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Welcome to this special Best of February issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Melissa Carducci, Director HR Business Partner at Coupa, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Melissa, for your support of this newsletter!

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PRESENTED BY TechWolf

Why the CHRO is the New Architect of the AI Era

Boards are no longer asking if AI matters. They are asking which business units will feel the impact first and what it means for next quarter’s financials. Here is the operating reality:

• Most enterprises are making billion-dollar AI infrastructure investments with limited insight into the human side of the equation.

• They can tell you how many GPU clusters they are provisioning, but they cannot tell you which roles are most exposed to disruption or where the biggest productivity gains will come from.

At TechWolf, we believe the AI revolution is a people transformation, not just a technology deployment.

Read our latest Vision Paper to learn about three moves high-performing HR functions are making to lead this revolution.

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

This Best of February issue includes the 14 most popular resources from the February issues of Talent Edge Weekly. They span three sections:

• AI & Future of Work. Examines how AI and broader workforce trends are reshaping jobs and work—from which occupations are most at risk of elimination versus enhancement, to where worker vulnerability is concentrated, to how AI is intensifying rather than reducing workloads.

• Talent Strategy & Practices. Helps practitioners act on talent priorities, including performance management, M&A-talent integration, succession, tapping into overlooked talent segments, and internal mobility.

• HR Leadership & the CHRO Agenda. Addresses the evolving strategic role of the Chief HR Officer in an AI-driven enterprise, examines business leader priorities for 2026 and their implications for HR, and offers a practical framework for building the business case for new HR teams.

There are bonus resources, such as information about company layoffs and movement in and out of the Chief HR Officer role.

I. AI & FUTURE OF WORK

Examines how AI and broader workforce trends are reshaping jobs and work—from which occupations are most at risk of elimination versus enhancement, to where worker vulnerability is concentrated, to how AI is intensifying rather than reducing workloads.

FUTURE OF WORK

The State of Organizations 2026 | McKinsey

A 74-page report outlines nine shifts reshaping organizations; I expand on one focused on improving productivity and performance through better ways of working.

In this 74-page report based on input from 10,000+ executives across 15 countries and 16 industries, McKinsey highlights nine shifts reshaping organizations. These shifts are driven by three forces: 1) AI and technology acceleration, 2) Economic and geopolitical disruption, and 3) Evolving employee expectations and work models. While there are several insights throughout the report, the section I want to zoom in on is “From Structure to Flow: Reaching the Next Productivity Frontier” (p. 35). The chapter title is shorthand for this: familiar productivity plays (restructuring, delayering, downsizing, cost cuts) are hitting diminishing returns, so the bigger upside is improving how work moves across the enterprise by redesigning workflows, reducing handoffs and duplication, cutting unnecessary meetings, clarifying decision rights, and streamlining decision points and approvals. The opportunity is big: two-thirds of leaders say their organizations are overly complex and inefficient, and nearly 40% say redefining process flows is the biggest unlock over the next 1 to 2 years. This isn’t “just automate more.” It’s about simplifying workflows and decision routines first, then automate where opportunities exist. This point is reinforced through several posts I’ve made and tools I’ve created that underscore one key point: capacity is often trapped in ineffective ways of working. If this resonates, check out my earlier post and cheat sheet with 10 diagnostic questions to help leaders unlock capacity through improved ways of working.

Read report

AI AND WORK TRENDS

9 Trends Shaping Work in 2026 and Beyond | Harvard Business Review

An article by the HR team at Gartner outlines nine AI-era workforce risks for 2026. I expand on one related to performance and ways of working.

Much of the conversation about AI in the workplace has focused on investment and upside potential. Yet organizations must also address the second-order risks of AI adoption, meaning the unintended consequences that emerge in execution, culture, and the employee experience as AI use scales. A new HBR article from Gartner’s HR practice highlights nine AI-era trends that reveal where AI can create risk in the workforce, including premature AI-driven layoffs that lead to costly rehiring, low-quality output that fuels “workslop” as employees are pushed to deliver more with less time for quality checks, and rising distrust in hiring as automation expands. One area that stood out to me is the warning that AI can create operating conditions that drive unrealistic performance pressures, quietly eroding results. While this is framed as an AI issue, the broader lesson applies to any ways of working that enable—or hinder—an organization’s ability to achieve its goals. With that in mind, I’m resharing my editable one-page cheat sheet that helps leaders and teams identify which current work practices may hinder goal achievement. It’s anchored in one question: “If we fast-forward to year-end and fell short of this objective, which ways of working would we say got in our own way?” From there, teams can pinpoint two to three actions to turn risk into a performance advantage.

Read article

AI AND JOBS

Measuring US Workers’ Capacity to Adapt to AI-Driven Job Displacement | The Brookings Institution

A new analysis pairs AI exposure with an “adaptive capacity” index to identify where worker resilience is high and where vulnerability is concentrated, which is useful for workforce planning.

When evaluating AI’s impact on jobs, much of the analysis starts with “Which roles have the most tasks AI can do?” and then jumps to who will be displaced. That’s one part of the narrative, but it’s incomplete. That’s because exposure measures show which jobs have tasks AI can replace or augment, but they don’t tell us who has the resources and options to transition if job loss occurs. This report adds the missing dimension: adaptive capacity, an index of how well workers could weather displacement, based on four factors: 1) Net liquid wealth (financial buffer) savings to absorb shocks; 2) Skill transferability (mobility potential) how portable skills are, weighted to growing roles; 3) Local labor market density (option availability) nearby employers and roles; 4) Age profile (transition friction) older workforces face higher costs and lower reemployment odds. This challenges the view that “the most AI-exposed roles will automatically experience the greatest harm.” A few themes from the analysis: Resilience: 26.5M of 37.1M in the top exposure quartile have above-median adaptive capacity; Vulnerability: 6.1M workers (4.2%) sit in the high exposure/low adaptive capacity zone, largely clerical/administrative roles and disproportionately women (~86%); Geography: these vulnerable roles are more common in smaller metros and college towns. This broader lens helps talent and workforce leaders see where transitions are most likely to be hardest, so they can better prioritize mobility pathways, transferable-skill building, and targeted support.

Read report

AI AND JOBS

Enhance or Eliminate? How AI Will Likely Change These Jobs | HBS Working Knowledge

Shares research on how AI is shifting job demand, and provides an interactive tool that lets you quickly see which occupations are more likely to be enhanced vs. eliminated by AI based on how exposed their core tasks are.

As AI continues to reshape how work gets done and by whom, this HBS Working Knowledge piece shares insights on where it is already shifting job demand, including which roles employers are posting for and the skills they now expect. Using U.S. job-posting data from 2019 through March 2025, the research team used ChatGPT to categorize 19,000+ job tasks across 900+ occupations and created an “augmentation score” based on each occupation’s mix of AI-exposed vs. unexposed tasks. The analysis finds that postings fell 13% for occupations dominated by structured, repetitive tasks after ChatGPT’s November 2022 launch, while postings rose 20% for jobs requiring more analytical, technical, or creative work. The main reason I’m sharing this article is that it includes an interactive tool that lets you quickly gauge how vulnerable a job is to AI replacement vs. augmentation. Use the dropdown filters to search by job category or keyword, then click to see where specific occupations land on the augmentation vs. automation spectrum without having to sift through dense tables. The tool provides insights that are useful for workforce planning and talent strategy.

Read article

AI IN THE WORKPLACE

AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It | Harvard Business Review

Shares study findings on how AI can speed work and expand task scope; authors caution that this benefit can come at a risk, such as burnout.

A new HBR article argues that AI does not reduce work and often intensifies it. The authors share findings from an eight-month study at a U.S.-based tech company with about 200 employees (a small sample, so not broadly generalizable, but still a data point to consider). Over the eight-month study, researchers observed employees in person two days a week, tracked internal work activity channels, and conducted 40+ interviews across engineering, product, design, research, and operations. AI use was not mandated, though the company provided enterprise subscriptions. The result: AI users worked faster, took on a broader range of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often by choice. The upside was that work moved faster and felt easier to push forward. However, workload creep can look like productivity at first, and then gradually become the new baseline for speed and responsiveness. Over time, that intensity can contribute to burnout, cognitive strain, and decision fatigue, which can weaken judgment and decision quality. The authors suggest clear team norms for when to use AI, when to stop, and how to preserve recovery (for example, brief “decision pauses” before high-impact choices). For organizations already building strategies to reduce AI risk, such as privacy, bias, IP exposure, security, and compliance, this article offers a useful prompt to expand those efforts to include the human risks of AI-enabled work, including burnout and decision fatigue.

Read article

II. TALENT STRATEGY & PRACTICES

Helps practitioners act on talent priorities, including performance management, M&A-talent integration, succession, tapping into overlooked talent segments, and internal mobility.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

2026 Performance Management Report | The Talent Strategy Group

Zac Upchurch shares findings from a new global survey on how companies design, manage, and execute performance management today.

A few weeks ago, Marc Effron, thought leader and President of The Talent Strategy Group (TSG), joined my private community for internal HR practitioners, The Talent Edge Circle, for a 90-minute discussion on enabling business strategy execution through performance management (PM). One point he led with that too many teams miss: clarify the purpose of PM before designing or redesigning it. PM can support multiple outcomes (development, engagement, pay decisions), but it usually does one thing well (and maybe a second “kind of well”). According to Marc, the primary purpose should be increasing performance, which is what CEOs care about. When PM tries to serve too many outcomes, it often underdelivers on all of them. While there are many other insights from that discussion that I can’t do justice to in this short post, I’m glad to point you to TSG’s 2026 Performance Management Report, authored by Zac Upchurch (Partner/COO). Based on 250+ organizations, it shows how companies design, manage, and execute PM today, from goals to feedback to evaluation. If PM is on your 2026 agenda, this report is a great reference point, not as a set of best practices, but as a way to spark ideas about potential design choices that support your PM purpose. And of you’re an internal HR practitioner and want access to deeper, private discussions that help you advance your talent priorities faster and with more impact, alongside other practitioners and with me in The Talent Edge Circle—apply here.

Read report

There are 10+ more resources in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

HR-SUPPORTED M&A

Unlocking Merger Value Through Operating Model Design | McKinsey

Outlines 5 priorities that help avoid common integration pitfalls—each requiring consideration of key talent components, plus a companion 166-page 2026 M&A Trends report with practical tactics.

Many organizations use Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) as a core lever in their growth strategy and broader business plans. But translating what looks like a strong deal on paper into real value requires thoughtful decisions about how the combined company will actually run—especially the operating model (structure, processes, talent, and behaviors). This McKinsey article argues that integration is a rare window to reset the operating model to match the deal rationale, and it highlights five priorities that separate value capture from value dilution: 1) Quickly define end-state and interim operating models (so planning and continuity stay on track), 2) Use the integration to selectively transform the organization (so the deal rationale becomes operating reality), 3) Announce leaders quickly (to lock accountability and reduce uncertainty), 4) Build an operating model that enables the aspired culture (so decision rights and governance reinforce the culture you want), and 5) Manage change so employees can do their jobs at every stage (so productivity and customer experience don’t suffer during transition). As a deeper-dive supplement, McKinsey’s 166-page 2026 M&A Trends report (which this article draws from) includes additional tactics and practices across the deal cycle, including M&A communications. The image in this post highlights one illustration from the report: a minute-by-minute plan for announcement-day communications.

Read article

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession Planning in Private Equity: A Strategic Imperative for GPs and LPs | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Covers how succession planning in private equity has shifted from a founder-retirement “nice-to-have” to a governance and fundraising imperative.

Succession planning (SP) remains one of the most requested topics for Talent Edge Weekly readers. While I’ve shared several resources on SP, I continue to get more requests about SP in private equity (PE). Against this backdrop, this new article argues that SP in PE has moved from a “nice-to-have” founder-retirement exercise to a core governance and fundraising imperative. As private equity has scaled rapidly to over $15.5T in assets and become more complex, limited partners (LPs)—the investors who commit capital to PE funds—are looking for evidence that leadership continuity is built into how the firm runs, including who makes decisions, how economics are shared, how governance works, and how transitions are communicated. The reason: when continuity depends on a few individuals, LPs may rethink how much capital to commit next time. The authors also note that only about 6% of PE firm leaders change over a five-year period versus turnover above 50% over comparable time horizons for public company CEOs. The authors offer a few tips for strengthening succession in PE (e.g., formalize governance, communicate transparently with LPs, etc). They also include a risk matrix that helps assess continuity across four factors and identify where succession risk may be highest and what actions may reduce it.

Read article

TALENT ACQUISITION

Hidden Talent: Examples of Untapped Talent Segments | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet includes eight examples of untapped talent segments and the red flags that suggest you may be overlooking them in your hiring practices.

Talent acquisition teams are constantly seeking ways to identify new sources of talent. One underutilized strategy is tapping into ‘hidden workers,’ individuals with valuable skills who are often overlooked due to gaps in hiring practices, policies, or technology. Coined by researchers from Harvard Business School in their report Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent, the term includes talent segments ranging from caregivers to people with disabilities. While many worker segments can be categorized as hidden workers, my infographic highlights eight examples, each with a brief description. In addition to the descriptions, I include a “red flag” for each segment—signs that your hiring process might be excluding these candidates. For instance, the long-term unemployed (individuals out of work for an extended period) may be filtered out by algorithms that screen for employment gaps. Another group is career changers—professionals transitioning between industries or roles, who may be overlooked when hiring processes overemphasize industry-specific experience rather than transferable skills. This infographic can serve as a starting point to help organizations identify and address gaps in their talent acquisition strategies, enabling them to unlock opportunities to tap into overlooked talent pools and gain a talent advantage.

Access my cheat sheet

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Spotting Policy and Guideline Friction in Internal Mobility | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet highlights nine policies and guidelines that can slow internal moves, paired with questions to pressure test whether each is warranted.

Internal mobility remains a top priority for many organizations. According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report 2025, more than 48% of organizations are making internal mobility a higher priority this year. Yet, several factors can unintentionally limit internal mobility. These range from managers who hesitate to share top talent across the organization to the lack of enabling technologies, such as internal talent marketplaces, that make movement easier. Another common barrier involves the policies and practices that govern when employees can apply for, interview for, or move into internal roles or opportunities. To help you evaluate these areas—formal or informal—I created a one-pager with nine dimensions to consider. The cheat sheet includes brief questions to identify whether each practice exists in your organization and whether it is warranted or creating unnecessary friction that slows internal talent movement. For example, one area is level requirements for upward moves, where employees may only apply for roles one level above their current position when pursuing a promotion. Questions include: Why is the limit in place? When should exceptions apply for high-potential talent or scarce skills? Does the rule slow development, succession, or filling critical roles? Use this as a discussion tool to decide what to keep, refine, or eliminate.

Access my cheat sheet

III. HR LEADERSHIP & CHRO AGENDA

Addresses the evolving strategic role of the Chief HR Officer in an AI-driven enterprise, examines business leader priorities for 2026 and their implications for HR, and offers a practical framework for building the business case for new HR teams

AI AND CHIEF HR OFFICER

The Reinvention of the CHRO in an AI-Driven Enterprise | BCG

A new article supplemented by a 35-page slide deck that frames the CHRO as a key driver of AI-enabled work redesign across the organization, starting with HR.

This article, supported by a 35-page slide deck, positions the Chief HR Officer (CHRO) as a central driver of AI-enabled work redesign across the enterprise, beginning with the HR function. While these resources offer many insights, one point to reinforce is the 10/20/70 rule (10% algorithms, 20% technology and data infrastructure, 70% meaningful transformation of people, organization, and processes). The takeaway is that outcomes are mainly driven by how work is designed, governed, and executed. For example, here’s what that might look like in strategic workforce planning: the “10” involves using AI to accelerate scenario modeling, synthesize internal and external signals, and draft role and skill implications; the “20” focuses on dependable job and skills data, sound demand assumptions, integration with finance planning, and clear data access and documentation; and the “70” is the real unlock, aligning leaders on decision rights and cadence, defining triggers that prompt updates, building capability to interpret scenarios and make trade-offs, and translating insights into actions such as build, buy, borrow, automate, or redesign work, with clear ownership and outcome measures. The article also identifies five CHRO priorities for the next 12 months, including refreshing a skills-based strategic workforce plan for each function to assess AI’s impact on roles, skills, and activities, and to redesign 2030 labor models. Be sure to review the slide deck, which includes useful illustrations you can adapt for your own purposes.

Read article

PODCAST: 2026 TALENT OUTLOOK

Why Skills, Not Head Count, Matter Most to HR in 2026 | The Conference Board

A 30-minute podcast exploring insights from the C-Suite Outlook survey for 2026 and their implications for human capital, including workforce planning.

In this recent 30-minute C-Suite Perspectives podcast conversation, Steve Odland and Diana Scott unpack The Conference Board’s C-Suite Outlook for 2026 survey and its implications for human capital—labor markets, skills, AI and productivity, and organizational transformation. As I listened to the episode, two points laddered up to the theme of workforce planning. First, regional labor dynamics continue to be a critical planning variable: North America and Europe face aging populations and tighter immigration pipelines; parts of Asia-Pacific are seeing skills gaps as AI and digital adoption accelerates; and in Japan, 36% of CEOs cite the aging population as a major concern. That variation makes it even more critical that workforce plans include location-specific assumptions and scenarios. Second, AI complicates workforce planning because it reshapes workflows and coordination, not just skill requirements. Said differently: it changes who does what, when, and how work moves from one person (or system) to the next. For example, in a contact center, the “before” role is handling routine questions and basic triage; the “after” role shifts reps toward exceptions, de-escalation, and complex problem-solving as AI handles repeatable work. The implication: plans can’t only focus on headcount and broad skill categories; they must anticipate role, task, and handoff changes and the pace of redeployment and upskilling. To help think through aspects of scenario planning in the context of workforce planning, I am resharing my one-page cheat sheet on the topic.

Access episode

HR EFFECTIVENESS

A One-Page Cheat Sheet for Building the Business Case for New HR Teams | Brian Heger

My one-pager to help HR leaders think through nine areas for creating a business case for building or expanding HR teams.

Many Talent Edge Weekly readers have shared with me that they’re creating new HR functions, expanding their teams, or building new ones. A key part of these efforts is developing a compelling business case. While business cases can vary in complexity, I’m sharing my one-page cheat sheet with guiding questions to help HR leaders and their teams think through the core components of their case. Whether you’re proposing an expanded talent management team or building the function from scratch, this nine-section resource covers everything from defining the business rationale to articulating ROI and mapping implementation timelines. It also includes a prompt, “What happens if we don’t act?,” to ensure your business case reflects the risks of not moving forward with the approval, helping decision-makers make informed choices. The cheat sheet helps turn what can feel like an overwhelming process into a clear, actionable plan. Feel free to use it if you believe it can accelerate your efforts.

Access my one-pager

JOB CUTS TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few announcements from February:

• A.P. Moller-Maersk (OTCMKTS: AMKBY). The shipping giant announced plans to cut 15% of its 6,000 corporate positions this year. The organization seeks to soften the impact of deteriorating freight rates.

• Block Inc. (NYSE:SQ). The Fintech company co-founded by Jack Dorsey and which runs Square and the Cash App announced that it would be laying off 4,000 of its 10,000 employees because of gains in AI productivity.

• eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). The e-commerce company is laying off around 800 jobs, or 6% of its workforce spread globally. The cuts are a response to operating model needs, areas of duplication, and alignment to future priorities.

• Heineken (OTCMKTS: HEINY). The world’s second-largest brewer is planning to lay off up to 7% of its workforce, as it looks to boost efficiency through productivity savings from AI, following weak beer sales last year.

• LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA). The financial-advice firm is laying off about 300 employees—roughly 3% of its workforce—in an effort to streamline operations. The company is still hiring in priority areas.

Access all announcements

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVES

In February, I tracked 71 hires, promotions, and resignations in the Chief HR Officer (CHRO) role through CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based digital platform that monitors movement in the CHRO role.

A few headlines from February:

• Baxter International (NYSE: BAX)—a global medical products company—announced the appointment of Cindy Carlisle as EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer. Most recently, Carlisle served as CHRO at Foot Locker.

• Fossil Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL)—a leader in lifestyle accessories—has appointed Shannon Freeze as Chief People and Communications Officer. Freeze joins from Texas Instruments, where she most recently served as Global Benefits, People Operations & Systems Leader.

• The LEGO Group—the company behind the LEGO® brand—announced that Danielle Van Den Broek, currently SVP, Talent, will become EVP and Chief People Officer effective April 1, 2026. She succeeds Loren Shuster, who will transition to Group People Advisor to the CEO,  working on selected strategic activities outside of the LEGO Group.

• MGP Ingredients, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGPI)—a U.S. supplier of premium distilled spirits and a producer of specialty wheat proteins and starches—announced that Chief Human Resources Officer Erika Lapish’s employment concluded on February 20, 2026. Lapish joined MGP in May 2021 and served as CHRO during her full tenure with the company.

• OpenAI—an AI research and deployment company—announced the appointment of Arvind KC as Chief People Officer. KC joins OpenAI from Roblox, where he has served as the company’s Chief People and Systems Officer since July 2023.

Join CHROs on the Go to access all detailed 71 announcements from February and +4,500 archived announcements. Monthly + annual subscriptions available.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

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SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Lauren Long, VP Talent Management at JM Family Enterprises, Inc., for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Lauren, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY 365Talents 
^{_{A Docebo Company}}

2026 Skills Impact Report

2026 marks a turning point for skills, job readiness, and workforce strategy. The question isn’t whether skills will disrupt how organizations plan their workforce, but whether leaders are ready.

Roles are evolving faster than job frameworks, skills are expiring sooner than expected, and static HR models are struggling to keep up.

The 2026 Skills Impact Report cuts through the noise with a clear roadmap for tackling what’s ahead and fully harnessing the power of skills.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• The State of Organizations 2026 | McKinsey | A new 74-page report outlines nine shifts reshaping organizations; I expand on one focused on improving productivity and performance through better ways of working.

• Succession Planning in Private Equity: A Strategic Imperative for GPs and LPs | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance | A new article on how succession planning in PE has shifted from a founder-retirement “nice-to-have” to a governance and fundraising imperative.

• Internal Mobility Diagnostic | Brian Heger | My one-page diagnostic with 20 statements across 10 key areas to help identify opportunities for enhancing internal mobility within organizations.

• Measuring US Workers’ Capacity to Adapt to AI-Driven Job Displacement | The Brookings Institution | A new analysis pairs AI exposure with an “adaptive capacity” index to identify where worker resilience is high and where vulnerability is concentrated, which is useful for workforce planning.

• When Every Company Can Use the Same AI Models, Context Becomes a Competitive Advantage | Harvard Business Review | A new article argues that as AI models become widely accessible, organizations will differentiate by “context,” offering four actions leaders can take.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week, which is an excerpt from my CHROs on the Go platform (subscription-based), where I track hires, promotions, and exits in the Chief HR Officer role.

👉️ And if you’re an internal HR practitioner that wants to go deeper with me and other internal HR practitioners on talent topics related to your critical priorities, learn about my private community, Talent Edge Circle.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

FUTURE OF WORK

The State of Organizations 2026 | McKinsey

A new 74-page report outlines nine shifts reshaping organizations; I expand on one focused on improving productivity and performance through better ways of working.

In this new 74-page report based on input from 10,000+ executives across 15 countries and 16 industries, McKinsey highlights nine shifts reshaping organizations. These shifts are driven by three forces: 1) AI and technology acceleration, 2) Economic and geopolitical disruption, and 3) Evolving employee expectations and work models. While there are several insights throughout the report, the section I want to zoom in on is “From Structure to Flow: Reaching the Next Productivity Frontier” (p. 35). The chapter title is shorthand for this: familiar productivity plays (restructuring, delayering, downsizing, cost cuts) are hitting diminishing returns, so the bigger upside is improving how work moves across the enterprise by redesigning workflows, reducing handoffs and duplication, cutting unnecessary meetings, clarifying decision rights, and streamlining decision points and approvals. The opportunity is big: two-thirds of leaders say their organizations are overly complex and inefficient, and nearly 40% say redefining process flows is the biggest unlock over the next 1 to 2 years. This isn’t “just automate more.” It’s about simplifying workflows and decision routines first, then automate where opportunities exist. This point is reinforced through several posts I’ve made and tools I’ve created that underscore one key point: capacity is often trapped in ineffective ways of working. If this resonates, check out my earlier post and cheat sheet with 10 diagnostic questions to help leaders unlock capacity through improved ways of working.

