Good morning!

The CHRO role is ever-evolving, with company boards seeking strategic partners in driving business and employees requiring understanding and investment. Today, we'll look at a couple of ways you can move your own career forward while creating a strong company culture and pushing business outcomes. 

Also in this issue:

🥶 Company reactions to cooling labor market
☕ Starbucks employees sue
🦋 Transformation and paradoxes

Here's a look at what we're seeing, what it means, what we're anticipating, what's resonating and what you think about today’s workplace. Let's get SMART!

Company boards now expect CHROs to act as strategic business partners, integrating talent strategy with business outcomes, writes Tammy Perkins, HR executive. Beyond just HR metrics, CHROs must demonstrate how people decisions impact growth, margins and innovation. Boards also look for success in driving culture, creating clear succession plans and applying data for predictive insights.

HR professionals must embrace strategic versatility to navigate business paradoxes and create value, according to Dave Ulrich, HR expert. Ulrich argues that true strategic value comes from the ability to operate fluently across competing demands. Rather than settling for business jargon or focusing solely on internal initiatives, HR must demonstrate the capacity to balance and integrate paradoxes, such as compliance with growth, automation with humanity and global consistency with local relevance.

SmartTake: Paradox management is not just a leadership preference but a necessary discipline for aligning internal practices with external expectations and sustaining organizational identity.

IBM's CHRO, Nickle LaMoreaux, shared IBM's journey of integrating AI during her keynote presentation at this year's HR Tech conference. Starting in 2017 with Watson Assistant, IBM centralized its AI tools into AskHR, leading to a 40% reduction in HR operating budget and 100% manager adoption. LaMoreaux admitted that though the decade-long transformation had challenging moments, the company's commitment to process improvement, user-centric design and cultural support led to successful outcomes. “It was a rocky road. It was anything but amazing,” LaMoreaux said.

Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris emphasizes the importance of strategic planning in AI integration, urging HR leaders to define clear goals and collaborate closely with digital teams. Speaking at the HR Technology Conference, Morris highlights the need to avoid implementing "AI for AI's sake," advising purposeful investment to maximize efficiency and maintain credibility.