change?

Without a doubt, what motivated my change was the chance to be part of building a dream that is consolidating and becoming a reality. Today, being part of a high-tech company means pure employability—it’s about truly building the future. We are highly challenged from every angle. I sincerely hope to contribute with my footprint: it does matter to me.

The Future of Work

The world of work is transforming at great speed. How do you see the near future in this regard? What skills will be valued, and what training should be prioritized?

I absolutely agree: the world of work is undergoing permanent reinvention and challenges us every day. Personally, this is what excites me the most—the dynamism, the movement, not having all the pieces of the puzzle, because practice has shown me that only in such circumstances does each person discover and develop new resources and skills and put them to use.

As for the skills of the future, I identify the following as key: self-confidence, emotional management, flexibility, continuous self-directed learning, and resourcefulness. All the so-called “soft skills” are becoming increasingly hard, more essential.

If I had to summarize it in one word, I would choose “intrapreneur”: taking on the role of an entrepreneur within an organization.