The pressure on organizations to develop effective leaders has never been greater. With Brandon Hall Group research showing that 80% of organizations lack confidence in their leadership development pipeline and trust in managers declining from 46% to 29% between 2022 and 2024, Learning & Development executives face a critical challenge: how do you build leadership capacity at scale while maintaining quality and achieving measurable outcomes?

A Conversation Worth Having

I recently had the opportunity to meet with several executives from 2U — Steve van der Westhuizen, SVP of Portfolios; Brian Petrie, Head of the NX Enterprise Business line; and Renee Chantilly, Senior Director of Strategy and Product Marketing. What struck me most about our conversation was their clear understanding that leadership development isn’t just about delivering content; it’s about creating learning experiences that drive strategic business outcomes while meeting learners where they are in their development journey.

As the parent company of edX, 2U has positioned itself uniquely at the intersection of higher education excellence and enterprise learning needs. With over 99 million learners connected to their platform and partnerships with more than 250 leading universities and industry experts, they’ve built something remarkable: a bridge between academic rigor and workplace relevance.

The Market Reality: Why Traditional Approaches Fall Short

Organizations today struggle with three interconnected challenges in leadership development. First, they need to scale learning across global, multigenerational workforces without sacrificing quality or personalization. Second, they require verifiable, stackable credentials that demonstrate real skill acquisition rather than just participation. Third, they must prove ROI in an environment where 88% of organizations plan to heavily invest in learning measurement and analytics.

The leadership development content provider landscape has become increasingly complex. Organizations can choose from several compelling options:

Development Dimensions International (DDI) represents the traditional assessment-driven consulting model in leadership development. With decades of experience, DDI combines leadership assessments, succession planning tools, and customized development programs delivered through consulting engagements. Their Global Leadership Forecast provides influential research (revealing that trust in managers dropped to just 29% by 2024), and their strength lies in diagnostic capabilities that identify leadership gaps before designing solutions. Organizations value DDI for high-potential development programs, executive assessment centers, and deeply customized interventions that require significant consulting partnership.

Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning has spent more than 25 years delivering dynamic learning experiences to the world’s biggest brands. Leveraging the depth of Harvard Business School and Harvard Business Review resources, HBP offers highly focused executive leadership programs through their Harvard ManageMentor platform, blended learning experiences, and co-created solutions that align with client strategy. Their strength lies in research-backed content and a collaborative approach that tailors programs to specific business priorities.

LinkedIn Learning provides accessibility and platform integration advantages, particularly for organizations already using LinkedIn for talent management. With partnerships including Harvard Business Publishing content, their AI-powered platform offers more than 13,000 courses with the convenience of embedding learning in the flow of work. Their model excels at delivering just-in-time microlearning for managers and leaders at scale.

Coursera for Business focuses on partnerships with top universities to deliver professional certificates and specialized leadership programs. Their approach emphasizes flexible, self-paced learning with university-branded credentials. They’ve built a strong reputation in technical skills development and are expanding their leadership offerings through university partnerships.

Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) brings over 50 years of research-backed leadership training with a focus on human-centered leadership development. They offer live online programs, self-paced courses, virtual coaching, and moderated leadership courses including their Leadership Development Program (LDP) for mid-level leaders and Better Conversations & Coaching for communication skills. Their strength is in immersive, research-driven programs that deliver similar impact online as in-person.

What Makes 2U’s Approach Different

2U’s edX For Business distinguishes itself through three critical differentiators that address the enterprise leadership development challenge:

University Partnership Model at Scale: Unlike content aggregators, 2U creates formal partnerships with leading universities to develop programs specifically designed for workplace application. Recent launches demonstrate this approach. The Microsoft collaboration on “CxO Edge: Run your business on AI” combines Microsoft’s enterprise expertise with academic rigor, while the expanded Oxford Saïd Business School partnership brings AI-Driven Business Transformation programs and 16 open courses covering leadership, strategy, and sustainability. These aren’t off-the-shelf courses repurposed for business; they’re purpose-built executive education programs delivered through edX’s platform.

Format Flexibility for Every Learning Need: Organizations can choose from open courses for individual skill building, professional certificates for structured learning paths, cohort-based programs for deeper skill acquisition with peer learning, and curated Academies in critical areas including leadership, AI, supply chain management, data analytics, and sustainability. The partnership with Degreed extends this flexibility further, integrating edX For Business content directly into Degreed’s LXP, Academies and Content Marketplace, enabling organizations to structure employee learning plans within their existing technology ecosystem.

AI-Powered Innovation: 2U earned recognition on Fast Company’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies list for AI advancements in education. Their Xpert AI learning assistant provides learners with personalized support, while AI-powered platform enhancements increase accessibility and improve learning outcomes. This isn’t AI as a gimmick; it’s thoughtfully integrated to enhance the learning experience and provide data-driven insights for L&D teams.

Who Benefits Most from 2U’s Approach

Based on my analysis, 2U’s edX For Business solution serves several distinct organizational profiles particularly well:

Global Enterprise Organizations with distributed workforces benefit from edX’s ability to deliver consistent, high-quality leadership content across geographies. The university-backed credentials provide credibility across cultures, while the platform’s scalability supports programs reaching thousands of employees. Organizations like those representing over 60% of the Fortune 500 who use edX can create unified leadership development strategies that align with strategic initiatives.

Organizations Undergoing Digital Transformation find particular value in 2U’s partnerships with tech leaders like Microsoft and university programs focused on AI-driven business transformation. For companies where leaders need to understand how AI reshapes operations, the CxO Edge program provides practical frameworks for moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide implementation. This is exactly what the 82% of leaders who view this as a pivotal year for rethinking strategy need.

Companies Seeking Leadership Pipeline Development can leverage edX’s diverse learning formats to create clear pathways from emerging leaders to executive development. The combination of short open courses for skill sampling, longer executive education programs for deep learning, and stackable credentials for career progression enables organizations to build comprehensive leadership journeys aligned with their talent strategies.

Learning & Development Teams Facing Resource Constraints appreciate edX’s curator expertise, and the ability to access programs from 250+ partners without building content from scratch. The integration capabilities with platforms like Degreed and various LMS systems mean L&D teams can deliver world-class content without maintaining multiple vendor relationships or creating custom content for every need.

Organizations Prioritizing Skills-Based Development benefit from edX’s focus on verifiable credentials and skills-based learning. The platform’s integration with skills frameworks and the ability to track specific competency development helps organizations align learning investments with strategic workforce planning and internal mobility initiatives.

An Analyst’s Perspective on Market Position

From a market positioning standpoint, 2U occupies an interesting strategic position. They’re not competing directly with traditional corporate training companies like Dale Carnegie or FranklinCovey who deliver programs through facilitators. Instead, they’re competing in the digital-first segment against LinkedIn Learning and Coursera for Business, but with a different value proposition.

Where LinkedIn Learning excels at breadth and workflow integration, and Coursera focuses on individual professional development, 2U’s edX For Business targets organizations seeking the credibility of university partnerships with enterprise-grade delivery. The recent strategic partnerships demonstrate market maturity, integrating with Degreed rather than building competing platform capabilities and partnering with Microsoft on AI content rather than creating it independently.

The challenge ahead is differentiation in an increasingly crowded market. As more universities launch their own digital learning initiatives and traditional training companies add university partnerships, 2U’s competitive advantage will depend on execution quality, integration capabilities, and the measurable outcomes they deliver. The shift toward AI-powered learning experiences and the focus on cohort-based learning models positions them well for organizations prioritizing engagement and skill acquisition over simple content consumption.

For L&D executives evaluating leadership development solutions, 2U’s edX For Business merits serious consideration, particularly for organizations where university credibility matters, where leadership development needs span from frontline managers to C-suite executives, and where integration with existing learning ecosystems is critical. The platform’s strength lies not in being everything to everyone, but in delivering university-quality content with enterprise-grade scalability and integration.

For corporate HR and Learning & Development professionals seeking expert guidance on leadership development solutions, the Brandon Hall Group Institute provides access to comprehensive research, benchmarking data, and personalized advisory support to help you make informed technology selection decisions.

For solution providers in the HCM space, Brandon Hall Group offers specialized services to elevate your market presence. Our Smartchoice® Preferred Provider Program delivers world-class membership benefits including unlimited access to research and advisory support. Through TotalTech, our proprietary platform, solution providers gain visibility among decision-makers actively evaluating HCM technologies. Additionally, our Agency! services provide dedicated digital marketing support specifically designed for HR, talent, and learning technology vendors — helping you navigate the marketplace, understand your buyers, and connect to both.

The post 2U: Scaling Leadership Development Through</br> University Partnerships and AI Innovation appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

Some leadership development providers are still selling you resources from their library. DDI, a frequent Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award winner, understands that what you actually need is the entire library — and someone who knows which resource to pull when your strategy changes next Tuesday. 

I sat down recently with Verity Creedy, SVP of Product, and Kevin Tamanini, VP of Professional Services at DDI, and what struck me wasn’t the usual parade of features and functions. Instead, they described something I’ve been hearing from HR leaders everywhere: the gap between when you identify a leadership need and when you can actually address it has become too costly. Three months to design and deploy a new program? In today’s environment, that timeline might as well be three years. 

This conversation came right after DDI’s customer summit, where they unveiled LeaderLab, their new platform that represents exactly the kind of strategic shift we explore in our advisory services with corporate clients: helping organizations evaluate when a provider’s approach truly aligns with how their business actually operates versus how they wish it operated. 

