If you’re leading HR right now, it can feel like the ground is moving under your feet. You’re still expected to deliver flawless service, keep costs down, and manage risk, while your CEO quietly expects you to redesign the workforce for an AI era that’s arriving faster than most operating models can handle.

In part one of this conversation with Josh Bersin, we explore a reframe that changes everything: AI isn’t just personal productivity. The real disruption is enterprise-level “super agents” that automate whole sequences of work, and force HR to rethink hiring, talent strategy, and even the idea of “a job” itself.

We also dig into why CHRO tenure may be shrinking, what that signals about expectations on HR leaders, and why “talent density” is becoming a more useful lens than traditional talent management as companies try to scale without simply adding headcount.

About our guest
Josh Bersin is a leading HR and workplace industry analyst and the founder of Bersin by Deloitte (now The Josh Bersin Company). He advises senior executives on HR, talent, and organizational transformation, with a sharp focus on what’s actually changing inside companies as AI moves from experimentation to enterprise reality.

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To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, visit http://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe

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Mark Edgar – www.linkedin.com/in/markedgarhr/

Naomi Titleman Colla – www.linkedin.com/in/naomititlemancolla/

future foHRward – www.linkedin.com/company/future-fohrward/

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For more information on our private community for forward-thinking HR leaders, including how to join our next Manager-Director HR Leader cohort launching this spring, visit our website at futurefohrward.com/community. We are also currently welcoming new members in our CHRO and VP+ HRBP & Talent cohorts. Don't miss your chance to join the community you've been missing!

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You can be brilliant, hardworking, and respected — and still feel like you’re running full-speed into an invisible wall. For many senior leaders (especially high-achieving women), the instinct is to push harder: take on more, prove more, hold more. But the higher you go, the more that strategy quietly limits influence, sponsorship, and sustainability.

In this episode, we explore the tension HR leaders see every day: individuals are trying to thrive inside systems that weren’t designed for them — and organizations keep investing in “fixes” that don’t address the real blockers. Carolyn Lawrence and Jennifer Laidlaw unpack why burnout is often a signal your mind is in survival mode, how “resisting the system” can unintentionally keep inequity in place, and what it looks like when inner leadership shifts meet system-level redesign.

About our guests
Carolyn Lawrence partners with organizations to redesign systems so they stop reinforcing outdated patterns — removing invisible barriers so talent can thrive without overperforming for legitimacy.

Jennifer Laidlaw is an executive coach focused on the inner transformation required of modern leaders, helping them achieve breakthrough results sustainably with strong teams and thriving culture.

Stay connected with foHRsight
To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, visit http://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe

Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar – www.linkedin.com/in/markedgarhr/

Naomi Titleman Colla – www.linkedin.com/in/naomititlemancolla/

future foHRward – www.linkedin.com/company/future-fohrward/

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/futurefohrward/

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Success in HR often comes with a hidden job: absorbing everyone else’s anxiety. You’re expected to soothe, steady, and “make it okay”, even when what people are feeling is a normal response to real pressure and uncertainty.

In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. David Rosmarin offers a practical reframe: not all anxiety is the same. Some anxiety does require professional support, but much of what shows up at work is an emotional signal, not a diagnosis. When leaders learn to recognize what anxiety is communicating, they can stop playing whack-a-mole with stress, build healthier trust on teams, and create a culture that performs without pretending certainty exists.

You’ll also hear David’s simple four-step process to work with anxiety constructively, identifying what’s underneath it, sharing it in a way that builds connection, embracing it as resilience-building, and letting go of what can’t be controlled.

About our guest

Dr. David Rosmarin is a clinical psychologist, author, and Associate at Harvard Medical School, and the founder of the Center for Anxiety. His work focuses on helping people rethink anxiety not only as something to treat clinically when needed, but as a normal human experience that can be used to thrive — a perspective especially relevant in today’s high-pressure workplaces.

Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Rosmarin’s four-step framework (public resource) Dr. David Rosmarin
• Dr. Rosmarin’s site + newsletter - Dr. David Rosmarin
• Book: Thriving with Anxiety - Amazon
• TED Talk: How to make anxiety your friend TED

Stay connected with foHRsight

To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, visit http://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe

Follow us on LinkedIn:

Mark Edgar – www.linkedin.com/in/markedgarhr/

Naomi Titleman Colla – www.linkedin.com/in/naomititlemancolla/

future foHRward – www.linkedin.com/company/future-fohrward/

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/futurefohrward/

Support the show