Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Approach to the AI Talent Puzzle
Filter through the noise to find a clear path for AI integration.
The following article was originally published by Accents Enterprises, and is shared here for our retail leadership community.
We are living in a noisy world right now. You cannot open a browser, attend a conference, or sit in a board meeting without the conversation turning immediately to Artificial Intelligence. The pressure to move fast is real. It feels like if you aren't implementing something now, you are already behind.
But in my experience and especially in what I am seeing with AI, speed is not a strategy. Speed without direction is just a faster way to get lost. I believe many businesses are already experiencing this. The tendency is to believe that AI is set, and you need to be utilizing it in a significant way. Executives and Boards are asking for AI because they think everyone is doing it. While I agree there needs to be work underway to understand how AI can benefit a business, jumping in without a plan risks putting that business further behind than if it never started at all.
Leadership and strategic decision-making is often about managing the grey areas. It is about recognizing that there are few black and white answers. The current conversation around AI is no different. We are seeing a massive rush to "how" we implement these tools before we have fully wrestled with "why" we need them and "what" specifically they are solving for.
Understanding AI’s Impact on Talent
The AI conversation has many components, but the one that surfaces most often relates to people. Even that isn't simple. What began as concern about AI replacing workers has shifted to questions about what talent will be needed to manage and lead AI initiatives. The real impact of AI-based technology is about utilizing people and human skills in new ways.
When we strip away the hype, we are left with a very real operational challenge. We are facing a "talent puzzle" that traditional hiring methods simply cannot solve. The IBM 2025 CEO Study highlights a stark reality where 54% of CEOs are hiring for roles that did not exist a year ago.
We cannot just post a job requisition and hope for the best anymore. We need a fundamental mindset shift in how we view capability planning.
Bridging the gap between complex technology and meaningful store-level results.
The Framework: Build, Buy, Bot, Borrow
For years, we have relied on a fairly standard model for talent: we either built it internally or we bought it from the market. That model is breaking under the weight of scarcity and cost. The IBM CEO study introduces an updated framework to help navigate this new environment. It expands our view of talent options into four parts: Build, Buy, Bot, and Borrow.
This framework is essential for navigating the new era of talent management. It's not just an HR initiative; it must become a core strategic mindset across the entire organization.
1. The "Buy" and "Build" Trap The traditional levers simply are not enough in a changing environment. "Buying" talent, hiring new people from the market, is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. The skills required for this new era are too scarce. You are competing with tech giants and startups for the same small pool of experts. This will likely be true even for many retail IT departments, and even other skilled areas, like HR and Training. While AI can do some of that work, a massive need for human validation of that work remains.
"Building" talent, reskilling your existing workforce, is absolutely necessary. We know that 31% of the workforce requires reskilling. But building is slow. It takes time to retrain a team, and in a retail environment where speed is critical, you often don't have the luxury of waiting six months for a capability you need today.
That leaves us with two levers that are rapidly becoming the primary strategic advantages for 2026: Bot and Borrow.
2. "Bot": The Rise of Digital Teammates We need to stop thinking about automation as just a way to cut costs or remove friction. The "Bot" component is evolving into something much more significant: digital labor.
These are not just scripts running in the background. We are seeing the rise of AI agents that act as "digital teammates." They are a distinct category of talent that can plug skill gaps. In fact, 65% of CEOs [1] explicitly state they will use this automation to address those gaps. I would argue that many CEOs are barely scratching the surface and may not fully grasp the need or impact of this support.
This changes the definition of a "qualified workforce." We are moving toward a future where your team chart includes both humans and digital entities. The line is blurring even further with models of "leased digital labor," where organizations rent AI agents to handle specific workflows, much like temporary staffing.
I see this as a way to fill talent needs that may not be covered on the organization chart today. Over the past decade or two, many businesses have reduced costs, cut headcount, and have a corporate workforce that is often cut too thin. Strategic use of bots can now begin to fill those missing resources without adding in significant added costs. It also keeps your people in positions that better utilize their talents, ensuring the right work gets done by the most appropriate resource.
This isn't about replacing people. It is about augmenting the team you have with the digital capabilities you cannot find in the open market. CEOs need to recognize that AI, at this stage, should not be about cutting costs further. Rather, AI can supplement an overworked talent pool to allow everyone to do better work that is suited to their strengths. Let the bots do routine and repeating administrative tasks. Let the bots manage the algorithms and analysis in the background and free up your human talent to apply the information in the most effective ways while validating its accuracy.
3. "Borrow": The Strategic Imperative If you cannot buy the talent because it is too expensive, and you cannot build it because it is too slow, you must borrow it. The common idea emerging from recent studies is the imperative to "Borrow the Talent You Can't Buy." This is not just traditional outsourcing. It is about rethinking what constitutes your "core" business.
We are seeing a shift where 57% of CEOs [1] now view outsourcing non-core activities as a strategic advantage to access high-end AI skills. They are willing to relinquish some control to gain access to capabilities they cannot generate internally.
The Consultative Gap
For the retail sector, specifically the mid-market, this is the only viable path. The retail giants may have the resources to build massive internal Centers of Excellence. Mid-market retailers generally do not.
This creates a "Consultative Gap," a need for outside support and expertise they may not currently have. Many retailers will need to rely on a "Translational Layer,” partners and middleware providers who can bridge the gap between complex technology and store operations. These retailers are essentially "borrowing" the strategic architecture and technical implementation skills they may not have available or cannot afford to maintain on the payroll.
It may also be the way to leverage ongoing systems without heavy capital or resource investments. It begins to introduce a move from SaaS (Software as a Service) to AIaaS (AI as a Service). The CEO’s Guide to Generative AI notes that 50% of executives expect their organizations to be operating "AI solution platforms" at enterprise scale within two years. What that actually means remains to be seen, and whether they are the right solutions introduces a series of further questions.
Innovation is a team sport. We have to tap into the collective brainpower of an ecosystem to solve problems we cannot tackle alone. Leaders, especially CEOs and other executive levels will need to think differently about where they find solutions. The most successful ones will likely be those who ask for help and admit to needing support they may not have initially anticipated.
The Disciplined Integrator
What does leadership look like in this "borrowed" ecosystem? First, it requires becoming a Disciplined Integrator. This is a strategic archetype for firms that prioritize control and compliance but partner with niche vendors to access custom models and skills. It is about knowing where to draw the line. You must decide where to build proprietary systems for competitive advantage and where to buy or borrow off-the-shelf solutions for speed.
This brings us back to the human element.
Leading Through the Shift
We often talk about the technology, but the "Build, Buy, Bot, Borrow" model is fundamentally about people. CEOs are consolidating their partnerships to ensure quality, with 66% planning [1] to concentrate on fewer, higher-quality partnerships to manage risk. They are looking for partners who can integrate seamlessly into their culture.
As leaders, we have to get comfortable with the idea that our teams will look different. It will be a mix of full-time employees, gig workers, partners, and digital agents.
The best leaders will be the ones who can look at this complex mix and find the harmony and benefits in it. They will be the ones who don't just chase the hype, but who ask the hard questions about what their business actually needs.
Start with the "Why." Define the "What." And then, don't be afraid to borrow the "How."
Some immediate action steps you can take
Take a look at your current strategic roadmap for the next 18 months.
Identify the three biggest capability gaps that are preventing you from executing that plan.
Ask yourself: Are you trying to "Build" or "Buy" your way out of a problem that should be solved by "Bot" or "Borrow"?
1 - IBM Institute for Business Value. (2025). 2025 CEO Study: 5 mindshifts to supercharge business growth.
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