Leadership Development that Addresses Continual Evolution 

Here’s what I keep hearing from talent leaders: “We just had our strategy shift. Again. And now our leadership team needs completely different capabilities than what we planned for six months ago.” 

The traditional model of leadership development was built for a world that moved slower. Now? I watched one client adjust their leadership development approach three times in the month before I presented to them. Through our Brandon Hall Group Institute membership, we work with HR and learning leaders navigating exactly this challenge: how to build leadership capability when the target keeps moving. 

How the Market Is Responding (And Where Most Providers Fall Short) 

The leadership development space has fractured into distinct camps, each with their own approach and limitations: 

Franklin Covey brings decades of brand recognition and their famous content library, including The 7 Habits and The 4 Disciplines of Execution. Their All Access Pass subscription model provides broad content access across leadership, culture transformation, and execution. But content breadth doesn’t solve for real-time application or individualized development paths. 

Korn Ferry delivers sophisticated assessment tools and executive services, particularly strong in succession planning and C-suite evaluation. Their Four Dimensions of Leadership framework provides deep insight into leadership potential. Their solutions tend toward the high end, more suitable for executive assessment and selection than everyday leadership development at scale.  

LinkedIn Learning offers massive content volume and convenient access through a familiar platform. Leaders can search thousands of courses on any leadership topic, often with strong production quality. Search-and-discover models place the burden on learners to diagnose their own development needs and find the right content.  

What Makes DDI’s Approach Different (And Why It Matters Now) 

DDI made a pivotal shift to a subscription model a few years ago — one I called transformational at the time because it fundamentally changed how organizations could access their expertise. But their new LeaderLab platform takes that concept to the next level. Here’s what caught my attention: 

• Assessment and development connected in real-time. LeaderLab integrates behavioral assessments (the quick ones that take under 10 minutes) directly into development paths. Complete a simulation, get immediate insight into where you stand, and have relevant content automatically recommended. The profile updates continuously, so leaders and their organizations can see progress over time rather than waiting for the next annual assessment cycle. 

• AI that reinforces rather than confuses your approach. Most AI coaching tools operate as search engines. They’ll give you five different coaching models depending on how you phrase your question. DDI’s chatbot uses a closed-source approach, meaning it only draws from DDI’s leadership content. Ask about coaching, and you’ll get their ACE model. Ask about engagement, and you’ll get their Everyday Engagement framework. The consistency matters because leaders aren’t trying to remember which of the fifteen models from different sources they’re supposed to use this week. 

• Configurable assessments that don’t require months of custom work. Organizations can now build their own behavioral simulation assessments based on the competencies they care about most. Scored by AI, but using DDI’s proprietary model rather than generic language models.  

The practical application shows up in their continuous leadership intelligence approach — this idea that you’re constantly taking the pulse of your leadership population rather than doing annual check-ins. When strategy shifts (and it will), you already know where your leadership gaps are and can immediately deploy relevant development. 

Where This Model Makes the Most Sense 

There are specific organization types where DDI’s approach addresses real pain: 

Manufacturing organizations scaling globally. You’re dealing with multiple shifts, distributed locations, and frontline leaders who need practical, just-in-time support. The AI tools for practical scenarios, like writing feedback using the STAR model or preparing for difficult conversations, give leaders immediate help when they need it most. The ability to deliver consistent development across multiple facilities in different regions while still customizing to local needs creates the standardization-with-flexibility balance these organizations struggle with. 

Healthcare systems managing complex succession needs. You’re constantly identifying and developing leaders for clinical and operational roles with very different competency requirements. The combination of assessment and development means you can continuously evaluate readiness, not just once a year when it’s too late to close gaps. The faster assessment options make it feasible to check in regularly without pulling clinical leaders away from patient care for hours. 

Financial services firms navigating constant regulatory and strategic change. Your leadership needs shift with every regulatory update or market condition change. The subscription model means you’re not locked into last year’s leadership priorities, and the continuous intelligence approach helps you see where new capability gaps are emerging before they become crises. The professional services team acts as strategic partners who understand your business context rather than just content vendors. 

Retail and hospitality companies with high frontline leadership turnover. You’re constantly developing new store managers and site leaders, often promoting from within and needing to assess readiness quickly. The integrated assessment-to-development pipeline creates clear career pathways, and the just-in-time coaching support helps new leaders succeed faster. The subscription model makes economic sense when you’re developing large cohorts continuously rather than in periodic waves. 

Where Leadership Development Is Heading 

Sitting in that briefing, I kept thinking about the broader pattern I’m seeing: the line between assessment and development is disappearing. Organizations don’t want to assess and then six months later develop. They want to assess, develop, measure progress, reassess, and adjust, all in a continuous cycle. 

This matters because most business strategies are now failing not because they’re bad strategies, but because organizations lack the leadership agility to execute them. DDI’s research shows over 90% of business strategies fail, and while there are always external factors, the internal one they can control is leadership readiness. 

What I find compelling about their approach isn’t that they’re building for the actual pace of business rather than the pace we wish business moved at. DDI’s bet, and I think it’s the right one, is that leadership development needs to become more like other business capabilities: continuous, data-informed and responsive to changing conditions. LeaderLab represents their platform play to make that possible at scale. 

How Providers Can Navigate This Shift 

Brandon Hall Group works with providers through our Solutions Provider services to help them understand and articulate their market positioning as buyer expectations shift.  

DDI’s advantage is their 55 years of leadership data and expertise, which creates a significant moat. You can’t replicate that with better technology alone. But they’re not resting on their heritage. The LeaderLab platform shows they understand that expertise without the right delivery mechanism isn’t enough. 

The provider landscape is consolidating around two models: discrete programs for specific needs, and continuous development infrastructure for ongoing capability building. Both will survive, but the buyers for each are becoming more clearly defined. If your ideal customer operates in a rapidly changing environment with complex leadership needs across multiple levels, you’ll need to demonstrate continuous development capability, not just great content. 

Where This Goes Next 

The leadership development market is splitting into two camps: providers selling discrete programs and providers building continuous development infrastructure. Both have their place, but I expect to see more consolidation toward the continuous model as organizations realize that episodic development can’t keep pace with episodic strategic change. 

For talent leaders evaluating options, the question isn’t whether you need better leadership development (you do). It’s whether you need leadership development that can keep up with how fast your organization is moving. If the answer is yes, DDI’s approach deserves a serious look — particularly if you’re in one of those industries where strategic agility has become a competitive requirement. 

The market reality is becoming clear: organizations are still building leadership development programs for the world as it used to be, not as it is now. DDI has figured out that the future is about having the best system for matching the right development to the right leaders at the right moment, and then proving it actually worked. 

That shift in thinking might be more valuable than any specific feature on their roadmap. 

The post DDI’s LeaderLab Addresses</br> a Critical Leadership Development Need appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

Leadership development programs fail for a predictable reason: They treat behavior change as a one-time event rather than a sustained process. Organizations invest heavily in workshops and sessions that generate enthusiasm but fade within weeks. Leaders return to old patterns. The business impact never materializes.

I recently met with Donna Iacopucci and Maureen Funkhouser, co-owners of Entelechy, a leadership development firm that’s spent three decades solving this exact problem. After purchasing the company in March 2025, they’re building on a foundation of award-winning programs (including 11 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards since 2023) with clients like Qualcomm and Thermo Fisher Scientific. These are relationships that have lasted 11 years in some cases precisely because their approach creates lasting behavioral shifts rather than temporary learning moments.

What distinguishes their methodology is the focus on prescriptive tools that build repeatable behaviors into daily workflows. This isn’t about inspiring leaders during a two-day offsite. It’s about changing how they operate when they’re back at their desks facing real decisions. It’s the kind of practical, outcome-focused approach we see resonating in our research on corporate learning strategies and what drives organizations to seek proven solutions through our solution provider advisory services.

The Leadership Development Landscape

The market offers vastly different approaches depending on organizational needs and scale:

• Korn Ferry brings global reach and integrated talent advisory services with strong succession planning integration, though their enterprise positioning and pricing reflects Fortune 500 focus rather than mid-market flexibility.
• FranklinCovey offers brand recognition and scalable content through their All Access Pass subscription model, delivering consistency across large populations though with less customization for unique organizational contexts
• BTS excels at business simulations and strategy execution programs that link leadership development to business outcomes, but their model requires substantial upfront investment and extended timelines
• GP Strategies provides comprehensive workforce transformation services with strong learning technology integration.
• DDI delivers research-backed assessment and development solutions, particularly strong in selection and succession planning and includes a strong subscription program.
• CCL (Center for Creative Leadership) maintains deep research credibility and thought leadership with strong assessment tools.

Entelechy positions itself differently — as a specialist in creating sustainable behavioral change through highly structured, repeatable frameworks that can be deployed at various customization levels.

Three-Level Architecture for Different Organizational Needs

Entelechy has organized their offerings around three core verticals, each addressing distinct client requirements:

Leadership Development Programs with Flexible Deployment Models

The foundation of their business centers on programs targeting specific leader populations:

• Aspiring leaders preparing for first-time leadership roles and needing foundational skills before they’re needed under pressure.
• Frontline and mid-level leaders managing day-to-day operations, strengthening coaching, delegation, and performance management capabilities.
• Leaders of leaders operating at director and VP levels, developing strategic thinking and organizational influence.

