Trend
Framing the big-picture shift reshaping how business gets done.
AI is moving beyond tools and into relationships. What started as automation is evolving into intelligent agents that coach, persuade, and support people directly - at work and at home.
Signal
Fresh, real-world moves from companies responding to the trend.
Salesforce’s AI-powered Career Agent platform analyzes employee histories to recommend personalized career paths, training, mentors, and internal jobs. In Q1 2025, it filled 50% of roles internally, boosting retention and enabling unconventional shifts (like an HR manager moving into cybersecurity), while supporting personal growth and reskilling for emerging fields.
Unilever piloted BetterUp Grow, an AI coaching platform that helps employees navigate tough conversations in real time by offering role-play, solution brainstorming, and personalized guidance based on role, behavior, and company values. This signaled a shift toward scalable, on-demand mentorship, making high-quality coaching accessible beyond executives. Early results showed strong adoption, with 95% employee satisfaction and a 16% boost in workplace confidence.
Spark
A provocative 'what if' that stretches strategic thinking forward.
What happens when employees trust AI more than their managers?
As algorithmic coaching becomes the first stop for feedback, growth, and tough conversations, the nature of leadership, loyalty, and workplace culture could quietly be rewritten. How do organizations preserve human trust, culture, and intuition in a world where guidance is increasingly generated, not given?
Strategy
Turning future signals into decisive advantage.
Move beyond reactive pilots. Build AI coaching systems that anticipate critical moments (onboarding, promotion, conflict, burnout) and deliver timely, personalized support. Design these tools not just to inform, but to guide growth in ways that reflect your culture, values, and long-term talent strategy.
Stewardship
A reflection on the legacy of your strategic choices and the future they shape.
If tomorrow’s leaders are shaped by always-on, algorithmic mentors, what values do we want encoded in their growth? The values, biases, and tone you embed today will quietly shape how the next generation leads, learns, and decides.
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People illustrations by Storyset