Thriving through change: How HR leaders can build a future-ready workforce
Join host Rick Cheatham in this episode of Fearless Thinkers as he talks with Richard Hargreaves, Managing Director at Corporate Research Forum (CRF), about how HR leaders can build a future-ready workforce in times of uncertainty. They discuss the importance of focusing on critical roles, prioritizing impact, and staying agile amidst disruption. Tune in to hear practical advice on how HR can prepare organizations for the challenges ahead. Listen now!
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Rick: Welcome to Fearless Thinkers. I’m your host, Rick Cheatham. We’ve got a special show for you today. Today we’re really focused on building our community as HR and talent professionals. So we invited Richard Hargreaves, who’s a Managing Director at the Corporate Research Forum, to sit down with us and share some of the latest insights and research they’ve been doing into what top talent organizations are doing in these somewhat chaotic, very uncertain times. So with that, let’s jump in.
Richard, welcome to the show.
Richard: Really good to be here, Rick.
Rick: So I’m curious, what’s been going on in your world?
Richard: Two weeks ago, my eldest son moved out. Which is always a slightly strange experience.
Rick: Oh my gosh. Yeah, those moments are crazy. I’m not far behind you. I’ve got four and the youngest will be going off to university this year.
But I think it’s possibly the perfect lead-in to our conversation today. As we talk about some of the chaos that is in our own lives and those, uh, around us. I think it is interesting to turn our eyes to what’s going on in the world of talent development and how you see some of the smartest people in the space dealing with this chaotic world we live in today.
Richard: I think it’s a great way of describing the world, whether you use the word chaotic or ambiguous or uncertain. There’s no doubt about it. There’s a debate about whether it’s more uncertain now than it used to be, etc.
So, if any of your listeners want to take a look, it’s the IMF Uncertainty Index, which has been looking at how uncertain the world is across industries and geographies over 20, 30 years now. And it’ll be no surprise for you to hear that the spikes of uncertainty are more pronounced, more regular, which is creating far more volatility.
Rick: Those of us who are senior leaders in organizations, part of what we were able to do is trust our judgment. To a certain extent and that trust comes from experience. And this uncertainty that you’re talking about right now makes my experience maybe not quite as useful.
Richard: Yeah. And I think a word you used there, which I think is really important nowadays, is trust. You know, do we trust the source of information where we’re getting our insights from? Do we trust our leaders? Do we trust our politicians? Do we trust our media, etc.? A reference point Edelman, a PR firm, do an annual Trust Barometer to get a sense and some data behind this as well. and I think trust is huge, but unfortunately it’s going in the wrong direction.
Rick: Yeah. So, if we have this environment where the Uncertainty Index is spiking as the Trust Index is falling.
Richard: You’re not suggesting there’s a perfect storm in here, are you?
You know, I, I laugh hard because, it hides my fear and tears, but, uh, let’s call it an incredibly imperfect storm. So, in this imperfect storm how do we begin to build a talent development organization that really prepares our leaders and our entire team to deal with what is coming?
The starting point’s got to be really understanding the context in which you operate. And for company A, that may be different from company B. We did some work recently, looked at the changing demands, and came up with a very simple little infographic or model, which identified six kind of key areas.
Richard: And there’s no surprise in what they are around geopolitical and economic work models, sustainability, evolving technology, and society. And it’s important that you see these as interlinked. These don’t work interdependently of each other; they are connected. For example, I was working with an HR lady from a big global mining business, which, as you’ll know, would historically be a long term defensive stock, their share price can change two or three percent on a weekly basis at the moment based on what’s going on from trade wars and tariffs, etc.. That’s a huge distraction and volatility they’re just not used to. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s a global insurance business that’s investing over a billion dollars on AI and technology and how they can better serve their customer. And then a third very different example, highlights the importance of understanding your context was with the HR director of a intra-government business over in Germany recently. 50 percent of their workforce retire in the next 15 years.
So, when we talk about demographic shifts, huge for them and how do they get that skills and knowledge transfer to the next generation? So, I would urge everybody to think about context cause I think that’s paramount before you even start thinking about solutions.