Read report

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession Planning in Private Equity: A Strategic Imperative for GPs and LPs | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

A new article on how succession planning in PE has shifted from a founder-retirement “nice-to-have” to a governance and fundraising imperative.

Succession planning (SP) remains one of the most requested topics for Talent Edge Weekly readers. While I’ve shared several resources on SP, I continue to get more requests about SP in private equity (PE). Against this backdrop, this new article argues that SP in PE has moved from a “nice-to-have” founder-retirement exercise to a core governance and fundraising imperative. As private equity has scaled rapidly to over $15.5T in assets and become more complex, limited partners (LPs)—the investors who commit capital to PE funds—are looking for evidence that leadership continuity is built into how the firm runs, including who makes decisions, how economics are shared, how governance works, and how transitions are communicated. The reason: when continuity depends on a few individuals, LPs may rethink how much capital to commit next time. The authors also note that only about 6% of PE firm leaders change over a five-year period versus turnover above 50% over comparable time horizons for public company CEOs. The authors offer a few tips for strengthening succession in PE (e.g., formalize governance, communicate transparently with LPs, etc). They also include a practical risk matrix that helps assess continuity across four factors and identify where succession risk may be highest and what actions may reduce it.

Read article

There is more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

AI, JOBS, AND WORKFORCE PLANNING

Measuring US Workers’ Capacity to Adapt to AI-Driven Job Displacement | The Brookings Institution

A new analysis pairs AI exposure with an “adaptive capacity” index to identify where worker resilience is high and where vulnerability is concentrated, which is useful for workforce planning.

When evaluating AI’s impact on jobs, much of the analysis starts with “Which roles have the most tasks AI can do?” and then jumps to who will be displaced. That’s one part of the narrative, but it’s incomplete. That’s because exposure measures show which jobs have tasks AI can replace or augment, but they don’t tell us who has the resources and options to transition if job loss occurs. This report adds the missing dimension: adaptive capacity, an index of how well workers could weather displacement, based on four factors: 1) Net liquid wealth (financial buffer) savings to absorb shocks; 2) Skill transferability (mobility potential) how portable skills are, weighted to growing roles; 3) Local labor market density (option availability) nearby employers and roles; 4) Age profile (transition friction) older workforces face higher costs and lower reemployment odds. This challenges the view that “the most AI-exposed roles will automatically experience the greatest harm.” A few themes from the analysis: Resilience: 26.5M of 37.1M in the top exposure quartile have above-median adaptive capacity; Vulnerability: 6.1M workers (4.2%) sit in the high exposure/low adaptive capacity zone, largely clerical/administrative roles and disproportionately women (~86%); Geography: these vulnerable roles are more common in smaller metros and college towns. This broader lens helps talent and workforce leaders see where transitions are most likely to be hardest, so they can better prioritize mobility pathways, transferable-skill building, and targeted support.

Read report

AI & COMPETITIVE EDGE

When Every Company Can Use the Same AI Models, Context Becomes a Competitive Advantage | Harvard Business Review

A new article argues that as AI models become widely accessible, organizations will differentiate by “context,” offering four actions leaders can take.

As access to AI models and tools becomes widespread, the differentiator won’t be the model or platform, it will be an organization’s context: the real way work gets done through repeatable judgment calls, coordination patterns, escalation triggers, and trade-offs. That’s the authors’ core argument in this new article. They define context as “demonstrated execution - the workflows teams actually follow across systems, the signals they respond to, the order in which roles get involved, the exceptions that trigger action, and the judgment calls that repeat across real work.” Because AI models are general by design, they can flatten nuance and standardize behavior unless they’re grounded in this operating logic. The authors show how context calibrates decisions in the moment: the same subtle cues can warrant escalation in a speed-oriented culture but be routine noise in a risk-first one. Their recommendation is “context engineering”, building an enterprise context layer that captures how work unfolds and delivers the right context to AI at the moment of decision. They suggest four moves for doing so. One takeaway: don’t just deploy AI, spend the time building the context capability that turns the technical power of AI into differentiated competitive advantage. Bonus read: Why AI Adoption Stalls, According to Industry Data, which also addresses some of the contextual factors related to AI.

Read article

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

2026 Performance Management Report | The Talent Strategy Group

Zac Upchurch shares findings from a new global survey on how companies design, manage, and execute performance management today.

A few weeks ago, Marc Effron, thought leader and President of The Talent Strategy Group (TSG), joined my private community for internal HR practitioners, The Talent Edge Circle, for a 90-minute discussion on enabling business strategy execution through performance management (PM). One point he led with that too many teams miss: clarify the purpose of PM before designing or redesigning it. PM can support multiple outcomes (development, engagement, pay decisions), but it usually does one thing well (and maybe a second “kind of well”). The primary purpose should be increasing performance, which is what CEOs care about. When PM tries to serve too many outcomes, it often fails at all of them. While there are many other insights from that discussion that I can’t do justice to in this short post, I’m glad to point you to TSG’s 2026 Performance Management Report, authored by Zac Upchurch (Partner/COO). Based on 250+ organizations, it shows how companies design, manage, and execute PM today, from goals to feedback to evaluation. If PM is on your 2026 agenda, this report is a great reference point, not as a set of best practices, but as a way to spark ideas about potential design choices that support your PM purpose. If you’re an internal HR practitioner and want access to deeper, private discussions that help you advance your talent priorities faster and with more impact, alongside other practitioners and with me in The Talent Edge Circle—apply here.

Read report

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA). The financial-advice firm disclosed that it was laying off about 300 employees—roughly 3% of its ~10,100-person workforce—after a firm-wide review to streamline operations; the company said it is still hiring in priority areas with more than 300 open roles.

• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). The telecommunications giant disclosed that it was laying off 1,319 employees in New Jersey as part of a broader 13,000-person reduction announced in November. 

• Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR). The appliance manufacturer announced layoffs of just under 350 workers at its Amana, Iowa, plant—over a quarter of the facility’s roughly 1,500 employees—as part of a multi-year modernization plan aimed at transforming operations and diversifying production, with additional reductions possible in the second quarter.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVEMENT

This past week, several new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s highlight is:

• MGP Ingredients, Inc. (ATCHISON, KANSAS) (NASDAQ: MGPI)—a U.S. supplier of premium distilled spirits and a producer of specialty wheat proteins and starches—announced leadership changes following a board-approved reorganization. The company stated that Chief Human Resources Officer Erika Lapish employment will conclude on February 20, 2026. Lapish joined MGP in May 2021 and served as CHRO during her full tenure with the company.

Erika Lapish 

 🔑 To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF JANUARY 2026

Did you miss the “Best of January ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #332, which includes the most popular resources from the month. Thanks to 365Talents (A Docebo Company) for sponsoring this issue. Download their 2026 Skills Impact Report.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Zoe Winsey-Thomas, Head of Talent Management for Production & Operations, Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Technology & Functions at bp, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Zoe, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY TechWolf

Why the CHRO is the New Architect of the AI Era

Boards are no longer asking if AI matters. They are asking which business units will feel the impact first and what it means for next quarter’s financials. Here is the operating reality:

• Most enterprises are making billion-dollar AI infrastructure investments with limited insight into the human side of the equation.

• They can tell you how many GPU clusters they are provisioning, but they cannot tell you which roles are most exposed to disruption or where the biggest productivity gains will come from.

At TechWolf, we believe the AI revolution is a people transformation, not just a technology deployment.

Read our latest Vision Paper to learn about three moves high-performing HR functions are making to lead this revolution.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• 2026 Performance Management Report | The Talent Strategy Group | Zac Upchurch shares findings from a new global survey on how companies design, manage, and execute performance management today.

• Unlocking Merger Value Through Operating Model Design | McKinsey | A new article outlines 5 priorities that help avoid the common integration pitfalls, plus a companion 166-page 2026 M&A Trends report with practical tactics.

• Hidden Talent: Examples of Untapped Talent Segments | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet includes eight examples of untapped talent segments and the red flags that suggest you may be overlooking them in your hiring practices.

• Why Skills, Not Head Count, Matter Most to HR in 2026 | The Conference Board | A 30-minute podcast exploring insights from the C-Suite Outlook for 2026 and their implications for human capital, including workforce planning.

• AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It | Harvard Business Review | Shares study findings on how AI can speed work and expand task scope; authors caution that this benefit can come at a risk, such as burnout.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week, which is an excerpt from my CHROs on the Go platform (subscription-based), where I track hires, promotions, and exits in the Chief HR Officer role.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

2026 Performance Management Report | The Talent Strategy Group

Zac Upchurch shares findings from a new global survey on how companies design, manage, and execute performance management today.

A few weeks ago, Marc Effron, thought leader and President of The Talent Strategy Group (TSG), joined my private community for internal HR practitioners, The Talent Edge Circle, for a 90-minute discussion on enabling business strategy execution through performance management (PM). One point he led with that too many teams miss: clarify the purpose of PM before designing or redesigning it. PM can support multiple outcomes (development, engagement, pay decisions), but it usually does one thing well (and maybe a second “kind of well”). The primary purpose should be increasing performance, which is what CEOs care about. When PM tries to serve too many outcomes, it often fails at all of them. While there are many other insights from that discussion that I can’t do justice to in this short post, I’m glad to point you to TSG’s 2026 Performance Management Report, authored by Zac Upchurch (Partner/COO) and shared on LinkedIn. Based on 250+ organizations, it shows how companies design, manage, and execute PM today, from goals to feedback to evaluation. If PM is on your 2026 agenda, this report is a great reference point, not as a set of best practices, but as a way to spark ideas about potential design choices that support your PM purpose. If you’re an internal HR practitioner and want access to deeper, private discussions that help you advance your talent priorities faster and with more impact, alongside other practitioners and with me in The Talent Edge Circle—apply here.

Read report

HR-SUPPORTED M&A

Unlocking Merger Value Through Operating Model Design | McKinsey

A new article outlines 5 priorities that help avoid the common integration pitfalls, plus a companion 166-page 2026 M&A Trends report with practical tactics.

Many organizations use Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) as a core lever in their growth strategy and broader business plans. But translating what looks like a strong deal on paper into real value requires thoughtful decisions about how the combined company will actually run—especially the operating model (structure, processes, talent, and behaviors). This McKinsey article argues that integration is a rare window to reset the operating model to match the deal rationale, and it highlights five priorities that separate value capture from value dilution: 1) Quickly define end-state and interim operating models (so planning and continuity stay on track), 2) Use the integration to selectively transform the organization (so the deal rationale becomes operating reality), 3) Announce leaders quickly (to lock accountability and reduce uncertainty), 4) Build an operating model that enables the aspired culture (so decision rights and governance reinforce the culture you want), and 5) Manage change so employees can do their jobs at every stage (so productivity and customer experience don’t suffer during transition). As a deeper-dive supplement, McKinsey’s 166-page 2026 M&A Trends report (which this article draws from) includes additional tactics and practices across the deal cycle, including M&A communications. The image in this post highlights one illustration from the report: a minute-by-minute plan for announcement-day communications.

Read article

TALENT ACQUISITION

Hidden Talent: Examples of Untapped Talent Segments | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet includes eight examples of untapped talent segments and the red flags that suggest you may be overlooking them in your hiring practices.

Talent acquisition teams are constantly seeking ways to identify new sources of talent. One underutilized strategy is tapping into ‘hidden workers,’ individuals with valuable skills who are often overlooked due to gaps in hiring practices, policies, or technology. Coined by researchers from Harvard Business School in their report Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent, the term includes talent segments ranging from caregivers to people with disabilities. While many worker segments can be categorized as hidden workers, my infographic highlights eight examples, each with a brief description. In addition to the descriptions, I include a “red flag” for each segment—signs that your hiring process might be excluding these candidates. For instance, the long-term unemployed (individuals out of work for an extended period) may be filtered out by algorithms that screen for employment gaps. Another group is career changers—professionals transitioning between industries or roles, who may be overlooked when hiring processes overemphasize industry-specific experience rather than transferable skills. This infographic can serve as a starting point to help organizations identify and address gaps in their talent acquisition strategies, enabling them to unlock opportunities to tap into overlooked talent pools and gain a talent advantage.

Access my cheat sheet

There is more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

PODCAST: 2026 TALENT OUTLOOK

Why Skills, Not Head Count, Matter Most to HR in 2026 | The Conference Board

A 30-minute podcast exploring insights from the C-Suite Outlook survey for 2026 and their implications for human capital, including workforce planning.

In this recent 30-minute C-Suite Perspectives podcast conversation, Steve Odland and Diana Scott unpack The Conference Board’s C-Suite Outlook for 2026 survey and its implications for human capital—labor markets, skills, AI and productivity, and organizational transformation. As I listened to the episode, two points laddered up to the theme of workforce planning. First, regional labor dynamics continue to be a critical planning variable: North America and Europe face aging populations and tighter immigration pipelines; parts of Asia-Pacific are seeing skills gaps as AI and digital adoption accelerates; and in Japan, 36% of CEOs cite the aging population as a major concern. That variation makes it even more critical that workforce plans include location-specific assumptions and scenarios. Second, AI complicates workforce planning because it reshapes workflows and coordination, not just skill requirements. Said differently: it changes who does what, when, and how work moves from one person (or system) to the next. For example, in a contact center, the “before” role is handling routine questions and basic triage; the “after” role shifts reps toward exceptions, de-escalation, and complex problem-solving as AI handles repeatable work. The implication: plans can’t only focus on headcount and broad skill categories; they must anticipate role, task, and handoff changes and the pace of redeployment/upskilling. To help think through aspects of scenario planning in the context of workforce planning, I am resharing my one-page cheat sheet on the topic.

Access episode

AI IN THE WORKPLACE

AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It | Harvard Business Review

Shares study findings on how AI can speed work and expand task scope; authors caution that this benefit can come at a risk, such as burnout.

A new HBR article argues that AI does not reduce work and often intensifies it. The authors share findings from an eight-month study at a U.S.-based tech company with about 200 employees (a small sample, so not broadly generalizable, but still a data point to consider). Over the eight-month study, researchers observed employees in person two days a week, tracked internal work activity channels, and conducted 40+ interviews across engineering, product, design, research, and operations. AI use was not mandated, though the company provided enterprise subscriptions. The result: AI users worked faster, took on a broader range of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often by choice. The upside was that work moved faster and felt easier to push forward. However, workload creep can look like productivity at first, and then gradually become the new baseline for speed and responsiveness. Over time, that intensity can contribute to burnout, cognitive strain, and decision fatigue, which can weaken judgment and decision quality. The authors suggest clear team norms for when to use AI, when to stop, and how to preserve recovery (for example, brief “decision pauses” before high-impact choices). For organizations already building strategies to reduce AI risk, such as privacy, bias, IP exposure, security, and compliance, this article offers a useful prompt to expand those efforts to include the human risks of AI-enabled work, including burnout and decision fatigue.

Read article

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

HR EFFECTIVENESS

A One-Page Cheat Sheet for Building the Business Case for New HR Teams | Brian Heger

My one-pager to help HR leaders think through nine areas for creating a business case for building or expanding HR teams.

Access my one-pager

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Angi Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI). The Denver-based home services marketplace disclosed that it is laying off about 350 employees this quarter as part of an effort to optimize its organizational structure.

• Heineken (OTCMKTS: HEINY). The world’s second-largest brewer is planning to lay off up to 7% of its workforce, as it looks to boost efficiency through productivity savings from AI, following weak beer sales last year.

• Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW). The retail company specializing in home improvement is cutting around 600 corporate jobs. The company says the reduction represents less than 1% of the company’s total workforce and will not impact employees working at the company’s retail store locations.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 13 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Fossil Group, Inc. (RICHARDSON, TEXAS) [NASDAQ: FOSL]—a global design, marketing, distribution and innovation company specializing in lifestyle accessories—announced the appointment of Shannon Freeze as Chief People and Communications Officer and a member of the Executive Team, reporting to CEO Franco Fogliato, effective February 23, 2026. Freeze joins from Texas Instruments, where, during her 13-year tenure with the company, she most recently served as Global Benefits, People Operations & Systems Leader.

Shannon Freeze

 🔑 To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF JANUARY 2026

Did you miss the “Best of January ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #332, which includes the most popular resources from the month. Thanks to 365Talents (A Docebo Company) for sponsoring this issue. Download their 2026 Skills Impact Report.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Bill Agostini, Sr. Director, Talent Management & OD at Veolia North America, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Bill, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY 365Talents 
^{_{A Docebo Company}}

2026 Skills Impact Report

2026 marks a turning point for skills, job readiness, and workforce strategy. The question isn’t whether skills will disrupt how organizations plan their workforce, but whether leaders are ready.

Roles are evolving faster than job frameworks, skills are expiring sooner than expected, and static HR models are struggling to keep up.

The 2026 Skills Impact Report cuts through the noise with a clear roadmap for tackling what’s ahead and fully harnessing the power of skills.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• 9 Trends Shaping Work in 2026 and Beyond | Harvard Business Review | A new article by the HR team at Gartner outlines nine AI-era workforce risks for 2026. I expand on one related to performance and ways of working.

• Spotting Policy and Guideline Friction in Internal Mobility | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet highlights nine policies and guidelines that can slow internal moves, paired with questions to pressure test whether each is warranted.

• The Reinvention of the CHRO in an AI-Driven Enterprise | BCG | A new article supplemented by a 35-page slide deck that frames the CHRO as a key driver of AI-enabled work redesign across the organization, starting with HR.

• A One-Page Cheat Sheet for Building the Business Case for New HR Teams | Brian Heger | My one-pager to help HR leaders think through nine areas for creating a business case for building or expanding HR teams.

• Navigating the AI-Enabled Workforce Shift: From Managing Exits to Orchestrating Ecosystems | Deloitte Insights | A new article that focuses on building “ramps” to support worker transitions and keep skilled alumni close.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

AI AND WORK TRENDS

9 Trends Shaping Work in 2026 and Beyond | Harvard Business Review

A new article by the HR team at Gartner outlines nine AI-era workforce risks for 2026. I expand on one related to performance and ways of working.

Much of the conversation about AI in the workplace has focused on investment and upside potential. Yet organizations must also address the second-order risks of AI adoption, meaning the unintended consequences that emerge in execution, culture, and the employee experience as AI use scales. A new HBR article from Gartner’s HR practice highlights nine AI-era trends that reveal where AI can create risk in the workforce, including premature AI-driven layoffs that lead to costly rehiring, low-quality output that fuels “workslop” as employees are pushed to deliver more with less time for quality checks, and rising distrust in hiring as automation expands. One area that stood out to me is the warning that AI can create operating conditions that drive unrealistic performance pressures, quietly eroding results. While this is framed as an AI issue, the broader lesson applies to any ways of working that enable—or hinder—an organization’s ability to achieve its goals. With that in mind, I’m resharing my editable one-page cheat sheet that helps leaders and teams identify which current work practices may hinder goal achievement. It’s anchored in one question: “If we fast-forward to year-end and fell short of this objective, which ways of working would we say got in our own way?” From there, teams can pinpoint two to three actions to turn risk into a performance advantage.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Spotting Policy and Guideline Friction in Internal Mobility | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet highlights nine policies and guidelines that can slow internal moves, paired with questions to pressure test whether each is warranted.

Internal mobility remains a top priority for many organizations. According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report 2025, more than 48 percent of organizations are making internal mobility a higher priority this year. Yet, as I shared in one of my cheat sheets, several factors can unintentionally limit internal mobility. These range from managers who hesitate to share top talent across the organization to the lack of enabling technologies, such as internal talent marketplaces, that make movement easier. Another common barrier involves the policies and practices that govern when employees can apply for, interview for, or move into internal roles or opportunities. To help you evaluate these areas—formal or informal—I created a one-pager with nine dimensions to consider. The cheat sheet includes brief questions to identify whether each practice exists in your organization and whether it is warranted or creating unnecessary friction that slows internal talent movement. For example, one area is level requirements for upward moves, where employees may only apply for roles one level above their current position when pursuing a promotion. Questions include: Why is the limit in place? When should exceptions apply for high-potential talent or scarce skills? Does the rule slow development, succession, or filling critical roles? Use this as a discussion tool to decide what to keep, refine, or eliminate.

Access my cheat sheet

AI AND CHIEF HR OFFICER

The Reinvention of the CHRO in an AI-Driven Enterprise | BCG

A new article supplemented by a 35-page slide deck that frames the CHRO as a key driver of AI-enabled work redesign across the organization, starting with HR.

This new article, supported by a 35-page slide deck, positions the Chief HR Officer (CHRO) as a central driver of AI-enabled work redesign across the enterprise, beginning with the HR function. While these resources offer many insights, one point to reinforce is the 10/20/70 rule (10% algorithms, 20% technology and data infrastructure, 70% meaningful transformation of people, organization, and processes). The takeaway is that outcomes are mainly driven by how work is designed, governed, and executed. For example, here’s what that might look like in strategic workforce planning: the “10” involves using AI to accelerate scenario modeling, synthesize internal and external signals, and draft role and skill implications; the “20” focuses on dependable job and skills data, sound demand assumptions, integration with finance planning, and clear data access and documentation; and the “70” is the real unlock, aligning leaders on decision rights and cadence, defining triggers that prompt updates, building capability to interpret scenarios and make trade-offs, and translating insights into actions such as build, buy, borrow, automate, or redesign work, with clear ownership and outcome measures. The article also identifies five CHRO priorities for the next 12 months, including refreshing a skills-based strategic workforce plan for each function to assess AI’s impact on roles, skills, and activities, and to redesign 2030 labor models. Be sure to review the slide deck, which includes useful illustrations you can adapt for your own purposes.

Read article

HR EFFECTIVENESS

A One-Page Cheat Sheet for Building the Business Case for New HR Teams | Brian Heger

My one-pager to help HR leaders think through nine areas for creating a business case for building or expanding HR teams.

Many Talent Edge Weekly readers have shared with me that they’re creating new HR functions, expanding their teams, or building new ones. A key part of these efforts is developing a compelling business case. While business cases can vary in complexity, I’m sharing my one-page cheat sheet with guiding questions to help HR leaders and their teams think through the core components of their case. Whether you’re proposing an expanded talent management team or building the function from scratch, this nine-section resource covers everything from defining the business rationale to articulating ROI and mapping implementation timelines. It also includes a prompt, “What happens if we don’t act?,” to ensure your business case reflects the risks of not moving forward with the approval, helping decision-makers make informed choices. The cheat sheet helps turn what can feel like an overwhelming process into a clear, actionable plan. Feel free to use it if you believe it can accelerate your efforts.

Access my one-pager

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Navigating the AI-Enabled Workforce Shift: From Managing Exits to Orchestrating Ecosystems | Deloitte Insights

A new article that focuses on building “ramps” to support worker transitions and keep skilled alumni close.  

This past week, Challenger, Gray & Christmas published its January 2026 layoff report, in which it noted that US.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, an increase of 118% from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. That context is why I found this new Deloitte Insights article timely. It suggests an opportunity for replacing “cliff” layoffs (abrupt exits that sever ties with an organization) with “talent ramps,” which are structured pathways that help people move into new internal roles or transition into the broader ecosystem while keeping skilled alumni connected for future opportunities, such as project roles, advising, contracting, or partnering. Examples include BMW’s Senior Experts Program, which brings retired engineers back in part-time, project-based roles to solve technical problems and mentor emerging talent, and Goldman Sachs’ alumni network of 115,000+ former employees, which helps keep relationships active (e.g., job marketplace access and events) and makes it easier to reconnect when needs emerge. To turn this into action, two questions: 1) Which roles are most likely to change in the next 6–18 months, and what are the 2–3 adjacent roles or projects people could ramp into? 2) What is our simplest mechanism to re-engage alumni for surge capacity or niche expertise that will fill our talent needs? As a bonus, I’m resharing my post “Rehiring Former Employees as a Talent Strategy,” which includes a cheat sheet to help identify which former employees you may want to re-engage for different needs.

Read article

There is more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Making Talent Decisions Without Waiting for Formal Talent Practices | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with seven talent questions, adding indicators leaders can use to identify and act on talent decisions in real time.

Access my cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• A.P. Moller-Maersk (OTCMKTS: AMKBY). The shipping giant announced plans to cut 15 percent of its 6,000 corporate positions this year. The organization seeks to soften the impact of deteriorating freight rates.

• Home Depot (NYSE: HD). The home-improvement retailer announced it is cutting roughly 800 corporate jobs as part of a broader restructuring, while tightening return-to-office requirements and investing in AI tools and sustainability-focused product expansion.