What makes their approach distinctive is the tiered delivery structure:

• Off-the-shelf cohort programs provide award-winning methodology in a standardized format for organizations wanting proven frameworks without customization overhead.
• Lightly customized programs adapt core content to specific organizational language, culture, and business context.
• Fully customized engagements create bespoke solutions deeply integrated with business strategy — the approach used with enterprise clients like Qualcomm and Thermo Fisher

The core methodology remains consistent across all tiers: prescriptive tools designed to create repeatable behaviors and sustainable habits. Leaders don’t just learn concepts; they practice specific techniques that become embedded in how they work.

Wiley Assessment Solutions

As an authorized provider for Wiley’s DiSC and Five Behaviors assessments, Entelechy integrates behavioral assessments directly into development programs rather than treating them as standalone diagnostic tools.

The integration creates coherence between insight and action:

• Assessment results inform which prescriptive tools will resonate most with individual leaders.
• Development programs use assessment language as common vocabulary for ongoing coaching.
• Teams use shared assessment frameworks to improve collaboration and reduce friction.

Organizations can order assessments directly through Entelechy’s website, making them accessible for both program participants and broader populations.

Coaching Services for Program Reinforcement

While coaching has historically been an adjunct to their program work, Entelechy is building it into a standalone vertical for 2026. The focus remains on reinforcing program outcomes rather than traditional executive coaching:

• Program-connected coaching helps leaders apply specific tools from development programs to real workplace challenges.
• Transition coaching supports leaders moving into new roles who’ve completed development programs.
• Team coaching extends individual development into collective leadership team effectiveness.

The coaching model aligns with their broader philosophy: behavior change happens through sustained practice with specific tools, not through open-ended conversations about leadership philosophy.

AI-Enabled Reinforcement: Extending Programs Beyond Workshops

One of Entelechy’s strategic priorities for 2026 involves exploring how AI can serve as a reinforcement mechanism between formal program sessions. The concept addresses a fundamental challenge in leadership development: programs create momentum during delivery, but that momentum dissipates when leaders return to daily pressures.

Their AI exploration focuses on two applications:

Ongoing Practice Reinforcement

• Between cohort sessions, AI could prompt leaders to apply specific tools from the program to actual situations they’re facing.
• Rather than generic leadership tips, reinforcement would be contextual to the specific frameworks taught in their programs.
• The goal is keeping program concepts active in leaders’ minds during the weeks between formal sessions.

Scalable Coaching Support

• For organizations that can’t provide one-on-one coaching to all program participants, AI could offer tool-specific guidance.
• Leaders could describe workplace scenarios and receive suggestions on which program tools apply and how to use them.
• Human coaches would focus on complex situations while AI handles straightforward tool application questions.

The approach reflects their core belief: leadership development works when specific, repeatable behaviors become habitual. AI isn’t replacing human facilitation or coaching—it’s extending the reach of proven methodologies into the daily moments when leaders actually need them.

Who Benefits From This Approach

Global Enterprises Requiring Consistent Methodology Across Regions

Organizations with 15,000+ employees spread across multiple countries need leadership development that scales without losing effectiveness. Entelechy’s structured frameworks provide consistency. Leaders in Singapore and Boston learn the same prescriptive tools  while allowing for cultural and business context adaptation.

The value: proven methodology that doesn’t require reinvention for each regional deployment, with track records like their 11-year Thermo Fisher partnership demonstrating sustained impact. These are precisely the kinds of implementation challenges Brandon Hall Group helps enterprises navigate through our strategic advisory services.

Mid-Market Organizations Seeking Enterprise-Quality Development

Companies in the 5,000-15,000 employee range often face a frustrating choice: generic training that doesn’t move the needle, or fully customized programs they can’t afford. Entelechy’s tiered model addresses this gap. Off-the-shelf or lightly customized programs deliver the same behavioral change focus that wins awards for Fortune 500 clients, at price points mid-market budgets can support.

Technology and Life Sciences Companies Managing Rapid Change

While Entelechy works across industries, their anchor relationships in technology (Qualcomm) and life sciences (Thermo Fisher) reveal a natural fit. These sectors face constant change that requires leaders who can adapt quickly while maintaining operational excellence.

Their structured tool approach helps: leaders have specific frameworks for navigating ambiguity rather than relying on general leadership principles that feel too abstract during crises.

Organizations Moving Beyond Training Compliance

Companies frustrated with leadership development that checks boxes but doesn’t change behavior find Entelechy’s approach refreshing. The focus on prescriptive tools and habit formation directly addresses the gap between “leaders attended the program” and “leaders actually operate differently.”

Companies Wanting Assessment-Development Integration

Organizations seeking to weave Wiley assessments into development programs rather than using them as standalone diagnostics benefit from Entelechy’s authorized provider status. The integration ensures assessment insights translate into specific behavioral practices rather than sitting in reports that leaders read once and forget.

Strategic Position: Specialist in Sustainable Change

Entelechy occupies a distinctive position in the leadership development market — they’re not competing on brand recognition or global scale, but on a specific capability: creating behavioral change that lasts beyond the program delivery period.

Their multi-year client relationships demonstrate this focus. Organizations don’t typically maintain 11-year partnerships with leadership development providers unless the programs continue delivering measurable value. That sustained impact comes from their structured methodology — prescriptive tools that become embedded in how leaders actually work.

The tiered delivery model they’re building represents thoughtful market positioning. Rather than choosing between boutique customization and scaled standardization, they’re offering both, meeting mid-market organizations where their budgets are while maintaining the program quality that wins awards at the enterprise level. For solution providers navigating similar strategic transitions, our provider-focused consulting services help translate proven capabilities into scalable market positioning.

Their expansion into AI-enabled reinforcement and coaching verticalization shows strategic thinking about how leadership development needs to evolve. Programs can’t remain isolated events. They need to extend into daily work—the moments when leaders face actual decisions, not hypothetical case studies.

For organizations evaluating leadership development partners, Entelechy presents an interesting alternative to both massive global consultancies and generic training vendors. They bring three decades of proven methodology focused specifically on behavioral change, with delivery models flexible enough to serve organizations at different scales and budget levels.

The post Entelechy Builds Leadership Behavioral Change</br> Into Daily Work appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

At Brandon Hall Group’s Women in Leadership — Shaping Tomorrow summit, one theme echoed through every hallway conversation, panel discussion, and networking circle: Women are leading through unprecedented disruption, and turning that disruption into a strategic advantage for their organizations.

I had the honor of delivering the event’s early tone-setting talk, “The Real Superpower of Leadership,” participating in two panel discussions, and leading a breakout on resilience and confidence. What unfolded over the course of the summit was more than a conference agenda; it was a living case study in how inclusive, human-centered leadership drives business impact.

Following the same narrative structure we often use in our research and partner spotlights, connecting the challenge, the response, and the implications for organizations, this recap highlights the key themes that emerged from the day.

The Challenge: Women Leading Through Disruption

The tone-setting talk began with a simple moment from my childhood that shaped how I see leadership.

In fifth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Williams, handed me my cumulative record. Inside, my kindergarten teacher had written: “Marline is an outstanding student and a natural leader.” At the time, I didn’t see myself as a leader; I just liked helping. Mrs. Williams replied, “A leader sets the tone. A leader is the example. And that’s you.”

Years later, after degrees, promotions, and expanding responsibilities, life handed me a major disruption: a 15-year journey with infertility, layered on top of a demanding executive career. Like many women, I learned to carry invisible weight while still “showing up” polished and productive.

That tension, leading others while navigating personal disruption, is rarely discussed openly in corporate leadership narratives. Yet for many women, it is the norm, not the exception.

The Real Superpower of Leadership: Presence Through Disruption

My doctoral research’s Conceptual Framework, Leader Morphology in the Labyrinth, examines how women in leadership roles adapt when their personal and professional worlds collide, through infertility, grief, caregiving, bias, and other life disruptions.

The data reveals that when women are able to integrate (rather than hide) their disruptions, they develop what I call E.A.R. qualities:

• Empathy — Rooted in firsthand experience with pain and uncertainty
• Adaptability — Forged through continual pivots in both life and work
• Resilience — Strengthened each time they rise again after a setback

These are not signs of weakness; they are strategic assets. Organizations that recognize and support these qualities benefit from leaders who can navigate ambiguity, connect deeply with their teams, and make decisions that consider both people and performance.

The central message was simple but powerful: The real superpower of leadership is not perfection, it’s presence through disruption. When leaders allow their humanity to coexist with their authority, they create cultures where others feel safe to do the same.

Panel 1: Leading Forward in an AI-Driven World

Session: Leading Forward: Power, Purpose, and Positioning in an AI-Driven World
With: Karla Martinez, Pfizer and Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall COO

In our first panel, we explored what it means for women to “lead forward” at a time when AI is reshaping how work gets done.

A few themes stood out:

• Power as responsibility, not control.
  Power is no longer about owning information. AI and data democratize that. Instead, it’s about how leaders use their influence to create equitable opportunities, ethical technology decisions, and psychologically safe environments.
• Purpose sharpened by disruption.
  Many women leaders, myself included, have found that personal disruption clarifies professional purpose. For me, navigating infertility while rising through the C-suite led directly to my work in resilience, fertility advocacy, and leadership research.
• Positioning with intention.
  We encouraged attendees to think critically about where they are positioned in their organizations. Are they in the rooms where decisions about people, technology, and investment are made? Are they visible in conversations about AI ethics, workforce strategy, and culture, areas where women’s perspectives are crucial?

