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The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role continues to undergo profound transformation. A new Deloitte analysis—based on 748 CHRO job postings and interviews with CHROs across 20 industries—found that the number of unique skills CHROs are expected to bring has increased by 23% over the past five years—the highest among C-suite roles. More specifically, the CHRO role demands mastery in three pivotal areas: analytical capabilities (with demand for policy analysis skills surging 60%), regulatory expertise (with labor compliance skills soaring 90%), and business management (now required in 64% of job postings). Beyond these technical areas, CHROs must balance competing stakeholder needs, invest in workers’ long-term well-being and development, and connect workforce initiatives to broader business success. Former Johnson & Johnson CHRO Peter Fasolo captures this evolution well: “If you’re a profit and loss leader or a CEO, you’re thinking about growth, innovation, and capabilities needed to deliver shareholder expectations—and a CHRO needs to think along those same lines.” Fasolo also emphasizes that CHROs should focus on delivering value based on what stakeholders—employees, investors, customers, and communities—actually need and expect, rather than how HR traditionally defines success internally. With that in mind, I’m resharing a recent article by Dave Ulrich, where he outlines six key actions to help HR leaders and their teams shift from activities to outcomes that deliver stakeholder value.