• The Washington Post. The news leader has laid off about 30 percent of all its employees, including workers on the business side and more than 300 of the roughly 800 journalists in the newsroom, sports, local news, and international coverage.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 10 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• V.F. Corporation (DENVER, COLORADO) (NYSE: VFC)—a global apparel and footwear company—announced a leadership transition effective January 28, 2026. Brent Hyder, who joined V.F. Corporation in 2023 as Chief People Officer and added the role of President, Americas in March 2025, has been appointed to Chief Commercial Officer. There has been no report of who will backfill Hyder’s Chief HR Officer role. Before joining V.F. Corporation, Hyder served as President and Chief People Officer at Salesforce and previously held the role of EVP and Chief People Officer at The Gap, Inc.

Brent Hyder

 🔑 To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF JANUARY 2026

Did you miss the “Best of January ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #332, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this special Best of January issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Laura Nardi, Sr. Manager of Global Talent Management at Delta Air Lines, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Laura, for your support of this newsletter!

🗞️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Subscribe now and immediately get 5 of my PDF cheat sheets!

PRESENTED BY 365Talents 
^{_{A Docebo Company}}

2026 Skills Impact Report

2026 marks a turning point for skills, job readiness, and workforce strategy. The question isn’t whether skills will disrupt how organizations plan their workforce, but whether leaders are ready.

Roles are evolving faster than job frameworks, skills are expiring sooner than expected, and static HR models are struggling to keep up.

The 2026 Skills Impact Report cuts through the noise with a clear roadmap for tackling what’s ahead and fully harnessing the power of skills.

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

This Best of January issue includes the 15 most popular resources from the January issues of Talent Edge Weekly. They span three areas:

I. Future of Work, AI, and Strategy. Brings together research and tools that help leaders anticipate how AI and broader talent trends may reshape jobs and work while strengthening talent planning under uncertainty through scenario planning.

II. Talent Practices. Resources to help practitioners act on core talent practices by assessing whether ways of working and wellbeing practices support performance goals, enabling timely talent decisions, strengthening succession and development pipelines, improving internal mobility, and applying skills-based approaches.

III. Chief HR Officer. Addresses topics such as how the CEO–CHRO pay ratio signals CHRO influence, and what boards value most when evaluating CEO candidates—providing insights for Chief HR Officers on how to support the process.

This issue has many bonus resources, including information about company layoffs as well as movement in and out of the Chief HR Officer role.

I. FUTURE OF WORK, AI, & STRATEGY

Brings together research and tools that help leaders anticipate how AI and broader talent trends may reshape jobs and work while strengthening talent planning under uncertainty through scenario planning.

FUTURE OF WORK SCENARIOS

Four Futures for Jobs in the New Economy: AI and Talent in 2030 | World Economic Forum

A 20-page white paper explores how AI advancements and talent trends could lead to four distinct future-of-work scenarios, with insights and actions recommended for each.

Over the past year, I’ve written several posts on scenario planning as a critical tool for envisioning possible business futures and informing talent strategies. Building on those resources, this new 20-page paper explores how AI advancements and talent trends, and their potential trajectories through 2030, could reshape the future of jobs. It outlines four future-of-jobs scenarios informed by two dimensions: 1) AI advancement: the pace and scale of progress in the capability and autonomy of AI technologies, and 2) Workforce Readiness: the availability of skills that prepare workers for an AI-driven economy. Together, these make up four distinct scenarios: 1) Supercharged Progress, 2) The Age of Displacement, 3) Co-Pilot Economy, and 4) Stalled Progress. While you’ll need to read the report to gain the full context for each scenario, one example is Supercharged Progress: AI advances at an extraordinary pace, reshaping industries, business models, and workflows as productivity and innovation accelerate through widespread adoption of advanced, agentic AI. While many jobs disappear, broad workforce readiness enables new roles to emerge and scale quickly, with humans increasingly orchestrating intelligent systems as governance, ethics, and social safety nets struggle to keep pace. Regardless of the scenario, page 16 provides nine “no regrets” moves, such as starting small, building fast, and scaling what works, that can help organizations prepare for multiple scenarios.

Read paper

FUTURE OF WORK WITH AI

Microsoft New Future of Work Report | Microsoft’s New Future of Work Initiative

A recent 74-page report provides research-backed insights from multiple sources on how AI is shaping work.

This recently released 74-page report by Microsoft’s New Future of Work Initiative provides research-backed insights from multiple sources on how AI is shaping, and has the potential to shape, work. It examines six core areas: 1) Adoption and Usage, including adoption patterns, key drivers, challenges, and gaps; 2) Impact on Work and Labor Markets, covering productivity, job evolution, employment and wages, where agents may reshape markets, and the roles of automation and augmentation; 3) Human–AI Collaboration, exploring how interactions with AI are changing and how collaboration can be improved across modalities and time frames; 4) AI for Teamwork, focusing on how AI can support teams and be effectively integrated into group workflows; 5) Thinking, Learning, and Psychological Influences, considering impacts on cognition, learning, and well-being, and whether AI can make people smarter, not just more productive; and 6) Specific Roles and Industries, detailing how AI is changing work for software engineers, program managers, researchers, and others. While there are too many insights to cover here, the section beginning on page 22 within Impact on Work and Labor Markets highlights that as AI advances, human judgment becomes increasingly critical, particularly in recognizing improvement opportunities and choosing the right actions under ambiguity, areas tied to context, ethics, and creativity where AI still struggles. With this in mind, I am resharing a December 2025 World Economic Forum report, New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage, which outlines the human-centric skills that will remain essential in an AI-enabled world.

Read the Microsoft report

SCENARIO PLANNING

Assess What Is Certain in a Sea of Unknowns | MIT Sloan Management Review

Shares how scenario planning can be augmented by also clarifying certainties rather than just uncertainties.

As noted in Deloitte Insights’ recent article, Six Workforce Strategies to Plan for a Future You Can’t Predict, scenario planning remains an important tool for building more flexible workforce plans. I’ve also shared several resources, including my cheat sheet on how scenario planning can enable a more fluid and agile approach to workforce and talent planning. While scenario planning helps leaders and their teams prepare for uncertainty, there is something equally critical that often gets overlooked: what is knowable about the future. In this article, Cynthia Selin argues that a stronger strategy doesn’t come from imagining endless possibilities, but from explicitly identifying the certainties, enduring realities, and forces already shaping what is possible. Practically, this means grounding workforce and talent planning in what is relatively stable before exploring what might change, allowing leaders to better prioritize talent investments and make smarter workforce decisions. To make this practical and simple to start applying, one question to consider is: What elements of our workforce planning would persist across multiple future scenarios? This matters because it helps teams see which workforce decisions apply across multiple futures and which should remain flexible as conditions change. As a bonus, I am sharing one of my templates, which helps to identify a base scenario (what we expect will occur and plan for) alongside alternate scenarios.

Read MIT article

TALENT STRATEGY & SCENARIOS

Using Business Triggers to Anticipate Talent and Workforce Shifts | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet helps leaders identify business triggers that serve as leading indicators of when talent strategy adjustments may be needed.

I recently shared my cheat sheet with 12 examples of talent tactics that might underpin a talent strategy, ranging from talent redeployment and automation to upskilling, along with guidance on when each tactic works well or not and examples in practice. But once strategies are set, business conditions often shift throughout the year, requiring reassessment of whether talent strategies still align with the business. To support those discussions, I’m sharing a one-page PDF I developed. The first column provides examples of Business triggers (events, signals, or trends indicating a meaningful or imminent shift in the business environment), followed by Tripwires or Thresholds (the measurable point at which leaders agree action is required), and Talent implications (likely effects on workforce size, capability, structure, deployment, or priorities). For example, a surge in new business wins (business trigger) and a more than 20 percent quarterly increase in volume (tripwire/threshold) may prompt talent implications such as ramping up recruitment, expanding onboarding capacity, or fast-tracking internal mobility. The 9 examples on my cheat sheet are intended to spark initial thinking rather than serve as a prescriptive list; teams should focus on identifying triggers most relevant to their own context. The goal is to envision possible business scenarios and talent responses so teams can adjust confidently as conditions evolve. For members of my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle, our resource library includes additional pages to this document to help you identify triggers for your organization, along with a worksheet to document your thinking.

Access my cheat sheet

II. TALENT PRACTICES

Resources to help practitioners act on core talent practices by assessing whether ways of working and wellbeing practices support performance goals, enabling timely talent decisions, strengthening succession and development pipelines, improving internal mobility, and applying skills-based approaches.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

2026 Objectives Setting is Underway. Will Your Ways of Working Enable the Performance Outcome? | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet to help teams assess if their current ways of working will enable 2026 performance objectives.

With the new year well underway, many organizations are developing, refining, or beginning to implement their 2026 objectives. Although much time is spent aligning on goals, defining metrics and KPIs, and refining the performance management process, less attention is often given to the ways of working that enable or hinder the achievement of those objectives. For example, an organization may set a clear objective to accelerate product delivery, yet slow decision-making, unclear ownership across functions, or excessive approval layers can erode progress long before performance metrics reveal a problem. Put differently, you can have the right objectives and the right people focused on them, yet it is often the ways of working that ultimately determine whether objectives translate into the desired performance outcomes. To surface these issues early, I created a one-page cheat sheet that leaders and their teams can use to identify which current ways of working could detract from goal achievement if left unaddressed. It is anchored in a simple but powerful question: “If we were to fast-forward to the end of 2026 and see that we fell short of this objective, which ways of working would we say got in our own way and contributed most to that result?” From there, teams identify two to three actions they can take immediately to reduce the likelihood of that outcome. Early action matters because once results are off track, the window to materially change performance outcomes narrows quickly. Take this action now to turn ways of working into an execution advantage rather than a performance risk.

Access my cheat sheet

WELLBEING & PERFORMANCE

From Potential to Practical: Fueling Performance with Proven Workplace Health Interventions | McKinsey Health Institute

Synthesizes evidence from 115 workplace wellbeing approaches to identify high-impact, feasible practices that improve employee well-being and performance.

Employee health and wellbeing are recognized as important for many reasons, including their role in enabling organizational performance. Yet many organizations have far less clarity on which practices most improve employee wellbeing while also strengthening performance outcomes. A new analysis from the McKinsey Health Institute helps close that gap by systematically reviewing 115 evidence-based workplace approaches. These approaches are organized across four dimensions of health, physical, mental, social, and spiritual, and evaluated using published academic evidence to assess their impact on health and work outcomes such as productivity, presenteeism, engagement, and innovation, along with feasibility based on ease of adoption, scalability, and ability to embed into daily work. The research is paired with an interactive tool (see post image) that allows practitioners to filter and compare wellbeing practices by health dimension, workforce objective, organizational level, and impact versus feasibility. One point I continue to emphasize for improving both employee wellbeing and organizational performance is ways of working (see resource 5 in this issue). Ineffective ways of working, such as slow decision-making or unclear ownership, often compound and undermine both employee wellbeing and organizational performance. With this as the backdrop, I am resharing an article by Jeremy Legg, Chief Technology Officer for AT&T, where he covers how AT&T was able to save 3.6 million hours over three and a half years and helped the company avoid more than $230 million in costs by improving ways of working.

Read article

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Making Talent Decisions Without Waiting for Formal Talent Practices | Brian Heger

A companion resource to my cheat sheet with seven talent questions, adding indicators leaders can use to identify and act on talent decisions in real time.

Talent reviews and performance management are important talent practices that enable organizational performance. However, a common pitfall is treating these practices as scheduled process events, often confined to a specific time of year, rather than ongoing opportunities for proactive reflection and action. To promote this shift, I recently shared one of my cheat sheets with seven high-impact questions leaders can use to accelerate talent decisions at any moment, focused on areas such as upgrading talent in a critical role, identifying top retention risk, surfacing hidden talent, addressing ongoing subpar performance, creating stretch development, and unlocking workforce capacity. That resource helps leaders move from insight to action, where many talent efforts stall. To build on that cheat sheet, I’m sharing a complementary view to help identify which of those seven question areas present the greatest opportunity to act now. This view introduces sample indicators that signal where focus is most needed. For example, for Talent Upgrade in a Critical Role, the original question asks whether a critical role is filled by the best possible person, and what the next step should be taken. The added indicators include: A) There are known internal candidates who would likely outperform the incumbent, and B) If the role were vacant tomorrow, we would likely select a different and stronger candidate. These indicators help pinpoint where opportunities exist, and even one signal can highlight a talent decision that needs to be made.

Access my cheat sheet

SUCCESSION PLANNING

5 Succession Planning Resources Organized by the Questions They Help You Answer | Brian Heger

A curated set of five of my succession planning cheat sheets, each anchored in a practical question the resource helps you address.

With succession planning continuing to be a top priority among Talent Edge Weekly readers, this post brings together five of my succession planning templates, bundled here for easier access. Each is anchored in a core question the resource helps you answer: 1) How can we tell if our succession plan is “just names on a page,” and what practical steps can we take to fix it? (Five common warning signs, plus actions to address them.) 2) Which events should trigger an off-cycle review of our succession plans so they remain aligned with business realities? (Nine example trigger events that may warrant a faster reassessment.) 3) How should we reevaluate which roles belong in our succession planning pool as strategy, technology, and expectations evolve? (A one-page template to assess whether roles and successors still fit.) 4) What level of transparency about successor status is right for our organization? (Includes reflection questions to help you decide whether limited, partial, or full transparency is right for your organization.) 5) How can metrics help tell a more complete story about the health and impact of our succession plan? (24 example succession metrics across eight areas, including retention and internal mobility.) If resources like these are helpful and you want to go deeper with me and other internal HR practitioners to advance your most critical talent priorities faster and with less friction, apply to my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle.

Access my 5 resources on brianheger.com

There is much more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

DEVELOPMENT & SUCCESSION

When High-Impact Development Roles May Signal a Need for Talent Movement | Brian Heger

My slide to help evaluate if key development roles are used effectively to support talent growth and leadership pipeline flow.

In every organization, certain roles act as accelerators of development. These positions often enable individuals to build critical skills and gain meaningful experiences faster than in other roles. But when someone remains in one of these high-impact roles too long, without the interest or potential to move into larger, more complex roles, it can hinder both individual growth and organizational performance. Signs of stagnation often include disengagement, delayed succession readiness, and the departure of high-potential talent seeking development elsewhere. To keep development and leadership pipelines flowing, it’s essential to regularly assess whether these roles (often limited in supply) are being used to unlock opportunities for others. To jumpstart your thinking, here’s my one-page slide with guiding questions for managers: Has the person been in the same development role for an extended period without progression? Are they open to new responsibilities or stretch opportunities? Is their continued presence in the role limiting access to valuable experiences for successors? While there are other ways to accelerate development, such as short-term assignments, roles remain a meaningful and powerful source of growth. This topic can be woven into talent review discussions to support more informed and strategic talent decisions that strengthen organizational performance.

Access my slide

INTERNAL MOBILITY

A Better Way to Manage Internal Talent Markets | Harvard Business Review

A new article based on a larger study presents a few findings on internal talent marketplaces, including the importance of information quality and context in enabling better internal matches. 

Internal mobility, the movement of employees across roles and opportunities within the same organization, is a critical component of talent management. In many organizations, internal mobility is enabled through an internal talent marketplace (ITM), often a technology-powered platform that uses AI to match employees and their skills and career preferences to internal roles and opportunities. In my work on skills, AI, and ITM, including my book chapter in SIOP’s Strategic Workforce Planning: Best Practices and Emerging Directions, I’ve outlined the benefits and challenges practitioners need to consider and plan for when implementing an ITM. A new HBR article builds on this topic by asking a central question: how do organizations best balance employee preferences for roles and development with business needs? The article is based on a study published in Management Science, which examined outcomes when employees selected opportunities based on their preferences versus when leaders assigned roles based on business priorities. While the article surfaces several findings, one worth highlighting is that employee decisions in ITMs were shaped primarily by the quality of information and context available to them. When employees lacked feedback on their strengths, signals about role requirements, and visibility into organizational priorities, they were less likely to pursue or be matched to roles where their skills could deliver near-term business value. To address this, the authors point to a hybrid approach in which employees can express interest in opportunities while the organization provides a clearer context on why a role may or may not be a good match. Other ideas are discussed.

Read the HBR article

TALENT MARKETPLACE & PROJECTS

The Project-Driven Organization | Harvard Business Review

Covers how organizations can unlock the full potential of project work by moving beyond an operational mindset; plus one of my cheat sheets to support execution.

Many organizations are increasingly moving toward becoming project-driven, where project-based work sits at the center of how companies are structured and how value is created. Yet, as Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez notes in his article, too many organizations approach projects with an operational mindset that prioritizes hierarchy, control, stability, and efficiency. To unlock the value of complex project work at scale, we need to go beyond an operational mindset, which requires a shift in three main areas: 1) Organizational Design (shifting culture, structure, and governance), 2) Leadership (rethinking how priorities are set, talent is deployed, and performance is measured), and 3) Value Creation (changing how operations and execution enable fast, high-impact project delivery). While insights and examples are provided for each of the three areas, one I want to reinforce deals with lever 2 - Leadership, specifically related to how projects are prioritized and talent and resources are deployed against those areas. This is why I’m resharing one of my templates and posts that helps leaders make explicit project and resource trade-offs, so fewer, higher-value projects get prioritized and talent and decision-making are aligned to what matters most. This becomes even more critical as many organizations invest in internal talent marketplace tech, where projects are a primary source of work demand, and leadership prioritization determines whether that demand translates into real value.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Unlocking Internal Mobility Across the Organization | Brian Heger

My one-page PDF highlights internal mobility considerations, from manager behaviors that get in the way of talent movement to metrics for measuring progress.

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report 2025, more than 48% of organizations are making internal mobility a higher priority this year, reflecting a renewed push to develop and move talent from within. As HR practitioners help their organizations actually mobilize internal mobility, I’ve created a one-page PDF that highlights four areas that can be used to identify opportunities for unlocking mobility: 1) Manager behaviors that get in the way of talent movement, 2) Policies that unintentionally minimize talent sharing, 3) Organizational barriers that limit access and visibility to opportunities, and 4) Internal mobility metrics that help track progress. Regarding internal mobility metrics, one example included is Net Exporter of Talent, defined as the extent to which a leader or department develops more high-performing employees who move on to roles elsewhere in the organization. This metric is important because it highlights where a philosophy of talent sharing is truly practiced versus where talent hoarding may be occurring, helping organizations better target subsequent actions and strategies. The goal of this cheat sheet is to help you identify where internal movement is getting stuck and where targeted changes can unlock faster, more effective talent mobility across the organization.

Access my cheat sheet

SKILLS

Skills-First: Policy and Impact | Institute for Adult Learning Singapore 

A new 52-page working paper providing insights into how skills-first principles are being put into practice across policy design, implementation, and impact.

This new 52-page working paper provides insights into how skills-first principles are being put into practice across policy design, implementation, and impact. While the report includes many useful insights, section six, beginning on page 30, features visual tables that outline what it takes to move from readiness to adoption across different aspects of skills-first practices. The section assesses three dimensions: Prerequisites (what is required to enable the capability), Coordination (the level of effort needed to mobilize the capability), and Capability maturity (the overall level required to achieve meaningful impact). For example, for Skills Validation Infrastructure, prerequisites include an established, frequently updated national jobs-skills-tasks taxonomy and clear regulatory frameworks to build employer confidence in digital credentials. Coordination requirements are high, involving sector agencies, industry partners, and training providers working together to build and sustain sectoral or occupational skills validation infrastructure and supporting regulation. Capability requirements are also high, as a robust skills validation system must be professionally managed with strong assessment, quality assurance, and data management. Beyond the specific framework presented in the paper, practitioners can apply a similar approach to clarify what is needed to advance their own skills-first initiatives. As a bonus, I am resharing a popular resource, the Skills-Based Internal Mobility Playbook by the Business Roundtable, which addresses several aspects of skills-based practices.

Read paper

III. CHIEF HR OFFICER

Addresses topics such as how the CEO–CHRO pay ratio signals CHRO influence, and what boards value most when evaluating CEO candidates—providing insights for Chief HR Officers on how to support the process

CHIEF HR OFFICER COMP

What CHRO Compensation Tells Us About a Firm’s Human Capital Strategy | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance 

A new article examines how the CEO–CHRO pay ratio signals CHRO influence and relates to workforce and business outcomes.

The growing importance of human capital continues to elevate the role of the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO). However, the title alone does not indicate how much influence or strategic weight the role carries, as the scope and decision-making authority of the CHRO role vary widely across companies. A new article asks a central question: when do organizations move beyond rhetoric and actually treat human capital leadership as a strategic priority? To explore this, the study examines how differences in how firms position and compensate their CHRO relate to outcomes inside the organization, using the CHRO’s compensation relative to the CEO as a ratio-based indicator of influence. The authors find that organizations with higher CHRO pay ratios manage their workforce more intentionally, including higher turnover that reflects active talent upgrading, stronger hiring from competitors, and weaker matches exiting, along with more positive employee experiences. These workforce shifts are associated with stronger market performance. While the CHRO pay ratio is only one measure, it offers boards and leaders a practical way to assess whether CHRO influence and incentives align with stated human capital priorities. One practical question leaders can ask is: looking back at the most consequential business decisions made over the last 12 months, where did the CHRO meaningfully shape the direction or trade-offs, and where did they not? The answer often reveals whether CHRO influence is symbolic or truly embedded in critical decision-making that creates stakeholder value.

Read article

CHIEF HR OFFICER & BOARD

What Boards Expect of CEO Candidates | BCG

A new article that clarifies what boards value most in CEO candidates, offering practical insight for Chief HR Officers supporting the process.

I previously shared an article from Russell Reynolds Associates on why CHROs are playing a more active role in CEO succession. For CHROs already supporting boards with CEO assessment and selection, a new article from Boston Consulting Group adds a practical lens on what boards actually value—and how early candidates need to prepare. The article highlights three areas boards consistently assess: 1) how candidates run the business (a repeatable performance record, sound strategic judgment, and increasingly, evidence of AI-driven value creation), 2) how they lead people (building teams, developing talent, and retaining key leaders through change), and 3) how they show up with the right balance of humility and gravitas in high-stakes settings. It also shows how expectations shift across three time horizons (five years out, three years out, and during the selection process), reinforcing a critical implication for CHROs: CEO succession is not a last-mile evaluation exercise, but a multi-year capability-building effort that requires intentional role design, exposure, feedback, and development well before the board is making a decision. And in case you missed it, I’m resharing a 25-page report from the CHRO Association (formerly HR Policy Association) and the Center for Executive Succession, CEO Succession: 10 Pitfalls Boards Must Avoid—and the CHRO Practices That Help, which complements this perspective by highlighting where boards most often stumble and how CHROs can proactively reduce risk.

Read article

JOB CUTS TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few firms that announced job cuts in January include:

• Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE). The online-travel company disclosed a fresh round of layoffs, though it did not specify the number of jobs cut. The reductions are part of a restructuring to simplify the organizational structure, reduce layers, and shift focus toward future skill needs, including AI and enterprise initiatives.

• Nike (NYSE: NKE). The athletic-apparel company disclosed that it is cutting approximately 775 jobs across its U.S. distribution centers in Tennessee and Mississippi as part of a “Win Now” strategy to consolidate operations, streamline its supply chain, and invest in automation and technology. The company aims to improve efficiency, flexibility, and long-term profitability.

• Pinterest (NYSE: PINS). The social-media company disclosed that it is cutting about 700 jobs, roughly 15% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring plan to shift resources toward AI-focused roles and products. The company expects to complete the plan by the end of Q3 2026.

• UPS (NYSE: UPS). The package-delivery company disclosed that it will cut about 30,000 jobs in 2026 as it winds down its partnership with Amazon and implements cost-saving measures, including automation and building closures. The company expects $3 billion in savings and plans to achieve the reductions largely through attrition and voluntary separation programs.

• Vimeo Inc. (NASDAQ: VMEO). The video-hosting platform announced global job cuts as part of a restructuring effort following its $1.38 billion acquisition by Bending Spoons, aiming to streamline operations and refocus on core creator tools amid slowing growth and rising costs.

Access all announcements

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVES

In January, I tracked 62 hires, promotions, and resignations in the Chief HR Officer (CHRO) role through CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform that monitors movement in the CHRO role. A few headlines from January:

• Albertsons Companies, Inc. (BOISE, IDAHO) (NYSE: ACI)—a leading food and drug retailer in the United States—announced that Allison Pinkham will join the company as EVP and Chief HR Officer, effective February 16, 2026. Pinkham joins Albertsons from Galderma, where she has served as Chief HR Officer since 2021.