The core takeaway: AI may change the tools, but it doesn’t replace the need for human-centered, values-driven leadership. Women who align power, purpose, and positioning can shape how AI is implemented, not just react to it.

Panel 2: Driving Business Impact Through Inclusive Leadership

Session: Driving Business Impact Through Inclusive Leadership
With: Kara Kirby, TrainingPros; David Wentworth, Managing Director Learning and Talent, Brandon Hall

My second panel focused on how inclusive leadership translates into measurable business outcomes.

We discussed:

• From initiative to operating system.
  Inclusion can’t live as a standalone program; it must be embedded in how leaders hire, promote, assign stretch work, and make decisions. When inclusion is baked into leadership competencies and performance expectations, it becomes part of “how we do business,” not “something HR runs.”
• Balancing data and lived experience.
  As a finance and people leader, I emphasized the need to look at both:
  • Quantitative metrics like representation, promotion and retention rates, pay equity, and turnover costs.
  • Qualitative indicators like engagement comments, listening sessions, and psychological safety.
    When the numbers and the stories don’t match, that’s a signal to dig deeper.
• The ROI of inclusion.
  Inclusive leadership shows up in lower attrition, stronger succession pipelines, better innovation outcomes, and faster adoption of change. When employees feel seen and heard, they contribute more ideas, flag risks earlier, and stay longer.

The message to leaders: Inclusive leadership is not just the right thing to do, it is a risk mitigation strategy and performance driver.

Building Resilience and Confidence: A Room of Women, A Circle of Stories

Beyond the main stage, I had the privilege of hosting a group activity titled “Building Resilience and Confidence.” This session created a safe, structured space for women to:

• Reflect on past moments of resilience, times they faced a challenge and still showed up.
• Name current disruptions they are navigating, from career transitions to caregiving and health challenges.
• Identify practical strategies to move forward with confidence, such as boundary-setting, micro-rest, reframing self-talk, and seeking support.

What made this session special was the level of vulnerability and support in the room. Women didn’t just listen; they offered concrete help, introductions, resources, encouragement, and accountability, to help one another take the next step.

It was a powerful real-time demonstration of the keynote message: Resilience is not a solo sport. When women share their stories and support each other, resilience becomes a shared resource, not an isolated burden.

The Power of Connection: Before, During, and After the Summit

One of my favorite aspects of the summit was the speaker social the evening before the event. It was strategic and fun, a chance for speakers to meet, break the ice, and build rapport before stepping onto the stage together.

That pre-event connection paid dividends the next day:

• Panel conversations flowed naturally because we’d already established trust.
• Collaboration felt authentic, not performative.
• Follow-up conversations continued in the hallways as speakers and attendees built on ideas from the sessions.

Throughout the summit, I saw women exchanging business cards and LinkedIn connections, but more importantly, I heard them saying things like, “I can help you with that,” and “Let’s talk about how to get you to that next role.”

Those moments are where the true impact lives — not just in the content we deliver, but in the bridges we build.

What This Means for Organizations

For organizations looking to accelerate the development of women leaders and create more resilient, inclusive cultures, the summit reinforced a few clear imperatives:

1. Recognize disruption as data, not a derailment.
   The personal challenges your leaders face, health, caregiving, loss, fertility, shape their capacity for empathy, adaptability, and resilience. When organizations create space and support for this reality, they unlock powerful leadership capabilities.
2. Treat inclusion as infrastructure.
   Embed inclusive behaviors into leadership expectations, decision-making frameworks, and talent processes. Measure them with the same seriousness as financial and operational metrics.
3. Invest in safe spaces and peer learning.
   Breakouts like Metrics and ROI, Executive Presence and Leadership Style, Mentoring, Career Transitions, and Building Resilience and Confidence demonstrate how structured conversations can deepen trust, accelerate learning, and strengthen retention, especially for high-potential women navigating complex lives.
4. Connect women across functions and levels.
   The summit created a cross-organizational network of women who now see themselves not just as individual leaders, but as part of a broader ecosystem of support and influence.

Closing: Shaping Tomorrow, Starting Now

As I reflected on the day, I kept coming back to that red word from my childhood record: leader. At the summit, I saw that word come alive in countless forms, C-suite executives, emerging leaders, entrepreneurs, and specialists who are each shaping tomorrow in their own context.

The women who attended this event are not waiting for perfect circumstances. They are leading through disruption, designing inclusive cultures, experimenting with AI, and building resilience in community with one another.

If there was one shared belief in the room, it was this: The future of leadership is human, inclusive, and unapologetically resilient.

And after this summit, I’m more convinced than ever that women are not just ready for that future, they are actively building it.

The post Women in Leadership — Shaping Tomorrow:</br> The Real Superpower of Leadership appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

Employee development has always been stuck between two unsatisfying options: deploy hundreds of people through a single workshop and hope something sticks, or invest in intensive coaching programs that reach a fraction of the employees who need support. Too many organizations still default to one-size-fits-all webinars and video libraries that deliver neither engagement nor measurable skill development.

Last week, I sat down with Tom Griffiths, CEO and co-founder of Hone, for a detailed briefing on their platform and their newly launched AI capabilities. Griffiths brings an interesting dual background to this space: a master’s and PhD focus in AI and machine learning (about two decades before it became ubiquitous), combined with firsthand experience scaling a hyperscaler business where he couldn’t find adequate solutions for rapid upskilling across management and broader employee populations. That gap led him to found Hone nearly eight years ago, and the company has since trained over 50,000 learners across organizations like Indeed, Zoom, Subway, and Dow Jones.

What caught my attention in this briefing wasn’t just another company adding AI features to an existing training platform. Hone has built something more deliberate: a hybrid model that combines live, coach-led virtual classes with three distinct AI-powered modalities: AI lessons, AI practice environments, and AI coaching. They all work together as a continuous learning ecosystem. The timing is significant: they launched these AI capabilities publicly in September 2025, after nine months of development with several dozen pilot customers.

The Human Skills Development Market Gets Crowded and Confusing

Organizations shopping for employee development solutions, whether for managers, individual contributors, or senior leaders, face an increasingly fragmented market. Understanding who does what — and what they don’t do — matters more than ever. (This is exactly the kind of vendor evaluation challenge we help organizations navigate through our advisory services and strategic consulting engagements.)

BetterUp and CoachHub focus primarily on scaling one-to-one coaching relationships between certified coaches and employees, plus AI coaching offerings. They excel at personalized support but lack curriculum-driven group training experiences.

LifeLabs Learning delivers traditional live instructor-led training with strong facilitation and research-backed frameworks, but their model relies on scheduling cohorts and doesn’t incorporate on-demand AI learning or practice environments for skills reinforcement between sessions.

Yoodli and Second Nature have built specialized AI practice platforms for verbal communication and role-play scenarios, offering realistic simulation environments. However, they lack the curriculum design, live coaching components and broader learning ecosystem that ties practice back to comprehensive skill development journeys.

Skillsoft (Percipio) provides extensive content libraries with strong technical and compliance training, now incorporating some AI capabilities. Their breadth covers many topics, but they haven’t traditionally specialized in the development that requires live facilitation and coaching methodologies.

Valence and Pascal concentrate on AI-powered coaching conversations, delivering 24/7 support for workplace challenges. They’ve made coaching more accessible but generally don’t include structured curriculum, live human instructors or the kind of scenario-based practice environments that skills development requires.

The pattern becomes clear: most vendors excel in one modality, live training or AI coaching or practice simulations, but struggle to integrate multiple approaches into cohesive learning journeys.

How Hone Combines Human Expertise with AI Scale

Hone’s architecture rests on two foundational pillars that work in tandem. First, they’ve built one of the largest libraries of live online coach-led classes — over 100 different sessions covering management and leadership fundamentals, universal workplace skills like communication and collaboration, and functional skills including project management and client relations.

These generally are small-group experiences (10-20 people) with live discussion, breakout room practice, and real-time coaching feedback. Organizations can deploy them in two ways: as private cohorts for specific audiences, or through “Hone Membership,” essentially a Peloton-style schedule where the company runs 50+ classes weekly and employees drop into the sessions that fit their schedules and needs.

The second pillar, launched publicly just weeks ago, consists of three integrated AI experiences:

• AI-led training (AI lessons): Interactive 5- to 10-minute learning sessions where the AI acts as a personal tutor, teaching specific skills through voice, text, and visual elements. This isn’t passive video consumption—learners can ask questions about frameworks, apply concepts to their own situations, and practice techniques within the lesson itself. Think of it as voice-first e-learning that maintains the engagement benefits of live interaction but delivers the convenience of on-demand access.
• AI practice: Realistic simulation environments where employees role-play challenging workplace scenarios, such as difficult feedback conversations, delegation discussions and performance reviews. An AI partner responds dynamically. Learners can repeat scenarios as many times as needed, immediately after learning a skill or right before walking into an actual high-stakes conversation. The practice sessions are personalized based on the learner’s role, industry and company context.
• AI coaching: An open-ended coaching experience available 24/7 through voice or text (integrated with Slack and Teams for workflow access). Rather than following a script, the AI uses established coaching frameworks to help employees work through challenges, make decisions, and develop their own solutions. It’s contextually aware of both organizational details (leadership principles, competency frameworks, company values) and individual factors (role, team dynamics, learning preferences).

