3 Essential CHRO Skills for the Future of Work: Insights from Global HR Leaders
Learn why tomorrow's successful CHROs must master three critical capabilities: AI and data-driven decision-making, organizational agility in the face of disruption, and human-centered leadership that scales empathy through technology.
If you're a CHRO today, you're probably juggling more competing priorities than ever before. AI is reshaping how work gets done. Your workforce spans offices, homes, and maybe even coffee shops across time zones. Employees expect purpose and flexibility. And the C-suite wants you to prove HR's impact on the bottom line—preferably yesterday.
So what separates the CHROs who will thrive in this ever-changing environment from those who won't? We asked Visier’s 2026 Top 50 HR Leaders to Watch what competencies will define a successful CHRO over the next five years.
Their answers reveal three essential capabilities:
Mastering AI and data
Building organizational agility
Leading with humanity at scale
Here's what they told us.
These insights come from Visier's 2026 Top 50 HR Leaders to Watch—a distinguished group of data-driven innovators shaping the future of human resources across healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, and more. This year, our HR trailblazers shared their perspectives on what will define successful leadership in an era of unprecedented change.
Link: Meet the full list of 2026 Top 50 HR Leaders to Watch
CHRO Skill 1: AI and Data Mastery
The CHRO role is shifting from reporting on the past to shaping the future. Success now requires comfort with AI-driven workforce intelligence, the ability to turn analytics into strategic action, and the skills to earn trust with the C-suite by speaking their language. These leaders aren't just adopting new tools, they're reimagining how HR drives business performance through integrated talent management and predictive insights.
In the next five years, CHROs won't just report on what happened. They will need to anticipate what's coming. That means using analytics and scenario planning to predict workforce trends, identify emerging skill gaps, and prepare for cultural shifts before they impact the business. Turning data into clear, actionable insights and executing on it will be a key differentiator and competitive advantage.
Ryan Kandel
VP, People Analytics & Planning, Visa
Those who elevate HR as a strategic engine for capability, leadership, and sustainable growth will define the future of the function. The CHRO of the future will master AI-driven transformation, harness workforce analytics as a strategic lever, and cultivate resilient, inclusive cultures that thrive amid disruption.
Jason Ramgoolam
VP of HR, Gore Mutual
A successful CHRO will need to master AI-driven workforce intelligence, organizational agility, and human-centered leadership, leveraging advanced analytics and automation to anticipate talent needs, while fostering adaptability and empathy to lead through continuous transformation.
Poonam Sirigidi
Senior Director, People Insights and Performance Management, Pfizer
AI at scale, post-globalization, and evolving employee expectations will redefine work over the next five years. Successful CHROs will fuse tech and data fluency with empathetic leadership—earning trust across the C-suite and shaping strategies to win the next wave of talent.
Brad Woodfield
Senior Director, People Analytics, DaVita
AI is becoming part of our daily life, moving beyond problem-solving to generating possibilities, frameworks, and reviewing future trends. We train the majority of our HR teams in Indonesia on how to use it. Our digitalization roadmap for 2026 is to accelerate AI beyond screening and interviews, integrating talent management and organizational analysis to drive a holistic, scientific talent pipeline. We are ultimately solving for an integrated talent management and predictive data analysis across all our global locations.
Marcus Budimulia
CHRO, Golden Agri Resources
The CHRO of tomorrow wins by mastering three things: data-driven people strategy, AI-powered workforce design, and the ability to hard-wire culture into business performance.
Anette Bohm
CHRO, bpost Group
CHRO Skill 2: Organizational Agility
Having all the data in the world won't help if your organization can't act on it quickly. That's why CHROs also need to help their organizations move faster, adapt smarter, and stay resilient when things don't go as planned. Building workforces that can pivot quickly and cultures that can absorb change without breaking isn't optional anymore.
Prescience: The ability to 'see around corners' - to anticipate the future, associated changes and challenges. It will be key to building an agile, resilient workforce. People-focused technology leadership: With the evolution of HR tech, the Chief People Officer will become the executive who ensures that technology augments - not alienates - the workforce. Culture & experience stewardship, especially in high change environments: 'Culture' can't be a 'buzzword', but rather a strategic 'lever' in which successful companies invest. In the future, CHRO roles will morph into CCO ('Chief Culture Officer') roles.