• Chipotle Mexican Grill (NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA) [NYSE: CMG]—an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants—announced that Ilene Eskenazi, Chief HR Officer, has been appointed Chief Legal and HR Officer, succeeding Roger Theodoredis, who has transitioned out of his role of Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.

• Kyndryl (NEW YORK, NEW YORK) [NYSE: KD]—a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services—announced that CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier plans to retire from her role on March 31 and remain at Kyndryl as an Executive Advisor until the end of August. She will be succeeded by Mark Paulek as CHRO effective April 1. Mark has been with Kyndryl since 2022, where he currently serves as SVP, HR.

• WideOpenWest (WOW!) (ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO) [NYSE: WOW]—a leading provider of fiber-broadband internet services and advanced connectivity solutions—announced the appointment of Kristine DiFiore as SVP of HR, where she will lead the HR function. This follows the completion of its take-private acquisition by affiliated investment funds of DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG).

If you want the easiest way to stay current on movement in and out of the Chief HR Officer role, including accessing all detailed 62 announcements from January and +4500 archived announcements, join my CHROs on the Go subscription. Both monthly and yearly subscriptions are available.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

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PRESENTED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Jayson Komp, VP, Human Resources at Waupaca Foundry, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Jayson, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY Talent Edge Circle

My private community for internal HR practitioners

If you’re part of my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle, we have two upcoming discussions you won’t want to miss.

On Wed, Jan. 21, we’ll host a hot seat discussion on workforce planning. Then, on Jan. 28, Marc Effron from the Talent Strategy Group will join us for a 90-min discussion on performance management. I’m looking forward to both of these practitioner-based discussions to help you advance your talent priorities!

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Making Talent Decisions Without Waiting for Formal Talent Practices | Brian Heger | A companion resource to my cheat sheet with seven talent questions, adding indicators leaders can use to identify and act on talent decisions in real time.

• The Project-Driven Organization | Harvard Business Review | Covers how organizations can unlock the full potential of project work by moving beyond an operational mindset; plus one of my cheat sheets to support execution.

• From Potential to Practical: Fueling Performance with Proven Workplace Health Interventions | McKinsey Health Institute | Synthesizes evidence from 115 workplace wellbeing approaches to identify high-impact, feasible practices that improve employee wellbeing and performance.

• Unlocking Internal Mobility Across the Organization | Brian Heger | My one-page PDF highlights internal mobility considerations, from manager behaviors that get in the way of talent movement to metrics for measuring progress.

• What Boards Expect of CEO Candidates | BCG | A new article that clarifies what boards value most in CEO candidates, offering practical insight for Chief HR Officers supporting the process.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week, which is an excerpt from my CHROs on the Go platform (subscription-based), where I track hires, promotions, and exits in the Chief HR Officer role.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Making Talent Decisions Without Waiting for Formal Talent Practices | Brian Heger

A companion resource to my cheat sheet with seven talent questions, adding indicators leaders can use to identify and act on talent decisions in real time.

Talent reviews and performance management are important talent practices that enable organizational performance. However, a common pitfall is treating these practices as scheduled process events, often confined to a specific time of year, rather than ongoing opportunities for proactive reflection and action. To promote this shift, I recently shared one of my cheat sheets with seven high-impact questions leaders can use to accelerate talent decisions at any moment, focused on areas such as upgrading talent in a critical role, identifying top retention risk, surfacing hidden talent, addressing ongoing subpar performance, creating stretch development, and unlocking workforce capacity. That resource helps leaders move from insight to action, where many talent efforts stall. To build on that cheat sheet, I’m sharing a complementary view to help identify which of those seven question areas present the greatest opportunity to act now. This view introduces sample indicators that signal where focus is most needed. For example, for Talent Upgrade in a Critical Role, the original question asks whether a critical role is filled by the best possible person, and what the next step should be taken. The added indicators include: A) There are known internal candidates who would likely outperform the incumbent, and B) If the role were vacant tomorrow, we would likely select a different and stronger candidate. These indicators help pinpoint where opportunities exist, and even one signal can highlight a talent decision that needs to be made.

Access my cheat sheet

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

The Project-Driven Organization | Harvard Business Review

Covers how organizations can unlock the full potential of project work by moving beyond an operational mindset; plus one of my cheat sheets to support execution.

Many organizations are increasingly moving toward becoming project-driven, where project-based work sits at the center of how companies are structured and how value is created. Yet, as Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez notes in his article, too many organizations approach projects with an operational mindset that prioritizes hierarchy, control, stability, and efficiency. To unlock the value of complex project work at scale, we need to go beyond an operational mindset, which requires a shift in three main areas: 1) Organizational Design (shifting culture, structure, and governance), 2) Leadership (rethinking how priorities are set, talent is deployed, and performance is measured), and 3) Value Creation (changing how operations and execution enable fast, high-impact project delivery). While insights and examples are provided for each of the three areas, one I want to reinforce deals with lever 2 - Leadership, specifically related to how projects are prioritized and talent and resources are deployed against those areas. This is why I’m resharing one of my templates and posts that helps leaders make explicit project and resource trade-offs, so fewer, higher-value projects get prioritized and talent and decision-making are aligned to what matters most. This becomes even more critical as many organizations invest in internal talent marketplace tech, where projects are a primary source of work demand, and leadership prioritization determines whether that demand translates into real value.

Read article

EMPLOYEE WELLBEING & PERFORMANCE

From Potential to Practical: Fueling Performance with Proven Workplace Health Interventions | McKinsey Health Institute

Synthesizes evidence from 115 workplace wellbeing approaches to identify high-impact, feasible practices that improve employee well-being and performance.

Employee health and wellbeing are recognized as important for many reasons, including their role in enabling organizational performance. Yet many organizations have far less clarity on which practices most improve employee wellbeing while also strengthening performance outcomes. A new analysis from the McKinsey Health Institute helps close that gap by systematically reviewing 115 evidence-based workplace approaches. These approaches are organized across four dimensions of health, physical, mental, social, and spiritual, and evaluated using published academic evidence to assess their impact on health and work outcomes such as productivity, presenteeism, engagement, and innovation, along with feasibility based on ease of adoption, scalability, and ability to embed into daily work. The research is paired with an interactive tool (see post image) that allows practitioners to filter and compare wellbeing practices by health dimension, workforce objective, organizational level, and impact versus feasibility. One point I continue to emphasize for improving both employee wellbeing and organizational performance is ways of working. Ineffective ways of working, such as slow decision-making or unclear ownership, often compound and undermine both employee wellbeing and organizational performance. Against this backdrop, I’m resharing my recent post and one-page template to help leaders pinpoint which ways of working could detract from their 2026 objectives. Acting early helps unlock a combined wellbeing and performance advantage.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Unlocking Internal Mobility Across the Organization | Brian Heger

My one-page PDF highlights internal mobility considerations, from manager behaviors that get in the way of talent movement to metrics for measuring progress.

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report 2025, more than 48% of organizations are making internal mobility a higher priority this year, reflecting a renewed push to develop and move talent from within. As HR practitioners help their organizations actually mobilize internal mobility, I’ve created a one-page PDF that highlights four areas that can be used to identify opportunities for unlocking mobility: 1) Manager behaviors that get in the way of talent movement, 2) Policies that unintentionally minimize talent sharing, 3) Organizational barriers that limit access and visibility to opportunities, and 4) Internal mobility metrics that help track progress. Regarding internal mobility metrics, one example included is Net Exporter of Talent, defined as the extent to which a leader or department develops more high-performing employees who move on to roles elsewhere in the organization. This metric is important because it highlights where a philosophy of talent sharing is truly practiced versus where talent hoarding may be occurring, helping organizations better target subsequent actions and strategies. The goal of this cheat sheet is to help you identify where internal movement is getting stuck and where targeted changes can unlock faster, more effective talent mobility across the organization.

Access my cheat sheet

CHIEF HR OFFICER & BOARD

What Boards Expect of CEO Candidates | BCG

A new article that clarifies what boards value most in CEO candidates, offering practical insight for Chief HR Officers supporting the process.

I previously shared an article from Russell Reynolds Associates on why CHROs are playing a more active role in CEO succession. For CHROs already supporting boards with CEO assessment and selection, a new article from Boston Consulting Group adds a practical lens on what boards actually value—and how early candidates need to prepare. The article highlights three areas boards consistently assess: 1) how candidates run the business (a repeatable performance record, sound strategic judgment, and increasingly, evidence of AI-driven value creation), 2) how they lead people (building teams, developing talent, and retaining key leaders through change), and 3) how they show up with the right balance of humility and gravitas in high-stakes settings. It also shows how expectations shift across three time horizons (five years out, three years out, and during the selection process), reinforcing a critical implication for CHROs: CEO succession is not a last-mile evaluation exercise, but a multi-year capability-building effort that requires intentional role design, exposure, feedback, and development well before the board is making a decision. And in case you missed it, I’m resharing a 25-page report from the CHRO Association (formerly HR Policy Association) and the Center for Executive Succession, CEO Succession: 10 Pitfalls Boards Must Avoid—and the CHRO Practices That Help, which complements this perspective by highlighting where boards most often stumble and how CHROs can proactively reduce risk.

Read article

There is more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

SUCCESSION PLANNING

5 Succession Planning Resources Organized by the Questions They Help You Answer | Brian Heger

A curated set of five of my succession planning cheat sheets, each anchored in a practical question the resource helps you address.

With succession planning continuing to be a top priority among Talent Edge Weekly readers, this post brings together five of my succession planning templates, bundled here for easier access. Each is anchored in a core question the resource helps you answer. 

Access cheat sheets

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Citigroup (NYSE: C). The bank is set to lay off about 1,000 employees this week as part of an ongoing restructuring program aimed at cutting roughly 20,000 jobs and aligning staffing with business needs, technology efficiencies, and its transformation strategy.

• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC). The Swedish telecom equipment maker announced plans to cut around 1,600 jobs in Sweden as part of broader cost-reduction efforts to protect profitability amid a prolonged slowdown in global telecom spending.

• Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META). The Facebook parent company is reportedly moving forward with plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs, primarily within its Reality Labs division, as it continues to shift resources away from virtual reality efforts and toward artificial intelligence initiatives.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 12 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• xChipotle Mexican Grill (NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA) [NYSE: CMG]—an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants—announced that Ilene Eskenazi, Chief Human Resources Officer, has been appointed Chief Legal and Human Resources Officer, succeeding Roger Theodoredis, who has transitioned out of his role of Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel. Before joining Chipotle in 2023 as CHRO, Eskenazi held joint roles at leading consumer products companies, including Petco Health and Wellness Company, Boardriders, Inc. (previously Quiksilver, Inc.), and Red Bull North America.

Ilene Eskenazi

 🔑 To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF DECEMBER 2025

Did you miss the “Best of December ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #328, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Kira Barden, Director of People Analytics and Research at Intuitive, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Kira, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY TechWolf

Skills: It’s all storytelling.

After 20 episodes of the TechWolf Podcast, here’s the blunt truth: Most companies treat skills like a data project. They’re wrong. Skills are a storytelling problem.

We’ve heard it again and again: HR teams burn quarters refining taxonomies and labeling spreadsheets. But data, no matter how clean, is inert without narrative. It's a frozen asset. And in the absence of a compelling story? The business defaults to whatever it was already doing.

Listen to our new 20th episode, where we talk with Marquita Williams and Mary Beth Thornton from AdventHealth, who explained that their skills journey at AdventHealth started long before they turned on their technology.

At TechWolf, we do one thing really well: get you the best, continuous data on jobs, skills, and tasks.

But even we admit it’s not the size of your ontology. It’s how fast you can turn workforce signals into a story your CEO can’t ignore.

P.S. - Catch up on other episodes with talks on skills data, AI, and strategic workforce planning.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Four Futures for Jobs in the New Economy: AI and Talent in 2030 | World Economic Forum | A new 20-page white paper explores how AI advancements and talent trends could lead to four distinct future-of-work scenarios, with insights and actions recommended for each.

• 5 Succession Planning Resources Organized by the Questions They Help You Answer | Brian Heger | A curated set of five of my succession planning cheat sheets, each anchored in a practical question the resource helps you address.

• A Better Way to Manage Internal Talent Markets | Harvard Business Review | A new article based on a larger study presents a few findings on internal talent marketplaces, including the importance of information quality and context in enabling better internal matches.

• What CHRO Compensation Tells Us About a Firm’s Human Capital Strategy | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance | A new article examines how the CEO–CHRO pay ratio signals CHRO influence and relates to workforce and business outcomes.

• When High-Impact Development Roles May Signal a Need for Talent Movement | Brian Heger | My slide to help evaluate if key development roles are used effectively to support talent growth and leadership pipeline flow.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week, which is an excerpt from my CHROs on the Go platform (subscription-based), where I track hires, promotions, and exits in the Chief HR Officer role.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

FUTURE OF WORK

Four Futures for Jobs in the New Economy: AI and Talent in 2030 | World Economic Forum

A new 20-page white paper explores how AI advancements and talent trends could lead to four distinct future-of-work scenarios, with insights and actions recommended for each.

Over the past year, I’ve written several posts and shared resources on my website, brianheger.com, on scenario planning as a critical tool for envisioning possible business futures and informing talent strategies. Building on those resources, this new 20-page paper explores how AI advancements and talent trends, and their potential trajectories through 2030, could reshape the future of jobs. It outlines four future-of-jobs scenarios informed by two dimensions: 1) AI advancement: the pace and scale of progress in the capability and autonomy of AI technologies, and 2) Workforce Readiness: the availability of skills that prepare workers for an AI-driven economy. Together, these make up four distinct scenarios: 1) Supercharged Progress, 2) The Age of Displacement, 3) Co-Pilot Economy, and 4) Stalled Progress. While you’ll need to read the report to gain the full context for each scenario, one example is Supercharged Progress: AI advances at an extraordinary pace, reshaping industries, business models, and workflows as productivity and innovation accelerate through widespread adoption of advanced, agentic AI. While many jobs disappear, broad workforce readiness enables new roles to emerge and scale quickly, with humans increasingly orchestrating intelligent systems as governance, ethics, and social safety nets struggle to keep pace. Regardless of the scenario, page 16 provides nine “no regrets” moves, such as starting small, building fast, and scaling what works, that can help organizations prepare for multiple scenarios.

Read paper

SUCCESSION PLANNING

5 Succession Planning Resources Organized by the Questions They Help You Answer | Brian Heger

A curated set of five of my succession planning cheat sheets, each anchored in a practical question the resource helps you address.

With succession planning continuing to be a top priority among Talent Edge Weekly readers, this post brings together five of my succession planning templates, bundled here for easier access. Each is anchored in a core question the resource helps you answer: 1) How can we tell if our succession plan is “just names on a page,” and what practical steps can we take to fix it? (Five common warning signs, plus actions to address them.) 2) Which events should trigger an off-cycle review of our succession plans so they remain aligned with business realities? (Nine example trigger events that may warrant a faster reassessment.) 3) How should we reevaluate which roles belong in our succession planning pool as strategy, technology, and expectations evolve? (A one-page template to assess whether roles and successors still fit.) 4) What level of transparency about successor status is right for our organization? (Includes reflection questions to help you decide whether limited, partial, or full transparency is right for your organization.) 5) How can metrics help tell a more complete story about the health and impact of our succession plan? (24 example succession metrics across eight areas, including retention and internal mobility.) If resources like these are helpful and you want to go deeper with me and other internal HR practitioners to advance your most critical talent priorities faster and with less friction, apply to my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle.

Access my 5 resources on brianheger.com

INTERNAL MOBILITY

A Better Way to Manage Internal Talent Markets | Harvard Business Review

A new article based on a larger study presents a few findings on internal talent marketplaces, including the importance of information quality and context in enabling better internal matches. 

Internal mobility, the movement of employees across roles and opportunities within the same organization, is a critical component of talent management. In many organizations, internal mobility is enabled through an internal talent marketplace (ITM), often a technology-powered platform that uses AI to match employees and their skills and career preferences to internal roles and opportunities. In my work on skills, AI, and ITM, including my book chapter in SIOP’s Strategic Workforce Planning: Best Practices and Emerging Directions, I’ve outlined the benefits and challenges practitioners need to consider and plan for when implementing an ITM. A new HBR article builds on this topic by asking a central question: how do organizations best balance employee preferences for roles and development with business needs? The article is based on a study published in Management Science, which examined outcomes when employees selected opportunities based on their preferences versus when leaders assigned roles based on business priorities. While the article surfaces several findings, one worth highlighting is that employee decisions in ITMs were shaped primarily by the quality of information and context available to them. When employees lacked feedback on their strengths, signals about role requirements, and visibility into organizational priorities, they were less likely to pursue or be matched to roles where their skills could deliver near-term business value. To address this, the authors point to a hybrid approach in which employees can express interest in opportunities while the organization provides a clearer context on why a role may or may not be a good match. Other ideas are discussed.

Read the HBR article

CHIEF HR AND PEOPLE OFFICER

What CHRO Compensation Tells Us About a Firm’s Human Capital Strategy | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance 

A new article examines how the CEO–CHRO pay ratio signals CHRO influence and relates to workforce and business outcomes.

The growing importance of human capital continues to elevate the role of the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO). However, the title alone does not indicate how much influence or strategic weight the role carries, as the scope and decision-making authority of the CHRO role vary widely across companies. A new article asks a central question: when do organizations move beyond rhetoric and actually treat human capital leadership as a strategic priority? To explore this, the study examines how differences in how firms position and compensate their CHRO relate to outcomes inside the organization, using the CHRO’s compensation relative to the CEO as a ratio-based indicator of influence. The authors find that organizations with higher CHRO pay ratios manage their workforce more intentionally, including higher turnover that reflects active talent upgrading, stronger hiring from competitors, and weaker matches exiting, along with more positive employee experiences. These workforce shifts are associated with stronger market performance. While the CHRO pay ratio is only one measure, it offers boards and leaders a practical way to assess whether CHRO influence and incentives align with stated human capital priorities. One practical question leaders can ask is: looking back at the most consequential business decisions made over the last 12 months, where did the CHRO meaningfully shape the direction or trade-offs, and where did they not? The answer often reveals whether CHRO influence is symbolic or truly embedded in critical decision-making that creates stakeholder value.

Read article

DEVELOPMENT

When High-Impact Development Roles May Signal a Need for Talent Movement | Brian Heger

My slide to help evaluate if key development roles are used effectively to support talent growth and leadership pipeline flow.

In every organization, certain roles act as accelerators of development. These positions often enable individuals to build critical skills and gain meaningful experiences faster than in other roles. But when someone remains in one of these high-impact roles too long, without the interest or potential to move into larger, more complex roles, it can hinder both individual growth and organizational performance. Signs of stagnation often include disengagement, delayed succession readiness, and the departure of high-potential talent seeking development elsewhere. To keep development and leadership pipelines flowing, it’s essential to regularly assess whether these roles (often limited in supply) are being used to unlock opportunities for others. To jumpstart your thinking, here’s my one-page slide with guiding questions for managers: Has the person been in the same development role for an extended period without progression? Are they open to new responsibilities or stretch opportunities? Is their continued presence in the role limiting access to valuable experiences for successors? While there are other ways to accelerate development, such as short-term assignments, roles remain a meaningful and powerful source of growth. This topic can be woven into talent review discussions to support more informed and strategic talent decisions that strengthen organizational performance.

Access my slide

There is more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

2026 Objectives Setting is Underway. Will Your Ways of Working Enable the Performance Outcome? | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet to help teams assess if their current ways of working will enable 2026 performance objectives.

As the new year gets underway, many organizations are developing, refining, or beginning to implement their 2026 objectives. While much time is spent aligning on goals, defining metrics and KPIs, and refining the performance management process, less attention is often given to the ways of working that enable or hinder the achievement of those objectives. My one-pager can help you identify which current ways of working could detract from goal achievement if left unaddressed.

Access my cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Angi (NASDAQ: ANGI). The home services marketplace said it will cut about 350 jobs in the first quarter of 2026 as part of a restructuring tied to AI-driven efficiency improvements, a move expected to save $70 million to $80 million annually.

• Marshalls. The off-price retailer confirmed the closure of two California stores, shutting locations in Hollywood and San Jose effective January 5, 2026, and impacting more than 120 jobs. The company said the closures reflect an ongoing review of its real estate strategy amid continued pressure across the U.S. retail sector.

• Ultium Cells. The electric vehicle battery manufacturer disclosed plans to cut more than 1,300 jobs across the company, with layoffs beginning January 5 following slower-than-expected EV sales. Hundreds of roles are being eliminated at the Lordstown, Ohio, battery plant, where most affected employees are battery assembly operators.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 12 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• ​Kyndryl​ (NEW YORK) [NYSE: KD]—a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services—announced that Chief HR Officer​ Maryjo Charbonnier​ plans to retire from her role on March 31 and remain at Kyndryl as an Executive Advisor until the end of August. She will be succeeded by​ Mark Paulek​ as CHRO effective April 1. Since joining Kyndryl in 2022, Paulek has played a critical role in designing and delivering Kyndryl's human capital strategy and has led HR for Kyndryl's commercial organization.  

Mark Paulek

 🔑 To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF DECEMBER 2025

PRESENTED BY

Did you miss the “Best of December ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #328, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

PRESENTED BY Talent Edge Circle

As an internal HR practitioner, you don’t have to do this work alone.

Talent Edge Circle is my private, application-based community for internal HR practitioners.

It’s an intentionally curated community and led by me, bringing together practitioners in similar roles and at similar levels who share common priorities and challenges. This keeps the focus on the work that matters most.

You’ve been supporting everyone else. Now it’s your turn to get the support you need. Apply today to start the new year with greater clarity and confidence.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Happy New Year, and welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Bridget Penney, Chief People Officer at Applied Systems, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Bridget, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY Draup

AI-Native Skills Architecture for the Enterprise

As organizations pivot toward skills-based strategies in workforce planning, hiring, and internal mobility, the missing link remains a scalable, intelligent skills architecture—one that goes beyond surface-level role definitions.

Draup’s AI-powered Skills Architecture addresses this need head-on. It breaks down roles into root skills, core competencies, and associated tech stacks.

Built on over 850 million job descriptions, 50k products in Tech Stack, and a taxonomy of 17,500+ curated skills, our model allows organizations to:

• Surface hidden capability gaps across business units

• Anticipate the next wave of skill evolution

• Orchestrate targeted, skill-first talent interventions

If your organization is serious about embedding a skills-based approach at scale, download Draup’s Skills Architecture report to see what’s possible.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• 2026 Objectives Setting is Underway. Will Your Ways of Working Enable the Performance Outcome? | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet to help teams assess if their current ways of working will enable 2026 performance objectives.

• Using Business Triggers to Anticipate Talent and Workforce Shifts | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet helps leaders identify business triggers that serve as leading indicators of when talent strategy adjustments may be needed.

• Assess What Is Certain in a Sea of Unknowns | MIT Sloan Management Review | Shares how scenario planning can be augmented by also clarifying certainties rather than just uncertainties.

• Microsoft New Future of Work Report 2025 | Microsoft’s New Future of Work Initiative | A recent 74-page report provides research-backed insights from multiple sources on how AI is shaping work.

• Skills-First: Policy and Impact | Institute for Adult Learning Singapore | A new 52-page working paper providing insights into how skills-first principles are being put into practice across policy design, implementation, and impact.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week, which is an excerpt from my CHROs on the Go platform, where I track hires, promotions, and exits in the Chief HR Officer role.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

2026 Objectives Setting is Underway. Will Your Ways of Working Enable the Performance Outcome? | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet to help teams assess if their current ways of working will enable 2026 performance objectives.

As the new year gets underway, many organizations are developing, refining, or beginning to implement their 2026 objectives. While much time is spent aligning on goals, defining metrics and KPIs, and refining the performance management process, less attention is often given to the ways of working that enable or hinder the achievement of those objectives. For example, an organization may set a clear objective to accelerate product delivery, yet slow decision-making, unclear ownership across functions, or excessive approval layers can erode progress long before performance metrics reveal a problem. Put differently, you can have the right objectives and the right people focused on them, yet it is often the ways of working that ultimately determine whether objectives translate into the desired performance outcomes. To surface these issues early, I created a one-page cheat sheet that leaders and their teams can use to identify which current ways of working could detract from goal achievement if left unaddressed. It is anchored in a simple but powerful question: “If we were to fast-forward to the end of 2026 and see that we fell short of this objective, which ways of working would we say got in our own way and contributed most to that result?” From there, teams identify two to three actions they can take immediately to reduce the likelihood of that outcome. Early action matters because once results are off track, the window to materially change performance outcomes narrows quickly. Take this action now to turn ways of working into an execution advantage rather than a performance risk.

