At HRFest Canada, Dentsu Canada’s Leah Wilson warns tech will outpace adoption, and names curiosity the top skill
As AI reshapes the advertising industry, a senior talent leader says Canadian learning leaders must invest as heavily in people as they do in technology.
“The investment needs to be equally in the tech, but also with the people, because the tech’s going to move faster than people’s ability to actually implement and adopt,” said Leah Wilson, senior vice-president of talent and learning at Dentsu Canada, in an interview on Nov. 11, 2026, the second day of HRFest Canada in Toronto.
Her warning lands as Canadian employers grapple with that gap.
According to ADP Canada’s Canada Workplace Trends for 2026 report, 75% of large Canadian companies view AI as essential for competitiveness, yet only 13% are prioritizing hiring for AI skills.
AI raises the stakes for recruitment
That gap shows up first in hiring, Wilson said. Agencies feel particular pressure because headcount depends on client budgets, so shifts in client spending flow straight down to staffing.
AI has made recruitment more efficient but brought new problems. Application volumes have climbed, she said, and many résumés now look polished because candidates use AI to produce them.
“Relying on our human decision-making is actually highlighting that it’s more important in some ways, which, you know, it’s delivering efficiencies, but it’s also presenting different challenges,” she said.
Why traditional learning architecture no longer fits
The same pressure is reshaping how employees learn. Asked how to build a learning architecture for an industry being redesigned while it operates, Wilson was blunt: “The answer is you can’t. The architecture no longer applies.”
Foundational AI training is still needed at Dentsu – the first global marketing holding company to sign the European Union’s AI Pact – she said, but the harder task is tailoring it to specific roles and measuring whether it changes how people work. “It’s less about attendance and more about capabilities, and how is that actually impacted,” Wilson said.
To find out what matters, her team asks employees directly through leadership listening circles and a survey at the start of the year. One request – more presentation skills training – led to sessions where staff rehearsed real scenarios, from one-on-ones to client pitches. “That’s the kind of learning, that’s how we move the needle, because it was stuff that was really impactful to what they’re actually doing,” she said.
What should learning leaders in Canada prioritize?
Looking ahead, Wilson said leaders must avoid treating AI adoption as a checklist. Because AI changes how work gets done, it also brings deeper transformation – and anxiety among employees.
“It can’t just be about the tools. So you have to invest in the people as well as the tools,” she said. Technology, data and business priorities should together drive the learning agenda, she added, with leaders over-communicating and talking openly through employees’ fears. That view echoes HRD Canada’s coverage of HRFest Canada day one sessions and speakers, and research showing Canadian business leaders want to keep humans in the loop when using AI.
Young recruits can help ease that transition. Wilson said Dentsu’s internships and youth programs, including one piloted in Canada in 2019 to remove barriers such as unnecessary degree requirements, bring in people who “know what’s coming next because they’re building it for themselves.”
For leaders weighing which skills to build, she offered an answer that fits HRD Canada’s Elite Women 2026 report on top women in HR, which examines how leaders are expanding HR’s role. “I think curiosity is probably going to be the number one skill set, really legitimately, going forward,” Wilson said, “because no one knows what’s to come.”
