By 2030, the World Economic Forum expects job creation and displacement to affect the equivalent of 22 percent of today's jobs, while 39 percent of workers’ existing skill sets are expected to be transformed or become outdated. That matters far beyond the future of individual careers. It raises a more immediate question for companies making senior appointments: if the work is changing this quickly, how can we keep defining leadership using criteria built for the work of yesterday?
The problem is becoming harder to ignore because artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the hiring process at the same time that it is changing the jobs people are being hired to do. LinkedIn’s 2026 research found that 93 percent of recruiters plan to increase their use of AI this year, yet 66 percent say finding qualified talent has become harder. At the same time, 59 percent say AI is already helping them discover candidates with skills they might not otherwise have found.
For executive search, that creates a strange moment. We have more technology for finding and evaluating candidates, more information about their professional histories and more sophisticated tools for processing applications. Yet the central question remains surprisingly difficult: what does a qualified executive actually look like when the requirements of the role are changing?
Liminality describes a period of transition between established systems. That is increasingly how I see executive recruitment. The old structures have not disappeared, but they are no longer sufficient on their own.
Job descriptions, position titles, career paths and resumes still matter, but they are becoming less reliable as complete representations of what a person can contribute. The executive CV is a good example. For decades, it has functioned as a relatively stable record of capability.
A candidate worked in a particular sector, held increasingly senior positions, acquired certain credentials and accumulated experience that appeared to map logically onto the next role. That model becomes less useful when the underlying work changes faster than the career path. The World Economic Forum reports that 86 percent of employers expect AI and information-processing technologies to transform their businesses by 2030.
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