C-suite capability gaps are every organisation’s biggest risk, and the CHRO is the leader best equipped to mitigate it, according to Gartner.
Ingrid Laman, vice-president analyst in Gartner’s HR practice, shared three emerging capabilities that differentiate highly effective C-suite leaders at the recent Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo.
“The challenge facing most organisations isn’t a lack of capable executives,” says Laman. “The uncomfortable truth is that organisations cannot meet tomorrow’s demands with a leadership profile designed for yesterday’s environment.”
As executive capability gaps emerge as the most critical business risk, CHROs are uniquely positioned to redefine what it means to be a qualified executive, align incentives to emerging leadership capabilities, and help leaders prepare for future business demands.
Laman identified three emerging capabilities that differentiate highly effective C-suite leaders.
External-first foresight
Organisations are operating in an environment increasingly shaped by geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty and supply chain disruption. As traditional planning approaches become less effective, leaders must be prepared to respond to multiple possible futures rather than rely on a single expected outcome.
External-first foresight is the ability to continuously sense and prepare for potential business and talent disruptors from nontraditional business intelligence sources. Rather than attempting to predict the future, leaders with this capability build dynamic, scenario-based strategies that create strategic optionality and position their organisations for success despite volatility and incomplete information.
CHROs should reserve time for external foresight planning exercises during executive planning discussions and drive accountability by establishing consistent expectations and tying executive incentives to function-level risk preparedness.
AI transformation orchestration
While AI may be powered by technology, successful transformation depends on leaders who can align vision, redesign work, and build trust across the organisation.
“Many executives mistakenly believe they need to be deep technical experts to lead in this space. They do not,” says Laman. “The C-suite’s job is not to build the AI. Their job is to determine which business challenges are best solved through AI, redesign work to capture that value, and help employees navigate the change. Success will depend less on technical expertise and more on the ability to orchestrate enterprise-wide transformation aligned to a clear AI strategy.”
CHROs should secure executive support and resources for ongoing AI learning, specifically AI literacy efforts that build leaders’ understanding of AI’s impact on work, and incorporating AI leadership capabilities into executive development programmes.
Cost-conscious culture stewardship
Executives must create an environment where employees demonstrate cost acumen, cost transparency, and cost ownership. Effective leaders build cultures where employees understand how their work creates value and drives costs, have visibility into cost and spending trends, and manage the organisation’s resources as if they were their own. In doing so, cost management moves out of the finance department and becomes embedded in every workflow.
CHROs should partner closely with CFOs to help CxO peers create a cost-conscience culture, recognise the workforce impacts of cost decisions before action is taken, as well as incorporate cost acumen, ownership and transparency into succession planning to ensure future executive development includes these capabilities.