The technical foundation matters here. Hone trained their AI on three distinct layers:

• Organizational context (leadership principles, mission, industry language, competency models)
• Individual context (names, roles, personality, learning styles, team structures)
• Hone’s own frameworks developed through hundreds of thousands of hours delivering employee development.

That multi-layered training allows the AI to tailor every interaction — whether teaching, coaching, or facilitating practice — to feel relevant rather than generic.

Why the Integration Actually Matters

Where this becomes strategically interesting is how these modalities connect into learning journeys rather than operating as separate tools. A frontline manager cohort might start with a four-class live program covering coaching, feedback and delegation fundamentals, supported by ongoing AI coaching whenever challenges arise. Meanwhile, the broader employee base accesses AI lessons and practice for communication and collaboration skills, with the AI recommending relevant live classes for deeper development.

Senior executives might participate in facilitated strategic discussions (a different live format focused on peer exchange) and receive follow-up AI coaching. Individual contributors working on project management or analytical thinking can access targeted lessons and practice without waiting for scheduled training events.

The analytics layer spans both human and AI interactions. Right now, Hone tracks Kirkpatrick levels one through four and performance impact surveys. They’re reporting strong numbers: 90% of learners leave classes feeling motivated and capable of applying what they learned, 88% report improved performance in follow-up surveys, and 72% indicate increased intention to stay with their organization.

The roadmap for the next 6-12 months includes capabilities that could shift this from interesting to strategically significant. Most notably: skills validation through AI assessment of how learners demonstrate competencies during coaching sessions and practice scenarios, custom lesson and practice creation so organizations can build company-specific learning for initiatives like merger integration or performance review preparation, and advanced analytics that surface themes emerging across coaching conversations without breaking individual confidentiality.

That last piece deserves emphasis. Because AI coaching interactions are digitized, Hone can use AI to identify organizational patterns. Think of teams struggling with a specific initiative pr common challenges during a change management process, for example.

This gives companies visibility into employee concerns and development needs they’ve never had access to before. This kind of capability —translating learning data into strategic workforce insights — represents exactly the type of measurement maturity we explore in our research on learning effectiveness.

Which Organizations Benefit Most from This Model

Hone serves mid-market and enterprise customers, typically brought in initially for manager development but increasingly deployed company-wide with the AI capabilities making broader access more feasible. Based on their customer base and solution architecture, several profiles stand out:

• Mid-sized technology companies scaling quickly and needing to upskill across all levels—from newly promoted managers to individual contributors taking on expanded responsibilities to senior leaders navigating strategic challenges.
• Financial services and professional services firms where interpersonal skills, client relationships and professional presence directly impact business outcomes at every level.
• Distributed and hybrid workforces struggling to create consistent development experiences across time zones and locations for their entire employee population.
• Organizations consolidating vendors and looking to reduce program complexity. Companies tired of stitching together separate contracts for manager training, employee skill development, executive coaching, practice tools

and learning platforms find value in a single integrated solution.

• HR and L&D teams stretched thin and needing to demonstrate ROI. The dual benefit here: AI scales coaching and practice that previously required expensive one-to-one human resources, making quality development accessible company-wide, while the analytics demonstrate measurable behavior change and business impact in ways that justify continued investment.

Market Position and Strategic Assessment

From an analyst’s perspective, Hone occupies an unusual position. They’re not the established learning platform trying to bolt on AI features, nor are they the pure-play AI startup without practical training expertise. That combination of nearly eight years delivering live skills development with deep AI technical shows up in the product architecture.

The competitive differentiation crystallizes around integration and specialization. While larger learning platforms offer broader content spanning technical and compliance training, Hone has gone deep on the human skills domain, such as leadership, communication, coaching, feedback, collaboration and time management. AI voice interactions and practice scenarios deliver genuine value rather than feeling like technology for technology’s sake. And while pure AI coaching vendors have focused on conversation interfaces, Hone maintains that live human element for cohort learning and relationship building that certain development experiences still require.

The timing of their public AI launch (September) means market awareness remains low, but that creates opportunity as much as challenge. Organizations evaluating employee development solutions in 2026 are actively looking for AI applications that deliver practical value. The combination of AI lessons (a genuinely new modality), realistic practice environments and coaching support, all connected to live training, addresses the “continuous learning” requirement that most vendors talk about but struggle to operationalize across diverse employee populations.

It’s worth noting that Hone has been recognized through Brandon Hall Group’s HCM Excellence Awards for their innovation in this space, validating that their approach resonates with organizations seeking measurable development outcomes. For solution providers like Hone looking to increase their visibility in this crowded market, programs like our Excellence Awards, strategic research partnerships, and industry conferences provide valuable platforms to demonstrate differentiation to the practitioner community.

Two factors will determine Hone’s trajectory over the next 12-18 months. First, execution on their roadmap, particularly skills validation and custom content creation. If they deliver those capabilities as planned, they’ll have something differentiated enough to command attention in an increasingly crowded market. Second, market education; helping buyers understand not just what Hone does, but when and why the hybrid AI-plus-human model matters for human skills development.

If Hone can demonstrate that their integrated approach delivers both scale and effectiveness with measurement to prove it, they’ve solved a problem that’s frustrated L&D leaders for decades. That’s worth watching closely.

For organizations evaluating employee development solutions or looking to benchmark their current programs, Brandon Hall Group’s advisory services provide strategic guidance on vendor selection, program design, and measurement frameworks. Solution providers interested in analyst briefings and market visibility opportunities can explore our partnership programs.

The post When Live Training Meets AI Coaching: Inside Hone’s Approach to Workplace Skills Development appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

When I met recently with Amy Elizabeth Forbes, Strategic Director at Cornell Executive Education, she revealed something refreshing in the world of academic executive programs – a dedication to measuring business transformation rather than just delivering prestigious certificates. Fresh off winning five Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards in 2025, Cornell’s executive education division demonstrates that universities can compete effectively with private training firms when they leverage their unique academic assets strategically.

What caught my attention was that Cornell actively tracks behavioral changes six to 12 months post-program, building case studies that demonstrate real ROI beyond traditional satisfaction scores. This evidence-based approach to executive development stands out.

The Academic Arms Race Gets Real

Executive education has become increasingly crowded as organizations seek alternatives to traditional MBA programs for developing senior talent. Companies face mounting pressure to upskill leaders rapidly while maintaining operational continuity. The challenge intensifies when considering the vast price differentials between providers — from LinkedIn Learning’s subscription model to premium university programs commanding six-figure investments for cohort-based experiences.

Traditional academic players dominate the high-touch, senior executive segment:

• Harvard Business School Executive Education leverages its respected case study method and Boston campus experience, attracting over 10,000 executives annually. The institution excels at creating prestigious networking opportunities and maintains a strong brand cache globally.
• Wharton Executive Education brings deep financial services expertise and sophisticated business simulations to the table, partnering with giants like Google, Santander and Merck on multi-year custom programs. Their strength lies in a data-driven curriculum and quantitative rigor.
• MIT Sloan Executive Education differentiates through technology integration and innovation frameworks, offering over 40 short courses plus custom programs that blend management with engineering perspectives.
• Stanford Graduate School of Business capitalizes on Silicon Valley proximity and entrepreneurial culture, featuring programs like the Stanford Executive Program that blend personal development with professional growth. Their design thinking methodology and innovation focus attract transformation-minded executives.

Meanwhile, private sector competitors like LinkedIn Learning and Coursera compete on accessibility and speed-to-market, though they typically lack the depth and peer learning opportunities that senior executives value.

Faculty Networks as Competitive Weapons

Cornell’s structural advantage lies in what Forbes describes as their “network effect,” the ability to pull faculty from across the university’s colleges rather than limiting themselves to business school professors. Unlike competitors situated exclusively within business schools, Cornell Executive Education draws from world-class schools, including the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) for HR expertise, Weill Medical College for healthcare programs, and engineering schools for technical leadership development.

This cross-pollination creates unique possibilities:

• Industry-specific depth. Healthcare executives receive instruction from practicing physicians at Weill Cornell Medicine, not just healthcare management professors. Supply chain leaders learn from operations research faculty who consult for Fortune 500 logistics operations.
• Regulatory expertise. Programs addressing labor relations tap ILR School faculty that specializes in employment law, providing nuanced perspectives unavailable at pure business schools.
• Technical credibility. Engineering leadership programs feature faculty who understand both the technical challenges and management complexities of leading R&D organizations, bridging the gap between pure management theory and technical reality.

The Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island has emerged as a particular differentiator, offering world-class facilities in New York City that eliminate the travel challenges associated with reaching Cornell’s Ithaca campus while providing an innovation-focused environment. This dual-campus strategy addresses a persistent challenge for Cornell: accessibility.

The ROI Imperative Reshapes Program Design

Cornell’s emphasis on assessment extends beyond typical smile sheets, with programs like their Sun Life collaboration collecting extensive behavioral change data that contributed to a Brandon Hall Group Gold Excellence Award. This measurement focus reflects broader market pressures as L&D budgets face increased scrutiny.

