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Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

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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.

• HR Reimagined: Agentic AI for HR | Deloitte | A 22-page slide deck that explores how AI agents are reshaping HR work, offering frameworks and use cases to help HR teams plan for the function’s transformation.

• Performance Variability in Critical Roles | Brian Heger | My one-page slide to help think through which of an organization’s critical roles are most likely to provide the greatest return on talent investment.

• Getting Succession Right with Strategy, Scale, and Science | Hogan Assessments | A one-hour webinar featuring Allan Church and Erica Desrosiers, covering topics from assessing potential to determining successor readiness.

• Sample Questions for Evaluating Aspects of HR Tech Decisions | Brian Heger | My editable worksheet with starter questions to help assess HR tech solutions—covering areas such as business needs, vendor evaluation, cost and ROI, and more.

• The Overlooked Elements of Executive Pay: Perquisites, Retirement, and Severance | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance | Covers three often-overlooked components of executive pay and key questions boards should ask to ensure these aspects are considered and emphasized.

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

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

AI’S IMPACT ON THE HR FUNCTION

HR Reimagined: Agentic AI for HR | Deloitte

A 22-page slide deck that explores how AI agents are reshaping HR work, offering frameworks and use cases to help HR teams plan for the function’s transformation.

As AI agents shift from passive tools to active collaborators, they’re transforming how work is done, who does it, and how teams are structured. While HR plays a key role in helping organizations prepare for the broader impact of agentic AI, HR leaders also need to reimagine how this shift will reshape HR itself. This 22-page Deloitte presentation offers a useful starting point. A few sections to point out: Slides 8–10 outline how AI agents could change the work of HR Business Partners, Centers of Excellence, and HR Operations—clarifying where humans and machines will collaborate. Slides 13–14 illustrate AI in action using examples like leave of absence processing and predicting turnover risks for high performers. For instance, agentic AI can detect subtle signals of retention risk and trigger manager workflows with insights they may otherwise overlook. These types of examples can help articulate various use cases where agentic AI can drive real business value. Finally, slide 18 offers a snapshot of AI use cases across core HR functions. HR leaders and their teams can use this resource to explore implications for their own organizations and identify priority areas to explore further.

Access presentation

CRITICAL ROLES

Performance Variability in Critical Roles | Brian Heger

My one-page slide to help think through which of an organization’s critical roles are most likely to provide the greatest return on talent investment.

In every organization, a small percentage of roles—typically no more than 20%—have a disproportionately large impact on strategy execution, business performance, and competitive advantage. These roles are often identified as critical or pivotal. But simply labeling roles as “critical” isn’t enough. The real value comes from understanding why they matter—and where disproportionate talent investments are likely to yield the greatest return. While all critical roles deserve attention, the opportunity to improve performance within them varies. In some roles, top performers dramatically outperform average ones; in others, the gap is small. One way to prioritize investments in critical roles is by assessing performance variability—the degree to which individuals in the same role differ in driving important outcomes. This concept is covered in The Differentiated Workforce (2009, Becker, Huselid, and Beatty)—a must-read for HR practitioners. To support these efforts, I’m sharing a one-page excerpt from my slide deck for my private community for internal HR practitioners, The Talent Edge Circle (get on the waiting/mailing list for updates). The slide can serve as a starting point for determining where targeted investments in critical roles are likely to deliver outsized business impact.

Access slide

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Getting Succession Right with Strategy, Scale, and Science | Hogan Assessments

A one-hour webinar featuring Allan Church and Erica Desrosiers, covering topics from assessing potential to determining successor readiness.

In this one-hour webinar, Allan Church, Ph.D (Maestro Consulting and former senior HR executive at PepsiCo), and Erica Desrosiers, Ph.D (global talent executive), discuss how to evolve succession planning. While many insights are offered, a few highlights include: strong performance over time is table stakes (the price of entry) before assessing potential—defined as how well someone is expected to perform in more complex roles. Allan distinguishes among three types of potential: 1) General (everyone can grow to some degree), 2) Leadership (ability to succeed at higher levels), and 3) Destination (readiness for a specific role). Destination potential is especially relevant for succession planning—potential for what role? Both Allan and Erica note that readiness for assuming a specific role (destination potential) is a loose and difficult concept to define or measure, often limited to arbitrary indicators such as “time to readiness.” One approach I’ve used to help gauge readiness is by determining the number of development moves away—the distinct and critical experiences a successor must complete before being considered “ready enough” to move into a targeted role. This approach emphasizes the development needed to accelerate readiness and prompts more intentional decisions beyond simply stating a vague timeline. With this as the backdrop, here is my one-page cheat sheet that can help identify the number of development moves for a successor.

