Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #312 - Best of August 2025

Here are the most popular articles and resources from the August issues of Talent Edge Weekly.

Author

Brian Heger
August 31, 2025

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Welcome to this special Best of August issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

First, a shout-out to Kanika Bhatia, Talent Director at GSK, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Kanika, for your support of this newsletter!

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THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

The Best of August includes 16 of the most popular resources from the August issues of Talent Edge Weekly. The resources are organized into three sections:  

  1. Strategic HR and AI. Framing HR initiatives in the business context, CHRO priorities for the rest of the year, business case for new HR teams, AI in HR, evaluating HR tech decisions, and ROI of AI investments in the workplace.

  2. Talent Practices. High-potential (HiPo) practices, succession planning, critical roles, three talent questions, determining whether to backfill a role, employee retention, and the strategic use of high-impact development roles.

  3. Performance Enablement & Organizational Effectiveness. Optimizing talent and financial resources for the remainder of the year, unlocking workforce capacity through improved ways of working, and managing change fatigue.

This issue has many bonus resources beyond the 16 featured resources.

Let’s dive in.  

THIS MONTH’S EDGE

I. STRATEGIC HR & AI

Framing HR initiatives in the business context, CHRO priorities for the rest of the year, business case for new HR teams, AI in HR, evaluating HR tech decisions, and ROI of AI investments in the workplace.

HR IN BUSINESS CONTEXT

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

Tomorrow marks the start of September—a time when many HR teams accelerate their talent initiatives, refine priorities, and even prepare for the year ahead. 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). 

HR PRIORITIES

A 28-minute podcast highlights CHRO priorities for the rest of the year—ranging from succession, workforce planning, and internal mobility—to the growing importance of scenario planning.

Many HR leaders are refocusing their priorities and adapting plans to meet emerging business needs for the rest of the year. This 28-minute episode of The Conference Board podcast shares timely insights from CHROs on where their focus is heading next. One standout—echoing several of my recent posts on scenario planning—is how CHROs are leaning more heavily on scenario planning to guide both succession and strategic workforce planning. In succession planning, leaders are increasingly using “what if?” scenarios to prepare for sudden changes in key roles, asking, “If this happens, then what?” and ensuring contingency talent is ready for vacancies or shifts driven by economic, geopolitical (e.g., tariffs), or technological (e.g., automation) factors. In workforce planning, scenario planning enables organizations to stress-test their readiness for multiple possible futures, thereby ensuring greater agility and resilience. As this practice becomes more integral across HR, developing scenario-planning capabilities is essential. With this in mind, I am resharing my one-page cheat sheet with key questions to guide thinking about potential business scenarios, their talent implications, and how to prepare for them. Also, here is the transcript from the referenced podcast discussion.

HR BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT

My one-page cheat sheet with questions to help HR leaders think through their business case for building new HR functions or teams.

As organizations increasingly rely on HR to enable business capabilities and drive stakeholder value, I’ve heard from many Talent Edge Weekly subscribers who are building new HR functions or expanding their teams. As part of these efforts, they’re focused on developing a compelling business case. While business cases can vary in complexity, I’ve created a one-page cheat sheet with guiding questions to help HR leaders and their teams think through key components of their case. Whether you’re proposing a new people analytics team or an employee experience function, this streamlined, nine-section resource walks you through everything from identifying the core problem to articulating ROI and mapping out implementation timelines. It includes practical prompts—such as “What’s driving this need: a new strategy, growth, or compliance?” and “What happens if you don’t act?”—to ensure your case addresses the nuances that often influence approval outcomes. This cheat sheet helps transform an overwhelming process into a clear, actionable plan.

AI’S IMPACT ON HR

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 such as 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 utilize this resource to examine the implications for their own organizations and identify priority areas for further exploration. As a bonus, here is another slide deck from the same series on how AI is reshaping roles in Talent Acquisition and HR Operations.

HR TECH

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 only a few weeks away, 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., those related to ethical AI) should be addressed, this resource can help kickstart internal conversations and decision-making.

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 in the past few weeks, 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 offers several timely insights that can help practitioners critically evaluate the conditions under which AI initiatives succeed or stall in the workplace.

II. TALENT PRACTICES

High-potential (HiPo) practices, succession planning, critical roles, three talent questions, determining whether to backfill a role, employee retention, and the strategic use of high-impact development roles.

HIGH-POTENTIALS

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.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

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. Although 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 required to accelerate readiness and prompts more intentional decisions, rather than 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.

CRITICAL ROLES

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. The slide can serve as a starting point for determining where targeted investments in critical roles are likely to deliver outsized business impact.

