Johnny C. Taylor Jr.’s challenge at SHRM26 was not simply about protecting HR jobs. It was about redefining the profession around the design of work itself. If Johnny Taylor is right, the future of HR is not about managing people. It is about designing work. That shift changes everything. For decades, HR has been measured by the quality of its programs, policies, and processes.
As the role of Chief Work Officer has been introduced; begin to ask, How does this create business value? That is the language of the boardroom.
Gartner’s emerging performance-first management research reflects this evolution. The manager’s role is shifting from supporting employees to improving performance by removing friction and enabling better work. HR’s role must evolve as well. Success will no longer be measured by the number of initiatives launched, but by whether work itself produces better outcomes.
In The AI Paradox, I argue that AI should not replace human work. It should augment work so humans spend more time exercising judgment, creativity, empathy, relationship building, and complex decision-making while technology absorbs routine tasks. The competitive advantage is no longer AI alone. It is designing work where humans and AI each contribute what they do best.
But designing work is about more than technology. It is also about designing work for people. Employees do not remain the same throughout a forty-year career. They move through predictable life stages that influence how they work, learn, lead, recover, and contribute. Parenthood, caregiving, menopause, aging, and other transitions are not exceptions. They are part of the workforce.
The organizations that outperform competitors will stop designing work for an idealized employee and start designing work for real human lives.
That means asking different questions.
What work should humans do?
What work should AI do?
Where is friction reducing performance?
How should work adapt across different stages of life?
What redesign will create measurable business value?
These are not wellbeing questions. They are business questions.
The Chief Work Officer does not simply oversee people strategy. The Chief Work Officer designs work that enables performance, adapts to human realities, and creates measurable business value. That, to me, is the next evolution of leadership. The future of work will not be defined by AI. It will be defined by those who design work where both people and technology can perform at their best.
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