Rick: I want to go back to that first one with those fluctuation in stock price, when we start thinking about building a talent organization that prepares leaders for that type of volatility, when it’s something we’ve never had, I would love to hear tips that you have for someone who’s experiencing that big of a shift.
Richard: Part of the role of the HR lead is to understand how do we make sure our organization is staying prepared for the future. And planning for the future whilst recognizing that, in the short term, in their situation, the economic conditions are very different from what they would have been 12 months before. So, there’s a natural tension there. And the obvious solution is you want to be building an organization that’s agile and leaders that are comfortable working in ambiguity and at both ends of that spectrum: in the longer-term planning but recognizing that for their workforce and for their employees, you sort of can’t over communicate in situations like this.
Now, when there’s under-communication, you end up with a vacuum, and people tend to fill the vacuum with their own words. And so, I think as leaders and talent leaders and HR leaders, there’s a need to over communicate, to explain to the workforce what’s going on and some of the thinking behind the decision-making.
Rick: I have definitely experienced that with a number of clients and even in my own organization through the years that it’s genetic to think about, “Hey, what’s the worst case scenario here?” And when we aren’t over-communicating as leaders, when things are this volatile and uncertain, that void gets filled with worst-case.
Richard: Absolutely. And then before you know it, you’re fighting on two fronts: the external environment and the internal environment as well.
Rick: Yeah. And most of my personal experience is with go-to-market teams. And one of the things as I’ve worked with clients in the past, where there are significant marketplace shifts happening, is to remind them about their superpowers first. And what are they uniquely great at?
Instead of, “Hey, things are volatile. We need to press the reset button and chase a hundred different solutions cause we’re scared and we’re stressed.” It’s like, “Okay, wait. First, focus on where you have unique value and unique capability out in the marketplace, and then do the side experiments.” Because when all of a sudden people don’t have direction or they start chasing a million different strategies, it’s both confusing for the customer and terrifying for the customer-facing organization. So, at least in my experience that is held true. I’m wondering, from a broader organizational perspective, if you’ve seen or think slightly the same way.
Richard: Yeah. No I, think it’s a great point. And I think I’d maybe sort of emphasize being ruthless on prioritization. I think there’s a danger when you want to try and solve everything, and it’s really hard. And so I think that you become ruthless on from an HR talent leader’s perspective.
You go back to what the organization is trying to achieve. You stay true to aligning your plan with the organizational strategy, and you become focused on delivering against the priority. I heard a great phrase: “Organizations and teams are terrible at stopping things and great at starting things.”
I think sometimes we get wedded to the idea that was conceived, and therefore we need to keep going on it. Someone said to me once, “It’s like socks. When you buy a new pair of socks, you should throw away the old pair of socks.” And we’re not good at that when it comes to ideas and initiatives within organizations. We just kind of have a tendency to keep layering on the new ideas. And then you become distracted and you don’t execute as well. So, my first analogy is about stopping things and starting things.
Rick: I think that that’s a great one because I I can’t tell you how many times i’ve been in situations going through different reporting mechanisms and metrics and say, “You know, help me understand why there’s 30 things on this dashboard.” “Oh, well, we actually only look at these four, but this was here because we had to do specific market share push, or this was there because we were having a retention problem.” “Well, do you have that now?” “No, but it’s still on the dashboard.” Okay, well, then maybe not.
Richard: Killing ideas is hard, but it needs to be done sometimes to create the space in order to do the new.
Rick: Well, and not only the space to do the new, but clarity of direction, I think, cause if you’re measuring me on 30 things, it’s hard for me to know the four that are important. Especially when again, I experience another level of chaos and uncertainty in the work that I do.
Richard: Absolutely. But again, the guiding principle here is take the line or draw inspiration from the organizational strategy and what the organization is trying to achieve. Otherwise, you end up with dangerous and interesting, but actually not value-adding HR and talent initiatives.
