AI has gone from a shiny experiment to a true business imperative, and the gap between leaders and laggards is rapidly widening. In a recent report, the Bedford Group explains why the biggest risk for most companies is not job losses, but the failure to develop the leadership and skills needed to deploy AI at scale. The firm explores what it takes to effectively govern, staff, and operationalize AI, as well as what happens to organizations that don’t keep pace.
December 11, 2025 – AI has quietly moved from experimental novelty to competitive benchmark, and this shift is happening faster than most organizations are prepared to handle. What differentiates companies that capture real value from those that accumulate pilot projects is no longer access to technology, but the ability to make intelligent choices about where to apply it, how to govern it, and who is responsible for the results. This is a moment of talent and leadership: organizations that equip themselves with clear ownership, decision-making power and AI-savvy leaders will now accrue their advantages, while others risk seeing their markets evolve without them.
Much of the public debate around AI focuses on pessimistic predictions: robots will automate tasks, humans will be displaced. But for many organizations, the most immediate – and underappreciated – risk is not that AI will eliminate jobs, but rather that companies lack the leadership and skills to harness it effectively, according to a recent report from The Bedford Group.
“The capital is there and the tools are maturing,” the report explains. “But the human infrastructure needed to govern, scale, and integrate AI into business strategy is lagging. The companies that will lead this era are those whose leaders are able to scale responsibly, strategically, and quickly.”
AI is reshaping work – are your leaders ready?
Despite popular fears of widespread job loss, research reveals a different story. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report predicts that while AI and automation could eliminate 9 million jobs by 2030, it will simultaneously create an additional 11 million, a net gain of 2 million. Half of employers plan to reorient their strategy around AI, two-thirds plan to hire AI-specific talent, and 40% plan to reduce roles where automation applies.
“The result is not unemployment, it is reconfiguration,” explains the Bedford Group report. “Task automation doesn’t erase entire jobs, but it reshapes them. As automation absorbs routine work, uniquely human capabilities become more important. The work that remains requires higher levels of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and strategic oversight. The conversation must shift from preserving jobs to evolving skills, and from counting roles to developing the capabilities that make those roles viable in an AI-driven economy.”
Research Looking at companies recruiting for roles using generative AI tools shows this shift in action. It found that GenAI positions required 44% higher cognitive skills and 79% higher IT/software skills, but lower customer service (-17%), financial (-31%) and self-management (-44%) skills.
Related: Providing talent for the AI revolution
“As GenAI becomes integrated into operations, success will depend on leaders and teams who are able to combine deeper technical knowledge and analytical judgment with the interpersonal ability to guide adoption and change,” the Bedford Group report states. “In other words, the biggest threat is not automation itself, but the lack of people equipped to lead and implement it responsibly. »
Why Most Businesses Will Fail at Executing AI
AI enthusiasts already say up to quintuple productivity gains, but 44 percent Business leaders say limited internal expertise has slowed adoption. “This shortage is not just a delay in execution – it is a strategic risk,” notes the Bedford Group report. “Companies that delay AI hiring decisions find themselves shut out of top talent and stuck with second-tier capabilities. »
How AI is reshaping the talent pyramid
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the professional services landscape, upending the decades-old leverage model that has long defined the industry. According to Clark R. Beecher of Beecher Reagan, the traditional talent pyramid is collapsing as companies rely less on junior analysts. This shift requires organizations to rethink their recruiting strategies, redeploy investments, and prepare mid-level leaders to take on the go-to-market roles of tomorrow. Let’s take a closer look!
Global data shows how quickly the skills gap is widening. Bath & Company AI talent shortage could reach 50-70% in major markets by 2027, while Manpower Group found that 74 percent of employers struggle to find qualified talent and 60 percent cite skills shortages as the biggest barrier to digital strategy.
Meanwhile, compensation is increasing rapidly. Workers with AI skills now command a 56 percent a wage premium, up from 25 percent the previous year. “Despite waves of layoffs in the technology sector, AI talent remains scarce and in high demand,” the Bedford Group report said. “The paradox is clear: investments are accelerating, but execution is falling behind because the leadership pipelines have not kept pace. »
How winning companies are securing AI talent today
Closing this gap requires rethinking not just recruitment, but the entire architecture of leadership and capability development, according to the Bedford Group report. Forward-thinking companies don’t wait for the market to catch up. The Bedford Group explained that it was rethinking its leadership structures to stay ahead of the curve:
- Create or clarify AI leadership roles. AI Directors and Integrated AI Leaders provide a clear and accountable framework for strategy, value and governance.
- Bringing together talent from adjacent fields. Senior leaders in analytics, digital transformation or product management sectors are redirected into AI leadership tracks through targeted upskilling.
- Improve skills of the board and C-suite. AI and governance training ensures that strategic decisions reflect risk, ethics and ROI, not hype.
- Building hybrid leadership pipelines. Launching a new AI product? You will need AI-aligned functional leaders. Facing board scrutiny over AI ethics? You need an AI governance leader. Struggling to scale pilot programs? You may need a Chief AI Officer or an AI “translator” who connects the technical and business teams.
Traditional recruiting pipelines won’t uncover the AI leaders you need. Bedford AI Practice combines deep technology sector reach with cross-industry talent mapping to emerge the next generation of AI-savvy CxOs, product managers and change agents. “AI transformation is not a technology project, it is a test of leadership,” the company said. “Winners don’t wait. They’re already building leadership pipelines that others wish they had in twelve months. As organizations move from AI ambition to implementation, leadership preparation will determine who succeeds.”
The Bedford Consulting Group, led by co-founders and brothers Steven Pezim and Howard Pezim, is a privately held executive search and talent consulting firm. Its services cover the full spectrum of talent management, including leadership assessment, coaching and development, compensation consulting, as well as executive, executive and senior technical recruitment. Founded in 1979, the Bedford Group has three offices in Canada: Toronto, Oakville, Ontario and Vancouver, all of which consult clients across North America and around the world.
Related: Beyond traditional executive search: human insight and the power of AI
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Managing Editor and Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media