A new figure of power is moving into the corporate circle of strategic decision makers, report Korn/Ferry and Heidrick and Struggles, the nation’s two largest executive search firms. The trend has profound implications for trainers and human resources development (HRD) managers seeking to move up the company ladder, says David Brinkerhoff, president of Abbott-Smith Associates, the leading executive recruiter in the training field.
The new executive goes by several names, from Vice President/Human Resources to Chief Personnel Officer (CPO). Brinkerhoff predicts trainers and HRD managers will be strongly represented among the new CPOs of this decade. As such, they’ll enjoy unprecedented clout: a vice-president’s title, an officer’s chair and a voice in strategic planning. But they’ll also have to abandon a long-cherished fan¬tasy— that of an HRD empire that’s a corporate power unto itself. Continue reading