Rick: Yeah. I think that’s great. Well, and so help me understand—we’re talking about how HR and talent leaders can help the organization navigate. But the same thing is happening to us. So how am I supposed to help fix the world when I’ve got my own chaos in my own house?
Richard: Again, it’s a great point. I heard a piece of research, one of the worst corporate functions for internal succession building, i.e., someone taking over your role is HR. Finance do it pretty well. IT do it pretty well. HR has a pretty poor record of being able to promote the number two in HR to take the number one job in HR.
Now, in one way, that’s good for my sister business strategy dimensions are an exact search business. However, I don’t think that’s great for the profession. So, I think there’s a focus here on team effectiveness, skills development, and capability building. Are we clear on what are those skills that we as a function need to be, to be future-ready? And believe it or not, it’s not huge, deep talent and HR expertise. It’s business leadership expertise. It’s commercial acumen. It’s being digitally savvy. It’s being agile. It’s being great chain managers and deliverers of change. These are business capabilities, not necessarily pure talent or HR capabilities. We need to get greater breadth in our skillset whilst also having enough depth in the specialist area. So we know what we’re doing.
Rick: Yeah, it’s funny because I do think organizations and even executives outside of HR see and feel that sometimes. So they do things like put a high-potential person in a stretch role in HR so they understand that too. So, you end up with some of the business savvy, but you have none of the expertise, which potentially puts you in an equally bad situation, but just with a different problem.
Richard: Absolutely. So if your strategic goals are around innovation, growth, time to market, increasing revenue per customer, etc., then HR needs to be talking in that language and understanding what it can do to enable the organization to deliver against that.
So again, getting that business understanding is crucial. Likewise, if the organization is going through huge amounts of change and collaboration is top of mind, then the function needs to be thinking that way as well. How can we drive those behaviors to enable that?
Rick: That’s great. So, thinking backwards on our conversation here, what I’m hearing you say if I’m going to build a talent organization that is going to enable my business to be future-ready, that is hyper-relevant to the organization and potentially seen as a enabler of the business versus a cost center in the worst case scenario, I’ve got to first focus on culture and what my company’s unique value is to both our employees and potentially our customers. And once we have that clarity, and we help our organization to develop that clarity, moving or navigating the uncertainty and even the feeling of lack of clarity of truth gets a whole lot easier.
And then the way that I, for lack of a better way to say it, earned the right to lead that charge within my organization is to bring my expertise as an HR leader, equally paired with my understanding of the business.
Richard: I’d say there’s two things maybe to emphasize. One is (and again, an analogy, but I think it works brilliantly in this example) HR spends its time focusing on the organization and forgets about itself in the cobbler’s children type of way. And the best analogy is when you’re on the airplane and you’re taxiing pre-takeoff and they’re going through the safety briefing, and they say, “In case of emergency, put your own mask on first before you help others.” HR could do a little bit of that experience—work on yourselves, build your own leadership capability, think about your team effectiveness, and then you’re well-positioned to support the organization.
And then the second thing I just want to kind of maybe elaborate on is your piece around culture and environment, because I think it’s really important.
I think sometimes we overly focus on trying to build the skills and the capability of the individual, rather than trying to create an environment where the individuals can thrive. It’s not to say you should do one without the other, but I think you’ve got to work on both axes. And you’ve got to make sure the individuals have got the skills, capabilities, development, etc., to do their job.
But then are we working on the environment to make sure it’s innovative and supportive and inclusive and has the right propensity to risk, etc., etc. so good people can get on in the organization? And I think from a lot of the people I speak to, we probably spend a little bit too much time, effort or money in trying to make the individual a little bit better rather than creating an environment where they can excel in the job they’re doing.
Rick: That’s great. Yeah. Well, thanks for that additional clarity. I’ve heard the, uh, airline analogy probably too much as somebody who flies more than the average pilot. But I do think you know in a very well intentioned effort to provide value when these types of moments hit it’s, you know, the HR leaders are not only not putting their masks on first, but they’re dealing with the four rows in front of them.