Access my cheat sheet

TALENT STRATEGY

Using Business Triggers to Anticipate Talent and Workforce Shifts | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet helps leaders identify business triggers that serve as leading indicators of when talent strategy adjustments may be needed.

I recently shared my cheat sheet with 12 examples of talent tactics that might underpin a talent strategy, ranging from talent redeployment and automation to upskilling, along with guidance on when each tactic works well or not and examples in practice. But once strategies are set, business conditions often shift throughout the year, requiring reassessment of whether talent strategies still align with the business. To support those discussions, I’m sharing a one-page PDF I developed. The first column provides examples of Business triggers (events, signals, or trends indicating a meaningful or imminent shift in the business environment), followed by Tripwires or Thresholds (the measurable point at which leaders agree action is required), and Talent implications (likely effects on workforce size, capability, structure, deployment, or priorities). For example, a surge in new business wins (business trigger) and a more than 20 percent quarterly increase in volume (tripwire/threshold) may prompt talent implications such as ramping up recruitment, expanding onboarding capacity, or fast-tracking internal mobility. The 9 examples on my cheat sheet are intended to spark initial thinking rather than serve as a prescriptive list; teams should focus on identifying triggers most relevant to their own context. The goal is to envision possible business scenarios and talent responses so teams can adjust confidently as conditions evolve. For members of my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle, our resource library includes additional pages to this document to help you identify triggers for your organization, along with a worksheet to document your thinking.

Access my cheat sheet

SCENARIO PLANNING

Assess What Is Certain in a Sea of Unknowns | MIT Sloan Management Review

Shares how scenario planning can be augmented by also clarifying certainties rather than just uncertainties.

As noted in Deloitte Insights’ recent article, Six Workforce Strategies to Plan for a Future You Can’t Predict, scenario planning remains an important tool for building more flexible workforce plans. I’ve also shared several resources, including this cheat sheet, which I’ve created on how scenario planning can enable a more fluid and agile approach to workforce and talent planning. While scenario planning helps leaders and their teams prepare for uncertainty, there is something equally critical that often gets overlooked: what is knowable about the future. In this article, Cynthia Selin argues that a stronger strategy doesn’t come from imagining endless possibilities, but from explicitly identifying the certainties, enduring realities, and forces already shaping what is possible. Practically, this means grounding workforce and talent planning in what is relatively stable before exploring what might change, allowing leaders to better prioritize talent investments and make smarter workforce decisions. To make this practical and simple to start applying, one question to consider is: What elements of our workforce planning would persist across multiple future scenarios? This matters because it helps teams see which workforce decisions apply across multiple futures and which should remain flexible as conditions change. As a bonus, I am sharing one of my templates, which helps to identify a base scenario (what we expect will occur and plan for) alongside alternate scenarios.

Read MIT article

FUTURE OF WORK WITH AI

Microsoft New Future of Work Report 2025 | Microsoft’s New Future of Work Initiative

A recent 74-page report provides research-backed insights from multiple sources on how AI is shaping work.

This recently released 74-page report by Microsoft’s New Future of Work Initiative provides research-backed insights from multiple sources on how AI is shaping, and has the potential to shape, work. It examines six core areas: 1) Adoption and Usage, including adoption patterns, key drivers, challenges, and gaps; 2) Impact on Work and Labor Markets, covering productivity, job evolution, employment and wages, where agents may reshape markets, and the roles of automation and augmentation; 3) Human–AI Collaboration, exploring how interactions with AI are changing and how collaboration can be improved across modalities and time frames; 4) AI for Teamwork, focusing on how AI can support teams and be effectively integrated into group workflows; 5) Thinking, Learning, and Psychological Influences, considering impacts on cognition, learning, and well-being, and whether AI can make people smarter, not just more productive; and 6) Specific Roles and Industries, detailing how AI is changing work for software engineers, program managers, researchers, and others. While there are too many insights to cover here, the section beginning on page 22 within Impact on Work and Labor Markets highlights that as AI advances, human judgment becomes increasingly critical, particularly in recognizing improvement opportunities and choosing the right actions under ambiguity, areas tied to context, ethics, and creativity where AI still struggles. With this in mind, I am resharing a December 2025 World Economic Forum report, New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage, which outlines the human-centric skills that will remain essential in an AI-enabled world.

Read the Microsoft report

SKILLS

Skills-First: Policy and Impact | Institute for Adult Learning Singapore 

A new 52-page working paper providing insights into how skills-first principles are being put into practice across policy design, implementation, and impact.

This new 52-page working paper provides insights into how skills-first principles are being put into practice across policy design, implementation, and impact. While the report includes many useful insights, section six, beginning on page 30, features visual tables that outline what it takes to move from readiness to adoption across different aspects of skills-first practices. The section assesses three dimensions: Prerequisites (what is required to enable the capability), Coordination (the level of effort needed to mobilize the capability), and Capability maturity (the overall level required to achieve meaningful impact). For example, for Skills Validation Infrastructure, prerequisites include an established, frequently updated national jobs-skills-tasks taxonomy and clear regulatory frameworks to build employer confidence in digital credentials. Coordination requirements are high, involving sector agencies, industry partners, and training providers working together to build and sustain sectoral or occupational skills validation infrastructure and supporting regulation. Capability requirements are also high, as a robust skills validation system must be professionally managed with strong assessment, quality assurance, and data management. Beyond the specific framework presented in the paper, practitioners can apply a similar approach to clarify what is needed to advance their own skills-first initiatives. As a bonus, I am resharing a popular resource, the Skills-Based Internal Mobility Playbook by the Business Roundtable, which addresses several aspects of skills-based practices.

Read paper

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST ISSUE

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that shows an example of how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. Learn more about Talent Edge Circle.

Access slide

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). The beverage company disclosed that it will lay off approximately 75 employees at its Atlanta headquarters, effective February 28, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing, amid broader leadership changes at the company.

• Mr. Cooper Group Inc. (NYSE: RKT). The mortgage servicing operation that Rocket Companies, Inc. recently acquired plans to lay off 102 workers in January. Among the worker positions cut were vice presidents in charge of strategic initiatives and loan processing, underwriters, loan processors, funding staff, and business analysts.

• Telefonica (NYSE: TEF). The Spanish telecommunications company plans to cut around 5,500 jobs as part of its 'Transform & Grow Plan 2026-2030' strategy to become more digital and prepare the business for future challenges.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, several new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Oshkosh Corporation (OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN) [NYSE: OSK]—a leading innovator of purpose-built vehicles, equipment and services—announced the appointment of Jackie Nystrom as Chief Human Resources Officer, effective January 1, 2026. In her most recent position, Jackie served as VP of HR for Oshkosh's Vocational segment, supporting a global workforce of 7,500 team members.

Jackie Nystrom  

👉️ To access all detailed CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF DECEMBER 2025

PRESENTED BY

Did you miss the “Best of December ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #328, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

PRESENTED BY Talent Edge Circle

As an internal HR practitioner, you don’t have to do this work alone.

Talent Edge Circle is my private, application-based community for internal HR practitioners.

It’s an intentionally curated community and led by me, bringing together practitioners in similar roles and at similar levels who share common priorities and challenges. This keeps the focus on the work that matters most.

You’ve been supporting everyone else. Now it’s your turn to get the support you need. Apply today to start the new year with greater clarity and confidence.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

PRESENTED BY

Welcome to this special Best of December issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Raffaella Rossini, Head of Employee Experience at lastminute, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Raffaella, for your support of this newsletter!

🗞️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Subscribe now and immediately get 5 of my PDF cheat sheets!

PRESENTED BY Talent Edge Circle

As an internal HR practitioner, you don’t have to do this work alone.

Talent Edge Circle is my private, application-based community for internal HR practitioners.

It’s an intentionally curated community and led by me, bringing together practitioners in similar roles and at similar levels who share common priorities and challenges. This keeps the focus on the work that matters most.

You’ve been supporting everyone else. Now it’s your turn to get the support you need. Apply today to start the new year with greater clarity and confidence.

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

The Best of December issue includes the most popular resources from the December issues of Talent Edge Weekly, AND resources that are useful for this time of year. The 11 resources are:

• Talent Strategy Mix: 12 Examples of Tactics | Brian Heger

• 8 Questions to Determine If a Vacant Role Needs to be Filled | Brian Heger

• Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

• Framing Talent Initiatives Within the Business Context | Brian Heger

• New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage | World Economic Forum

• A Faster Way to Build Future Scenarios | MIT Sloan Management Review

• Agentic AI Isn’t Just Joining the Workforce. It’s Reshaping how Organizations Plan for It | Deloitte Insights

• The Essential Guide to Agentic AI: How to Compete in an Autonomous Future | IBM Institute for Business Value

• New Research on AI and Fairness in Hiring | Harvard Business Review

• Is Your Succession Plan Just a List of Names on a Page? Five Signs, Indicators, and Fixes | Brian Heger

• Performance Calibration Discussions: 10 Questions to Help Managers Reflect on Employees’ Year-End Performance | Brian Heger

This issue has many bonus resources, including information about layoffs and Chief HR Officer hires and promotions during December.  

I hope you enjoy this issue, and I appreciate your readership of Talent Edge Weekly.

🎉 Wishing you a happy and healthy 2026, and I look forward to continuing to share ideas, practices, and resources in the new year!

TALENT STRATEGY

Talent Strategy Mix: 12 Examples of Tactics | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with 12 talent tactics that help organizations determine when each approach works well, when it doesn’t, and examples of them in practice.

Every organization has a talent strategy to enable its business strategy. However, determining the right mix of talent tactics can be challenging, given the range of options, including hiring, outsourcing, internal movement, and upskilling. While each tactic has advantages, the most effective strategies usually combine multiple approaches. To help evaluate which combination may work best, my one-page sheet summarizes 12 example tactics, outlining what each entails, when it works well or not, and real-world examples. For instance, upskilling, which enhances existing or adjacent skills, works well when roles are evolving, employees have a solid foundation, and business needs can be met through targeted development. It is less effective when foundational skills are lacking or a rapid transformation is required. A practical example is a bank introducing digital literacy programs for frontline staff to adapt to new financial tech. Redeployment, which assigns employees to priority roles, is effective when urgent business shifts require internal agility and employees possess transferable skills aligned with emerging needs. It is less effective when there is a poor skill match or a high risk of disrupting critical teams. An example of redeployment is a retail brand redeploying store managers into e-commerce fulfillment roles during a digital transition. Although there is more to talent strategy than what appears on my cheat sheet, this resource offers a helpful starting point for evaluating options and facilitating discussions.

Access cheat sheet

TALENT ACQUISITION

8 Questions to Determine If a Vacant Role Needs to be Filled | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with questions to help leaders decide whether to backfill vacant roles, reducing the costly cycle of overhiring.

Hiring talent is a crucial part of an organization’s talent strategy. However, managers often default to talent acquisition (hiring more people) as a reactive response to meet work demand. As I’ve tracked thousands of layoffs through my layoff tracker, a common theme emerges: many organizations cite “overhiring” as a reason for workforce reductions, resulting in costly cycles of hiring, layoffs, and rehiring. Although better workforce planning and talent forecasting can help minimize the likelihood of overhiring, another important practice is to be intentional about whether a role truly needs to be backfilled when it becomes vacant. Rather than automatically replacing someone, leaders and talent partners can ask sharper questions, such as “Has the business context changed since the role was created?” and “How likely is this role to remain vital over the next two years?” to guide a more informed decision. To help facilitate these discussions, my one-page cheat sheet offers eight questions to spark deeper evaluation and better hiring choices. As AI reshapes how work gets done, questions like these can help reduce the cycle of overhiring and the job cuts that often follow. And with 2026 just a few days away, now is an ideal moment to step back, reassess open roles, and determine which ones truly need to be filled and which ones warrant a different solution.

Access cheat sheet

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that shows an example of how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. One approach is to start with the business outcome of greatest importance and use a few reflection questions to surface the accomplishments that best demonstrate impact. For example, if Revenue Growth is a priority (e.g., increasing income through higher sales, customer acquisition, or market expansion), you might ask: How did our talent practices strengthen the capabilities of revenue-impacting teams? Where did workforce decisions (hiring, development, mobility) support growth priorities? How did we ensure the right people were in the right roles to enable expansion? These are simply starting points that you can adjust to your context. And while Revenue Growth is one example, the same approach can be applied to outcomes such as Profitability and Margin Improvement, Operational Efficiency, Customer Experience and Satisfaction, and Strategic Agility and Organizational Adaptability, among others. To make this easier to put into practice, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from my private community, Talent Edge Circle. The slide shows a full example linked to all five business outcomes.

Access slide

HR IN BUSINESS CONTEXT

Framing Talent Initiatives and Objectives Within the Business Context | Brian Heger

My one-page slide with an example of framing HR initiatives in the context of the business and the business problems they address.

With the start of the new year just a few days ahead, HR teams are developing, refining, and prioritizing the initiatives that will help create stakeholder value in the months to come. While there are many ways to determine which HR efforts can unlock the greatest value, one effective approach is anchoring those initiatives in the real business problems they are intended to solve. To support this, I am sharing an excerpt slide from a broader deck I developed for the Talent Edge Circle. The example focuses on workforce planning and includes the business problem being addressed, supporting stats that reinforce the issue, a high-level talent solution, and a final section that highlights the cost of waiting or not acting now. This last component is especially important, as it is often overlooked when presenting to executive teams. Not taking action is still a decision, and it carries risks. Making those risks clear up front helps articulate the downside of inaction and strengthens the case for moving forward. I also recommend including a second slide with a high-level, phased implementation plan, which helps translate the proposal into clear next steps. Talent Edge Circle members received this additional slide in the full deck.

Access slide

There is much more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

SKILLS

New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage | World Economic Forum

A new 39-page white paper provides guidance on skills that should be prioritized to ensure organizations have the talent to deliver on innovation, resilience, and growth priorities.

This new 39-page white paper provides guidance on the skills organizations should prioritize to ensure they have the talent needed to deliver on innovation, resilience, and growth priorities. As the first installment in a broader series, it focuses on human-centric skills—uniquely human capabilities such as collaboration, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence that enable effective interaction, problem-solving, and decision-making. While AI adoption continues to rise, these human skills remain essential for driving innovation and adaptability. The paper covers everything from the supply and demand of human-centric skills, with a breakdown by industry and geographic region, to tactics for developing, assessing, and credentialing these capabilities. One section beginning on page 30 includes seven case studies showing how organizations are embedding human-centric skills at scale. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) uses AI-powered simulations to help learners practice customer conversations and strengthen their problem-solving skills. PwC uses verified digital credentials to recognize behaviors like inclusive leadership. Udemy offers adaptive AI role plays that help learners rehearse difficult conversations and build confidence. Together, these examples show how organizations are scaling the development of human-centric skills in an AI-enabled world.

Read paper

SCENARIO PLANNING & AI

A Faster Way to Build Future Scenarios | MIT Sloan Management Review

A new article offers a streamlined approach to scenario planning that leverages AI to navigate future uncertainties more efficiently.

I’ve made several posts about how scenario planning (SP), which involves envisioning and planning for multiple futures an organization might face, is a critical tool for workforce and talent planning. One of my cheat sheets helps HR and business leaders align workforce plans with potential business scenarios. That said, SP can be hard to execute in practice, often requiring significant time, coordination, and expertise. A new MIT Sloan Management Review article shares ideas on how organizations can apply accelerated SP, including using AI as a brainstorming partner. One useful insight is how two companies, Fazer and Unum Ltd., have put these concepts into action. Fazer, a Nordic fast-moving consumer goods company, used this approach to identify a small set of critical assumptions related to climate change and the availability of key raw materials across its portfolio, including confectionery, bakery and breakfast products, plant-based drinks, and other food innovations. It then used AI to deepen research on environmental trends and turn workshop insights into scenarios that helped leaders rethink strategy, operations, and talent needs across different futures. While AI can speed up scenario creation and analysis, effective SP still depends on leaders’ judgment to assess plausibility and apply insights to talent and workforce decisions. Blending both approaches can provide a strategic advantage.

Read article

WORKFORCE PLANNING & AGENTIC AI

Agentic AI Isn’t Just Joining the Workforce. It’s Reshaping how Organizations Plan for It | Deloitte Insights

Explores how agentic AI can transform workforce planning into an adaptive, real-time discipline that helps organizations respond more effectively to changing workforce needs.

Strategic workforce planning (SWP) remains a top priority, yet surveys continue to show gaps in SWP capabilities. While there are many reasons for this gap (including six I’ve previously highlighted), one reinforced in a recent Deloitte article is that SWP remains a static, annual exercise. When SWP is tied to an annual calendar instead of evolving business needs, organizations risk misalignment between talent supply and demand and slower responses to changing conditions. The Deloitte article shows how agentic AI can help shift SWP from static to dynamic by sensing workforce signals, forecasting demand and supply, and supporting more agile decisions. One illustration comes from health care, where AI agents can detect demand spikes (such as seasonal flu surges or public health emergencies); sense talent supply changes (including attrition signals and mobility patterns); assess workforce capacity (by gathering real-time data on clinician workloads); match clinicians to patient needs (based on licensure, specialty, location, capacity, and historical performance); forecast future staffing needs (using historical, demographic data); monitor clinician well-being (by identifying early signs of stress or fatigue and triggering interventions); and support ongoing learning (by offering personalized training and managing certifications). The article also outlines key practices organizations can take to position themselves for an agentic future.

Read article

AGENTIC AI

The Essential Guide to Agentic AI: How to Compete in an Autonomous Future | IBM Institute for Business Value

A new 30-page report that explores three essential components for scaling agentic AI and making it a performance enabler for the business.

As AI agents evolve from passive tools to active collaborators, they are reshaping how work gets done, who does it, and how teams are structured. Scaling this capability across an organization, however, is complex and requires careful consideration. This 30-page report outlines three essential components for scaling agentic AI and turning it into a true performance enabler: 1) the chassis, or the strategic technical framework, which provides a secure and open foundation connecting agents, models, and systems enterprise-wide to support orchestration, interoperability, and scalability; 2) the fuel, or the high-quality, well-governed data streams that power adaptive decision-making through integration, accessibility, and real-time flow across the enterprise; and 3) the powertrain, or the human–AI collaboration that converts potential into measurable outcomes by aligning actions to KPIs and embedding accountability. The report explores each component in depth, and starting on page 21, introduces an Action Guide designed to help put these ideas into practice. For example, to enable continuous data flow to and among agents, one recommended action is to conduct a quick audit of your data governance framework to identify bottlenecks that slow access to high-quality data and pinpoint the high-impact data sources most critical to agent decision-making. Other ideas are discussed. As a bonus, I am resharing two McKinsey reports: 1) The Agentic Organization: Contours of the Next Paradigm for the AI Era, and 2) Agents, Robots, and Us: Skill Partnerships in the Age of AI. 

Read the IBM report

HIRING & AI

New Research on AI and Fairness in Hiring | Harvard Business Review

Drawing on a study published this year in the Journal of Management Studies, the authors have released a new HBR article that provides a shorter, practitioner-focused look at AI-based hiring practices and their implications.

In August 2025, the article “Is There Fairness in AI?" was published in the Journal of Management Studies to examine how AI-based hiring practices might lead to fairer hiring practices. The authors have now released a shorter, practitioner-focused version of that research in a new HBR article. The research draws on a three-year field study of a global consumer-goods company processing more than 10,000 job applicants per year. It examines how AI-based hiring systems support more objective hiring practices. To reduce hiring bias, the organization replaced resume reviews with blinded, gamified assessments analyzed by AI and trained the algorithm on current employees’ game data linked to performance outcomes. While this increased consistency, the study found that one definition of fairness—standardization and uniform rules—became hard-coded into the system, deprioritizing managers’ local judgment about role requirements, labor markets, and team needs. Fixed thresholds automatically advanced or rejected candidates, and deviations from the model were framed as breaking the rules rather than as exercising judgment that might otherwise account for regional talent shortages, known candidates (such as interns or project contributors) whose capabilities exceeded what assessments captured, and other contextual factors. The authors also provide questions to help organizations better leverage AI-enabled hiring tools while preserving human and contextual judgment. Both versions of the article are worth reading to understand the study’s limitations and implications.

Read the HBR article

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Is Your Succession Plan Just a List of Names on a Page? 5 Signs, Indicators, and Fixes | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet highlights five signs that succession plans may not be providing practical value, along with a few suggestions for addressing these challenges.

Many organizations invest heavily in succession planning, yet surveys consistently show that these plans often become static grids of names that don’t meaningfully influence talent decisions or development. In this one-page cheat sheet, I highlight five signs that an organization’s succession plans may be “just names on a page” rather than practical, implementable plans. The cheat sheet includes sample indicators to help identify whether any of the five challenges exist, along with an example step to help address them. One challenge is that succession plans are updated only during formal succession planning cycles. When this happens, plans tend to reflect process calendars rather than current business realities, increasing the need for off-cycle updates. One way to address this is to define business trigger events, such as strategy shifts, organizational restructuring, or significant changes in company size or scale, that would prompt a reevaluation of succession plans. To support this, I am resharing another one of my cheat sheets that outlines nine sample trigger events that prompt an off-cycle reevaluation of succession plans. Use the five-signs succession planning cheat sheet to facilitate discussion, assess whether any of these challenges exist, and identify practical action steps to address them. Even addressing just one of these challenges can make succession plans more relevant. For more on succession, SuccessionHR is hosting a webinar on 1/21/26.

Access my cheat sheet

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Performance Calibration Discussions: 10 Questions to Help Managers Reflect on Employees’ Year-End Performance | Brian Heger

My cheat with questions to help managers prepare for performance calibration discussions and drive more objective, consistent evaluations.

As the year comes to an end, many organizations are preparing for year-end performance evaluations. These evaluations are often supported by performance calibration discussions, where managers come together to ensure greater consistency and objectivity in performance evaluations. They aim to promote fairness by addressing discrepancies between “tough graders,” who hold employees to exceptionally high standards, and “easy graders,” who offer overly generous evaluations. When done well, calibration discussions lead to more accurate and credible performance differentiation. To help managers prepare, I’ve created a one-pager featuring 10 sample questions. They range from Goal Achievement—“What were the employee’s most significant accomplishments during the performance period?”—to Obstacle Navigation—“What were the most significant obstacles this employee faced, and how did they overcome them?” and Impact on Team Performance—“In what ways has the employee positively influenced the performance of others?” While I’ve provided 10 example questions, not all of them need to be answered. Draw from the ones that you find most useful. And if ongoing performance check-ins and feedback occurred all year, this reflection simply culminates those conversations into a representative view of performance.

Access cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my tracker

A few firms that announced job cuts in December include:

• Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE: ELAN). The global animal health company announced a restructuring that will affect 600 positions across the company, with half of those roles eliminated and the remainder shifted to other areas or locations.

• Intercept Pharmaceuticals. (NASDAQ: ICPT). The New Jersey–based drugmaker disclosed plans to lay off 146 employees in phases, beginning December 31, after withdrawing its commercial drug, Ocaliva, from the U.S. market.  

• Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC). The global marketing and communications company said it will cut more than 4,000 jobs and shut down several agency brands following its $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group.

• UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS). The Swiss multinational bank is reportedly planning to cut up to 10,000 additional jobs by 2027 as part of its ongoing integration of Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023.

Access all announcements

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVEMENT

During December, 67 new announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. Subscriptions are for monthly or yearly plans. A few headlines are below:

Sample screenshot of CHROs on the Go

• Andersen Corporation (BAYPORT, MINNESOTA)—a manufacturer of America's most trusted brand of windows and doors—announced the appointment of Laura Watterson as Chief Human Resources Officer. She joins Andersen from CWT, formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel, where she served as EVP, CHRO for the last four years.

• Chanel (LONDON, ENGLAND)—a world leader in creating, manufacturing, and distributing luxury products—announced that Elisabetta Caldera has been named Global Chief People and Organization Officer. Caldera joins from Aegon, where she spent more than four years as Global Chief HR Officer.

• DaVita (DENVER, COLORADO) [NYSE: DVA]—a leading provider of kidney care services—announced the promotion of Stephanie Hendrickson as Chief People Officer. Hendrickson previously served at DaVita from 2013 to 2018 and returned to the company in 2023, most recently serving as Group VP of Operations.

