Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #311

Framing talent and HR initiatives in the business context, report on identifying, managing, and developing high-potentials, AI in HR, a new AI report, and five case examples of implementing HR practices.

Author

Brian Heger
August 24, 2025

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Welcome to this week’s 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.

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

Let’s dive in! ⬇️

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

HR EFFECTIVENESS

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

With September just a week away, many HR Teams are accelerating current talent initiatives, reprioritizing the ones they will focus on for the rest of the year, and preparing for the upcoming year. Regardless, it’s critical to anchor these efforts in the real business problems our HR initiatives are trying to solve. To support this, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from a broader deck I developed for the Talent Edge Circle—my private community for internal HR practitioners. 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 implementation plan, which makes the proposal more real by showing what needs to be done (Talent Edge Circle members received this additional slide in the full deck). As a bonus, I’m also including another one of my cheat sheets with guiding questions to help HR leaders and their teams think through key components of a business case for new HR initiatives.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

A 30-page report sharing results from the largest study ever on how companies identify, manage, and develop potential.

Many organizations conduct talent reviews to identify and develop employees with the greatest potential to move into more complex, high-impact roles. While this has long been a core talent practice, many still struggle to determine the most effective approach—particularly when assessing, managing, and developing those with the greatest potential. A new 30-page report by The Talent Strategy Group shares insights on nearly every aspect of potential—definitions, tools, assessments, communication approaches, and more—based on feedback from over 300 companies worldwide. Although not positioned as a benchmarking report, it provides a comprehensive view of current practices and challenges. While there are several insights in this report, one striking finding is that only 37% of organizations report that high-potential (HiPo) employees have a development plan. Given the outsized contribution these individuals can make, this points to a missed opportunity to use HiPo development planning as a performance differentiator. With this as the backdrop, I’m resharing my one-page cheat sheet with eight questions to guide talent review practices—two of which emphasize accountability and follow-up. Use this cheat sheet, along with the report, to identify opportunities to elevate the impact of your talent review practices. The actions you take may be what separates average from outstanding organizational performance.

AI IN HR

A 21-page slide deck on how AI is reshaping roles in Talent Acquisition and HR Operations.

A few weeks ago, I shared a 22-page Deloitte presentation on the impact of AI agents in reimagining the HR function. The resource covered how AI agents could change the work of HR Business Partners, HR Centers of Excellence, and enable key talent practices—such as predicting turnover risks of high performers so that unwanted retention risk can be proactively mitigated. To supplement this report, I am sharing another slide deck from the same series that focuses more specifically on how AI is reshaping roles in Talent Acquisition (TA) and HR Operations. As it relates to TA, slide 12 may be of particular interest, as it outlines how AI is enabling seven core TA business processes—illustrating where AI augments the process and where TA and hiring managers play a role. These seven include: 1) role activation, 2) attraction and sourcing, 3) screening and assessing, 4) hiring manager review, 5) interviewing, 6) offers, and 7) preboarding selected candidates. TA teams can use this one-pager as a starting point to articulate their vision for how AI and AI agents will augment and support the TA function. Before discussing this, however, I recommend first identifying current pain points in the TA process and prioritizing them based on where solving them would create the greatest impact and value. Then, discussions on how AI and AI agents can help should follow—ensuring the focus remains on addressing real business issues and the areas where the most value can be delivered.

GEN AI

A 26-page report that provides insights on the ROI of corporate investments in generative AI over the past year.