The four rows behind them, checking in with the flight staff to make sure they have everything that they need to make sure everyone gets off safely. And then they end up you know, exhausted and not being able to breathe, unfortunately.
Richard: I think you’re right. I mean, if we go back to the pandemic, the role perception and value that the talent and HR teams delivered for organizations around the world was just phenomenal. The opportunity for the function now is to build on that and work not only in the moment, but also helping prepare the organizations for the future and obviously whether that’s from an AI technological disruption and therefore what are the skills we’re going to need for the future?
How do we design jobs for the future? Or whether that’s creating environments, whether it’s different work models, etc., etc.. But working on again, I use sort of two axes, but supporting the organization in the now, but planning for the future as well. And I think it’s important that we have to be forward looking and almost kind of future-back.
What state do we want to be in? And then let’s work back from that.
Rick: And I think we’re already getting into a little bit of this, but one of the important things that I’m always curious about is for those that don’t have the span of control to make a wholesale change in their, HR slash talent function. What is your best advice for them right now, as we look towards the kind of future state that we’ve talked about creating?
Richard: So a few things spring to mind. Again, I’m going to use the words context and focus, because I think there’s a lot of things you can do. I think it’s about getting super clear on what are the things you can do that add most value. So, being ruthless on that focus and prioritization. I would think about your connections and visibility to people outside of the HR function? How much time do you spend with the strategy department? How much time do you spend with finance? How much time do you spend with the technology or the AI team, etc., and really understanding what they’re doing and what they’re looking for, because that again will help inform where you can add the most value.
I think there’s something certainly focused from a talent perspective —you know, where can you have greatest impact? So, let’s get really focused on critical roles and value-adding roles. Now, they may be different in the future than they are now, but starting to map out and being quite critical about what is a critical role in your organization.
And again, we get a bit guilty of going, “Well, anyone senior, they must be critical.” Well, really? Okay, let’s really look at this. Another airline analogy to throw at you, Rick, two of the most critical roles in the airline industry is the person who buys the fuel, and the person who looks after the maintenance, repair, and turnaround of the plane. The obvious would be the pilot, but almost the pilot is given as a role. Those are the roles that can really dictate profitability and other things through the course of the year. So, just getting hyper-focused on value-adding and critical roles now and into the future, I think, would be good places to start. And, and probably one other, I’d get super curious about the outside world. You know, experiment with things, try things, whether it’s technology based or not, but super curious and hypersensitive to those weak signals you’re hearing from the outside.
Rick: Those are all great pieces of advice. So, thank you for that. And thank you for joining us today. I always love getting to know people who are truly invested in developing this community. Because, you know, a large part of our conversation today HR and talent are incredibly important functions, but they are functions where we don’t always have the support from peers and the ideas being shared across different businesses or even business units within the larger business sometimes. So, I really appreciate the work that you do and your willingness to spend time with us today.
Richard: It’s been an absolute pleasure, Rick. Thank you for the invitation, and hopefully, we’ll do it again soon sometime.
Rick: I would love nothing more, my friend. Really appreciate you joining.
Richard: Thank you. Take care. Bye now.
Rick: Thanks for joining me today. It’s always a pleasure to bring to you our fearless thinkers. If you’d like to stay up to date, please subscribe. Bios for our guests and links to relevant content are always listed in the show notes. If you’d like to get in touch, please visit us at bts.com. And thanks so much for listening.
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We have more tools, technologies, and data than ever, yet talent challenges are only growing more complex.AI is reshaping how work gets done, shifting roles and the skills required. Remote and hybrid models continue to redefine how teams collaborate, lead, and build culture. Economic pressure is forcing organizations to do more with less, making talent efficiency a business necessity. And employee expectations are rising people want more purpose, growth, and flexibility than ever before.These shifts aren’t just complicating the landscape; they’re rewriting the rules.For years, talent operated one step removed, supporting strategy, but not shaping it. That worked when business was linear and predictable. Strategy was set at the top, cascaded down, and talent filled the gaps.But that world is gone.Today, strategy shifts in real time. You can’t launch a new go-to-market plan, integrate an acquisition, or drive cultural change without people who are aligned, capable, and ready to deliver. And that readiness can’t be an afterthought, it has to be future-back.That’s why a new kind of talent leadership is emerging, one that moves beyond standalone programs and focuses instead on building integrated systems. It’s a shift from reacting to problems to anticipating what the business will need next; from patching broken processes to designing for performance from the start.In this model, talent strategy is no longer fragmented. It becomes a connected ecosystem where hiring, development, performance, and culture work in sync, aligned to business priorities and built to deliver results. In this environment, integrated talent strategy isn’t just good HR, it’s how business gets done.