Their design process reveals a sophisticated understanding of adult learning principles:

• Pre-program research. Faculty conduct extensive organizational analysis before designing content, ensuring examples and cases reflect actual challenges participants face. Design fees built into pricing models incentivize faculty to invest time in customization rather than recycling generic content.
• Application over theory. Programs emphasize being “light on theory, but heavy on the application and practice,” with faculty using engaging techniques, frameworks, and models followed immediately by hands-on practice. Simulations, role-plays, and team projects dominate over traditional lectures.
• Multi-modal delivery. The 60-40 split between Cornell-hosted and client-site programs demonstrates flexibility in meeting organizations where they are, with faculty traveling to deliver programs in Paris, the Middle East, and Asia.
• Extended engagement. Rather than one-off events, many programs span multiple months with modules designed to reinforce learning and enable real-world application between sessions. Virtual touchpoints maintain momentum without requiring extended time away from work.

Who Benefits Most from Academic Executive Education

The sweet spot for Cornell’s approach, and academic executive education generally, encompasses several organizational profiles, which are featured in case studies in the Brandon Hall Group Institute:

• Global enterprises undergoing transformation. These organizations value the credibility that comes with university affiliation when rolling out enterprise-wide leadership development initiatives. The combination of academic rigor and practical application helps overcome resistance to change while providing frameworks that translate across cultures and business units. Cornell’s work with Vinci of France, a company that had never partnered with an American university before, demonstrates their ability to compete globally and win on merit rather than proximity.
• Technical organizations developing business acumen. Engineers and scientists promoted to leadership roles require programs that respect their technical expertise while building commercial capabilities. Cornell’s ability to combine engineering faculty with business professors creates unique value for these audiences, addressing both the analytical and interpersonal dimensions of technical leadership.
• Regulated industries requiring specialized expertise. These sectors face unique compliance and operational challenges that generic leadership programs can’t address. Cornell’s ability to tap specialized schools like Weill Medical College for healthcare programs or ILR for labor relations provides domain expertise that pure business schools struggle to match. Programs can address regulatory requirements while developing leadership capabilities.
• High-growth companies scaling leadership bench. These organizations need to develop leaders faster than traditional career paths allow. Cornell’s combination of eCornell’s online certificates for mid-level managers and custom executive education for senior leaders enables sophisticated talent development strategies. The ability to earn Cornell certificates after 24+ hours of instruction provides meaningful credentials that support internal mobility.
• Purpose-driven organizations balancing mission and margin. These entities require leadership development that acknowledges their dual bottom lines. Academic institutions’ mission-driven orientation resonates more authentically than profit-focused training companies. Cornell’s nonprofit pricing and focus on societal impact align with these organizations’ values while providing world-class business education.

Strategic Implications for the Market

Traditional boundaries between academic and corporate providers continue to blur as universities become more agile and corporations seek academic credibility. Cornell’s ability to deliver over 100 unique custom programs annually while maintaining quality standards challenges assumptions about academic institutions’ capacity for scale.

Several trends will shape competitive dynamics going forward, all of which will be discussed by award-winning organizations at the HCM Excellence Conference (Feb. 9-12, 2026):

The rise of evidence-based L&D will favor providers who invest in measurement infrastructure. Organizations increasingly demand proof of behavior change and business impact, not just participant satisfaction. Cornell’s systematic approach to collecting and sharing impact data positions them well for this shift, though private competitors with stronger analytics capabilities may close this gap quickly.

Geographic flexibility becomes table stakes as hybrid work normalizes. Cornell’s recent shift back toward in-person programs for senior executives (following pandemic-era virtual dominance) suggests that premium experiences still command premiums, but providers must offer multiple modalities.

Industry verticalization will accelerate as generic leadership development loses favor. Organizations want providers who understand their specific challenges, speak their language, and can reference relevant examples. Cornell’s distributed faculty model enables deeper specialization than business school-centric competitors, though coordination complexity increases with scale.

The integration of AI and emerging technologies into curriculum, which will be discussed at our AI Summit Oct. 16-17, will separate leaders from laggards. While Cornell acknowledges being “slow to market” with AI content, their faculty’s research orientation positions them to provide more substantive insights once programs launch. Speed versus depth remains a strategic tradeoff.

For organizations evaluating executive education partners, the Cornell model suggests looking beyond brand prestige to examine structural advantages. Can the provider access specialized expertise relevant to your industry? Do they measure what matters to your business, not just what’s easy to track? Will they invest in understanding your specific context, or simply customize their standard offerings?

The market will likely see continued consolidation as subscale providers struggle to compete on both quality and price. Academic institutions with strong brands but weak execution capabilities may partner with education technology companies to improve delivery. Corporate universities may increasingly outsource specialized content to academic partners while maintaining program management internally.

Cornell’s recent Brandon Hall Group awards success validates their hypothesis that academic institutions can compete effectively with commercial training when they leverage their unique assets strategically. The question is which model best aligns with an organization’s specific needs, culture and development objectives. In Cornell’s case, the answer increasingly favors those seeking depth, credibility and measurable business impact over speed and convenience alone.

The post Inside Cornell’s Uncommon Approach</br> to Executive Education appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

The recognition was announced on August 14, 2025. A full list of winners is available here: https://excellenceawards.brandonhall.com/winners/

The award celebrates the design and delivery of Unilever’s global frontline leadership programme ‘Leadership for Future Manufacturing’, created in partnership with Tack TMI, to empower leaders to manage teams effectively, foster collaboration, and drive productivity in complex manufacturing environments. The programme achieved measurable business impact through a blend of innovative design, local adaptation, and strong cross-border collaboration, ensuring consistent leadership capability across Unilever’s global operations.

“In our industry, which is focused on achieving results through behaviour change, demonstrating measurable business impact is both rare and challenging. This Gold award from Brandon Hall Group is a testament to the extraordinary impact we have created together with Unilever. We are truly grateful to Unilever for trusting us with this programme and for their collaboration and commitment throughout our longstanding partnership. This recognition reflects not only the strength of the programme, but also the dedication of our global teams in delivering meaningful outcomes across regions. Thank you to everyone who has brought this initiative to life and to those who continue to drive positive client impact every day.” said Jim O’Brien, CEO of Tack TMI.

Commenting on the award, Veronica Luna, Global Supply Chain Learning and Development Lead, Unilever said: “Frontline leaders are the heartbeat of our factories. They’re not just managing operations – they’re shaping culture, driving performance, and inspiring teams every single day. This award is a powerful recognition of their role and the impact of investing in their growth. The Leadership for Future Manufacturing programme was designed to meet them where they are, with practical tools and real-world relevance. Seeing how it’s empowered our teams globally is deeply rewarding. I’m proud of what we’ve built together and excited for what’s next.”

The programme design was led by Tack TMI’s global consulting team and brought to life through delivery teams across multiple regions, ensuring relevance and impact in diverse local contexts including Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

“This year’s Excellence Award winners exemplify the transformative power of strategic human capital management. Through their innovative approaches to talent development and employee engagement, these organizations have not only achieved remarkable business outcomes but have also redefined what it means to create truly people-centric workplaces,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer and HCM Excellence Awards® Program Leader.

Entries were evaluated by a panel of independent industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based on:

• Alignment to business need and environment
• Program design, functionality, and delivery
• Adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, and creativity
• Overall effectiveness, impact, and measurable benefits

Excellence Award winners will be honored at the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Conference, taking place February 9-12, 2026, at the Hilton West Palm Beach, Florida. Select winners will also share best practices during breakout sessions at the event.

“The 2025 Excellence Award recipients represent the pinnacle of achievement in human capital management. What sets this year’s winners apart is their bold embrace of emerging technologies and their commitment to creating meaningful employee experiences that drive tangible business results,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group Chief Executive Officer.

About Unilever

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream products. Their brands are available in over 190 countries and are used by approximately 3.4 billion people every day. In 2024, they generated €60.8 billion in turnover.

Unilever’s vision is to be the global leader in sustainable business and to show how their purpose-led, future-fit business model drives superior performance. They have a long tradition of being a progressive, responsible business. The Unilever Compass – their sustainability strategy – is designed to deliver superior performance and foster sustainable and responsible growth, while:

• Improving the health of the planet;
• Enhancing people’s health, confidence, and wellbeing; and
•  Contributing to a fairer and more socially inclusive world.

About Tack TMI

Tack TMI is your global partner for meaningful learning experiences. With over 110 years of expertise, Tack TMI help people and organisations build the skills, mindsets, and behaviours they need to thrive. Delivering in more than 55 countries, we combine the power of global scale with the relevance of local insight.

Our learning experiences are designed to stick – blending innovative solution design, the latest technology, and a proven portfolio of content. From leadership development to sales enablement, customer experience, and personal effectiveness, our scalable programmes address business challenges and deliver measurable results.

We bring together learning consulting, individual assessments, immersive training (virtual, in-person, and blended), digital self-paced learning, and performance coaching, all tailored to drive lasting behaviour change and sustainable growth.

As part of Gi Group Holding, one of the world’s leading HR services groups, Tack TMI is uniquely positioned to support organisations of every size and sector to develop talent, strengthen culture, and unlock performance at scale.

About Brandon Hall Group

Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era.

For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards® program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.”

The awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems and tools that have achieved measurable results. We are honored to receive applications from organizations worldwide ranging from small, medium, large and global enterprises to government, not-for-profits and associations.

The post Unilever and Tack TMI Win Gold at the</br> 2025 Brandon Hall Group™ HCM Excellence Awards® appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

For years, organizations have faced an impossible choice when it came to manager/leadership training: reach everyone with flat e-learning that doesn’t stick, or deliver engaging live training that’s too expensive to scale.