You may have seen the MIT State of AI in Business 2025 report making headlines this past week, including on LinkedIn. The analysis explores enterprise adoption of generative AI, but the headline finding drawing the most attention is that, despite an estimated $35–$40 billion invested, 95% of pilot projects have failed to deliver measurable business impact, with only 5% scaling meaningfully into production. While this figure is striking, it’s worth noting some limitations that have been expressed, such as: 1) the analysis study is based on just over 300 publicly disclosed AI deployments, 52 structured interviews, and 153 senior leader survey responses—a useful but not comprehensive sample. 2) Some also argue that many AI pilots are still in their early stages and may require more time before meaningful results emerge. 3) In addition, how pilots are designed can significantly influence outcomes. In my book chapter “Enabling Strategic Workforce Planning Through Skills, Artificial Intelligence, and Internal Talent Marketplace”—published in Strategic Workforce Planning: Best Practices and Emerging Directions (SIOP Professional Practice Series, March 29, 2024, edited by Marc B. Sokol and Beverly A. Tarulli)—I emphasized the importance of pilot study design, specifically conducting pilots in areas of the business with a clear pain point to solve and strong leadership support. These two criteria often influence whether a pilot eventually demonstrates value and gains traction. Regardless, the MIT report provides several timely insights that can help practitioners critically evaluate the conditions under which AI initiatives succeed—or stall—in the workplace.

HR PRACTICES

My one-page summary showcases how five organizations have implemented various talent and workplace practices—from internal talent marketplaces to new ways of working.

Staying informed about how organizations implement various talent and workplace practices is crucial for inspiring improvements in our own approaches and learning from their experiences. However, with so many topics to explore, finding relevant case studies can be overwhelming. To help fellow practitioners navigate this landscape, here’s my one-page cheat sheet highlighting five distinct examples from Johnson & Johnson, Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM, Novartis, and AT&T. Each case study offers unique insights and practical examples of HR and workplace practices, such as AI and skills, internal talent marketplaces, AI in HR, mental health benefits, and new ways of working. For example, IBM’s AI-powered AskHR digital assistant now handles 94% of HR FAQs worldwide, reducing task completion time by over 75%. AT&T optimized its tools, processes, and ways of working using employee survey feedback, saving 3.6 million hours and over $230 million over the past 3.5 years. Novartis found that normalizing discussions about colleagues’ struggles, regardless of severity, increased participation in mental health support programs by up to 8%. This summary will help you quickly identify the examples most relevant to your interests. To access the source documents, click on the company logos in the PDF.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST ISSUE

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Three targeted questions leaders can use to surface critical talent decisions sooner, enabling timely talent decisions.

Formal talent practices—such as performance management and talent reviews—are designed to help us make better decisions about various aspects of talent management. But managers and leaders don’t need to wait for formal processes to start thinking intentionally about talent decisions. Here are three talent questions that might help.

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:

  • Dentsu Group (OTCMKTS: DNTUY). The Japanese advertising company said it will cut about 3,400 jobs in markets outside of Japan, equivalent to 8 percent of its headcount in the region. The reduction is focused on headquarters and back-office functions.

  • Paramount (NASDAQ: PARA). After closing its merger with Skydance this month, Paramount is expected to implement deep staffing cuts across its various divisions, according to sources with knowledge of the company’s plans. The layoffs are expected to take place by early November and will affect between 2,000 to 3,000 employees, though the numbers could vary. 

  • Saks Global. The luxury retailer cut 90 jobs this past week in another round of layoffs. The 90 layoffs are believed to represent fewer than 3 percent of the Saks Global corporate population, and 0.5 percent of the total Saks Global headcount.

Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 10 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:

  • ​The Hershey Company (HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA) [NYSE: HSY]—an industry-leading snacks company—announced the appointment of Natalie Rothman as Chief Human Resources Officer, effective August 18, 2025. Rothman will report to the President and Chief Executive Officer, Kirk Tanner. Prior to joining Hershey, Rothman served as CHRO at Inspire Brands (May 2023—May 2025) and, before that, as CHRO at Advance Auto Parts for seven years. She also currently serves on the board of Udemy.

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CHROs on the Go has over 4,300 archived announcements in its online platform, with new announcements added daily!

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FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

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THE BEST OF JULY 2025

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Talent Edge Weekly is written by Brian Heger, a human resources practitioner. You can connect with Brian on LinkedIn and brianheger.com