The AI revolution and its real-world talent application
AI is revolutionizing how organizations attract, develop, and retain talent. From automating performance reviews and job descriptions to enabling personalized career path development, the promise of AI is clear. However, many warn of a trough of disillusionment. Reality often falls short due to insufficient data, immature infrastructure, and misaligned objectives between business leaders, talent leaders and across functions. Without a clear problem definition, technology risks accelerating misalignment instead of solving meaningful challenges.Organizations must first define the outcomes they seek whether efficiency, insight, engagement, or growth before deploying technology solutions. As AI adoption expands, success will depend on whether organizations match the right tools to the right problems. Having the discipline to make this evaluation will be game-changing when it comes to delivering impact.
Skills-based organizations: substance or semantics?
The rise of skills-based models reflects both a desire for innovation and a rebranding of long-standing HR practices. While the framing may have shifted, the underlying work—job analysis, development planning, and performance alignment remains constant. Many of today’s talent challenges aren’t new; they’re longstanding issues being reframed under new labels.To move the conversation forward, leaders must avoid fixating on language and instead focus on what truly drives performance when it comes to talent models: clear role expectations, relevant development paths, and contextualized application of skills. Prioritizing the right core activities will deliver the talent performance you need, regardless of what it’s called.
Manager capability as the linchpin
The most innovative talent strategies still rely on a critical success factor: the people manager. Whether it’s performance enablement, development conversations, or cultural reinforcement, execution hinges on manager capability.. The success of most talent initiatives ultimately depends on whether managers are equipped to implement them effectively. Manager enablement is the operational layer that determines whether talent strategies deliver impact or stall. Managers also shape the day-to-day experiences that influence engagement, growth, and retention . Investing in scalable, practical, and embedded manager development is essential to unlock the potential of any talent system. Currently this remains a challenge to plan and execute in many companies, while some at the leading edge have leaned into this and are making progress. Looking forward, organizations that prioritize preparing their managers for delivering what’s next will yield more rapid results for the business.
Integrated talent management: moving from silos to systems
Gone are the days when talent functions could operate in isolation. Today’s organizations require an integrated approach that connects succession planning, workforce strategy, learning, performance, and employee experience. For business leaders, the structure of HR functions is secondary to receiving actionable guidance that accelerates hiring and performance outcomes.Achieving true integration means moving beyond siloed initiatives and building a connected system where talent strategies reinforce one another across data, design, and delivery. It’s not about where each piece sits, but how well they work together to deliver consistent, business-relevant outcomes. For example, when identifying successors for executive roles, the best organizations take a systemic approach. They leverage business leader input to nominate high-potentials based on a consistent set of standards. They add rigorous assessment of people and business capability (often using external support) to reduce bias, confirm potential for more complex roles, and identify gaps. They then employ tailored development, run in partnership among the business, talent, and learning with external support, to address identified gaps. This multi-faceted approach incorporates perspectives from the business and HR while leveraging best practices from inside and outside the company, and ties outcomes to business imperatives.
Bringing “Integrated Talent” to life in your organization
Integrated talent refers to the intentional alignment and coordination of all talent-related functions such as hiring, learning, succession, performance, rewards, and workforce planning under a unified strategy that directly supports business goals. Instead of fragmented programs running in parallel, integrated talent strategies are designed and executed as a cohesive system, with shared data, consistent language, and a focus on outcomes that matter to the organization. It’s about designing for the whole employee lifecycle, not just optimizing parts of it in isolation.The most effective partnerships, including those with consultants and external experts, often blur internal and external boundaries, delivering seamless support to business leaders.
