- Rich, welcome.
In the current uncertain economic environment,
how should CEOs be approaching talent development?
- I think we're living through a period of massive change,
and in those kinds of environments,
even more than in the past,
the caliber of people that you bring into the organization,
that you're able to retain, and equally importantly,
how you're able to develop them and get them
to work together in different and ever-changing ways
becomes fundamental to the ability to drive value
in the business.
So in any environment, go back 50 years,
CEOs will say people are their most important asset.
I heard that when I first joined another company
38 years ago.
But I think in the world we're living in right now,
the priority just keeps going up because we need our people
to be able to adapt to the world we're living in
that will keep changing faster and faster.
- So you're seeing a difference now, do you think
in the way that leaders are prioritizing talent
over say cost transformation, or compared to it?
- I think we've seen a substantial difference.
I mean, let's be clear.
We've been reading extremely negative headlines
almost every day about the economic outlook
and uncertainty and inflation and recession
for about a year now, a little more actually.
And yet, the unemployment rate
is at historically low levels.
Yes, there have been some layoffs in a few sectors.
We hear about the tech sector all the time
but I think across many, many industries,
companies worked so hard to rebuild their talent base
after Covid and have seen the challenges
of developing people and changing,
and helping their people to change,
that they're reluctant to do things
that will undermine trust
and undermine their ability to grow in the medium term.
The cost pressures are substantial.
I do think we'll see some companies
and some sectors taking a more conservative posture,
whether it's on the hiring side
or maybe in some cases workforce reductions.
But I think that they will be more reluctant to go too far
on that because of the times we're living in right now.
- In your experience and in any economic times,
how important is it to have the right people strategy?
- Oh, I think, again, it's fundamental across all periods.
I think leaders have to recognize just
how different that strategy needs to be right now.
To quote Satya Nadella, "we've gone from
a know-it-all world to a learn-it-all world."
I think that's what we're seeing
in a world of more data and AI.
We're seeing a world that requires more rapid change
in response, we're seeing adaptive organizations
being not just a nice thing to have
but actually essential to sustained success,
and people underpin that and therefore,
robust people strategies, how you attract, develop,
retain talent, how you deploy people,
how you get collaboration across the enterprise
and how you allow people and technology to work together
in ways that will continue to change,
because technology capabilities will continue to grow.
Those elements just take
on such a heightened importance for leaders today.
- Rich, thank you so much.
- Pleasure.