The Gartner Talent Angle

Organizations often unknowingly send mixed signals to their employees. For example, they might encourage innovation but punish failure. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., joins the Talent Angle to explain how organizations can structure incentives to unlock employees' full potential. He explains how HR leaders can use incentives to nurture intrinsic motivation in employees and create habits in the workforce that support organizational performance.

Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives' most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Author and professor Mauro Guillén joins the Talent Angle to explain how generational labels, such as "baby boomers" or "millennials," can be counterproductive in the workplace. Guillén offers an alternative vision of a postgenerational society and advocates for a workplace in which individuals are not confined by their age. He urges HR leaders to instill a "perennial" mindset in their organizations to foster intergenerational collaboration and engage diverse talent pools. Mauro F. Guillén is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School, where he is a professor of management and vice dean for the MBA for Executives Program. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic and technological developments. He has received Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, was honored with the Aspen Institute's Faculty Pioneer Award, and was elected to the Macro Organizational Behavior Society and the Sociological Research Association. Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner's human resources practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams that address clients' key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master's degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now known as Aberystwyth University); and a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

In recent years, organizations have started to experiment with skills-based hiring by dropping degree requirements and other credentials in job postings to unlock new talent populations. However, a fully-realized skills-based hiring approach demands deep change in talent processes and hiring manager practices. To this point, most organizations have been unable to weave this method into the fabric of their talent strategy.

Joseph Fuller, professor at Harvard Business School, rejoins the Talent Angle to discuss his latest research: "Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice." Joseph shares data to show the extent to which skills-based hiring commitments have translated to meaningful action, and offers practical guidance to help organizations broaden the aperture of their talent pools.

Joseph Fuller is a professor of management practice in general management at Harvard Business School and co-leads the school's initiative, Managing the Future of Work. He founded the consulting firm Monitor Group, now Monitor Deloitte, and has worked with senior executives and policymakers on a wide variety of issues related to corporate strategy and national competitiveness.

Dion Love is a vice president of research and advisory services at Gartner. Dion is a labor market expert, focusing on global labor market trends and what they mean for organizations' talent and business strategies, as well as broader social and economic issues. In his work at Gartner, Dion advises clients on key aspects of talent acquisition, including talent acquisition function planning and management, talent needs definition and internal recruiting, employment branding and recruitment marketing, and talent sourcing and selection. He has co-authored more than 12 strategic research studies at Gartner. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and industry publications, as well as Gartner HR Leaders Monthly and Smarter With Gartner.

When organizations break employee trust, Peter H. Kim argues those employees are less willing to go above and beyond to contribute to the organization. Peter, author of "How Trust Works," goes on to detail why trust in institutions has been declining significantly, despite its importance to our work and lives. Peter explains why we mismanage and misunderstand trust and dives into counterintuitive findings from his research, such as why most people believe they are more effective assessors of trust than they actually are. He also shares why efforts to mitigate risk can have a negative impact on trust between employers and employees. Dr. Peter H. Kim is a professor of management and organization at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. His research on trust has been published in numerous scholarly journals, has received 10 national/international awards and has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post and National Public Radio. He's the author of "How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired." His website is www.peterhkim.com. Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives' most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Three-fourths of HR leaders agree they will be lagging in organizational success if they do not adopt and implement generative AI (GenAI) in the next 12 to 24 months. However, GenAI's long-term impact on jobs is yet to be determined, and as a result, organizations must prepare for multiple scenarios as they engage in workforce planning and adopt GenAI to their unique context. In this episode of the Talent Angle, Helen Poitevin, a distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner, shares a framework to help organizations evaluate the context-specific workforce impact of GenAI by identifying the market and technology drivers that matter for talent decisions. This Gartner model will help HR leaders establish workforce strategies as they align technology and business investments with talent implications. Helen Poitevin is a distinguished VP analyst with a focus on human capital management (HCM) technologies and advising clients on their HCM technology strategies. In HCM, areas of particular focus include talent analytics, voice of the employee analytics, workforce planning and AI in HCM. Ms. Poitevin also conducts research regarding the future of work with a focus on technology's effect on how people will work, the gig economy, talent marketplaces and ecosystems, and future talent practices. Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner's HR practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients' key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master's degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth) and a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

In their pursuit of heightened productivity, organizations are leaving little room for failure. However, failures are an inevitable part of the innovation process and often serve as a precursor to breakthroughs. By solely focusing on productivity, organizations may be missing out on valuable opportunities for innovation that could propel them forward. In the worst-case scenarios, a failure-adverse climate can lead employees to hide concerns or problems, which can lead to potentially catastrophic issues.

Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School and author of "Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well," shares her expertise on the Talent Angle podcast, offering insights on how organizations should shift their mindset toward failure and embrace it as a catalyst for growth and improvement.

Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, is a management scholar best known for her research on psychological safety and team learning. She has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011 and was ranked No. 1 in 2021 and 2023. She is the author of eight books, including her most recent book, Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, and more than 100 academic articles.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives' most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Netta Jenkins, author of "The Inclusive Organization," suggests that while organizations have made advances in DEI in recent years, political polarization and economic uncertainty have threatened to undo that progress. Jenkins joins the Gartner Talent Angle to share her advice on the current state of the DEI movement, and she charts a path forward for HR leaders. She unpacks her three "P" framework — people, practices and products — detailing how each "P" is essential to moving DEI forward within organizations. During the conversation, Jenkins also describes the often unrealistically high expectations put on DEI leaders to transform the organization, despite limited funding and staffing.

Netta Jenkins is a doctoral student and author of "The Inclusive Organization," listed by Forbes as one of the Top 4 DEI books to read. She is CEO of AeroDEI, a DEI tool that helps organizations measure and quantify the impact of their DEI initiatives through gamifying the experience for employees. Jenkins has been advising corporations and audiences of all kinds for years on the most effective strategies to address inequitable gaps that led to a 300k+ LinkedIn audience and played a key factor in Forbes naming her as one of the Top 7 anti-racism consultants in the world. She has also given a ground-breaking TEDx talk, "Reimagining the Workplace."

Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner's human resources practice. Peter is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams in addressing clients' key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, Aykens spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a B.A. in political science from St. Olaf College; an MSc. (Econ) degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Brown University.

Patrick McLaughlin, PepsiCo Foods North America CHRO, joined the Talent Angle at Evanta's 2023 Dallas CHRO Executive Summit in June to reflect on what he refers to as "the inversion of the labor market." For the first time, there are more jobs than people to fill them. HR leaders are charged with retaining and engaging the frontline workforce amid changing employee expectations and a competitive talent landscape. Patrick offers his perspective on current workforce trends, reflects on lessons learned in recent years and identifies opportunities for organizations to improve the employee experience for frontline workers. Patrick McLaughlin is senior vice president and chief HR officer for PepsiCo Foods North America, an operating division of PepsiCo. He is a 27-year veteran of PepsiCo with a broad range of leadership experience in beverages and foods. Before joining PepsiCo, Patrick worked for Exxon USA based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Patrick holds bachelor's and master's degrees in organizational communication from Purdue University. Patrick also serves on the board of the Sabra Dipping Company, a joint venture of PepsiCo and the Strauss Group. He is an avid football fan and enjoys travel, gardening and cooking; he and his husband, David Talley, are active in the Dallas and New Orleans communities. Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner's HR practice. He is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients' key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master's degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth); and a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

Mid-level managers are sandwiched between pressure from business leaders to retain employees and rising employee expectations for personalized support and communication. In this Talent Angle episode, former Kimberly-Clark CHRO and member of Gartner's CHRO Global Leadership Board Liz Gottung encourages organizations to rethink their expectations for mid-level managers or risk losing these critical managers to burnout and fatigue. She suggests organizations use technology and rethink role design to free manager capacity for more high-impact work. After a 35-year career with Kimberly-Clark, Lizanne (Liz) Gottung retired as senior vice president and chief HR officer in 2017. At the time, Kimberly-Clark was a $20 billion global company with nearly 45,000 employees in more than 63 countries. Under her leadership, Kimberly-Clark's talent strategies were widely recognized for excellence and innovation in HR management, winning multiple global awards for diversity, equity and inclusion; succession and development practices; and Kimberly-Clark's employer brand. Liz has been a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Pacific Corporation since 2006 and is chair of the governance and corporate responsibility committee. She joined the board of Sylvamo Corporation in 2021 and chairs the management development and compensation committee. Liz works with a number of non-profit organizations in the Atlanta area, where she lives. She is also a member of Gartner's CHRO Global Leadership Board. Peter Aykens is Chief of Research in Gartner's Human Resources practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams addressing client's key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Olaf College; a MSc.(Econ) degree in International Politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Brown University.

Conflict management is an increasingly essential skill for individuals in leadership positions. However, it is a topic that often makes people — especially leaders and managers — feel uneasy. As leaders are responsible for handling conflicts between their employees, teams, and peers, it is crucial for them to have effective strategies for conflict management. Amy Gallo, the author of "Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)," joins the Talent Angle podcast to provide valuable insights and strategies on how to effectively manage conflicts and transform them into productive dialogues within your organization.

Amy Gallo is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about gender, interpersonal dynamics, and difficult conversations. She's the best-selling author of "Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)" and the "HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict," as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review. For the past five years, Amy has co-hosted HBR's popular Women at Work podcast, which examines the struggles and successes of women in the workplace. Her advice has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, BBC, and NPR.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner's HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University.