Key recommendations for talent leaders to move to an integrated talent approach
So what does it take to lead effectively in this environment? Several key priorities are emerging:
- Understand the evolving business context: Start with a clear understanding of the organizational environment, where the business strategy is going, and the role of culture in supporting growth, before proposing solutions.
- Customize with purpose: Balance tailored approaches with scalable standards to drive consistency.
- Build your internal base: Credibility is built by understanding internal politics, brand sensitivities, and cultural norms.
- Elevate the employee experience: Amid ongoing disruption, meaning, purpose, and psychological safety are essential stabilizers. Make this a priority, and the business will follow.
- Build meta-skills: Leadership development must focus on adaptability, resilience, empathy, and systems thinking; the capacities needed to lead through complexity.
- Develop an enterprise mindset: Today’s talent leaders must be business-centric, fluent in financial and strategic conversations, and capable of integrating disparate talent functions to construct a coherent whole. They must translate data into compelling narratives and foster strong partnerships both within HR and across the enterprise.
Most importantly, talent leaders must see themselves not just as HR professionals, but as organizational architects, designing the systems, cultures, mindsets and experiences that enable growth.
Conclusion: Talent strategy integration isn’t a trend. It’s your edge.
The world of work is not simply changing. It is being fundamentally redefined. Integrated talent strategy is no longer a future aspiration; it is a current imperative. To deliver on this mandate, talent leaders must: align their strategies tightly with business priorities; build managerial capability at scale; and use technology with precision and discipline. They must create strong, trusted partnerships across internal and external boundaries, and focus on clarity over complexity. The siloed HR model has reached its limits. The future belongs to those who embrace integrated talent strategy as a core business driver.
AI is reshaping how work gets done—automating tasks, accelerating decisions, and raising expectations for speed and precision. Strategy is shifting faster than structures can adapt, leaving many leaders operating in systems that weren’t built for what’s being asked of them now. Employees are asking more of their managers—while the business is asking more of them, too. And leaders are stuck navigating it all with development priorities, operating norms, and support systems that weren’t designed for this level of speed, ambiguity, or stretch.
As expectations rise, leadership capability is under scrutiny.
But are development efforts evolving fast enough to meet the moment?
Where priorities and expectations diverge
Most leadership development programs today emphasize foundational strengths:
- Executive presence
- Personal purpose
- A growth mindset
- Empowering others
- Stretching others
In contrast, senior executives in the BTS study identified a different set of capabilities as most critical for leaders right now:
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Enterprise thinking
- Divergent thinking
The contrast reveals a disconnect between what development programs are building—and what executives believe their organizations need most from their leaders today.
How did we get here?
The expectations placed on leaders—especially at the middle—have always evolved alongside the business landscape.
In the 1990s, leadership development focused on emotional intelligence and team empowerment. The 2000s brought globalization and lean operating models, with a sharper focus on efficiency and agility. Then came digital transformation, agile ways of working, and flatter, more matrixed structures.
Each wave expanded the leadership mandate—asking leaders to become connectors, coaches, and change agents.
What’s different now is the pace and proximity of change. Strategy no longer shifts annually—it flexes monthly. And mid-level leaders are no longer simply executing someone else’s vision. They’re expected to interpret it, shape it, and deliver results through others—in real time.
At the same time, the psychological contract of work has changed. Employees want more meaning, flexibility, and support—and they often look to their managers to provide it. Add in the rise of AI and the frequency of disruption, and the expectations placed on leaders have outpaced what many development efforts were designed to support.
What’s driving the disconnect?
What we’re seeing isn’t disagreement—it’s a difference in vantage point, shaped by the distinct challenges each group is solving for. This isn’t about misaligned intent—it reflects different priorities and pressures.
Talent and learning teams often prioritize foundational capabilities because they’re proven, scalable, and critical to developing confident, human-centered leaders. These programs are designed to grow potential over time.