Mark Berry
Chief People Officer, Inari
Business acumen, workforce adaptability, and AI enablement will define tomorrow's top CHROs. The best will speak the business language of the C-suite, translate it into resilient organizations that thrive on change, and use AI to enhance—not replace—the uniquely human skills that create value.
Scott Judd
Senior Director, People Analytics, eBay
A successful CHRO will need to build an agile workforce strategy that adapts to shifting business priorities and labor market dynamics, foster a high performance culture while delivering an exceptional employee experience, and leverage data insights to shape and influence overall business strategy.
Sameer Raut
VP, People Operations and Technology
As we navigate global challenges and the rise of generative AI happening in our world today, CHROs will need to navigate that complexity by helping their organisations conduct mass upskilling of their workforce, drive purpose and culture, and be a strong enabler for change and transformation.
Jaclyn Lee
CHRO, Certis
The success of the CHRO of the future will hinge on navigating change and an increasing pace of innovation in a cost-conscious environment, leveraging AI and data-driven insights. The shifts in generational trends are bigger than ever, the agility required from employees is more demanding than ever.
Tony Peric
Global HR Technology, HR Services and People Analytics Director, JDE
CHRO Skill 3: Human-Centered Leadership
Something interesting keeps emerging in these conversations with HR leaders. As technology becomes more central to HR, the human element becomes even more critical, not less. The CHROs who succeed won't be the ones who automate everything, they'll be the ones who know when to lean on technology and when to lead with empathy.
Even as automation grows, people will always remain at the heart of any organization. CHROs will need to build inclusive, purpose-driven cultures and support well-being across global, hybrid, and agile teams. The challenge will be scaling empathy and engagement and using technology as an enabler, not a replacement.
Ryan Kandel
VP, People Analytics & Planning, Visa
A successful CHRO will need to be a master of strategic clarity, a champion of leader capability at every level, and an architect of cultures where people can genuinely thrive. Those three disciplines will define how organizations navigate complexity and deliver impact.
Trevor Walker
System SVP, Human Resources, CommonSpirit Health
HR technology and AI are transforming how we manage talent. A successful CHRO will lead this change responsibly and embrace innovation while ensuring strong governance, ethical use, and compliance. Understanding how these tools affect employee experience, productivity, and risk will be essential.
Ryan Kandel
VP, People Analytics & Planning, Visa
Successful CHRO's will continue to be defined by their standing as trusted strategic partners to their CEO's & Boards, their stewardship of culture and values and their personal credibility, authenticity and resilience.
Sharon Taylor
Chief People & Culture Officer, Standard Bank
Five years from now, the CHROs who shape business strategy won't be the ones who picked one lane, they'll be the ones who mastered all three through a combination of:
1. Comfortability with data
2. Organizational agility
3. Human-centered leadership.
These capabilities don't exist in silos, and trying to develop just one while ignoring the others will leave you falling behind. You can't build an agile organization without the data to see what's coming, you can't scale empathy without the systems to support it, and you can't leverage AI effectively without understanding its impact on the humans it's meant to serve.
The CHROs who are building these capabilities now are the ones who'll be ready for whatever comes next. Are you ready to become a thriving CHRO of the future?
Key Takeaways
AI and data comfort is non-negotiable: Tomorrow's CHROs must move beyond reporting what happened to anticipating what's coming, using analytics and AI to predict workforce trends and prepare for cultural shifts
Agility trumps stability: Building resilient, adaptable organizations that can pivot quickly to changing business priorities and market dynamics will separate successful CHROs from the rest
Humanity scales with technology: The best CHROs will use technology as an enabler for empathy and engagement, not a replacement, while maintaining strong governance and ethical standards
Business acumen matters more than ever: CHROs must speak the language of the C-suite and demonstrate HR's direct impact on business performance
These capabilities work together: Success requires mastering all three because data mastery, organizational agility, and human-centered leadership reinforce each other rather than standing alone
Curious where else CHROs should focus in 2026 (and beyond)? Check out the Visier Trends 2026: The Business Case for Humans in the AI Era report now to discover what should be top of your list.
