The Josh Bersin Company

After many weeks of work with corporate HR leaders, technology companies, and implementation teams I’m realizing the word that describes AI is “confusion.” Too much going on, too many unanswered questions, and no clarity about what to do. And many of you have been asked (or told) to lead the “AI Transformation” (which is the wrong phrase, as I explain) to reduce cost.

Well I hope today’s podcast gives you some clarity. Obviously the space is changing quickly, but there is a clear strategy emerging. I discuss the technology market, vendor strategies, and most important of all, how you as a business leader can leverage AI without going down dead ends.

I hope this gives you clarity, and I urge you to read our 2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI for more.

Topics covered:

Why AI adoption isn’t a transformation — it’s a continuous learning process

How to design an architecture that avoids vendor chaos and data silos

The real ROI of AI: rethinking workflows and job structures, not just automating tasks

Strategies for navigating a confusing vendor landscape and building your own solutions

How to build a culture of trust and change, and empower employees

What to tell employees so they’ll lean in to change

The importance of speed, experimentation, and trusting the data over perfection.

If you’re in the middle of your AI strategy, please contact us. Our Systemic HR AI Blueprint will show you the way, and Galileo will help you with vendor analysis, process design, job redesign, and of course the training you need to enable your organization.

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Additional Information

2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI: The Road Ahead

The Great Reinvention of Human Resources Has Begun

Get Galileo, The AI Agent for Everything HR

This week we introduce our massive new research “The Definitive Guide to Corporate Learning: From Static Training To Dynamic Enablement.”

As you’ll read, this $400 Billion market is going to change in a huge way, and the opportunity for value is massive. As I explain in this podcast, it’s time to change the paradigm of “skills development” and move to a model of dynamic enablement.

Traditional L&D is not going away overnight, but the new world of AI-Native Learning is very different: faster, less expensive, and far more useful and relevant to employees. And best of all, we’re turning training and upskilling into a process of dynamic, continuous change.

Listen to this podcast to understand what’s going on, and then read our research to build your own roadmap.

If you’re an HR leader, L&D professional, content creator, or technology vendor – this new world is exciting and ready. And I expect the traditional L&D market to double in size within ten years and reach well over a $Trillion as we finally solve the problem of global knowledge management.

Important vendors here include Sana (Workday), Disperz, Cornerstone (new products coming), Arist, Uplimit and likely solutions from OpenAI and others. The traditional learning vendors (LinkedIn, Coursera, Pluralsight, Skillsoft, and others) are now just beginning to adapt to this new world, so it’s a time for disruption and new business models.

Join us on this journey. Get Galileo to experience AI-Native learning, learn more, read the research, and benchmark your own organization.

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

The Definitive Guide to Corporate Learning

2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI: The Road Ahead

The Collapse And Rebirth Of Online Learning And Professional Development

Get Galileo, The AI Agent for Everything HR

Chapters

(00:00:00) - The Need to Reinvent Corporate Learning
(00:08:39) - Skills and their dynamic enablement
(00:19:00) - AI: The Future of Learning & Workforce

AI Agents promise to revolutionize how we operate our companies, but this is much more than just recording meetings and summarizing emails. How do you build an Agent (and Superagent) architecture to re-engineer HR and what is the role of your core HCM platforms?

Well this is the trillion dollar question challenging every business software provider, and it has a huge impact on your HR and overall AI strategy. In this podcast I explain this topic and describe how employee onboarding, as an example, could be entirely redesigned for speed, scale, and agility.

This is a new world and for the first time in my career each of us, regardless of tech experience, will be able to redesign how our HR function works to move from “work productivity” to automation and tremendous new value creation strategies in HR.

Note that this week OpenAI announced its Frontier platform to help build enterprise agents. Microsoft recently introduced Agent 365 to help build enterprise Superagents. ServiceNow offers its Enterprise AI Control Tower, and Workday has introduced the Workday Agent System of Record. The space of agent management platforms is just beginning.

As you listen to this and ponder your situation I hope you consult Galileo for advice or call us. Our Systemic HR AI Blueprint is here to help you design and implement AI apps that will revolutionize HR and your business.