But new AI technologies and evolved training approaches are finally making it possible to have both.

During a recent briefing with Tom Griffiths, CEO of Hone, I discovered how his company is among those solving this persistent challenge through voice-based AI coaching combined with live instruction. The answer, it turns out, lies in combining live small-group classes with voice-based AI coaching—a dual modality approach that’s capturing attention from companies like Subway, Wall Street Journal, Zoom, and Indeed.

Founded seven years ago by Griffiths (whose background includes building sports betting plaform FanDuel), Hone has evolved from a live-only training platform into what they call a “dual modality learning platform.” The company serves hundreds of customers across technology, financial services, media, and other industries requiring management development at scale. Their recent integration of conversational AI represents a significant shift in how organizations can approach management development.

When Traditional Training Approaches Hit Their Limits

The leadership development market faces a persistent challenge: traditional e-learning libraries can reach everyone but lack the engagement needed for behavior change, while live training and coaching deliver impact but remain expensive and logistically difficult to scale. Most organizations end up with annual one- or two-day training events that fail to deliver sustained results.

The emergence of AI has created new possibilities, but also new complexities. Organizations are increasingly wary of generic AI solutions that might hallucinate frameworks or provide inconsistent guidance across their workforce.

How the Competition Stacks Up

The management training space includes several established players, each with distinct strengths and limitations:

• LifeLabs Learning offers live virtual workshops with unlimited access through their membership model. Their strength lies in research-backed “tipping point skills” and expert facilitators with psychology backgrounds. However, their approach remains primarily live-instructor dependent, limiting personalization and on-demand availability.
• Wildsparq provides a structured monthly leadership development system with individual development plans and team-based learning. While their systematic approach creates consistency, it lacks the real-time AI coaching component that enables just-in-time skill application.
• BetterUp combines AI technology with behavioral science for digital coaching at scale. Their platform excels at personalized development paths but focuses more on general coaching rather than specific management frameworks and skills training.
• Disco leverages generative AI for content creation and social learning experiences. Though strong in content generation capabilities, their approach emphasizes broader upskilling rather than the specialized soft skills coaching that managers need most.
• Traditional LMS providers (Cornerstone, Docebo) are rapidly expanding AI capabilities, including conversational coaching features. Cornerstone’s Immerse Companion offers AI-powered role-play scenarios, while Docebo’s AI Virtual Coaching provides scenario-based simulation. However, these solutions focus primarily on skills practice within their broader talent management ecosystems, rather than the specialized voice-first coaching approach combined with live instruction that defines Hone’s offering.

Hone’s Technology Edge: Voice-First AI Coaching

Hone’s differentiation centers on two specific innovations that address persistent training challenges:

• Real-time conversational AI with organizational context: Unlike generic AI chatbots, Hone’s AI voice system comes pre-loaded with the company’s leadership frameworks and can be customized with a client’s specific values, team dynamics, and DISC profiles. This means learners receive coaching that’s both pedagogically sound and organizationally relevant—without the risk of AI hallucination that concerns many L&D leaders.
• Integrated practice and application ecosystem: The AI experiences connect seamlessly with live class schedules and cohort programs. A manager might learn feedback skills in an 8-minute AI lesson, then practice the scenario with AI coaching, and later attend a live class for peer discussion and advanced techniques. This creates multiple reinforcement touchpoints that traditional single-modality approaches can’t match.

The voice-based interface deserves particular attention. While many competitors experiment with video avatars, Hone deliberately focuses on audio conversations that feel natural and avoid the “uncanny valley” effect that can undermine the learning experience.

Who Benefits Most from This Approach

Hone’s dual modality platform serves several distinct organizational needs:

• Mid-to-large enterprises (500+ employees) requiring consistent management development across multiple locations benefit from the standardized yet personalized approach. The AI ensures every manager receives the same quality frameworks while tailoring examples and practice scenarios to their specific context.
• High-growth technology companies facing rapid scaling challenges find value in Hone’s ability to onboard new managers quickly through cohort programs while providing ongoing skill reinforcement through AI coaching. The platform’s ability to democratize access to management training addresses the common problem of leadership development falling behind hiring pace.
• Organizations with distributed or remote teams leverage Hone’s virtual-first approach to maintain training consistency across geographies. The combination of live classes and on-demand AI coaching accommodates different time zones and work patterns while building connections between managers across locations.
• Companies prioritizing measurable training outcomes appreciate Hone’s built-in assessment capabilities across multiple Kirkpatrick levels, including 360-degree feedback and business impact metrics. The platform tracks not just completion rates but actual behavior change and retention impacts.\

Market Position and Strategic Outlook

The L&D market currently faces a fundamental tension: organizations want AI’s personalization and scalability benefits, yet remain skeptical about AI’s ability to handle the nuanced interpersonal skills that effective management requires. Hone’s hybrid approach addresses both sides of this equation by using AI to scale personalized coaching while maintaining human connection through live classes and peer interaction.

The company’s technology-first heritage (venture-backed with in-house engineering) positions them well as the market shifts toward more sophisticated AI applications. Rather than bolting AI onto existing training models, they’ve built their entire platform architecture to support seamless integration between human and artificial intelligence.

However, in a time where economic uncertainty is high, learning budgets are often constrained and much needed investments deferred. The key for any L&D tech solution is to demonstrate ROI with actual behavioral change and business results rather than class ratings, completion and assessment score data.

The future likely belongs to platforms that can prove they’re not just delivering training, but actually developing better managers. Hone’s combination of proven frameworks, conversational AI, and comprehensive measurement puts them in position to capture this emerging market—if they can effectively communicate their value proposition during a period when training budgets remain constrained.

For L&D leaders evaluating options, the question isn’t whether AI will transform management training, but which platforms will deliver AI that actually makes managers more effective. Hone’s early integration of voice-based coaching with established learning methodologies suggests they understand that successful AI implementation requires more than just adding a chatbot to existing content—it requires reimagining how adults learn interpersonal skills at scale.

The post Why Voice-Based AI Coaching Is Finally Ready</br> to Transform Leadership Training appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

“Thanks for sharing that with me, Jennifer. I appreciate your honesty about the competing offer.”

I was speaking directly to an AI character — a team member who had just informed me she was considering leaving for a competitor. Jennifer and I had met before during my first exploration of Abilitie’s AI Cases last year. This time around, our conversation felt like reconnecting with an acquaintance, familiar yet different.

This wasn’t your standard corporate roleplay exercise. I was testing Abilitie’s AI Cases 2.0, launched May 9, which uses AI to create realistic leadership simulations that tackle universal management challenges — like how to retain valuable talent. As an analyst at Brandon Hall Group, I’ve watched plenty of learning technologies slap “AI-enabled” on their marketing while changing little about the actual learning experience. What Abilitie was doing felt genuinely different.

From Text to Voice: Leadership Gets More Real

“We’re doubling down on humanity,” Jonathan Schneider, Abilitie’s Product Director, told me during my demonstration. This might sound counterintuitive for an AI platform, but it became clear as I tested the system’s new voice interaction features.

Speaking to Jennifer felt notably different from typing responses. I paused briefly before addressing her concerns about career growth. My partner for the exercise suggested we explore what skills Jennifer wanted to develop. I nodded and pressed record.

“I’d love to know what areas of marketing most interest you,” I said. “Where would you like to grow your skills?”

This deliberate turn-based conversation design is intentional. Luke Owings, VP of Product, explained: “When learners use voice, they face this moment of thinking before speaking. That’s where real learning happens.”

Our research at Brandon Hall Group confirms that effective leadership development requires meaningful practice opportunities. The gap between this need and current implementation represents a significant opportunity for technologies that can bridge theory and application.

The Evolution from AI Cases 1.0 to 2.0

AI Cases 1.0 introduced the concept of AI-driven leadership simulations with text-based interactions. Version 2.0 takes several significant leaps forward:

1. Voice-based interactions: Moving from text to voice creates more authentic practice
2. Multiplayer connectivity: Formal pairing of learners to enable collaborative learning
3. Narrative outcomes: Personalized stories that show the impact of your leadership choices
4. Reflection tools: Group-based guided reflection with AI-powered synthesis
5. Multilingual support: Eight languages with real-time translation for facilitators
6. Enhanced faculty dashboard: Visual data on learner decisions and outcomes

These enhancements represent a shift from AI as merely a conversation partner to AI as an enabler of richer human connections and deeper learning.

Partnerships Make the Difference

My demo partner and I discussed strategy between responses — should we offer Jennifer a new role? Address compensation first? The conversation between us proved as valuable as our exchange with the AI.

This confirms what Abilitie discovered through their analysis of case interactions: leadership learning works best as a social experience. AI Cases 2.0 formalizes this insight with multiplayer connectivity, allowing learners to officially pair up.

“Sometimes the conversation between two learners discussing the case is just as      interesting as the one with the AI,” Owings noted. Despite technology’s growing capabilities, human-to-human interaction remains irreplaceable for developing leadership skills.

Narratives That Drive Engagement

One of the most effective additions to version 2.0 is the narrative outcome feature. After completing a case, learners receive a personalized story describing what happened as a result of their approach. These narrative outcomes help learners connect their decisions to potential real-world impacts.

