McKinsey's Sven Smit and Anu Madgavkar make a counterintuitive case: as AI automates more work, large economies will hit a people shortage, not a surplus, thanks to demographic decline and the new demand that automation unlocks. In our conversation, they break down why "soft skills only" is dangerous advice for young workers, why the fastest learner (not the best planner) wins, and why task-level optimization is a trap when workflow redesign is the real strategic unlock. A must-listen for CHROs planning the next five years of hybrid, human-plus-agent teams.

In a regulated industry like banking, failing to identify internal skills is a risk management failure. Former ABN AMRO leaders Frank van den Brink and Patrick Coolen argue that banks must move beyond "social architecture" toward a "technical architecture" for their people. This transition from descriptive analytics to prescriptive workforce intelligence requires a "data lake" of skills to bridge the gap between today’s supply and tomorrow’s strategic demand. The article challenges CHROs to stop benchmarking peers and start building as "anticipatory architects" who prioritize business outcomes over HR for HR.

Firing and rehiring isn't an AI strategy, it's a costly gamble. Our research shows why reskilling your existing workforce beats the layoff cycle on every metric that matters.

Most skills initiatives fail not because skills don’t matter, but because they’re treated as HR data projects instead of business operating systems. As AI reshapes work, CHROs have a narrow window to move beyond skills hype and intentionally redesign how work gets done. This piece explores what actually works, and what leaders should do next.

Our new Vision Paper, "Why it's HR's time to lead the AI revolution," outlines the data foundation and the three execution pillars required to survive this shift.

Skills-based workforce planning failed 92% of organisations because static taxonomies, self-reported data, and snapshot approaches couldn't keep pace with AI-driven change. Work intelligence is the missing data layer that completes it.

60% of HR leaders plan to increase AI workforce planning investment by 2027, but most organisations can't answer a basic question: which skills do we have? Learn why skills intelligence is the missing foundation.