In today's Biz Pulse, gain insight into how:

• AI is pushing HR beyond automation and forcing leaders to choose between elimination, redesign, or a hybrid People Ops model.

• The race to hire an AI executive is outpacing reality, so defining the role using four evidence-based levels of AI expertise is becoming essential.

• AI-polished EA candidates are slipping through traditional screens, making live scenarios, trained interviewers, and tighter references the new hiring baseline.

Each of these articles is penned by members of Forbes Business Council, successful business owners shaping the future of business.

Is AI Weakening Future Leaders?

Ryan Paugh, President of Forbes Councils, speaks with Forbes Nonprofit Council member Erin Mote, CEO of InnovateEDU, about how organizations' AI deployment today could shape the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers.

AI Is Reshaping HR, & the Real Threat Is Strategic Drift

Some leaders are questioning whether traditional HR should exist at all. Using Bolt CEO’s “no HR team” move and IBM’s use of AI agents to handle most routine HR questions (while keeping humans for sensitive edge cases), the takeaway is clear: the debate is shifting from automating tasks to redesigning governance.

Here’s the practical framework to think through what comes next:

🧹 Cut the Clutter: Many HR orgs get stuck in HROps inertia, where compliance and process replace strategic talent work.

📈 Reclaim Talent Strategy: Automating “Ops” can pull hiring decisions closer to CEOs and CTOs, prioritizing business leverage over checkboxes.

⚖️ Watch the Tipping Point: Efficiency without human oversight risks ethical missteps, culture erosion, and weaker innovation.

🧠 Choose Your Model: Eliminate HR for wartime, high-growth environments; automate for enterprise stability; or go hybrid with a lean, People Ops style team.

Read The Full Article >

The “Chief AI Officer” Rush, Without a Job Description

Boards keep asking for an AI executive, but many cannot explain what “AI expertise” should look like in practice. Drawing on executive search work and a scan of SEC filings, the core insight is a widening gap: demand for AI leadership is rising faster than any shared definition of the role.

Before opening a search, use this simple structure to get specific:

🔎 Start With Evidence, Not Buzzwords: Ask what a candidate must have done for AI expertise to count.

🪜 Use Four Levels of Capability: AI Curious (tracks tools), AI Proficient (changes personal workflow), AI Applied (deploys and owns outcomes), AI Fluent (understands economics like build vs buy and inference costs).

🧪 Interview to Separate Signal From Familiarity: Probe what they stopped doing manually, what they deployed and the ROI, and what they chose not to pursue.

🧭 Write the Spec From Real Decisions: Define the 3 AI decisions the leader must make in the first two years, then match the level required.

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Hiring Great EAs Got Tougher, Because AI Makes Everyone Look Great

Executive assistants have always been deceptively hard to hire since the same title can cover everything from task-based admin work to high-judgment executive support. Now AI is widening the gap between how candidates present and what they can actually do, with polished assessments and written responses that do not always match real capability on the job.

To pressure-test for true executive-level support, rethink the process:

🧩 Design Interviews AI Cannot “Ace”: Lean on behavioral questions, live conversation, and real scenarios where candidates walk through how they handled the work.

⏱️ Add a Real-Time Exercise: A practical EA scenario reveals preparation, communication, respect for time, and follow-up habits.

🎓 Train the Interview Team: Strong answers only matter if evaluators can spot judgment, anticipation, discretion, and ownership.

📞 Tighten References: Ask about independence, competing priorities, and where direction was needed.

📝 Audit Every Interaction: Emails, scheduling, and instructions followed often signal the real skill level.

Read The Full Article >

Wrapping Up

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