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. A few questions that I’ve found helpful include: 1) Would I enthusiastically rehire this individual for their current role? (Reveals if the person is truly the best fit for the role and how strongly you value their contributions.) 2) What unique value does this team member bring to our organization? (Centers on distinct contributions—what the person offers that others do not—clarifying how they enhance culture, elevate others, and drive outcomes.) 3) If this person were a retention risk, how hard would I fight to keep them? (Indicates your perception of their overall value, long-term potential, and belief in their future contributions). While there are many other questions managers can ask, these starter questions can surface talent decisions faster and with greater clarity. Based on the answers, managers and leaders can identify one talent decision to make in the next 30–45 days—whether a development conversation, stretch assignment, or other targeted action. Making important talent decisions sooner—versus waiting for formal processes—can be the difference between falling short of achieving organizational objectives and exceeding them.

TALENT ACQUISITION

My one-page cheat sheet with targeted questions to help leaders make decisions on whether to backfill vacant roles, reducing the costly cycle of over-hiring and rehiring.

As I’ve tracked thousands of layoffs over the past few years through my layoff tracker, a common theme continues to emerge: many organizations cite “over-hiring” as a reason for workforce reductions, resulting in costly cycles of hiring, layoffs, and rehiring. Although better workforce planning and talent forecasting can help minimize the likelihood of over‑hiring, an equally important—and often overlooked—practice is to be more intentional about whether roles need to be backfilled when they become vacant. Rather than automatically replacing someone, leaders and talent partners should ask sharper questions—such as “Has there been any change in current business context since the role was created?” and “How likely is this role to remain vital in two years?”—to guide a deliberate, evidence‑based decision. To help facilitate these discussions, I’ve developed a one‑page cheat sheet with eight sample questions designed to spark deeper evaluation and better hiring choices. With AI and other technologies rapidly redefining how work gets done, using tools like this is more important than ever. Further, replacing reflexive rehiring with thoughtful reviews can help organizations break the cycle of over‑hiring and optimize resources.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION

My cheat sheet includes 10 examples of employee segments that may be considered regrettable losses—employees whose departure would negatively impact the organization.

Most would agree that managing employee retention and turnover is a critical aspect of effective talent management. And while some level of turnover is both healthy and necessary, certain types of departures can have a significantly negative impact. These exits—commonly referred to as "regrettable losses"—often involve individuals whose absence disrupts key outcomes such as business performance and the achievement of organizational priorities. Although many organizations focus on retaining high-potential talent or employees who are deemed successors, regrettable turnover can also occur in less obvious segments, such as Culture Carriers (those who embody and reinforce the organization’s values and behaviors), individuals with rare cross-functional expertise, or informal team leaders. To mitigate this risk, organizations should define what constitutes a regrettable loss in their specific context and proactively identify and address retention risks across these employee segments, not just the most obvious ones. To support this effort, my cheat sheet highlights 10 examples of employee segments that may be considered regrettable losses. Building awareness of these segments is a critical first step toward mitigating undesirable retention risks.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

My slide to help evaluate if key development roles are used effectively to support talent growth and leadership pipeline flow.

In every organization, certain roles act as accelerators of development—positions where the nature of the work and its challenges enable individuals to build critical skills and gain meaningful experiences faster than in other roles. But when someone remains in one of these high-impact roles too long—without the interest or potential to move into larger, more complex roles—it can hinder both individual growth and organizational performance. To keep development and leadership pipelines flowing, it’s essential to regularly assess whether these roles—often limited in number—are being used to unlock opportunities for others. To jumpstart your thinking, here’s my one-page slide with guiding questions for managers: Has the person been in the same development role for an extended period without progression? Are they open to new responsibilities or stretch opportunities? Is their continued presence in the role limiting access to valuable experiences for successors? While there are other ways to accelerate development—such as short-term assignments—roles remain a meaningful and powerful source of growth. This topic can be woven into talent review discussions to support more informed and strategic talent decisions that strengthen organizational performance.

III. Performance Enablement & Organizational Effectiveness

Optimizing talent and financial resources for the remainder of the year, unlocking workforce capacity through improved ways of working, and managing change fatigue.

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

My template to help identify opportunities to redeploy resources—talent and financial— to high-priority areas.

As we enter September, it’s a good time for managers, leaders, and individual contributors to revisit their goals and consider how to accelerate progress for the remainder of the year. A few weeks ago, I shared my one-page infographic outlining practical actions that each of these employee segments can take to realign and drive momentum on 2025 objectives. One key action for leaders, managers, and others responsible for managing resources—such as budget or talent—is ensuring those resources are effectively allocated to the most critical priorities. To help, my one-page worksheet enables leaders to evaluate key factors for resource deployment by: 1) listing ongoing projects or initiatives, 2) prioritizing them based on stakeholder value and strategic alignment, 3) tracking status (e.g., on track, behind, completed), 4) noting budget utilization (e.g., $25K used of a $100K budget = 25%), and 5) assessing talent deployment (e.g., 3 of 4 team members utilized = 75% utilization). This information supports better resource decisions and can help optimize performance in the months ahead. While the tool is simple, it can prompt valuable conversations that lead to more impactful outcomes.