According to Abilitie’s internal testing, this feature increases replay rates as learners become curious about alternative outcomes. Abilitie has also found that providing an epilogue narrative helps learners form a deeper connection with the AI characters and increases the emotional investment, making the experience more engaging and impactful.
From an analyst perspective, this addresses a persistent challenge in skills development: connecting practice to application.

Breaking Language Barriers

“Select your language,” prompted the interface. I clicked on Portuguese, curious to see how the system would handle it.

My Portuguese is rusty, but I managed a simple question about Jennifer’s career goals. The AI responded fluently, demonstrating one of eight supported languages in the platform: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Polish, Mandarin, and Japanese.

The faculty dashboard translated our conversation in real-time, allowing facilitators to follow discussions regardless of language barriers. For global organizations struggling with consistent leadership development across regions, this feature transforms program delivery.

Reflection in Action

“How do we know if trying to retain Jennifer is right?” appeared on my screen during the debrief. This reflection question, pushed by the facilitator, invited deeper consideration beyond just tactical approaches.

My response joined others in a virtual collection of sticky notes, automatically clustered by theme. This new reflections tool transforms individual insights into collective wisdom, creating another layer of social learning.

This approach addresses a key challenge in leadership development programs: reflection time remains one of the most neglected components in leadership training, despite its critical role in translating learning into practice.

Security for Enterprise Adoption

Data privacy concerns remain a significant hurdle for AI adoption in learning, and security considerations often determine whether new AI technologies get implemented. Abilitie addresses these concerns through several design choices:

• Voice conversations convert to text locally on the user’s device rather than sending biometric data to servers
• Learners can use pseudonyms for anonymity
• Processing happens across distributed servers to maintain security during large deployments

These features may not be the most exciting, but they’re essential for enterprise adoption in a security-conscious landscape.

A Deliberate Approach to Learning Pace

The counter-cultural approach to learning pace in AI Cases 2.0 particularly resonated with me. While most educational technology platforms emphasize speed and efficiency, Abilitie has deliberately created space for thoughtful engagement.

As Owings described it, “Everyone’s trying to move faster. People consume content at accelerated speeds, often multitasking across multiple devices and platforms.” In contrast, Abilitie has designed the platform to encourage deeper thinking through intentional pacing.

This approach is refreshing. It acknowledges that leadership development isn’t just about information acquisition but about developing judgment and perspective — skills that benefit from slower, more deliberate processing.

The Leadership Development Path Forward

AI’s role in leadership development isn’t to replace human interaction but to catalyze it in ways traditional methods can’t. For organizations considering AI application in learning, Abilitie’s approach suggests five key principles:

1. Design for human connection: Technology should bring people together, not isolate them
2. Create reflection spaces: Embed deliberate pauses throughout the learning journey
3. Leverage narrative: Stories create emotional connections that metrics can’t
4. Eliminate barriers: Accessibility across languages and modalities matters
5. Build security by design: Address privacy concerns through thoughtful architecture

What makes AI Cases 2.0 stand out is how these principles manifest in everyday use.

When my partner and I navigated our conversation with Jennifer, strategic thinking took center stage. When the platform generated a narrative about Jennifer’s future based on our approach, it connected our practice to potential outcomes. This demonstrated how AI can help us understand that leadership works best when it’s collaborative and thoughtful.

In my experience, truly innovative learning technologies don’t just push faster or offer more. They create space for meaningful human interaction, even when technology is at the core. That’s the real achievement of AI Cases 2.0.

The post Doubling Down on Humanity:</br> My Experience with Abilitie’s AI Cases 2.0 appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.

As organizational priorities shift and AI transforms work, successful people leaders must evolve beyond operational excellence to become true strategic partners. This collection of Brandon Hall Group’s top management tips reveals how to develop the strategic thinking capabilities that bridge the gap between traditional HR functions and business leadership.

Whether you’re navigating AI implementation, simplifying your talent approach or demonstrating clear ROI on people initiatives, these practices will help you transform from process guardian to strategic business catalyst — and ensure your voice shapes your organization’s future.

Demonstrate Your Strategic Impact

When executives request more strategic contributions from L&D and HR functions, view it as an opportunity to elevate your team’s visibility and impact. Here’s how to make your strategic value evident:

• Translate learning outcomes into business results. Drop the instinct to focus on completion rates and satisfaction scores. Use data visualization and storytelling to show how learning initiatives directly impact business KPIs like productivity, retention and customer satisfaction. Concrete connections between development programs and business outcomes make your strategic contributions tangible.
• Adopt people-centered frameworks. Replace function-centered language with stakeholder-focused terminology. Instead of discussing “L&D strategy” or “recruitment strategy,” frame conversations around improving employee capabilities, hiring the best talent, or retaining top performers.
• Create cross-functional alignment opportunities. Facilitate discussions that connect people initiatives to business goals. Help operational leaders understand how talent development supports their objectives by asking questions like, “How might our leadership development program accelerate your department’s digital transformation goals?”

Ask Questions That Elevate People Functions

Learning, Talent Management, and HR leaders who ask powerful questions can guide their organizations through complexity and change. Consider these five question types when developing people strategies:

• Investigative: What capabilities matter most? Before launching any new initiative, clarify which skills and competencies will drive your organization’s competitive advantage. What capabilities must your workforce develop to execute the business strategy successfully?
• Speculative: What if we reimagined this process? Challenge traditional approaches by exploring alternatives. For example, “What if we eliminated annual performance reviews and implemented continuous feedback instead?” These questions help you break free from legacy HR practices.
• Productive: How should we allocate our development resources? Assess where your limited budget, time and attention will get the most bang for the buck. For example, “Should we invest more heavily in developing frontline managers or senior executives?”
• Interpretive: What does this talent trend mean for us? When you observe patterns in recruitment, engagement or retention data, dig deeper to understand their implications for your organization’s future.
• Subjective: What biases might be influencing our talent decisions? Acknowledge the unspoken assumptions that could be limiting diversity, innovation or performance in your organization.

Build Partnerships Around AI

As AI transforms organizations, leaders must develop new strategic competencies. Here’s how to build your strategic muscle for effective cross-departmental AI collaboration:

• Cultivate technology acumen. Develop a working understanding of AI capabilities and limitations specific to learning and people functions. Identify use cases where AI can automate administrative tasks, personalize learning experiences or provide talent insights. Share these possibilities with IT and business leaders to build strategic partnerships.
• Allocate transformation resources. Make informed trade-offs between maintaining legacy systems and investing in new AI-powered solutions. Align your technology roadmap with organizational priorities and be prepared to reallocate resources as learnings emerge.
• Lead collaborative implementation. Success with AI requires cooperation across functions. Improve your communication and collaboration with technical and business teams, understanding their perspectives and concerns. Create cross-functional working groups with representatives from IT, compliance and operations to address implementation challenges together.

Simplify Your People Strategy

Many L&D, Talent and HR teams develop complex strategies that fragment attention and resources. Make people strategies easy to digest:

• Separate strategic direction from tactical plans. Your strategy should articulate how your organization will attract, develop and retain the talent needed to achieve business goals — not detail every task required. Maintain this distinction to keep stakeholders focused on the big picture.
• Align with business needs first. Before developing any learning or talent initiative, thoroughly understand the business strategy and challenges. Ask: “What capabilities does our organization need to execute its strategy?” and “What talent approaches will create competitive advantage?” Then design your people strategy to directly address these needs.

Know When — and How — to Pivot

In rapidly changing environments, L&D, Talent and HR leaders face pressure to constantly revise their approach. Before pivoting your strategy, consider:

• Is execution the real issue? Assess whether your strategy is fundamentally sound but suffering from implementation challenges. Do your HR business partners and learning specialists have the skills and resources needed to deliver on your strategic vision? Sometimes, improving execution is more valuable than changing direction.
• Are you responding to technology hype? New HR technologies constantly emerge, from AI-powered recruitment tools to virtual reality training. Before pursuing these innovations, evaluate whether they truly advance your strategic objectives or merely create interesting distractions.
• Are you listening to the right voices? Balance input from executives, employees and external sources. Pressure from senior leaders might push you toward short-term fixes, while frontline feedback might reveal deeper systemic issues requiring strategic shifts.

Make Strategic Thinking a Daily Habit

Exceptional leaders of people functions incorporate strategic thinking into their everyday work through these practices:

• Connect daily work to workforce outcomes. Regularly assess how your team’s activities contribute to building critical organizational capabilities. Ask: “How does this learning program enhance our innovation capacity?” or “Will this talent process help us achieve our diversity goals?”
• Address systemic people challenges. Look beyond individual cases to identify patterns requiring strategic intervention. For example, if multiple managers struggle with similar performance issues, consider whether your leadership development strategy needs adjustment.
• Create cross-functional learning opportunities. Regularly collaborate with operations, IT and finance leaders to understand their challenges. Shadow business meetings to identify how people solutions could accelerate strategic initiatives. These insights help you elevate people functions from service providers to strategic enablers.
• Develop ethical AI governance skills. As AI applications in HR and learning grow, strategic leaders must balance innovation with responsible use. Develop frameworks for evaluating AI tools against ethical principles, regulatory requirements and organizational values.

By incorporating these practices into your approach, you’ll transform how executives perceive Learning, Talent Management, and HR functions — shifting from cost centers to strategic enablers of organizational success.

The post Our Top Tips for Next-Level HR Leadership appeared first on Brandon Hall Group.