At HRD Canada's HR Leaders Summit in Toronto, executives told the audience what it means to lead in 2025
As organizations across Canada navigate an uncertain economy, political noise, and an increase in the cost of living, HR leaders are redefining what it means to lead in 2025.
At today’s roundtable at the HR Leaders Summit in Toronto, hosted by HRD Canada, Julie Turner, Chief Human Resources Officer at McCarthy Tetrault, Kim Brewer, Chief People Officer at Skodt-Barrett Foods Inc, and Elizabeth McSavaney, Head of Human Resources at Zuricjh Canada, shared candid insights on the evolving expectations of leadership and the pivotal role HR now plays in organizational transformation.
So what does strategic leadership look like in 2025?
Kim Brewer, who joined Scott Barrett Foods after years of experience in business transformation, described her journey: “My background is doing both internal and external work with organizations to improve their performance. Certainly, I’m an HR professional, but I’m also a business transformation professional.” Brewer emphasized that her recent work has been “seriously in the trenches,” helping a manufacturing organization in Brampton survive a critical turnaround.
Brewer explained that strategic leadership in 2025 is about “helping people make sense of a world that is upside down and incredibly complex.” She added that with economic instability, inflation and a “super cycle” of tech, the world is more confusing than any of us have ever seen. She stressed that leaders must now provide assurance and clarity in an environment marked by volatility and complexity.
The panel agreed that HR’s role is no longer confined to traditional functions. Instead, HR is now at the forefront of change, co-designing strategies with business leaders and embedding transformation capabilities across organizations. “Our role now is information. How we co-design it with the business. It’s how do we embed those change leadership capabilities across your HR, your leaders, your teams, so that transformation is not a product. It’s embedded in,” Brewer said.
The conversation turned to the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on talent development and the future of work. Panelists noted that entry-level roles are disappearing, prompting HR leaders to rethink talent pipelines and development strategies. “We still need that pipeline of talent. And in the insurance industry, most of the people either fell into it or they have a family member. And we’re really working hard to change that narrative, to open up the talent pipeline, to diversify the talent pipeline,” McSavaney said.
The panelists also underscored the importance of involving junior talent in shaping the future of HR. McSavaney added: “Any of us with kids in university or high school know that they are way far ahead and they’re going to have very clear ideas when they see what we present to them, what they should spend their time on, and what can be done in AI. So I think that’s another area where we need to really come in and try to get as much insight as we can out of our junior talent to help us.”