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

My cheat sheet with 10 questions to identify opportunities to unlock workforce capacity—before defaulting to hiring.

Although hiring talent is a crucial part of any talent strategy, managers often default to talent acquisition—hiring more people—as a reactive response to meet work demand. As I’ve tracked thousands of layoffs over the past few years through my layoff tracker, a common theme continues to emerge: many organizations cite “over-hiring” as a reason for workforce reductions, leading to costly cycles of hiring, layoffs, and rehiring. While better workforce planning and talent forecasting can help address this issue, a complementary solution should also be considered: finding ways to unlock capacity within the current workforce. One way to do this is by improving ways of working. Consider a team that spends 30% of its time in low-value meetings, navigating approval delays, or duplicating efforts. By redesigning workflows, clarifying decision rights, and eliminating redundancies, that same team can free up significant capacity. To help identify these opportunities, my editable cheat sheet includes 10 diagnostic questions, such as: Where are teams spending time on low-value or repetitive work that could be eliminated, automated, or streamlined? Where do decisions frequently stall or require excessive approval layers? With AI redefining how work gets done, now is an opportune time to reexamine how capacity can be unlocked to deliver stakeholder value and business performance.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

My one-page template to help leaders assess current and proposed organizational changes to manage change fatigue better and ensure sustainable implementation.

As many organizations implement workplace changes, such as new technologies, AI, team restructuring, return-to-office policies, or updated processes, I’ve received multiple requests for change management resources. Behind these requests lies a growing concern about change fatigue: a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by the constant need to adapt to new initiatives. According to Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management report (May 2023), the average organization manages five major change initiatives at any given time, with many overseeing 10 or more when including smaller projects and process changes. That number is likely even higher today. Leaders who focus solely on the business case for individual change initiatives often lack visibility into the overall volume of change occurring across the organization. This can lead to a cumulative toll on teams—driving disengagement, resistance, and burnout. To help leaders gain a clearer view and manage change in a more sustainable manner, my one-page template helps initiate a holistic review of all current and proposed changes, their timing, and their impact across various groups. This editable one-pager helps organizations better align the pace of change with employees’ capacity to adapt, serving as a starting point for developing more detailed change management plans.

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of tracker

A few firms that announced job cuts in August include:

  • BP (NYSE: BP). The global energy giant disclosed plans to cut 6,200 office jobs—up from 4,700 announced in January—as part of a “reset” strategy aimed at slashing costs by $2 billion by 2026.

  • Dentsu Group (OTCMKTS: DNTUY). The Japanese advertising company announced that it will cut approximately 3,400 jobs in markets outside Japan, equivalent to 8 percent of its regional headcount. The reduction, focused on headquarters and back-office functions in markets outside of Japan, is designed to streamline operations without affecting the company’s growth potential or competitiveness.

  • Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON). The fitness company has announced another round of layoffs as part of its new $100 million cost restructuring plan. While Peloton has not shared the exact number of employees that will be laid off, this restructuring will impact approximately 6% of its global workforce.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVEMENT

64 Chief HR Officers were hired, promoted, and/or resigned in August. A few headlines include:

  • 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.

  • Hertz Global Holdings , Inc. (ESTERO, FLORIDA) [NASDAQ:HTZ and OTC: HTZGQ]—the $1.59 billion market cap car rental company— announced that Eric Leef, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, has informed the company of his intent to resign from his position—a role he held since 2020.  According to a statement released through an SEC filing, Leef notified the company of his decision on August 19. Leef will remain in his current role through September 5 to assist with the transition process. Christopher G. Berg, EVP and Chief Administrative Officer, will continue to oversee the HR function while a search is conducted for a permanent successor.

  • Kimberly-Clark Corporation (DALLAS, TEXAS) [NASDAQ: KMB]—an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products with brands such as Huggies, Kleenex, and Scott— announced the appointment of Stacey Valy Panayiotou to Chief Human Resources Officer, effective September 10th. Panayiotou will succeed interim CHRO Viviane Cury, who will resume her prior role as VP, Talent Business Partner for North America. Stacey joins the company from Ball Corporation, most recently serving as CHRO since November 2021. ​

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I look forward to sharing more resources with you throughout September.

Have a great month ahead, and I’ll see you in next week’s issue!

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