Executives, meanwhile, are focused on the immediacy of execution—strategy under strain, shifting priorities, and the need for alignment at speed. Their focus reflects where progress is stalling now.
Both perspectives matter. But when they remain disconnected, development risks falling out of sync with business reality—and the gap is most visible at the middle, where expectations are rising fastest.
What’s the takeaway for talent leaders now?
This moment offers more than a gap to close—it offers insight into how leadership needs are evolving.
What if the differences between these two capability lists aren’t in conflict, but in sequence? Foundational strengths help leaders show up with purpose and empathy. Enterprise capabilities help them lead across systems and ambiguity. The opportunity isn’t to choose between them—it’s to connect them more intentionally.
What’s uniquely now is the acceleration. The stretch. The pressure to reduce friction and support faster alignment. Talent leaders aren’t just being asked to build capability—they’re being asked to build momentum. That means designing development experiences that reflect complexity, enable cross-functional thinking, and help leaders decide and adapt in real time.
It also means listening more closely. The capabilities executives are calling for aren’t just wish lists—they’re signals. Signals of where transformation slows, and where leadership must evolve for strategy to move forward.
This isn’t about shifting away from what works—it’s about expanding it. To connect what leaders already do well with what the business needs next—and to do it in ways that are grounded, human, and built for today’s pace.
Shifting momentum
Leadership development isn’t just a pipeline priority. It’s a strategic lever for how your organization adapts, aligns, and accelerates through change.
This research doesn’t just reveal a skills gap—it surfaces a systems opportunity. The disconnect between talent priorities and executive expectations highlights where momentum gets lost, and how leadership development can close the space between vision and execution.
Talent leaders are uniquely positioned to reconnect the dots—between individual growth and enterprise outcomes, between what leaders learn and how they lead, between what the business says it needs and how that shows up in behavior.
So the next question isn’t just: What should we build?
It’s: How do we enable leaders to build it into the business—faster?
Every organization is navigating this differently. If you’re revisiting your development priorities or rethinking what leadership looks like in your context, let’s connect. We’re happy to share what we’re seeing—and learning—with others facing the same questions.
In late 2023, we set out to answer a question we kept hearing from clients:
How do you prepare for what’s next—when “next” keeps changing?
That question has only become more urgent in 2025. Today’s leaders are navigating rapid shifts—from AI’s integration into nearly every role to volatile markets and a growing disconnect between employee expectations and organizational readiness. Planning feels harder than ever—because the future keeps accelerating while our tools and assumptions stay anchored in the past.
Too often, strategic planning is built on outdated logic: start with what’s already in motion, layer on incremental improvements, and forecast trends forward. But in today’s environment, that approach isn’t just ineffective—it’s risky. It reinforces legacy thinking. It prioritizes what’s easy over what’s essential. And it creates strategies built for a version of the world that no longer exists.
That’s why we took a different approach. We gathered a team of I/O psychologists, academics, and senior talent leaders—not to react to trends, but to reimagine what the future of talent, leadership, and learning might truly demand.
To guide the process, we used a method we often apply with clients: future-back thinking.
What is future-back thinking?
Future-back thinking flips traditional strategy. Rather than starting with today’s constraints, it begins with a bold vision of future success—and works backward to define what it will take to get there.
This approach helped us look past short-term pressures and surface deeper signals. It made the future feel more actionable—and more human.
It also reminded us why innovation is so rare: Most organizations are wired to protect what’s familiar. We prioritize feasibility, optimize what exists, and assume continuity. In uncertain times, we tweak around the edges instead of reimagining what’s possible.
Future-back thinking breaks that cycle. It turns ambiguity into alignment—and strategy into design.
It starts with a better question:
What will the future demand—and what will we wish we’d done sooner?
Because it’s not about being right. It’s about being ready.
Five bold predictions—and how they became reality
When we applied future-back thinking to the future of talent and learning, five provocative themes emerged. Each was grounded in signals we were already starting to see—but at the time, they felt ambitious.
