It has always been difficult to predict what the future of work will look like. In the age of AI, it can sometimes feel like a task best left to an oracle, or the super-intelligent AI model that will inevitably – hopefully benevolently – rule the world.
Roles are changing, skills are shifting, and the relationship between people and technology is being redrawn in front of us, line by line. Right now, it seems as though everyone has acquired an AI guru, confidant, researcher, editor, and occasionally overconfident work companion sitting a few keystrokes away. And if this is where we are today, it is reasonable to wonder how different the world of work might look a few years from now.
That makes identifying the people most capable of succeeding in that future even harder. Finding and developing high-potential talent has never been straightforward. But identifying who will genuinely thrive when the roles, expectations, and even the rules of work are still being reshaped is a different level of challenge.
High-potential employees are the people organizations invest in with the expectation that they will take on broader responsibilities, manage greater complexity, and help shape what comes next. Some will become leaders; others will become exceptional specialists. In different ways, these are the people organizations will increasingly depend on to navigate whatever comes over the horizon and help move the organization forward.
Looking forward, not just backward
The need to identify these high-potential employees makes understanding future capability more important, not less. We cannot predict every turn in an AI-influenced world, but anyone claiming they can is probably making bolder predictions than the evidence allows. Nevertheless, we can become clearer about the human capabilities that help people succeed when certainty decreases, complexity increases, and familiar ways of working no longer quite fit the problem in front of us.
The past still matters. It gives us valuable evidence about what has helped people perform and progress before. The rear-view mirror is an important reference point, but if we want a clearer picture of where we are going, we also need to look through the windshield. Otherwise, we risk becoming very well informed about the road behind us, and not the road ahead, which is rarely considered an effective driving strategy.
Our research found differences when it comes to high performers vs. high-potential talent. High performers tend to be associated with strong execution, technical depth, and consistency in their current role. High-potential employees are distinguished by something more future-facing: the capacity to navigate ambiguity, influence more widely, and step beyond what is already familiar.
What does future potential look like?
This was at the heart of Talogy’s recent research into high potential. Our work drew on more than 1,000 leaders, HR professionals, and high-potential employees, alongside expertise from six regions, scientific and industry research, analysis of more than 13,000 assessment completions, and reviews of global talent models.
What emerged was a broader view of high potential, centered around four foundations: capacity, aspiration, agility, and commitment. In the age of AI, each takes on added significance.
Capacity is about handling greater complexity. AI may make some tasks easier, but the decisions around them can become harder, involving more information, competing priorities, and increasingly complex human and technological considerations. High potential is about being able to operate effectively when the problem gets bigger and less defined.
Aspiration is about wanting to grow. AI is changing career paths as well as jobs, so progression will not look the same for everyone. For some, it may mean leadership; for others, deeper expertise or broader influence. Potential typically reflects a desire to grow.
Agility is about adapting as the environment changes. We cannot know exactly which tools, roles, or skills will matter in five years’ time. What we can understand is how someone learns, adjusts, and keeps developing when today’s expertise starts to become dated.
Commitment connects individual growth to the organization’s future. It reflects the willingness to use capability and ambition not only for personal progression, but to help the organization adapt, grow, and make the most of the opportunities AI creates.
Together, these four foundations give us a more useful view of future potential. AI may make the future harder to predict. But we can become better at identifying the people with the capacity, aspiration, agility, and commitment to grow with it.
AI impacts every career stage
Human capability evolves as careers progress. When it comes to AI and early careers, the focus should be on the transferable skills that help people learn, contribute, and rise. When leading in the age of AI, it’s important to explore the deeper emotional and values-based anchors that become increasingly important as responsibility, pressure, and complexity grow. Now, when considering high potential, the focus shifts to recognizing who has the capacity, aspiration, agility, and commitment to keep growing as the environment around them changes.
We are entering an age in which AI will increasingly shape how careers develop and what organizations need from their people. By understanding how it is reshaping each stage of career progression, organizations can better equip their people to adapt, grow, and navigate whatever lies ahead.
The hidden impact of AI on future leaders
AI is changing how work gets done, and how people develop the skills they’ll need to progress.
As AI takes on more of the tasks that have traditionally helped people build foundational skills early in their careers, valuable on-the-job learning opportunities could be lost. With 78% of HR and talent leaders concerned about the long-term loss of critical leadership skills, organizations need to consider what that could mean as people progress into more senior roles.
Discover how to create more purposeful development opportunities today to strengthen your leadership pipeline for tomorrow in our latest guide, “AI and the leadership pipeline: The rising need for intentional development”.
What you’ll learn:
- How AI is changing early-career development and which valuable learning opportunities could be lost as work evolves.
- Why the impact could reach your leadership pipeline, including the potential implications for skill gaps and promotion readiness.
- Why AI fluency isn’t enough, and why transferable skills remain critical as people take on more complex responsibilities.
- How to make development more intentional by identifying the skills people need at different career stages and creating opportunities to strengthen them throughout the career journey.