Watch and/or listen

HR TECH

Sample Questions for Evaluating Aspects of HR Tech Decisions | Brian Heger

My editable worksheet with starter questions to help assess HR tech solutions—covering areas such as business needs, vendor evaluation, cost and ROI, and more.

With the HR Tech Conference coming up next month, many HR leaders and their teams are eager to explore the latest advancements in HR technology—and how these tools can help unlock stakeholder value across the organizations they support. As teams evaluate solutions that will deliver the greatest impact, this cheat sheet provides a starting point with questions across four areas: 1) business needs, 2) vendor evaluation, 3) cost and ROI, and 4) security and compliance. For example, under business needs: What problems are we solving, and how will the technology help us do things more effectively than today? Under vendor evaluation: What percentage of the vendor’s customers use the platform for the functionality we need—and with what results? For cost and ROI: Will ROI be realized in the near term or over a longer horizon—and what value will be captured in years one, two, and beyond? This part of the business case is often overlooked, yet critical, since value from tech solutions tends to be unlocked gradually rather than immediately. The editable worksheet includes space to add notes across these areas. While other questions (e.g., around ethical AI) should be layered in, this resource can help kickstart internal conversations and decision-making. By carefully planning with questions like these now instead of later in the year, practitioners will be better positioned to help their organizations enhance the likelihood of pursuing and purchasing HR technology solutions that enable intended business outcomes.

Access my worksheet

EXECUTIVE PAY

The Overlooked Elements of Executive Pay: Perquisites, Retirement, and Severance | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Covers three often-overlooked components of executive pay and key questions boards should ask to ensure these aspects are considered and emphasized.

Attracting, hiring, and retaining executive talent is a critical part of any organization’s talent strategy and leadership continuity. These efforts are shaped by many factors—including culture and growth opportunities—but one major lever is executive pay. Although salary, bonuses, and long-term incentives draw the most attention, this new article highlights three often-overlooked components that can significantly impact executive retention and governance: (1) Perquisites—benefits such as personal security or use of corporate aircraft that support executive productivity and safety; (2) Retirement Provisions—rules that determine how equity awards are handled at retirement, often based on age and service; and (3) Severance—pay provided upon exit, especially in reorganizations or M&A. The article includes key questions boards should ask—such as, for perquisites: What is the business purpose, and does it align with our philosophy? For retirement: Should we revisit our definition to attract mid-career talent? And for severance: Is there justification to go above or below market standards? These types of questions help ensure that non-core components of executive pay reinforce—not undermine—broader compensation, talent, and business strategies.

Read article

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Using Scenario Planning to Inform Workforce Planning | Brian Heger

My cheat sheet with questions to help HR and business leaders align workforce plans with potential business scenarios.

Many organizations still approach strategic workforce planning (SWP) as a static, annual exercise—often based on a single, expected scenario. However, as business needs and conditions shift rapidly, SWP requires a more dynamic and flexible approach. Scenario planning (SP) enables organizations to explore and prepare for a range of possible futures, helping them respond more effectively to uncertainty. My cheat sheet includes questions to guide your planning.

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.

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM). The Australian software company confirmed it is laying off 150 employees as it accelerates the integration of artificial intelligence into its core business.

• Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK). The pharmaceutical giant announced a multi-year restructuring plan targeting $3 billion in cost savings by the end of 2027, including undisclosed layoffs across administrative, sales, and R&D functions.

• Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA). The Massachusetts-based biotech company will cut approximately 10% of its global workforce—reducing headcount from about 5,800 to under 5,000 by year-end—as part of a broader effort to reduce operating costs.

Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 11 new Chief HR Officer announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• J.D. Power—(TROY, MICHIGAN)— a global company known for its work in consumer insights and analytics— announced that Millie Morales has been named the new Chief People Officer. Before joining J.D. Power, Millie was the SVP of Total Rewards and People Operations at First Advantage. Prior to that, she held the same role at Sterling, where she led post-merger integration efforts and transformed the HR functions to meet public company standards. ​

🔓️ Never miss another Chief HR Officer announcement!

CHROs on the Go has over 4,000 archived announcements in its online platform, with new announcements added daily!

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FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF JULY 2025

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Did you miss the “Best of July ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #308, which includes 17 of the most popular resources from the month.

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