We captured them in our original blog, Navigating the New Dawn of Talent Strategy—a look at what might shape how organizations attract, develop, and lead talent over the next 3–5 years.
Now, just two years later, those signals have become strategy. Here’s how the predictions stack up against today’s reality:
1. Skills × jobs (the remix)
Then: We predicted that rigid job architectures would give way to more fluid, capability-based models—ones that reflect how people actually grow and how business needs evolve.
Now: That shift is well underway. Many organizations have begun redesigning roles around transferable skills and capabilities, creating more dynamic paths for growth, mobility, and performance.
2. AI-powered learning
Then: We anticipated GenAI would unlock personalized, real-time learning at scale, integrated into the flow of work.
Now: GenAI is now embedded in many organizations’ learning ecosystems—powering smart coaching, adaptive learning paths, and knowledge retrieval in the flow of work.
3. Diversity as differentiation
Then: We forecasted a shift from DEI as a compliance mandate to DEI as a core driver of innovation, adaptability, and growth.
Now: High-performing organizations are building cognitive and cultural diversity into teams, treating it as a strategic advantage—not a checkbox.
4. AI as a leadership partner
Then: We imagined a future where AI would augment—not replace—leaders, supporting better decisions, planning, and communication.
Now: That’s exactly what’s happening. Leaders are using AI to model scenarios, synthesize insights, and communicate with more speed and clarity.
5. Decentralized, human-centric leadership
Then: We projected leadership would decentralize, moving closer to the front line and defined by mindset more than title.
Now: Leading organizations are scaling leadership behaviors across levels and embedding psychological safety, inclusion, and empowerment into day-to-day work.
These predictions weren’t about chasing trends. They were about imagining what the future might require—and preparing for it before it arrived.
That’s the power of future-back thinking: it doesn’t just forecast change. It helps leaders design for it.
Start thinking differently now
Most strategic plans start by looking around—at what exists, what’s already in motion, what feels feasible. But the brain doesn’t just collect data. It builds habits. It channels information into familiar paths. And it reinforces what it already knows.
That’s good for speed. But bad for imagination.
Future-back thinking challenges that. It deliberately disrupts those neural paths. Instead of adjusting today’s structures, it starts at the endpoint: a bold future state. Then it reverse-engineers the shifts required to get there.
This shift—from refining the familiar to reimagining what’s possible—is what organizations need now.
Here are three provocations to help you start:
- What assumptions are we treating as facts? The most dangerous limits are the ones we no longer see.
- What would someone from a completely different world do? (A customer, a child, Beyoncé?) Try role-storming to unlock new angles.
- What if we had no legacy systems to maintain—what would we build from scratch? Imagine a blank slate.
These questions aren’t just creative warm-ups. They help you unstick your strategy from old grooves—and build what’s essential.
Because in a world that’s constantly changing, the biggest risk isn’t getting it wrong. It’s staying stuck.
How BTS helps leaders and teams think beyond today
Our brains—even at their most capable—get stuck in “rivers of thinking,” defaulting to what feels safe instead of what the future demands.
At BTS, we help organizations break that cycle.
Future-back thinking is more than a framework—it’s a provocation. A way to disrupt habitual planning, reframe challenges, and design from a place of possibility.
We work with leaders and teams to:
- Break from old patterns by surfacing the assumptions quietly guiding decisions
- Align around vivid, future-state scenarios that challenge status-quo thinking
- Role-storm bold ideas into strategic options that unlock creativity
- Simulate future decisions to build confidence and agility
- Build the mindsets and capabilities your strategy requires
Because the real risk isn’t change. It’s standing still.
Too often, organizations invest time and energy planning for a version of the world that no longer exists. They reinforce legacy mindsets, delay bold moves, and miss the moment.
Future-back thinking offers a way out. It gives leaders a structured way to reimagine what’s possible, align teams around the future, and start building toward it—now.
Let’s build what’s next—together. Learn how we help organizations prepare for the future.
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Resistance doesn’t end after kickoff—it evolves. To lead lasting transformation, CEOs must stop treating pushback as failure and start using it as fuel.
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