Transforming work in an AI world: Reflections from Davos 2026 

Geopolitical risk is growing. Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney, put it crisply: “Nostalgia is not a strategy.” Countries, organizations and institutions must adjust to shifting alliances and realigned trade flows. For employers, that means leading with foresight and testing operating models, supply chains and talent plans against multiple futures instead of betting on a single trajectory.

Davos made clear the rising role of AI-powered foresight in strategy and workforce planning. Leaders are navigating diverging signals that require a different mindset, skillset and toolset. The most advanced organizations treat foresight as a team sport, combining diverse perspectives with increasingly AI-powered processes and tools for scenario planning, horizon scanning, Delphi studies, simulation and trend analysis. The goal is continuous sensing that preserves optionality, acknowledging that today’s asset can quickly become tomorrow’s liability.

Research shows employees rank fulfillment as their second-highest workplace priority, tied with work-life balance and up sharply from eighth place in 2021. Less than a third believe they are getting the skill development they need, and even the much-maligned Gen Z now sees long hours as a necessary trade-off for financial security. Employers must design work that is productive, purposeful and rich in learning opportunities or risk disengagement, just as transformation demands more from everyone.

We are moving beyond the “spray and pray” phase of AI deployment. Leaders see that value comes from starting with the work — redesigning workflows and roles before overlaying technology. 63% of Csuite leaders believe redesigning work to incorporate AI and automation will deliver the highest people-related ROI, and 72% of investors agree that companies embracing human–AI integration are positioned for competitive advantage. Concern about AI-driven job losses has also risen from 28% in 2024 to 40% in 2026, making transparent workforce transition plans nonnegotiable.‑suite leaders‑negotiable.

 

Nowhere was investors’ focus clearer than on skills. Nearly all investors — 97% — say they would penalize companies that fail to adopt skills-powered models, yet only half of Csuite leaders believe they are investing enough today to close tomorrow’s skills gaps. The 2025/2026 Skills Snapshot Survey highlights two differentiators: organizations most effective at using skills have strong infrastructure with centralized taxonomies, and nearly one in four already has a generative AI workforce strategy that ties skills, AI and work design together.‑suite leaders