Executive Spotlight: Nicole Graves of Apple

Nicole Graves '97 MHRIR

Title

Global People Director, Office of the CFO, Apple

Hometown

Chicago, Illinois

Hobbies

Yoga, Pilates, pickleball, tennis, travel, and reading

Nicole Graves, ’97 MHRIR, has had a globetrotting, star-studded human resources career working for big-name brands, including Boeing, Chevron, General Mills, and Pepsi.

She lived abroad in Indonesia and Singapore before returning to the United States in 2016. Now, three years into her role at Apple as global people director for the Office of the CFO, Graves talks with the Carlson School about her experiences.

How did the Carlson School help shape your career?

The master’s program in HR at the Carlson School was very comprehensive. The classes were all very specific to the HR field, which was hard to find in the ’90s. Just a few institutions offered that. So, the Carlson School really helped shape me as an HR professional. 

There were many opportunities to explore the HR field. You could volunteer to do HR work for nonprofits. And one of the more poignant experiences was traveling to France during the summer. We talked about labor in France and their people policies, which are very different from what you see in the U.S. It was eye-opening, and it really set the stage for the global career that I’ve had.

What leadership principles do you live by? 

I am a collaborative leader, and I’d say common sense is my superpower. I really try to understand before I make decisions, and I’ll seek out different viewpoints because it’s important to understand all sides of an issue. I lead teams to be stronger as a group than as individuals, and I really try to understand what each individual brings to the table and bring out those strengths in them.

What advice would you give to current Carlson School students? 

Somebody said this to me early on in my career, and it has landed true: Sometimes, some of the best experiences are ones that are not necessarily packaged the way you would expect. In any experience or opportunity, you can make it what you want. Every job, whether it’s a lateral move or an advancement, has a lot of cool opportunities that may not look cool to everyone else. I have taken those opportunities several times, and they have really enriched my experience.