Enterprise AI is an exciting new domain and we are here to help.

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI: The Road Ahead

The Great Reinvention of Human Resources Has Begun

Get Galileo, The AI Agent for Everything HR

 

 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Onboarding and AI: The Confusion in Corporate IT
(00:06:42) - Agents and the role of the ERP
(00:11:01) - The AI Agents: Will You Build Them?

AI-driven recruiting is on the hot seat and it’s only getting hotter.

Most job seekers now experience AI-interviewers, AI-based screening, and even chatbots that can automate the entire process. And as this market grows, two new lawsuits (one against Workday, one against Eightfold) have emerged, indicating the “fear” job seekers have about this technology.

In the meantime, vendors are gobbling up these tools.

This includes Workday’s $1 billion acquisition of Paradox (and Hiredscore), SAP’s acquisition of Smartrecruiters, Outmatch’s acquisition of Pymetrics (renamed Harver), UKG’s acquisition of Chattr (renamed Rapid Hire), Radancy’s acquisition of myInterview, Hirevue’s acquisition of Modern Hire, Cornerstone’s acquisition of Skyhive (following acquisition of Clustree), Lightcast’s acquisition of Rhetorik, and more.

Where is all this going?

As I discuss, this is an enormous ($840 billion) market and there’s a lot yet to come. As I discuss, we are entering a whole new set of demands, demands for quality, explainability, skills verification, and bias-detection.

One of the big new trends is what we call “vertical data labeling” to increase transparency and quality. (The pioneer here is a company called Findem.) So for you as a buyer or user, it’s a time to focus on data and AI accuracy and completeness.

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

The Great Reinvention of Human Resources Has Begun

People Data For Sale: How The Talent Intelligence Market Really Works

The Talent Acquisition Revolution: How AI is Transforming Recruiting

Imperatives for 2026: What’s Ahead for Enterprise AI, HR, Jobs, And Organizations

Get Galileo: The World’s AI Agent For Everything HR

 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - The Lawsuits About AI-Based Recruitment
(00:03:14) - AI Based Recruitment
(00:13:37) - Is LinkedIn a Good Data Source for AI?
(00:14:21) - Will AI Be Better at Recruiting?
(00:21:44) - Will Data-based Recruitment Be Legal?

David Hughes, the Global People Leader for Costa Coffee (now at HSBC), discusses the company’s innovative approach to hiring using AI. Costa Coffee, a global brand with over 2,000 stores in the UK, faces significant hiring challenges due to high turnover rates and the need to hire thousands of baristas annually.

David explains how Costa has shifted its focus from hiring the “best” talent to finding the “best fit” talent that aligns with the company’s values and culture.

Using Sapia’s AI chat-based assessment, Costa has built a simple 5-question open chat survey that lets Costa identify the culture, behavioral, and work skills for best fit. This process not only scales to 350,000+ candidates, it also gives each candidate a personalized assessment and is rated 9 out of 10 on netpromoter score. In other words, candidates love it!

David emphasizes the importance of patience and bravery in adopting AI, highlighting the positive impact on both recruitment efficiency and candidate satisfaction.

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

The Talent Acquisition Revolution: How AI is Transforming Recruiting (research)

The Great Reinvention of Human Resources Has Begun

The Art, Science, And Magic Of Recruiting In The World of AI (podcast)

Chapters

(00:00:03) - How AI Is Affecting Costa Coffee's Hiring
(00:01:16) - Interview
(00:01:56) - Costa Coffee's Talent Challenges
(00:04:10) - How to Hire the Right People for the Frontline
(00:05:06) - Baristas: How to Get the Best Out of Your Job
(00:06:53) - How Costa Coffee Is Using AI in the Job Search
(00:12:24) - What was difficult about the AI journey at Costa Coffee?
(00:16:22) - What are some of the metrics of the Costa Experience?
(00:19:10) - The Sense of AI in the Job Search
(00:20:32) - Congratulations on your AI push
(00:21:39) - What Works With Costa Coffee's Talent Director