According to the recent BCG article The Reinvention of the CHRO in an AI-Driven Enterprise, the success of artificial intelligence (AI) implementation depends primarily on human and organizational factors. Only 10% is explained by algorithms and 20% by technology platforms. The remaining 70% depends on people, organizational design, workflows, incentives, and culture.

That 70% is not a technology problem. It is an organizational design challenge: how work is decomposed into tasks, how roles are redefined in human-AI environments, how career paths evolve, and how trust and governance are maintained at scale (1). At their core, these are Human Resources challenges, not technology ones.

The role of the talent leader has transformed rapidly. Between 2020 and 2024, HR priorities centered on mobility: adopting new tools such as cloud-based HR systems, responding with agility to disruptions like the pandemic and remote work, and executing multiple change initiatives in parallel (2). Success was largely measured by volume of activity.

However, as my partner Dan Kaplan, Global Leader of the CHRO Practice at ZRG, states in his article A CHRO’s 2026 Playbook: What Must Be True to Succeed, “In 2026, the winning CHROs will not be those with the most initiatives, but those with the greatest operational clarity.” In other words, those who operate with a clear system for making talent decisions, building trust, and executing consistently. Initiatives without a shared operational logic neither scale nor multiply.

The question is clear: how do we equip CHROs to move from managing initiatives (volume) to designing reliable operating systems capable of evolving toward an increasingly AI-based model of work (value)?

In recent years, leading companies operating in Latin America across sectors such as mining, agribusiness, and financial services have launched transformation processes accompanied by deep cultural redesign. In many cases, responsibility for leading these efforts has fallen not to the CIO, but to the CHRO.

Based on that experience, several common characteristics stand out among the most impactful talent leaders (3):

1. Broad business-oriented education
The most effective CHROs invest in executive education. It is not enough to understand people; they must also understand the business model, its critical metrics, and competitive dynamics. This enables them to participate with authority in complex transformation and technology decisions.

Fewer initiatives, more systems: that is the key for talent leaders facing 2026 in a context of accelerated change.

2. Multifunctional career paths and systems thinking
Experience in operations, commercial roles, technology, or planning provides a deeper understanding of how value is created. This systemic perspective is essential for designing coherent organizations, especially in contexts where AI is redefining tasks and responsibilities.

3. Ability to translate digital transformation into culture and trust
Digital transformation materializes only when the way people work, decide, and collaborate changes. The CHRO plays a central role in ensuring that technology is adopted with clear criteria for governance, ethics, and trust, not as an additional layer of complexity.

“In 2026, the winning talent leaders will not be those with more initiatives, but those with greater operational clarity.”

4. Openness to global learning with local adaptation
In sectors exposed to international standards, the most effective CHROs learn from global practices but adapt them to the local organizational and cultural context. This accelerates learning without copying models indiscriminately or without critical thinking.

5. Visible leadership and cultural authority
CHROs who lead transformation communicate a clear vision, influence the executive committee, and act as cultural role models inside and outside the organization. This visibility reinforces internal legitimacy and positions the talent function as a strategic engine of change.

In this context, the CHRO ceases to be a policy executor and becomes a key partner in business redesign. This requires CEOs and boards to invest in their development, grant them an active role in strategic decision-making, and assign responsibilities that integrate technology, culture, and leadership.

In an environment where transformation is no longer optional but a condition for competitiveness, organizations that succeed in aligning technological evolution with human evolution will be the ones that differentiate themselves.

That alignment begins when the CHRO stops managing movement and starts designing a clear operating system for the future of work.

(1)    BCG, “The Reinvention of the CHRO in an AI‑Driven Enterprise” (Feb 2, 2026)

(2)    Gartner, “Future of Work Trends Post‑COVID‑19”, Josh Bersin (HR Executive), “How the pandemic will reshape HR technology” (Jun 15, 2021).

(3)    Based on professional observation by the author in organization transformation, aggregated evidence derived from proprietary ZRG data, and  Josh Bersin, Understanding the Path to CHRO (Feb 12, 2025).

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