Demand for 1 Leadership Skill Just Spiked 350 Percent in a Year, Report Finds
Companies are pushing AI transformation without permanently expanding headcount.
EXPERT OPINION BY DAN SCHAWBEL, MANAGING PARTNER OF WORKPLACE INTELLIGENCE
Companies are hiring interim leaders and outside experts to push AI transformation forward, and the skill they’re chasing hardest is advanced analytics. That signals a shift in how businesses think about AI projects. It is less about buying new software and more about having the right people who can make sense of the data underneath it.
A new report from executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, based on proprietary data from its own client work, found demand for advanced analytics skills among interim leaders grew by 350% over the past year, the fastest-growing skill in the report. After that, brand strategy was up 333%, followed by digital marketing, which was up 180%.
What’s in demand right now
The fundamental skills organizations are prioritizing most include financial control and audit, project management, financial planning and modeling, program management, and process optimization. Several of these are not flashy AI skills at all, but the operational fundamentals that keep a business running steadily while bigger changes happen around it.
Companies facing AI transformation, regulatory change, and M&A activity simultaneously are looking for leaders who can bring order to complex initiatives without adding permanent headcount. According to the report, that means executives who can “establish the governance, coordination and execution discipline needed to keep complex initiatives moving without permanently expanding the organization.”
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The report points to “stronger data foundations, redesigned processes, clear governance and disciplined implementation” as the real work, and advanced analytics sits at the center of it, alongside database architecture and process optimization.
“Interim leaders and experts bring the experience to connect architecture, implementation and business operations to enable modernization without compromising day-to-day performance,” the report’s researchers wrote. This shows that AI transformations are a data and operations problem, which is harder to hire for and budget for than simply rolling out a new technology tool.
Modernizing without breaking anything
The pressure for leaders is to modernize their company’s underlying systems, unify the data, retire the legacy infrastructure, and clarify ownership, while the business keeps running. That’s a harder problem than buying software, and it’s exactly the type of work companies are bringing in outside expertise to solve rather than trying to build the capability from scratch internally. For most companies, that mix of speed and risk explains why they would rather borrow this expertise for a defined stretch rather than commit to a permanent hire.
Source: www.inc.com