• PODS Enterprises (CLEARWATER, FLORIDA)—an industry leader that revolutionized the moving and storage category through its portable container service offerings—announced that Lisa Goettel, SVP of HR, will retire effective January 2, 2026, after 18 years of service to the company, and that Laureen Druker has been promoted to CHRO, effective the same date. Druker has been with PODS since September 2014, most recently serving as VP of HR Operations.

Get all of the detailed 67 announcements from my CHROs on the Go subscription and gain immediate access to +4500 (and growing) CHRO announcements, including hires, promotions, resignations, and board appointments.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Jayson Komp, VP of Human Resources at Waupaca Foundry, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Jayson, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY SuccessionHR

WEBINAR: Elevate Your Succession Planning

Are you tired of preparing succession plans manually or in messy spreadsheets?

Join SuccessionHR for a 30-min webinar, January 21 at 1 PM EST, where you’ll:

• Get an in-depth look of the SuccessionHR software

• Identify key risks in succession planning

• Explore proven succession planning best practices

If you’re looking to make succession planning more strategic, data-driven, and impactful, this session is for you.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Is Your Succession Plan Just a List of Names on a Page? Five Signs, Indicators, and Fixes | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet highlights five signs that succession plans may not be providing practical value, along with a few suggestions for addressing these challenges.

• A Faster Way to Build Future Scenarios | MIT Sloan Management Review | A new article offers a streamlined approach to scenario planning that leverages AI to navigate future uncertainties more efficiently.

• New Research on AI and Fairness in Hiring | Harvard Business Review | Drawing on a study published this year in the Journal of Management Studies, the authors have released a new HBR article that provides a shorter, practitioner-focused look at AI-based hiring practices and their implications.

• Identifying Opportunities for Improving and Measuring Internal Mobility: Two Resources | Brian Heger | I share two of my resources: a one-page diagnostic to identify opportunities to enhance mobility and examples of metrics to assess aspects of internal mobility.  

• The Essential Guide to Agentic AI: How to Compete in an Autonomous Future | IBM Institute for Business Value | A new 30-page report that explores three essential components for scaling agentic AI and making it a performance enabler for the business.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Is Your Succession Plan Just a List of Names on a Page? 5 Signs, Indicators, and Fixes | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet highlights five signs that succession plans may not be providing practical value, along with a few suggestions for addressing these challenges.

Many organizations invest heavily in succession planning, yet surveys consistently show that these plans often become static grids of names that don’t meaningfully influence talent decisions or development. In this one-page cheat sheet, I highlight five signs that an organization’s succession plans may be “just names on a page” rather than practical, implementable plans. The cheat sheet includes sample indicators to help identify whether any of the five challenges exist, along with an example step to help address them. One challenge is that succession plans are updated only during formal succession planning cycles. When this happens, plans tend to reflect process calendars rather than current business realities, increasing the need for off-cycle updates. One way to address this is to define business trigger events, such as strategy shifts, organizational restructuring, or significant changes in company size or scale, that would prompt a reevaluation of succession plans. To support this, I am resharing another one of my cheat sheets that outlines nine sample trigger events that prompt an off-cycle reevaluation of succession plans. Use the five-signs succession planning cheat sheet to facilitate discussion, assess whether any of these challenges exist, and identify practical action steps to address them. Even addressing just one of these challenges can make succession plans more relevant. For more on succession, SuccessionHR is hosting a webinar on 1/21.

Access my cheat sheet

SCENARIO PLANNING & AI

A Faster Way to Build Future Scenarios | MIT Sloan Management Review

A new article offers a streamlined approach to scenario planning that leverages AI to navigate future uncertainties more efficiently.

I’ve made several posts about how scenario planning (SP), which involves envisioning and planning for multiple futures an organization might face, is a critical tool for workforce and talent planning. One of my cheat sheets helps HR and business leaders align workforce plans with potential business scenarios. That said, SP can be hard to execute in practice, often requiring significant time, coordination, and expertise. A new MIT Sloan Management Review article shares ideas on how organizations can apply accelerated SP, including using AI as a brainstorming partner. One useful insight is how two companies, Fazer and Unum Ltd., have put these concepts into action. Fazer, a Nordic fast-moving consumer goods company, used this approach to identify a small set of critical assumptions related to climate change and the availability of key raw materials across its portfolio, including confectionery, bakery and breakfast products, plant-based drinks, and other food innovations. It then used AI to deepen research on environmental trends and turn workshop insights into scenarios that helped leaders rethink strategy, operations, and talent needs across different futures. While AI can speed up scenario creation and analysis, effective SP still depends on leaders’ judgment to assess plausibility and apply insights to talent and workforce decisions. Blending both approaches can provide a strategic advantage.

Read article

HIRING & AI

New Research on AI and Fairness in Hiring | Harvard Business Review

Drawing on a study published this year in the Journal of Management Studies, the authors have released a new HBR article that provides a shorter, practitioner-focused look at AI-based hiring practices and their implications.

In August 2025, the article “Is There Fairness in AI?" was published in the Journal of Management Studies to examine how AI-based hiring practices might lead to fairer hiring practices. The authors have now released a shorter, practitioner-focused version of that research in a new HBR article. The research draws on a three-year field study of a global consumer-goods company processing more than 10,000 job applicants per year. It examines how AI-based hiring systems support more objective hiring practices. To reduce hiring bias, the organization replaced resume reviews with blinded, gamified assessments analyzed by AI and trained the algorithm on current employees’ game data linked to performance outcomes. While this increased consistency, the study found that one definition of fairness—standardization and uniform rules—became hard-coded into the system, deprioritizing managers’ local judgment about role requirements, labor markets, and team needs. Fixed thresholds automatically advanced or rejected candidates, and deviations from the model were framed as breaking the rules rather than as exercising judgment that might otherwise account for regional talent shortages, known candidates (such as interns or project contributors) whose capabilities exceeded what assessments captured, and other contextual factors. The authors also provide questions to help organizations better leverage AI-enabled hiring tools while preserving human and contextual judgment. Both versions of the article are worth reading to understand the study’s limitations and implications.

Read HBR article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Identifying Opportunities for Improving and Measuring Internal Mobility: Two Resources | Brian Heger

I share two of my resources: a one-page diagnostic to identify opportunities to enhance mobility and examples of metrics to assess aspects of internal mobility.

As I continue to receive requests for internal mobility (IM) resources, here are two of my cheat sheets on IM-related topics. The first is an IM Diagnostic, which includes 20 statements across 10 key areas to help identify opportunities for enhancing internal mobility within organizations. For example, in the Transparency and Communication area, statements include "Internal job opportunities are widely and proactively communicated to all employees" and "Jobs are advertised internally before external recruitment." Practitioners can review each statement and check boxes that accurately reflect their current organization, with unchecked boxes indicating potential areas for improvement. The second resource is a one-pager with nine example metrics on IM. Each metric provides a definition, highlights its importance, and offers a sample practice. Take the "Time-to-Fill for Internals" metric, which measures the average time to fill a position with an internal candidate compared to external hiring. This metric is crucial because faster internal hiring processes reduce productivity gaps, minimize disruption, and demonstrate an organization's ability to mobilize talent quickly. A recommended practice is streamlining the internal application process by reducing approval requirements and shortening interview stages without compromising quality.

Read on BrianHeger.com

AGENTIC AI

The Essential Guide to Agentic AI: How to Compete in an Autonomous Future | IBM Institute for Business Value

A new 30-page report that explores three essential components for scaling agentic AI and making it a performance enabler for the business.

As AI agents evolve from passive tools to active collaborators, they are reshaping how work gets done, who does it, and how teams are structured. Scaling this capability across an organization, however, is complex and requires careful consideration. This 30-page report outlines three essential components for scaling agentic AI and turning it into a true performance enabler: 1) the chassis, or the strategic technical framework, which provides a secure and open foundation connecting agents, models, and systems enterprise-wide to support orchestration, interoperability, and scalability; 2) the fuel, or the high-quality, well-governed data streams that power adaptive decision-making through integration, accessibility, and real-time flow across the enterprise; and 3) the powertrain, or the human–AI collaboration that converts potential into measurable outcomes by aligning actions to KPIs and embedding accountability. The report explores each component in depth, and starting on page 21, introduces an Action Guide designed to help put these ideas into practice. For example, to enable continuous data flow to and among agents, one recommended action is to conduct a quick audit of your data governance framework to identify bottlenecks that slow access to high-quality data and pinpoint the high-impact data sources most critical to agent decision-making. Other ideas are discussed. As a bonus, I am resharing the McKinsey article, The Agentic Organization: Contours of the Next Paradigm for The AI Era, which offers considerations for enabling agentic AI.

Read report

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

TALENT STRATEGY

Talent Strategy Mix: 12 Examples of Tactics | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with 12 talent tactics that help organizations determine when each approach works well, when it doesn’t, and examples of them in practice.

 Access cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE: ELAN). The global animal health company that develops, manufactures, and sells products and services to prevent and treat diseases in both farm animals and pets announced a restructuring that will affect 600 positions across the company, with 300 eliminated, and 300 shifted to other areas or locations.

• Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN). The biopharmaceutical company announced it will lay off about one-third of its workforce—roughly 85 employees—as part of a restructuring plan aimed at cutting operating costs and bringing 2026 expenses below projected 2025 levels.

• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE). The U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant disclosed that it plans to cut more than 200 jobs in Switzerland.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 10 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• DaVita (DENVER, COLORADO) [NYSE: DVA]—a leading provider of kidney care services—announced the promotion of Stephanie Hendrickson as Chief People Officer, effective immediately. Hendrickson previously served at DaVita from 2013 to 2018 and returned to the company in 2023, most recently serving as Group VP of Operations, bringing more than a decade of experience building and leading teams across the healthcare provider, medical device, and pharmaceutical sectors. 

Stephanie Hendrickson 

👉️ To access all detailed 10 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF NOVEMBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of November ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #325, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

You’re invited to attend i4cp's Next Practices Now Conference (March 30 – April 2, in-person or virtual) to connect with other senior HR leaders to unpack what makes future-ready organizations tick. Use the code TALENTWEEKLY to save $300—for a limited time.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
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SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Bridget Marlowe, Sr. Director, Human Resources at Neurogene, Inc., for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Bridget, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY i4cp

Work is being rewritten. What’s coming next for HR in 2026?

i4cp’s 2026 Priorities & Predictions report provides a look at the coming year through the distinct perspective of CHROs and senior leaders across talent, learning, talent acquisition, impact & belonging, total rewards, people analytics, and the future of work to identify the forces that will shape the year ahead.

Read what they say HR leaders should be prepared for in 2026.

You will discover:

• 4 predictions that will redefine the HR profession in 2026

• Top priorities of CHROs and other functional leaders 

• Strategic moves to stay ahead in a year of transformation

Join i4cp’s 2026 Priorities & Predictions webinar on Jan 15 at 1pm ET, when i4cp’s Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Oakes and Chief Research Officer Kevin Martin, will take a deeper dive into the insights shared in the report.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Talent Strategy Mix: 12 Examples of Tactics  | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet with 12 talent tactics that help organizations determine when each approach works well, when it doesn’t, and examples of them in practice.

• Agentic AI Isn’t Just Joining the Workforce. It’s Reshaping how Organizations Plan for It | Deloitte Insights | Explores how agentic AI can transform workforce planning into an adaptive, real-time discipline that helps organizations respond more effectively to changing workforce needs.

• New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage | World Economic Forum | A new 39-page white paper provides guidance on skills that should be prioritized to ensure organizations have the talent to deliver on innovation, resilience, and growth priorities.

• Eight Sample Questions to Help Determine If a Vacant Role Needs to be Filled | Brian Heger | My cheat sheet with questions to help leaders decide whether to backfill vacant roles, reducing the costly cycle of overhiring.

• Accountable Acceleration: Gen AI Fast-Tracks Into the Enterprise | Wharton Human-AI Research | A recently released 90-page report examines how GenAI has evolved in organizations over the past three years and where adoption and impact are headed next.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

TALENT STRATEGY

Talent Strategy Mix: 12 Examples of Tactics | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with 12 talent tactics that help organizations determine when each approach works well, when it doesn’t, and examples of them in practice.

Every organization has a talent strategy to enable its business strategy. But determining the right mix of talent tactics can be challenging given the range of options, from hiring to outsourcing, internal movement, and upskilling. While each tactic has advantages, the most effective strategies usually combine multiple approaches. To help evaluate which combination may work best, my one-page sheet summarizes 12 example tactics, outlining what each entails, when it works well or not, and real-world examples. For instance, upskilling, which enhances existing or adjacent skills, works well when roles are evolving, employees have a solid foundation, and business needs can be met through targeted development. It is less effective when foundational skills are lacking or a rapid transformation is required. A practical example is a bank introducing digital literacy programs for frontline staff to adapt to new financial tech. Redeployment, which assigns employees to priority roles, works well when urgent business shifts require internal agility and employees have transferable skills aligned with emerging needs. It is less effective when there is a poor skill match or a high risk of disrupting critical teams. An example of redeployment is a retail brand redeploying store managers into e-commerce fulfillment roles during a digital transition. Although there is more to talent strategy than what appears on my cheat sheet, this resource offers a helpful starting point for evaluating options and facilitating discussions.

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WORKFORCE PLANNING & AGENTIC AI

Agentic AI Isn’t Just Joining the Workforce. It’s Reshaping how Organizations Plan for It | Deloitte Insights

Explores how agentic AI can transform workforce planning into an adaptive, real-time discipline that helps organizations respond more effectively to changing workforce needs.

Strategic workforce planning (SWP) remains a top priority, yet surveys continue to show gaps in SWP capabilities. While there are many reasons for this gap (including six I’ve previously highlighted), one reinforced in a recent Deloitte article is that SWP remains a static, annual exercise. When SWP is tied to an annual calendar instead of evolving business needs, organizations risk misalignment between talent supply and demand and slower responses to changing conditions. The Deloitte article shows how agentic AI can help shift SWP from static to dynamic by sensing workforce signals, forecasting demand and supply, and supporting more agile decisions. One illustration comes from health care, where AI agents can detect demand spikes (such as seasonal flu surges or public health emergencies); sense talent supply changes (including attrition signals and mobility patterns); assess workforce capacity (by gathering real-time data on clinician workloads); match clinicians to patient needs (based on licensure, specialty, location, capacity, and historical performance); forecast future staffing needs (using historical, demographic data); monitor clinician well-being (by identifying early signs of stress or fatigue and triggering interventions); and support ongoing learning (by offering personalized training and managing certifications). The article also outlines key practices organizations can take to position themselves for an agentic future. As a bonus, I am resharing my one-page cheat sheet on how scenario planning can help organizations adapt faster by preparing for multiple possible futures.

Read article

SKILLS

New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage | World Economic Forum

A new 39-page white paper provides guidance on skills that should be prioritized to ensure organizations have the talent to deliver on innovation, resilience, and growth priorities.

This new 39-page white paper provides guidance on the skills organizations should prioritize to ensure they have the talent needed to deliver on innovation, resilience, and growth priorities. As the first installment in a broader series, it focuses on human-centric skills—uniquely human capabilities such as collaboration, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence that enable effective interaction, problem-solving, and decision-making. While AI adoption continues to rise, these human skills remain essential for driving innovation and adaptability. The paper covers everything from the supply and demand of human-centric skills, with a breakdown by industry and geographic region, to tactics for developing, assessing, and credentialing these capabilities. One section beginning on page 30 includes seven case studies showing how organizations are embedding human-centric skills at scale. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) uses AI-powered simulations to help learners practice customer conversations and strengthen their problem-solving skills. PwC uses verified digital credentials to recognize behaviors like inclusive leadership. Udemy offers adaptive AI role plays that help learners rehearse difficult conversations and build confidence. Together, these examples show how organizations are scaling the development of human-centric skills in an AI-enabled world.

Read paper

TALENT ACQUISITION

Eight Sample Questions to Help Determine If a Vacant Role Needs to be Filled | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with questions to help leaders decide whether to backfill vacant roles, reducing the costly cycle of overhiring.

This past week, Challenger, Gray & Christmas released its November job cuts report, which is a monthly analysis of corporate layoffs in the U.S. that helps track employment trends. While the November report offers several insights, one headline stands out: “U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November, up 24% from the 57,727 cuts announced in the same month last year. Through November, employers have announced 1,170,821 job cuts, an increase of 54% from the 761,358 announced in the first eleven months of last year.” As I’ve tracked thousands of layoffs through my layoff tracker, a common theme emerges: many organizations cite “overhiring” as a reason for workforce reductions, resulting in costly cycles of hiring, layoffs, and rehiring. Although better workforce planning and talent forecasting can help minimize the likelihood of overhiring, another important practice is to be intentional about whether a role truly needs to be backfilled when it becomes vacant. Rather than automatically replacing someone, leaders and talent partners can ask sharper questions, such as “Has the business context changed since the role was created?” and “How likely is this role to remain vital over the next two years?” to guide a more informed decision. To help facilitate these discussions, my one-page cheat sheet offers eight questions to spark deeper evaluation and better hiring choices. As AI reshapes how work gets done, questions like these can help reduce the cycle of overhiring and the job cuts that often follow.

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AI IN THE WORKPLACE

Accountable Acceleration: Gen AI Fast-Tracks Into the Enterprise | Wharton Human-AI Research

A recently released 90-page report examines how GenAI has evolved in organizations over the past three years and where adoption and impact are headed next.

This recently published 90-page report provides a detailed view of the evolution of GenAI in organizations over the past three years (2023 through 2025). At a high level, the evolution can be described as: 2023 (Exploration): Initial curiosity, cautious use for simple tasks. 2024 (Experimentation): Increased pilots, focus on proving value. 2025 (Accountable Acceleration): Integration into core operations, ROI measurement, risk mitigation, and talent development. The study, now in its third year, is sponsored by Wharton Human-AI Research, part of the Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; GBK Collective performed the research and analysis. The cross-sectional study covers various topics, ranging from where the common use cases are, where returns are emerging, and which people and process-levers could convert mainstream use into sustainable ROI. Page 56 begins a section titled The Human Capital Lever: Aligning Talent, Training & Trust. One interesting chart on page 60 shows that while AI is enhancing employees’ skills in some tasks, there are concerns about skills atrophy (declines in employees’ skill proficiency). Given the breadth of this report, readers will need to dig into it to explore its many insights. As a bonus, you can check out a working paper by researchers at Harvard Business School and Stanford University titled, The GenAI Wall Effect: Examining the Limits to Horizontal Expertise Transfer Between Occupational Insiders and Outsiders. It shows that while GenAI helps bridge expertise gaps, it eventually reaches a point where it can no longer meaningfully narrow the gap between occupational insiders and outsiders. One implication is that domain knowledge and contextual understanding remain essential for interpreting GenAI-enabled output.

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MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

TALENT MANAGEMENT

7 Questions for Fast-Tracking Talent Decisions | Brian Heger

My new cheat sheet with sample questions leaders can use to accelerate timely talent decisions into immediate action.

Talent reviews and performance management are critical enablers of organizational performance. Yet a common pitfall is treating these practices as scheduled process events rather than prompts for timely, ongoing, and proactive actions. To help, I’ve created a one-page editable cheat sheet with seven targeted questions that enable leaders and teams to accelerate talent decisions at any moment.

Access cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• McKinsey & Co. The consulting firm cut about 200 global technology roles as it accelerates the use of AI to automate internal functions. 

• Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC). The global marketing and communications company said it will cut more than 4,000 jobs and shut down several agency brands following its $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group.

• UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS). The Swiss multinational bank is reportedly planning to cut up to 10,000 additional jobs by 2027 as part of its ongoing integration of Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 12 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Corning Incorporated (NEW YORK) [NYSE: GLW]—one of the world's leading innovators in materials science—has announced the promotion of Michelle Gullo to the role of Chief HR Officer. Gullo served for approximately 14 years as Division VP of HR Corporate Staffs, Science, Technology, and Engineering at Corning Incorporated. Prior to joining Corning, Gullo built a robust foundation over nearly 15 years at IBM, where she held multiple HR leadership roles across the United States and global regions. 

Michelle Gullo 

👉️ To access all detailed 12 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join a monthly or yearly subscription to CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF NOVEMBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of November ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #325, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

You’re invited to attend i4cp's Next Practices Now Conference (March 30 – April 2, in-person or virtual) to connect with other senior HR leaders to unpack what makes future-ready organizations tick. Sign up by Dec. 12 to save $300, and use the code TALENTWEEKLY to save another $300—for a limited time.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Want access to all my curated resources?
👉️ Visit my website, brianheger.com

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this special Best of November issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Zoe Winsey-Thomas, Head of Talent Management at bp, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Zoe, for your support of this newsletter!

🗞️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Subscribe now and immediately get 5 of my PDF cheat sheets!

PRESENTED BY The i4cp Next Practices Now Conference

Sign up for the top-rated HR conference by Dec. 12 to save $600

You’re invited to attend i4cp's Next Practices Now Conference (March 30 – April 2, in-person or virtual) to connect with other senior HR leaders to unpack what makes future-ready organizations tick.

Unlike most conferences, i4cp’s event:

• Has no vendors. Only HR practitioners are allowed

• Connects you with 500+ HR execs and decision makers

• Focuses on strategic issues, from AI to culture

• Offers a CHRO-led agenda, with leaders from John Deere, Zillow, DICK’S, Accenture & more

Sign up by Dec. 12 to save $300, and use the code TALENTWEEKLY to save another $300—for a limited time.

P.S. - Join i4cp on Jan 15 at 1 pm ET for a deep dive into their forthcoming 2026 Priorities & Predictions report, drawing from the collective expertise of CHROs and Sr. HR leaders to identify the forces that will shape the year ahead.

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

The Best of November includes the most popular resources from the November issues of Talent Edge Weekly. They're organized into two sections:

1.  🧰 Talent Practices: Linking HR results to business outcomes; fast-tracking talent decisions; breaking workforce planning out of its silo; unlocking trapped workforce capacity; talent sharing diagnostic; global mobility benchmarking report; making tough leadership decisions; 24 succession planning metrics; CEO succession planning; and hybrid work and more.

2. 🤖 AI in the Workplace: AI adoption trends and the practices that separate leading organizations; how AI adoption trends are outpacing strategy and what organizations should consider; 9 questions about agentic AI; and a webinar on unlocking AI’s potential.

This issue has many bonus resources, including information about layoffs and Chief HR Officer hires and promotions during November.

Since this special issue contains a large amount of content, it may get cut off by some email providers. If you prefer, you can read it online.

🔥 For those in my private community for internal HR practitioners—Talent Edge Circle—I look forward to our 12/3, Wed. Hot Seat discussion, where you can get feedback from me and others on a critical work initiative you need support with, a challenge you’re facing, and other areas. See you then! 🔥 

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that shows an example of how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. One approach is to start with the business outcome of greatest importance and use a few reflection questions to surface the accomplishments that best demonstrate impact. For example, if Revenue Growth is a priority (e.g., increasing income through higher sales, customer acquisition, or market expansion), you might ask: How did our talent practices strengthen the capabilities of revenue-impacting teams? Where did workforce decisions (hiring, development, mobility) support growth priorities? How did we ensure the right people were in the right roles to enable expansion? These are simply starting points that you can adjust to your context. And while Revenue Growth is one example, the same approach can be applied to outcomes such as Profitability and Margin Improvement, Operational Efficiency, Customer Experience and Satisfaction, and Strategic Agility and Organizational Adaptability, among others. To make this easier to put into practice, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community—a one-pager you can copy, adapt, and use with your team, which shows a full example linked to all five business outcomes.

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TALENT MANAGEMENT

7 Questions for Fast-Tracking Talent Decisions | Brian Heger

My new cheat sheet with sample questions leaders can use to accelerate timely talent decisions into immediate action.

Talent reviews and performance management are critical enablers of organizational performance. Yet a common pitfall is treating these practices as scheduled process events rather than prompts for timely, ongoing, and proactive actions. To help, I’ve created a one-page editable cheat sheet with seven targeted questions that enable leaders and teams to accelerate talent decisions at any moment. For example, Talent Upgrade in a Critical Role: What is one critical role where upgrading the talent in this position would have a significant and positive business impact? What is the role, who is the incumbent, and what is my next step? Hidden Talent: Who is a strong performer whose contributions or potential go largely unrecognized, and what step will I take to increase their visibility? Recognition Need: Who is a valued contributor who may not realize their impact, and whose contributions should be acknowledged now to ensure they feel seen, valued, and engaged? The final column includes editable text boxes that allow leaders to track their decisions and actions in real time, serving as a simplified action plan. Imagine the impact if managers and leaders answered and acted on even one of these questions, let alone several. Use this cheat sheet to make faster, sharper talent decisions. As a bonus, here is one of my cheat sheets for talent reviews, which covers key questions to address, talent segments to retain, and sample high-potential metrics.

