By Guest commentary Monday, August 18th, 2025

By Vlad Vaiman

California Lutheran University

The year 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most disruptive and consequential years in the history of modern work. 

Business strategy, talent and technology disruption are colliding in a way that positions chief human resources officers (CHROs) not just as partners for change but as true leaders of that change. Korn Ferry’s latest global survey, On the Highwire: Being a CHRO in 2025, provides an interesting and insightful glimpse into how HR leaders worldwide are responding to these challenges and what’s on their collective minds. 

For U.S.-based organizations in particular, the report’s findings highlight the need to reimagine their people strategy, retool their leadership pipeline, and embrace digital transformation to stay ahead of the game.

The Korn Ferry survey was based on responses from 750 senior HR executives in over 50 business sectors from North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Although a global study, the findings should prove valuable to U.S.-based companies. The nation’s businesses face many of the same issues, including labor shortages, economic uncertainty, and workforce-disrupting technologies, such as AI. 

However, it can be argued that the size and speed of the U.S. make these issues more pressing and the changes more rapid. The survey helps leaders not only understand current problems, but also how to plan for reinvention.

Central to the report is the image of the tightrope, which has become a fitting metaphor for the CHRO’s current mandate. 

On the one hand, there is the imperative to increase productivity, reduce costs, and drive short-term results. On the other hand, to build agility, invest in future capabilities and power transformational change, including cultural and technological shifts. 

The modern CHRO’s world has expanded beyond managing people to being a critical player in the corporate strategy room, expected to both perform and transform at the same time.

This balancing act becomes more difficult in the face of an increasingly volatile external environment. Traditional business threats like head-to-head competition are being replaced by systemic disruptors. Economic volatility, labor and skills shortages, and the exponential pace of technology are among the top three external challenges cited by CHROs in the survey. 

They are particularly disruptive in the United States, where the post-pandemic reset of the workforce is fueling fierce competition for talent and a widening digital skills divide.

HOW COMPANIES ARE BEING SHAPED BY TECHNOLOGY

In many U.S. companies, the desire to transform often outpaces the ability to do so. While 40% of companies are already embedding disruptive thinking and innovation into their DNA, 60% are operating from legacy mindsets and systems that may not be equipped to meet their transformation goals. 

Additionally, a significant number of CHROs (30%) do not see their senior leadership team aligned on transformation priorities. In the U.S., where market dynamics can shift rapidly, these gaps can lead to stunted growth and lagging performance.

The survey highlighted five strategic priorities that are currently top of mind for CHROs to address in order to achieve long-term resilience. 

The top areas of focus: Culture & Organizational Change, Leadership Succession, Elevating HR Capability & Impact, Competitive People Strategy and EVP, and Skills Investment and Future Workforce. These five priorities are deeply intertwined with one another. 

In a high labor mobility environment such as the U.S., where employee expectations have also shifted, having a strong employer value proposition has become particularly crucial. While most CHROs agree that the five strategic priorities above should be key areas of focus for HR, only a minority report that these priorities are being well executed. 37% of CHROs indicate their organization is not well prepared with regard to planning for their future workforce needs and 35% say short term growth is overshadowing the focus on long term talent.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE WORKFORCE

At the top of the list of challenges being faced that are not getting enough attention or resources is AI and its application in HR and the business at large. 

Artificial intelligence is a strategic investment priority for 42% of CHROs, but only 5% believe that their HR teams are prepared to adopt and execute against it. To put that last stat in an even sharper context, 0% of CHROs indicated that they would describe themselves as ready to adopt and implement artificial intelligence in their organizations. 

This is a particular area of concern for U.S. companies in industries where adoption of AI is likely to progress at a faster rate, such as financial services, technology and healthcare. The opportunity to provide AI-enabled learning to employees is meaningful as well. More than 60% of employees indicate they would stay in a job they hate if it provided the opportunity to quickly upskill on artificial intelligence. 

That is a significant message for U.S. employers who are challenged by turnover and disengagement to think about as they consider their learning and development strategies for their workforces.

The stakes for U.S. employers are high. 

For one, transformation must be a business strategy, not an HR add-on project. CHROs and their teams must be given a seat at the table to help with alignment, lead change, and ensure the company’s talent is ready for what’s next. 

Second, the employee value proposition must be redefined to recruit and retain the best in a highly competitive war for talent. 

Third, HR functions in the U.S. need to prioritize building AI and analytics readiness. Companies that do not arm their employees with the right capabilities, processes, and tools to access, analyze and use data and automate work will fall behind their more agile competitors. 

Fourth, alignment on the need for change across the C-suite is vital. 

CHROs and their teams need to help top leaders unite behind a common vision to promote more focused and coherent action. Finally, ensuring a future-proof talent pipeline means looking past short-term needs to more systematically build the capabilities the business will need, including hard-to-replace digital skills and leadership pipelines.

The message is clear: the investments in and attention to strategic HR leadership, the potential of AI, and building adaptive, future-ready workforces is not a nice-to-have for long-term success in an age of relentless change — it’s a must-have.

• Vlad Vaiman is a professor at California Lutheran University’s School of Management.