As organizations enter 2026 facing AI acceleration, workforce fatigue, and structural uncertainty, the role of HR is shifting decisively from support function to strategic driver. New research from McLean & Company shows that leadership, culture, and collaboration are becoming the primary levers of organizational resilience. Evan Berta, an associate at Hunt Scanlon Ventures, examines what this shift means for executive search firms, human capital advisors, and investors – and the implications that extend well beyond HR strategy in how organizations are reshaping how leadership is assessed, hired, and scaled.
According to McLean & Company’s HR Trends Report 2026: Leading Through Change: Human-Centric and Future Ready, HR organizations are being pulled into the center of enterprise transformation as companies grapple with relentless change driven by AI adoption, economic pressure, and shifting employee expectations.
Leadership development remains the top priority for HR, but innovation has surged to second place, signaling that organizations now expect HR to help power growth, not just manage talent.
This shift reflects a broader reality: transformation is no longer episodic. Nearly all organizations surveyed are either undergoing or planning enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, yet few report being highly effective at managing change or enabling technology adoption. The gap between ambition and execution is widening.
“HR is no longer being asked to support change; it is being asked to lead it,” said Evan Berta, an associate at Hunt Scanlon Ventures. “That elevates the importance of leadership capability, cultural alignment, and execution discipline in ways that directly impact executive search and human capital strategy.”
Leadership Quality Becomes a Performance Multiplier
One of the report’s clearest findings is the growing performance divide between organizations with strong people leadership and those without.
Companies whose leaders are highly effective at managing change and developing talent are more than twice as likely to report high performance in innovation and agility. Yet only a minority of HR organizations rate themselves as highly effective in developing leaders or managing uncertainty.
“HR is no longer being asked to support change; it is being asked to lead it.”
For executive search firms, this places far greater weight on assessing change leadership, not just functional expertise. Boards and investors are no longer hiring leaders to operate in stable environments; they are hiring leaders to navigate ambiguity, manage fatigue, and sustain performance through continuous disruption.
“This is changing what ‘great leadership’ actually means in the market,” Mr. Berta noted. “Search firms that can surface leaders with proven change capability, not just pedigree, will have a clear advantage.”
Culture and Accountability Move Up the Agenda
McLean & Company also highlights culture as a decisive execution variable. Organizations that align values with strategy and hold leaders accountable for living those values are significantly more likely to perform well across innovation, retention, and change readiness.
Yet fewer than half of organizations report holding leaders meaningfully accountable for cultural behaviors.
This has direct implications for human capital M&A. As private equity firms and strategic acquirers pursue transformation-driven deals, cultural misalignment and weak leadership accountability are emerging as hidden integration risks.
Increasingly, investors are scrutinizing leadership behavior and organizational culture during diligence, not after close.
“In today’s deal environment, culture isn’t soft, it is a risk factor,” said Mr. Berta. “We’re seeing more acquirers bring human capital assessment forward in the transaction process because execution failure is so often a leadership issue.”
Collaboration and AI Reshape the Talent Model
The report also underscores HR’s expanding role as a cross-functional integrator. Effective collaboration between HR, IT, Finance, and Legal is strongly correlated with better AI outcomes, cost optimization, and strategic execution.
Yet many organizations are implementing AI without a formal strategy or sufficient workforce readiness.
“AI adoption without people readiness is becoming one of the biggest execution risks we see.”
This disconnect is already reshaping demand for HR leaders, transformation executives, and functional heads who can bridge technology and people strategy.
It is also fueling consolidation and specialization across the human capital services market, as firms race to build capabilities around workforce analytics, leadership development, and change management.
“AI adoption without people readiness is becoming one of the biggest execution risks we see,” Mr. Berta added. “That’s driving demand for leaders, and advisors, who can translate technology investment into human performance.”
What This Means for the Human Capital Market
McLean & Company’s research makes one point unmistakably clear: organizations that succeed in 2026 will be those that treat leadership, culture, and collaboration as strategic assets – not HR initiatives.
“For executive search firms, this raises the bar on assessment rigor,” said Mr. Berta. “For human capital advisors, it expands the scope of value creation. And for investors, it reinforces the need to underwrite leadership and organizational capability alongside financial metrics.”
As transformation becomes continuous rather than cyclical, HR’s evolution into a change engine is set to reshape the entire human capital ecosystem.
Article By
Evan Berta
Evan Berta is Editor-in-Chief of ExitUp, the investment blog from Hunt Scanlon Ventures designed for professionals across the human capital M&A sector. Evan serves as an Associate for Hunt Scanlon Ventures, specializing in data analysis, market mapping, and target list preparation.