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WORKFORCE PLANNING

Is It Time to Break Workforce Planning Out Of Its Silo? | Deloitte Insights

A new article that outlines how organizations can modernize workforce planning by integrating functions, democratizing data, and enabling real-time decision-making across teams.

Over the years, I’ve written about how one challenge in implementing strategic workforce planning (SWP) is that it is often done in silos, without meaningful integration across business strategy, finance, operations, technology, and HR. I’ve shared this perspective in 1) book chapters, 2) articles, and 3) one-page cheat sheets. And while there are many barriers to SWP, addressing the foundational one of moving the work out of silos is one of the most impactful steps organizations can take to build momentum and improve effectiveness. A new Deloitte article highlights this point by demonstrating how leading companies are transitioning SWP from a static, siloed exercise to a dynamic, cross-functional capability that integrates strategy, operations, HR, finance, technology, and AI transformation. Deloitte notes that this requires both horizontal and vertical expansion. Horizontal expansion brings more functions into the process, as shown by Network Rail, Britain’s rail infrastructure owner and operator, which cut hiring and training time for key signaler roles by 50 percent through a cross-disciplinary team, and by a global biotech firm that saved $94M (USD) by integrating insights across stakeholder groups. Vertical expansion democratizes planning by giving managers and employees access to data, with organizations like Roche (open analytics access), IBM (visibility into in-demand roles and skills), and Google (dashboards and “what if” scenarios), enabling real-time decisions. Other ideas for how organizations can create SWP synergies across teams to make the practice more impactful are discussed.

Read article

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Strategies for Finding—and Unlocking—the Hidden Potential in Your Workforce | Deloitte Insights

A new article highlights how organizations can unlock “trapped workforce capacity” through tactics such as surfacing hidden skills, reducing low-value work, and leveraging AI and internal mobility.

One of the topics I wrote about in my book chapter on strategic workforce planning is the challenge of “trapped workforce capacity,” or the talent, skills, and resources that exist within an organization but aren’t fully utilized or reflected in workforce plans. When this capacity is overlooked, it can lead to over-hiring, misaligned resourcing, and missed opportunities to use existing talent more effectively. I’ve also shared several of my one-page cheat sheets, including this one, illustrating how improved ways of working can unlock capacity within the workforce. A new Deloitte article reinforces this point by highlighting the capacity and capability that sit “below the surface” of traditional workforce planning. It outlines several strategies to uncover it, including activating talent marketplaces, leveraging adjacent skills to redeploy workers into in-demand roles, and factoring in digital capacity from AI agents and automation. The article also goes deeper into these tactics with company examples showing how organizations are already putting them into practice. My suggestion for getting started is this: brainstorm where trapped workforce capacity might exist in your organization, narrow the list to the areas with the greatest impact, refine it to what is easiest to tackle, and pick one to address in the next 60 days (ensuring you gain stakeholder alignment and support). Feel free to use my cheat sheet to help identify opportunities.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger

My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

I recently shared my cheat sheet to help organizations evaluate whether their internal mobility policies and guidelines support or hinder talent movement. While some policies are necessary, others may create unintended barriers by over-regulating the process and timing of internal moves. Beyond policies and guidelines, another barrier to internal mobility is “talent hoarding,” in which managers, knowingly or unknowingly, discourage high performers from pursuing internal opportunities. Managers often hoard talent for understandable reasons: they rely on top performers to meet team goals, they’ve invested time in developing these employees, they fear productivity drops if key talent leaves, and they are often evaluated on team performance rather than talent development. However, research shows that talent hoarding can have unintended consequences for managers, while sharing talent can yield benefits. Since many managers may not realize they are exhibiting these behaviors, self-awareness is a critical first step. To support this, I’ve included my one-page cheat sheet with 10 reflection statements to help managers assess their talent-sharing mindset. As many organizations enter performance evaluations for the year, when career development, future roles, and potential moves are often part of the discussion, this cheat sheet can serve as a timely reference to help managers assess whether they are enabling or hindering internal mobility.

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There is much more content in this issue, but you must be subscribed (or logged in if you are a subscriber) to access the rest. It is FREE to sign up, and a new issue comes out every Sunday, 6 PM EST! ⬇️ 

GLOBAL MOBILITY

2025 KPMG Global Mobility Benchmarking Report | KPMG

A new 28-page benchmarking report highlights how organizations are modernizing global mobility to better support talent planning, development, and deployment.

Global mobility—the practice of deploying talent across borders through international assignments, relocations, remote cross-border work, or short-term project deployments—is an important component of many organizations’ talent strategies. However, several challenges continue to impede its effectiveness. A new 28-page benchmarking report by KPMG provides timely insights into how organizations are addressing these challenges. The report highlights how mobility programs are evolving, the shift from cost to value and employee experience, the increasing role of AI and automation, and the need to align mobility more closely with workforce and talent planning priorities. While there are many useful insights, two I want to highlight are: 1) organizations are revising mobility policies to support new ways of working—42% have conducted a policy review in the past year and 32% plan updates in the next 12–18 months. These shifts include expanding cross-border remote work options, increasing short-term and project-based deployments, offering more inclusive partner support (e.g., support for spouses/partners relocating together), and building more flexibility into policies upfront to minimize individual exceptions and ensure fairness and consistency; and 2) 60% of mobility teams now sit within talent management or talent acquisition, enabling closer alignment with workforce planning, leadership development, and strategic talent deployment, rather than functioning as a standalone operational support function. While the focus is on global mobility, I’m also resharing my one-page cheat sheet on common barriers to internal mobility, including examples of policies that may unintentionally limit movement and career growth within organizations.

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LEADERSHIP

How to Make a Seemingly Impossible Leadership Decision | Harvard Business Review

A new article shares four guidelines leaders can use to evaluate high-stakes decisions more effectively and act with greater confidence and speed.

The ability to make effective decisions in a timely manner has always been a core component of leadership effectiveness. But with today’s leaders facing an increased number of high-stakes decisions (often with limited information), it has become an even more challenging capability to demonstrate in the current business environment. A new article highlights four guidelines leaders can use when navigating these types of decisions: 1) map the tradeoffs across operational, legal, reputational, and cultural factors, 2) pressure-test the plan by anticipating stakeholder reactions and surfacing blind spots, 3) use principles to guide decisions, not just policies, especially when situations become ambiguous or emotionally charged, and 4) name the change so people understand what is happening, why it’s happening, and what to expect next. For each guideline, the article includes reflection questions to help leaders evaluate decisions more intentionally. For example, under #2—pressure-testing the plan—leaders are encouraged to ask: How might employees, customers, or partners interpret this? Does anything feel at odds with our values or past promises? Who will be most affected, and were they part of the conversation? What concerns might this trigger, and how will we respond with honesty and care? Is there a less disruptive way to reach the same outcome? If you are an organizational leader, this article provides practical insights for making better decisions amidst uncertainty.

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SUCCESSION PLANNING

24 Succession Planning Metrics and the Questions They Help Answer | Brian Heger

My succession planning metrics cheat sheet organized by key questions across eight categories.

As I continue to receive requests for succession planning metrics, here’s my one-page reference outlining sample options. Instead of merely listing the metrics, I’ve started by listing the questions each metric answers. The cheat sheet categorizes 24 metrics into eight areas: Leadership Pipeline, Internal Mobility, Retention and Risk, Development and Performance, Cost and Efficiency, Employee Engagement, Talent Assessment, and Program Effectiveness. For example, under Leadership Pipeline, the question "How many potential successors do we have for each critical role?" is answered by the Bench Strength Ratio, which measures the number of qualified candidates ready to fill critical positions. Similarly, under Retention and Risk, the question "How many critical roles are at risk due to potential retirements?" is addressed by the Retirement Risk Index, which tracks the number of critical positions held by employees nearing retirement age. These metrics are just examples and may not be right for your organization; they’re intended to spark ideas so you can determine which ones, whether on this sample list or not, are most relevant to your needs. Lastly, while individual metrics are important, integrating them into a cohesive narrative that tells the full story of your succession planning efforts can help translate insights into action.

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CEO SUCCESSION PLANNING

The Pitfalls That Undermine CEO Succession Planning | Harvard Business Review

A new article on 10 common pitfalls in CEO succession planning and how Chief HR Officers and boards can overcome them.

Succession planning is usually a top priority for most organizations. However, media attention on succession topics involving high-profile companies and executives often heightens awareness, prompting boards to question their own organization’s practices. For example, several media reports this past week noted that Apple is accelerating its succession planning as Tim Cook (CEO for 14 years) may transition from the role as early as next year. As CHROs guide conversations with their boards, a new HBR article highlights 10 pitfalls in CEO succession, based on survey feedback from 49 public directors and interviews with directors, investors, and search consultants. While each pitfall offers useful insights, two stand out: many internal candidates are underdeveloped, lacking the enterprise experiences and stretch roles needed to demonstrate CEO readiness; and boards often conduct only a superficial assessment of external talent, limiting visibility into how internal leaders compare to the broader market. The article shares ideas for overcoming these and other challenges. For those who want to explore the topic further, I’m resharing the more detailed CHRO Association report on which the HBR piece is based. I’m also resharing a Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article that underscores a board’s responsibilities extending beyond selecting a CEO and highlights the importance of clear communication and stakeholder engagement during the transition.

Read HBR article

CHIEF HR OFFICER

From Back Office to Boardroom: How CHROs are Shaping Value in a Disrupted World | Nick Bloom at Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit

A 35-page slide deck presented by Nick Bloom highlights the stabilization of hybrid work, the rising influence of HR leadership, and the performance benefits of structured CEO succession planning.

These slides, presented by Stanford economist Nick Bloom at the recent October Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit, provide insights into three areas relevant to Chief People Officers and HR leaders. First, the Work-From-Home vs. Return-To-Office discussion has reached a steady state: hybrid work is now the most common policy among managers and professionals in Fortune 500 firms, with 69% operating under a structured hybrid model. Most of these (57%) specify a minimum number of in-office days per week, while smaller shares set minimum percentages of time, specific in-office days, or both. Second, HR’s strategic influence continues to accelerate, as the share of S&P 500 firms in which the CHRO ranks among the top five highest-paid executives has grown significantly over the past three decades—highlighting HR’s increasing role in enterprise value creation. Third, large-scale evidence drawn from 150,000 proxy filings across nearly 19,000 companies shows that organizations with more intentional and well-defined CEO succession processes tend to experience smoother leadership transitions and stronger financial outcomes, including more stable stock performance during CEO changes.

Access slides

AI IN THE WORKPLACE

The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation | QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

A new 30-page report highlights current AI adoption trends and the practices that set leading organizations apart, including the fundamental redesign of workflows.

This new report offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of AI adoption in organizations, noting that while nearly all companies are now utilizing AI in some capacity, most are still in the early experimentation or pilot phases and have yet to achieve an enterprise-level impact. It highlights growing interest in AI agents, differences in how high-performing organizations approach AI, and varying expectations for how AI may impact workforce size and skills. While the report includes many insights, one finding worth emphasizing is that workflow redesign is one of the strongest drivers of enterprise-level impact. Companies capturing meaningful value aren’t simply adding AI to existing work—they are re-architecting workflows, decision points, and task ownership. This requires breaking work down into tasks, determining which are best performed by AI versus humans, and reconstructing workflows accordingly, rather than layering AI on top of current processes. Organizations that see limited value often focus on reducing time and cost. In contrast, high-value organizations focus on changing how work is actually done, which means moving beyond starting with the AI tool and instead designing the workflow first. Also, as noted in Exhibit 14 (see image I used for this post), AI high performers are more likely to employ a range of practices to realize value from AI use, including incorporating the impact of AI on work into strategic workforce planning.

Read report

AGENTIC AI

The Emerging Agentic Enterprise: How Leaders Must Navigate a New Age of AI | BCG and MIT Sloan Management Review

A new 40-page report finds agentic AI is outpacing strategy, prompting leaders to rethink workflows, decision rights, workforce models, and more.

This new, in-depth report offers a range of considerations, strategies, and tactics for tapping the potential of agentic AI in organizations. While this 40-page report contains more insights than can be covered here, one theme stands out: AI adoption is racing ahead of strategy. Traditional AI adoption is at 72%, genAI at 70%, and agentic AI has reached 35%, with another 44% planning to deploy it. The challenge is that AI is scaling faster than leaders are redesigning processes, decision rights, and workforce models. As a result, the authors note that competitive advantage won’t come from early access to agentic AI (because everyone will have it), but from stronger organizational design around it: how work is structured, how decisions are governed, and how human and AI roles are defined. The report also outlines tactics for making key decisions, such as determining when to bolt AI onto existing workflows for quick wins versus when to redesign entire processes around agentic capabilities. It notes that work design will shift from automating tasks to rethinking workflows; instead of asking “Where can we automate a step?” leaders will ask “Which processes should be rebuilt around human–AI collaboration?” The report also highlights implications for workforce planning, noting that organizations must plan for what work people do, what work agents do, how the two interact, and how both learn over time. As a bonus, here is a new article from McKinsey: HR’s Transformative Role in an Agentic Future.

Read report

AI AGENTS

Agentic AI: Nine Essential Questions | MIT Sloan Management Review

Provides a quick overview of nine key questions that clarify the fundamentals of agentic AI, ranging from how it differs from traditional AI tools to where organizations are seeing ROI. Bonus resources included.

With AI agents becoming an increasingly hot topic, I’ve shared several reports and articles on this subject over the past few months, including my previously curated list of five resources and additional content on brianheger.com. While many of these resources delve into detail, it is helpful to have easy-to-read versions that distill common questions and answers about agentic AI. In this new article, the authors briefly answer nine key questions using excerpts from two recent MIT Sloan Management Review pieces: what AI agents are, how they differ from traditional AI tools, whether companies are seeing ROI, how agents communicate, what security gaps emerge, what data poisoning is, what prompt injections are, how organizations can strengthen security, and how accountability can be ensured when agents make critical decisions. As HR leaders and their teams learn more about AI agent capabilities, I suggest starting with foundational questions before diving into use cases by asking: What business problems are we solving where AI agents can help us perform work more effectively in our function and deliver stakeholder value? What evidence suggests an AI agent is the right solution? What business metrics or organizational outcomes (e.g., revenue, efficiency) would be most impacted? Will ROI be realized in the near term or over a longer period, and what value will be captured each year? One helpful tactic is to illustrate a side-by-side comparison of how a process (e.g., job requisition approval workflow) works today versus how it could look with AI agents. This visual makes the business case more compelling by showing the potential impact of AI agents on important business outcomes.

Read article

UNLOCKING THE VALUE OF AI

Using AI to Transform Organizations: The Promise and the Barrier | USC Marshall Center for Effective Organizations

A one-hour webinar highlights how organizations can unlock real value from AI while navigating the barriers to implementation.

This one-hour webinar from November 20, 2025, offers an insightful overview of how organizations can position themselves for success as they implement AI. Alexis Fink, John Boudreau, and Alec Levenson discuss how to target AI investments toward projects with real ROI, why mandating LLM use won’t deliver meaningful results, how breaking work down to the task level unlocks better design options, and how to safeguard AI systems for reliable outcomes. One theme highlighted is that AI use cases matter, falling into three general categories: Augment (enhancing individual work, such as AI-enabled coaching), Automate (using machines to perform existing processes more efficiently), and Transform (redesigning work in fundamentally new ways that unlock competitive advantage). The session offers several insights to help leaders think through the transformative potential of AI. I’ve also included the presentation slides; slide 25 features 10 questions to shape your AI approach, starting with “What are we trying to achieve?” As a bonus, I’m resharing my one-page cheat sheet with questions to help HR teams identify which AI-enabled use cases are most likely to generate business value, beginning with business-first prompts such as: What problem or opportunity are we addressing? Which stakeholders are most impacted? What evidence shows this is worth solving now? What’s at stake if we don’t act? It then helps teams move to potential solutions and the expected business impact those capabilities may deliver.

View webinar

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my tracker

A few firms that announced job cuts in November include:

• Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE: HRL). The Spam and Planters maker announced plans to cut 250 corporate and sales positions as part of a restructuring effort.

• HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ). The company announced plans to cut 4,000–6,000 jobs globally by fiscal 2028 as part of an AI-driven cost-cutting initiative, following 1,000–2,000 layoffs earlier this year.

• IBM (NYSE: IBM). The tech giant announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in the fourth quarter of 2025 as part of a global restructuring focused on high-margin software and artificial intelligence services.

• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). The company announced a major restructuring that will cut 5,000 additional jobs and consolidate four business groups into two, part of a plan to boost annual operating profit by €1 billion.

• Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS). The electronic design automation (EDA) company is reducing its workforce by approximately 10% (about 2,800 employees) following its $35 billion merger with Ansys.

• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). The telecommunications company is reportedly cutting 15,000 jobs, roughly 15% of its staff, soon amid sustained competition and declining paid subscriber numbers.

Access all announcements

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVEMENT

During November, 71 new announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. Subscriptions are for monthly or yearly plans. A few headlines are below:

Sample screenshot of CHROs on the Go

• Bath & Body Works, Inc. (COLUMBUS, OHIO) [NYSE: BBWI]—a global leader in personal care and home fragrance—announced that Samantha Charleston has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer, effective Nov. 12. She joins Bath & Body Works from Americold, where she served as Chief Human Resources Officer since January 2022.

• Exelon (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) [NASDAQ: EXC]—a Fortune 200 company and one of the nation's largest utility companies—announced that Elizabeth (Beth) Pitts-Madonna has been appointed SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective Jan. 1, 2026. She joins Exelon from Northrop Grumman, where she most recently served as SVP of Talent.

• Nokia (ESPOO, FINLAND) [NYSE: NOK]—a B2B technology innovation leader—announced the appointment of Kristen Pressner as Chief People Officer and member of the Group Leadership Team, effective May 1, 2026. She joins Nokia from Roche Holding Group, where she most recently served as Global Head of People & Culture for Roche Diagnostics.

• Zebra Technologies Corporation (LINCOLNSHIRE, ILLINOIS) [NASDAQ: ZBRA]—a global leader in digitizing and automating workflows to deliver intelligent operations—announced the promotion of Melissa Luff Loizides to Chief People Officer effective Jan. 1, 2026. Her current role with the company is VP of Global Talent.

Get all of the detailed announcements from my CHROs on the Go subscription and gain immediate access to +4500 (and growing) CHRO announcements, including hires, promotions, resignations, and board appointments.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

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SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Ana Reynolds Murillo, Director of Global Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding, & Succession Planning at Yara International, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Ana, for your support of this newsletter!

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PRESENTED BY 365Talents

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• 7 Questions for Fast-Tracking Talent Decisions | Brian Heger | My new cheat sheet with sample questions leaders can use to accelerate timely talent decisions into immediate action.

• Strategies for Finding—and Unlocking—the Hidden Potential in Your Workforce | Deloitte Insights | A new article highlights how organizations can unlock “trapped workforce capacity” through tactics such as surfacing hidden skills, reducing low-value work, and leveraging AI and internal mobility.

• The Emerging Agentic Enterprise: How Leaders Must Navigate a New Age of AI | BCG and MIT Sloan Management Review | A new 40-page report finds agentic AI is outpacing strategy, prompting leaders to rethink workflows, decision rights, workforce models, and more.

• The Pitfalls That Undermine CEO Succession Planning | Harvard Business Review | A new article on 10 common pitfalls in CEO succession planning and how Chief HR Officers and boards can overcome them.

• 24 Succession Planning Metrics and the Questions They Help Answer | Brian Heger | My succession planning metrics cheat sheet organized by key questions across eight categories.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

TALENT MANAGEMENT

7 Questions for Fast-Tracking Talent Decisions | Brian Heger

My new cheat sheet with sample questions leaders can use to accelerate timely talent decisions into immediate action.

Talent reviews and performance management are critical enablers of organizational performance. Yet a common pitfall is treating these practices as scheduled process events rather than prompts for timely, ongoing, and proactive actions. To help, I’ve created a one-page editable cheat sheet with seven targeted questions that enable leaders and teams to accelerate talent decisions at any moment. For example, Talent Upgrade in a Critical Role: What is one critical role where upgrading the talent in this position would have a significant and positive business impact? What is the role, who is the incumbent, and what is my next step? Hidden Talent: Who is a strong performer whose contributions or potential go largely unrecognized, and what step will I take to increase their visibility? Recognition Need: Who is a valued contributor who may not realize their impact, and whose contributions should be acknowledged now to ensure they feel seen, valued, and engaged? The final column includes editable text boxes that allow leaders to track their decisions and actions in real time, serving as a simplified action plan. Imagine the impact if managers and leaders answered and acted on even one of these questions, let alone several. Use this cheat sheet to make faster, sharper talent decisions.

Access cheat sheet

WORKFORCE PLANNING & ORG EFFECTIVENESS

Strategies for Finding—and Unlocking—the Hidden Potential in Your Workforce | Deloitte Insights

A new article highlights how organizations can unlock “trapped workforce capacity” through tactics such as surfacing hidden skills, reducing low-value work, and leveraging AI and internal mobility.

One of the topics I wrote about in my book chapter on strategic workforce planning is the challenge of “trapped workforce capacity,” or the talent, skills, and resources that exist within an organization but aren’t fully utilized or reflected in workforce plans. When this capacity is overlooked, it can lead to over-hiring, misaligned resourcing, and missed opportunities to use existing talent more effectively. I’ve also shared several of my one-page cheat sheets, including this one, illustrating how improved ways of working can unlock capacity within the workforce. A new Deloitte article reinforces this point by highlighting how much capacity and capability sit “below the surface” of traditional workforce planning. It outlines several strategies to uncover it, including activating talent marketplaces, leveraging adjacent skills to redeploy workers into in-demand roles, and factoring in digital capacity from AI agents and automation. The article also goes deeper into these tactics with company examples showing how organizations are already putting them into practice. My suggestion for getting started is this: brainstorm where trapped workforce capacity might exist in your organization, narrow the list to the areas with the greatest impact, refine it to what is easiest to tackle, and pick one to address in the next 60 days (ensuring you gain stakeholder alignment and support). Feel free to use my cheat sheet to help identify opportunities.

Read article

AGENTIC AI

The Emerging Agentic Enterprise: How Leaders Must Navigate a New Age of AI | BCG and MIT Sloan Management Review

A new 40-page report finds agentic AI is outpacing strategy, prompting leaders to rethink workflows, decision rights, workforce models, and more.

This new, in-depth report offers a range of considerations, strategies, and tactics for tapping the potential of agentic AI in organizations. While this 40-page report contains more insights than can be covered here, one theme stands out: AI adoption is racing ahead of strategy. Traditional AI adoption is at 72%, genAI at 70%, and agentic AI has reached 35%, with another 44% planning to deploy it. The challenge is that AI is scaling faster than leaders are redesigning processes, decision rights, and workforce models. As a result, the authors note that competitive advantage won’t come from early access to agentic AI (because everyone will have it), but from stronger organizational design around it: how work is structured, how decisions are governed, and how human and AI roles are defined. The report also outlines tactics for making key decisions, such as determining when to bolt AI onto existing workflows for quick wins versus when to redesign entire processes around agentic capabilities. It notes that work design will shift from automating tasks to rethinking workflows; instead of asking “Where can we automate a step?” leaders will ask “Which processes should be rebuilt around human–AI collaboration?” The report also highlights implications for workforce planning, noting that organizations must plan for what work people do, what work agents do, how the two interact, and how both learn over time. As a bonus, here is a new article from McKinsey: HR’s Transformative Role in an Agentic Future.

Read report

CEO SUCCESSION PLANNING

The Pitfalls That Undermine CEO Succession Planning | Harvard Business Review

A new article on 10 common pitfalls in CEO succession planning and how Chief HR Officers and boards can overcome them.

Succession planning is usually a top priority for most organizations. However, media attention on succession topics involving high-profile companies and executives often heightens awareness, prompting boards to question their own organization’s practices. For example, several media reports this past week noted that Apple is accelerating its succession planning as Tim Cook (CEO for 14 years) may transition from the role as early as next year. As CHROs guide conversations with their boards, a new HBR article highlights 10 pitfalls in CEO succession, based on survey feedback from 49 public directors and interviews with directors, investors, and search consultants. While each pitfall offers useful insights, two stand out: many internal candidates are underdeveloped, lacking the enterprise experiences and stretch roles needed to demonstrate CEO readiness; and boards often conduct only a superficial assessment of external talent, limiting visibility into how internal leaders compare to the broader market. The article shares ideas for overcoming these and other challenges. For those who want to explore the topic further, I’m resharing the more detailed CHRO Association report on which the HBR piece is based. I’m also resharing a Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article that underscores a board’s responsibilities extending beyond selecting a CEO and highlights the importance of clear communication and stakeholder engagement during the transition.

Read HBR article

SUCCESSION PLANNING

24 Succession Planning Metrics and the Questions They Help Answer | Brian Heger

My succession planning metrics cheat sheet organized by key questions across eight categories.

As I continue to receive requests for succession planning metrics, here’s my one-page reference outlining sample options. Instead of merely listing the metrics, I’ve started by listing the questions each metric answers. The cheat sheet categorizes 24 metrics into eight areas: Leadership Pipeline, Internal Mobility, Retention and Risk, Development and Performance, Cost and Efficiency, Employee Engagement, Talent Assessment, and Program Effectiveness. For example, under Leadership Pipeline, the question "How many potential successors do we have for each critical role?" is answered by the Bench Strength Ratio, which measures the number of qualified candidates ready to fill critical positions. Similarly, under Retention and Risk, the question "How many critical roles are at risk due to potential retirements?" is addressed by the Retirement Risk Index, which tracks the number of critical positions held by employees nearing retirement age. These metrics are just examples and may not be right for your organization; they’re intended to spark ideas so you can determine which ones, whether on this sample list or not, are most relevant to your needs. Lastly, while individual metrics are important, integrating them into a cohesive narrative that tells the full story of your succession planning efforts can help translate insights into action.

Access cheat sheet

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger

My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

Access cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE). The parent company of Bell Canada announced it is cutting nearly 700 jobs (about 650 management roles at Bell and roughly 40 positions at Bell Media) as part of a restructuring effort to better align operations with its growth plan.

• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The humanitarian organization said it will cut 2,900 jobs and reduce its 2026 budget 17%​ to 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($2.23 billion)‌ amid severe donor fatigue and shifting global priorities.

• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). The company announced a major restructuring that will cut 5,000 additional jobs and consolidate four business groups into two, part of a plan to boost annual operating profit by €1 billion.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 9 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Exelon (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) [NASDAQ: EXC]—a Fortune 200 company and one of the nation's largest utility companies—announced that Elizabeth (Beth) Pitts-Madonna has been appointed SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective Jan. 1, 2026. She will succeed Denise Galambos, who is retiring at the end of the year after a distinguished 21-year career with the company. Beth joins Exelon from Northrop Grumman, where she most recently served as SVP of Talent, responsible for the company's talent acquisition, leadership development, talent management, and digital HR strategy for nearly 100,000 employees.

Elizabeth (Beth) Pitts-Madonna

‘Read Online’ if email cuts off ✂️

👉️ To access all detailed 9 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join a monthly or yearly subscription to CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF OCTOBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of October ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #321, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

Thank you to TechWolf, who sponsored the Best of October. Learn more about TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index and how it is helping organizations understand the impact of AI on work tasks.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Anh Thu Nguyen, Director, Organizational & Talent Effectiveness at Trimble, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Anh Thu, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY TechWolf

AI is changing work, but do you know the exact impact on work tasks in your organization?

As enterprises race to embrace AI, many are navigating the AI shift with limited insight, unsure where automation will truly reshape work in their organizations.

TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index ends that uncertainty with insights drawn from over 2 billion of global job postings across 1,500 companies. The findings are striking:

• Only 18% of work tasks are fully automatable

• Most work remains judgment-led and distinctly human

• The biggest opportunity lies in augmentation, not replacement

• 75% of workers in Fortune 500 tech firms have untapped upskilling potential

For HR leaders, the Work Intelligence Index is a strategic compass, providing the task-level intelligence needed to determine which tasks are best performed by humans, by AI, or through human–AI collaboration.

Discover how your workforce can thrive in the age of AI.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Is It Time to Break Workforce Planning Out of Its Silo? | Deloitte Insights | A new article that outlines how organizations can modernize workforce planning by integrating functions, democratizing data, and enabling real-time decision-making across teams.

• Agentic AI: Nine Essential Questions | MIT Sloan Management Review | Provides a quick overview of nine key questions that clarify the fundamentals of agentic AI, ranging from how it differs from traditional AI tools to where organizations are seeing ROI. Bonus resources included.

• Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger | My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

• PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025: Rewiring the Future of Work | PwC | A new report that helps leaders gain greater insights into the sentiments of workers on a range of workplace topics, from trust in leadership to skill development to job security. I expand on the trust theme.

• How to Make a Seemingly Impossible Leadership Decision | Harvard Business Review | A new article shares four guidelines leaders can use to evaluate high-stakes decisions more effectively and act with greater confidence and speed.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Is It Time to Break Workforce Planning Out Of Its Silo? | Deloitte Insights

A new article that outlines how organizations can modernize workforce planning by integrating functions, democratizing data, and enabling real-time decision-making across teams.

Over the years, I’ve written about how one of the challenges in implementing strategic workforce planning (SWP) is that it is often done in silos, without meaningful integration across areas such as business strategy, finance, operations, technology, and HR. I’ve shared this perspective in 1) book chapters, 2) articles, and 3) one-page cheat sheets. And while there are many barriers to SWP, addressing the foundational one of moving the work out of silos is one of the most impactful steps organizations can take to build momentum and improve effectiveness. A new Deloitte article highlights this point by demonstrating how leading companies are transitioning SWP from a static, siloed exercise to a dynamic, cross-functional capability that integrates strategy, operations, HR, finance, technology, and AI transformation. Deloitte notes that this requires both horizontal and vertical expansion. Horizontal expansion brings more functions into the process, as shown by Network Rail, Britain’s rail infrastructure owner and operator, which cut hiring and training time for key signaler roles by 50 percent through a cross-disciplinary team, and by a global biotech firm that saved $94M (USD) by integrating insights across stakeholder groups. Vertical expansion democratizes planning by giving managers and employees access to data, with organizations like Roche (open analytics access), IBM (visibility into in-demand roles and skills), and Google (dashboards and “what if” scenarios), enabling real-time decisions. Other ideas are discussed for how organizations can create SWP synergies across teams to make the practice more impactful.

Read article

AI AGENTS

Agentic AI: Nine Essential Questions | MIT Sloan Management Review

Provides a quick overview of nine key questions that clarify the fundamentals of agentic AI, ranging from how it differs from traditional AI tools to where organizations are seeing ROI. Bonus resources included.

With AI agents becoming an increasingly hot topic, I’ve shared several reports and articles on this subject over the past few months, including my previously curated list of five resources and additional content on brianheger.com. While many of these resources delve into detail, it is helpful to have easy-to-read versions that distill common questions and answers about agentic AI. In this new article, the authors briefly answer nine key questions using excerpts from two recent MIT Sloan Management Review pieces: what AI agents are, how they differ from traditional AI tools, whether companies are seeing ROI, how agents communicate, what security gaps emerge, what data poisoning is, what prompt injections are, how organizations can strengthen security, and how accountability can be ensured when agents make critical decisions. As HR leaders and their teams learn more about AI agent capabilities, I suggest starting with foundational questions before diving into use cases by asking: What business problems are we solving where AI agents can help us perform work more effectively in our function and deliver stakeholder value? What evidence suggests an AI agent is the right solution? What business metrics or organizational outcomes (e.g., revenue, efficiency) would be most impacted? Will ROI be realized in the near term or over a longer period, and what value will be captured each year? One helpful tactic is to illustrate a side-by-side comparison of how a process (e.g., job requisition approval workflow) works today versus how it could look with AI agents. This visual makes the business case more compelling by showing the potential impact of AI agents on important business outcomes.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger

My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

I recently shared my cheat sheet to help organizations evaluate whether their internal mobility policies and guidelines support or hinder talent movement. While some policies are necessary, others may create unintended barriers by over-regulating the process and timing of internal moves. Beyond policies and guidelines, another barrier to internal mobility is “talent hoarding,” when managers discourage high performers, knowingly or unknowingly, from pursuing internal opportunities. Managers often hoard talent for understandable reasons: they rely on top performers to meet team goals, they’ve invested time in developing these employees, they fear productivity drops if key talent leaves, and they are often evaluated on team performance rather than talent development. However, research shows that talent hoarding can have unintended consequences for managers, while sharing talent can yield benefits. Since many managers may not realize they are exhibiting these behaviors, self-awareness is a critical first step. To support this, I’ve included my one-page cheat sheet with 10 reflection statements to help managers assess their talent-sharing mindset. As many organizations enter performance evaluations for the year, when career development, future roles, and potential moves are often part of the discussion, this cheat sheet can serve as a timely reference to help managers assess whether they are enabling or hindering internal mobility.

Access cheat sheet

EMPLOYEE SENTIMENT

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025: Rewiring the Future of Work | PwC

A new report that helps leaders gain greater insights into the sentiments of workers on a range of workplace topics, from trust in leadership to skill development to job security. I expand on the trust theme.

As organizations seek to understand worker sentiment, this new PwC report, based on a survey of 49,843 employees across 48 countries and 28 sectors, offers several insights on AI adoption, trust in leadership, motivation, psychological safety, skill development, job security, and expectations about the future of work. One finding shows that employees who trust their direct manager the most are 72% more motivated than those who trust them the least. A useful example of building trust comes from a global insurance company that piloted automation in its labor-intensive claims function and chose to communicate openly with employees about the changes ahead, including the likelihood of downsizing. Leadership also shared a clear roadmap showing that reductions would occur primarily through natural attrition, boosting trust as employees felt the company was treating them with respect. With this as the backdrop, I want to offer a few reflection questions for both leaders and employees related to trust. For leaders: Am I communicating openly about upcoming changes, even when the news is uncertain or uncomfortable? Do my team members understand why decisions are being made, not just what is happening? If employees observed only my behavior (not just my words) would they understand our priorities? For employees: Do I proactively share concerns, ideas, or feedback with my manager in a constructive way? Am I giving leaders the information they need to understand my perspective? Do I take time to understand why leadership is making certain decisions before forming conclusions? Strengthening trust is a shared responsibility, and even small, intentional actions from leaders and employees can meaningfully improve how teams navigate change.

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LEADERSHIP

How to Make a Seemingly Impossible Leadership Decision | Harvard Business Review

A new article shares four guidelines leaders can use to evaluate high-stakes decisions more effectively and act with greater confidence and speed.

The ability to make effective decisions in a timely manner has always been a core component of leadership effectiveness. But with today’s leaders facing an increased number of high-stakes decisions (often with limited information), it has become an even more challenging capability to demonstrate in the current business environment. A new article highlights four guidelines leaders can use when navigating these types of decisions: 1) map the tradeoffs across operational, legal, reputational, and cultural factors, 2) pressure-test the plan by anticipating stakeholder reactions and surfacing blind spots, 3) use principles to guide decisions, not just policies, especially when situations become ambiguous or emotionally charged, and 4) name the change so people understand what is happening, why it’s happening, and what to expect next. For each guideline, the article includes reflection questions to help leaders evaluate decisions more intentionally. For example, under #2—pressure-testing the plan—leaders are encouraged to ask: How might employees, customers, or partners interpret this? Does anything feel at odds with our values or past promises? Who will be most affected, and were they part of the conversation? What concerns might this trigger, and how will we respond with honesty and care? Is there a less disruptive way to reach the same outcome? If you are an organizational leader, this article provides practical insights for making better decisions amidst uncertainty.

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MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that helps to link how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. One approach is to start with the business outcome of greatest importance and use a few reflection questions to surface the accomplishments that best demonstrate impact. To make this easier to put into practice, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community—a one-pager you can copy, adapt, and use with your team, which shows a full example linked to all five business outcomes.

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JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts (or potential cuts) announced this past week:

• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). The semiconductor company laid off 669 Oregon employees on Thursday, bringing its total local job cuts for the year to more than 3,000.

• Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS). The electronic design automation (EDA) company is reducing its workforce by approximately 10% (about 2,800 employees) following its $35 billion merger with Ansys.

• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). The telecommunications company is reportedly cutting 15,000 jobs, roughly 15% of its staff, soon amid sustained competition and declining paid subscriber numbers.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 11 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Nokia (ESPOO, FINLAND) [NYSE: NOK]—a B2B technology innovation leader—announced the appointment of Kristen Pressner as Chief People Officer and member of the Group Leadership Team, effective May 1, 2026. She joins Nokia from Roche Holding Group, where she most recently served as Global Head of People & Culture for Roche Diagnostics. Pressner will report to Nokia's President and Chief Executive Officer, Justin Hotard.

Kristen Pressner

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👉️ To access all detailed 11 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join a monthly or yearly subscription to CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF OCTOBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of October ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #321, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

Thank you to TechWolf, who sponsored the Best of October. Learn more about TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index and how it is helping organizations understand the impact of AI on work tasks.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Zoe Winsey-Thomas, Head of Talent Management at bp, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Zoe, for your support of this newsletter!

👉️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Sign up now and get 5 of my PDFs.

PRESENTED BY 365Talents

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger | An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that helps to link how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

• Reinventing Workforce Planning for an AI-Powered, Uncertain World | Deloitte Insights | A new series of five articles highlights five shifts that can help organizations make workforce planning more adaptable, dynamic, and effective in uncertain business environments.

• The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation | QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey | A new 30-page report highlights current AI adoption trends and the practices that separate leading organizations, including the fundamental redesign of workflows.

• 2025 KPMG Global Mobility Benchmarking Report | KPMG | A new 28-page benchmarking report highlights how organizations are modernizing global mobility to better support talent planning, development, and deployment.

• From Back Office to Boardroom: How CHROs are Shaping Value in a Disrupted World | Nick Bloom at Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit | A 35-page slide deck presented by Nick Bloom highlights the stabilization of hybrid work, the rising influence of HR leadership, and the performance benefits of structured CEO succession planning.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that helps to link how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. One approach is to start with the business outcome of greatest importance and use a few reflection questions to surface the accomplishments that best demonstrate impact. For example, if Revenue Growth is a priority (e.g., increasing income through higher sales, customer acquisition, or market expansion), you might ask: How did our talent practices strengthen the capabilities of revenue-impacting teams? Where did workforce decisions (hiring, development, mobility) support growth priorities? How did we ensure the right people were in the right roles to enable expansion? These are simply starting points that you can adjust to your context. And while Revenue Growth is one example, the same approach can be applied to outcomes such as Profitability and Margin Improvement, Operational Efficiency, Customer Experience and Satisfaction, and Strategic Agility and Organizational Adaptability, to name a few. To make this easier to put into practice, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community—a one-pager you can copy, adapt, and use with your team, which shows a full example linked to all five business outcomes.

Access slide

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Reinventing Workforce Planning for an AI-Powered, Uncertain World | Deloitte Insights

A new series of five articles highlights five shifts that can help organizations make workforce planning more adaptable, dynamic, and effective in uncertain business environments.

In its new series on strategic workforce planning (SWP), Deloitte Insights presents five articles exploring how organizations can conduct SWP more effectively amid uncertainty. The series highlights five major shifts. For each shift, I’ve included a guiding question that each shift requires us to answer: 1) From planning one future → planning for multiple potential futures: How can we design a workforce planning approach that accounts for multiple possible futures, rather than relying on a single forecast or operating model? 2) From planning based on jobs → planning based on skills and work: How can we deconstruct work into tasks and outcomes—not just roles and job titles—and redesign it to combine human and AI capabilities in the most effective way? 3) From focusing on visible talent → unlocking hidden capability and capacity: Where do we have underutilized skills, adjacent capabilities, or trapped capacity that could be redeployed or developed to meet emerging work needs? 4) From static, manual planning → dynamic, AI-driven planning: How can we use AI and real-time workforce signals to continually sense, model, and adjust workforce plans—not just forecast them once a year? 5) From functional silos → horizontal and vertical collaboration: How do we make SWP a shared, data-enabled practice across HR, Finance, Strategy, Technology, and business leaders—rather than one owned by a single function? Each article dives deeper into these areas. As a bonus, I’m sharing one of my SWP scenario-planning cheat sheets to help determine how workforce plans may need to shift under different future scenarios.

Read articles

AI IN THE WORKPLACE

The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation | QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

A new 30-page report highlights current AI adoption trends and the practices that separate leading organizations, including the fundamental redesign of workflows.

This new report offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of AI adoption in organizations, noting that while nearly all companies are now utilizing AI in some capacity, most are still in the early experimentation or pilot phases and have yet to achieve an enterprise-level impact. It highlights growing interest in AI agents, differences in how high-performing organizations approach AI, and varying expectations for how AI may impact workforce size and skills. While the report includes many insights, one finding worth emphasizing is that workflow redesign is one of the strongest drivers of enterprise-level impact. Companies capturing meaningful value aren’t simply adding AI to existing work—they are re-architecting workflows, decision points, and task ownership. This requires breaking work down into tasks, determining which are best performed by AI versus humans, and reconstructing workflows accordingly, rather than layering AI on top of current processes. Organizations that see limited value often focus on reducing time and cost. In contrast, high-value organizations focus on changing how work is actually done, which means moving beyond starting with the AI tool and instead designing the workflow first. Also, as noted in Exhibit 14 (see image I used for this post), AI high performers are more likely to employ a range of practices to realize value from AI use, including incorporating the impact of AI on work into strategic workforce planning.

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GLOBAL MOBILITY

2025 KPMG Global Mobility Benchmarking Report | KPMG

A new 28-page benchmarking report highlights how organizations are modernizing global mobility to better support talent planning, development, and deployment.

Global mobility—the practice of deploying talent across borders through international assignments, relocations, remote cross-border work, or short-term project deployments—is an important component of many organizations’ talent strategies. However, several challenges continue to impede its effectiveness. A new 28-page benchmarking report by KPMG provides timely insights into how organizations are addressing these challenges. The report highlights how mobility programs are evolving, the shift from cost to value and employee experience, the increasing role of AI and automation, and the need to align mobility more closely with workforce and talent planning priorities. While there are many useful insights, two I want to highlight are: 1) organizations are revising mobility policies to support new ways of working—42% have conducted a policy review in the past year and 32% plan updates in the next 12–18 months. These shifts include expanding cross-border remote work options, increasing short-term and project-based deployments, offering more inclusive partner support (e.g., support for spouses/partners relocating together), and building more flexibility into policies upfront to minimize individual exceptions and ensure fairness and consistency; and 2) 60% of mobility teams now sit within talent management or talent acquisition, enabling closer alignment with workforce planning, leadership development, and strategic talent deployment, rather than functioning as a standalone operational support function. While the focus is on global mobility, I’m also resharing my one-page cheat sheet on common barriers to internal mobility, including examples of policies that may unintentionally limit movement and career growth within organizations.

Read report

CHIEF HR OFFICER

From Back Office to Boardroom: How CHROs are Shaping Value in a Disrupted World | Nick Bloom at Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit

A 35-page slide deck presented by Nick Bloom highlights the stabilization of hybrid work, the rising influence of HR leadership, and the performance benefits of structured CEO succession planning.

These slides, presented by Stanford economist Nick Bloom at the recent October Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit, provide insights into three areas relevant to Chief People Officers and HR leaders. First, the Work-From-Home vs. Return-To-Office discussion has reached a steady state: hybrid work is now the most common policy among managers and professionals in Fortune 500 firms, with 69% operating under a structured hybrid model. Most of these (57%) specify a minimum number of in-office days per week, while smaller shares set minimum percentages of time, specific in-office days, or both. Second, HR’s strategic influence continues to accelerate, as the share of S&P 500 firms where the CHRO is among the top-five highest-paid executives has grown significantly over the past three decades—highlighting HR’s increasing role in enterprise value creation. Third, large-scale evidence drawn from 150,000 proxy filings across nearly 19,000 companies shows that organizations with more intentional and well-defined CEO succession processes tend to experience smoother leadership transitions and stronger financial outcomes, including more stable stock performance during CEO changes. The succession planning analysis begins on page 25. As a related resource, I am resharing the July 2025 report CEO Succession: 10 Pitfalls Boards Must Avoid—and the CHRO Practices That Help (by HR Policy Association, now CHRO Association), which notes that one ongoing challenge is limited board visibility into internal CEO candidates—a gap CHROs can help close through structured board exposure and objective talent assessment practices.

Access slides

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS

The Hidden Beliefs that Hold Leaders Back | Harvard Business Review

Explores seven hidden beliefs that can quietly hinder leadership effectiveness and offers a three-step framework to help leaders overcome them.

Read article

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of my job cuts tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• AGL Energy (OTCMKTS: AGLXY). One of Australia’s largest electricity companies plans to cut up to 300 jobs across its coal-fired power stations, as well as hydro sites, as part of a major restructure to accelerate its transition to renewable energy.

• Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE: HRL). The Spam and Planters maker announced plans to cut 250 corporate and sales positions as part of a restructuring effort.

• IBM (NYSE: IBM). The tech giant announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in the fourth quarter of 2025 as part of a global restructuring focused on high-margin software and artificial intelligence services.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 11 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Bath & Body Works, Inc. (COLUMBUS, OHIO) [NYSE: BBWI]—a global leader in personal care and home fragrance—announced strategic leadership appointments to deepen expertise and strengthen capabilities required to execute transformation. Samantha Charleston has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer, effective Nov. 12. She joins Bath & Body Works from Americold, where she has served as Chief Human Resources Officer since January 2022. Charleston will join the Executive Leadership Team and report to Chief Executive Officer Daniel Heaf. 

Samantha Charleston 

‘Read Online’ if email cuts off ✂️

👉️ To access all detailed 11 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join a monthly or yearly subscription to CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF OCTOBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of October ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #321, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

Thank you to TechWolf, who sponsored the Best of October. Learn more about TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index and how it is helping organizations understand the impact of AI on work tasks.

🗣️ WANT MORE?

Are you an internal HR practitioner?
👉️ Apply for my private, paid community, Talent Edge Circle

Are you a provider of HR-related services?
👉️ Become a sponsor of Talent Edge Weekly

Want to know who’s moving in and out of the CHRO role?
👉️ Join my CHROS on the Go subscription

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this special Best of October issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Shavit Bar-Nahum, Head of Talent Strategy & Development at Standard Industries, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Shavit, for your support of this newsletter!

🗞️ Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Subscribe now and immediately get 5 of my PDF cheat sheets!

PRESENTED BY TechWolf

Introducing TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index 

How the world’s largest companies are navigating AI’s workforce impact, based on 2 billion data points

As organizations face mounting pressure to understand how AI is reshaping work, TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index offers a first-of-its-kind look into how the 1,500 largest companies in the world are adapting.

The Index goes beyond skills; it provides a task-level view of work, helping leaders understand:

- What work is being done
- How it’s changing, and
- Where humans, AI, or both will perform it.

How it works

1. Tasks, not titles: TechWolf’s AI breaks down jobs into tasks, enabling a clear, consistent understanding of work across roles and industries.

2. AI-readiness lens: Each task is scored based on its potential to be automated, augmented, or remain human-led, across six dimensions, including empathy and complexity.

3. Decision-ready insight: This clarity helps leaders guide responsible workforce transformation, focusing on skills, role redesign, and change management.

“Solutions like this should be the very starting point for workforce transformation and for thoughtful work design. And it’s already here.”
— Diane Gherson, former CHRO, IBM & Board Director

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

The Best of October includes 16 of the most popular resources from the October issues of Talent Edge Weekly. They're organized into two sections:  

1. 🤖 AI & The Future of Work. AI’s impact beyond knowledge-worker roles; determining when work should be automated, augmented through AI–human collaboration, or remain human-led; using AI to identify emerging skill gaps; shifting toward agentic human–AI collaboration models; and moving from AI experimentation to measurable business impact.

2. 🛠️ Talent Practices: Performance review calibration; strengthening talent reviews and identifying key talent segments; determining appropriate levels of succession transparency; aligning succession actions to scenario types; leadership effectiveness; embedding learning into the flow of work; adopting skills-first talent practices; reducing barriers to internal mobility; evaluating when roles should or should not be backfilled; and integrating scenario planning into workforce discussions.

This issue has many bonus resources.

✂️ Since this special issue contains a large amount of content, it may get cut off by some email providers. If you prefer, you can read it online.

🗓️ Lastly, for those of you who are part of my private community for internal HR practitioners, Talent Edge Circle, this is a reminder that Allan Church, Ph.D will be joining us this Wednesday, 11/5, for a 90-minute discussion on high-potential identification and succession planning. I’ll see you then!