This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
People analytics hit its peak in 2022. Then the bottom dropped out. Roles disappeared. Teams shrank. And everyone started asking the same question: did people analytics miss its moment? Cole Napper doesn’t think so. He argues the opposite. The field isn’t dying. It’s shifting. The future is AI transformation, workforce modeling, and organizational change at scale. And the people who’ve lived inside the analytics trenches are the only ones with the skill stack to actually pull it off. Data. Tech. AI. Change. It’s all converging, and the HR teams who ignore it are about to get left behind.
In this episode we talk about people analytics, AI, workforce transformation, storytelling with data, fraud in talent acquisition, geopolitics, and why the industry is about to rename itself. Cole breaks down what’s happening, what’s coming next, and why the “weather report” days of HR data are officially over.
What We Cover
The rise and dip of people analytics roles
Why AI, agents, and automation are shifting the playing field
Storytelling vs AI-generated insights
Fraud across TA, payroll, and analytics
The future of workforce planning
How data companies like Lightcast power the HR ecosystem
Why “AI” as a label is about to get boring
What HR leaders actually want: predictions, not dashboards
Key Takeaways
People analytics hit a high watermark in 2022, then declined
AI transformation and workforce transformation are the real next wave
People analytics talent already has the four skills the future requires: data, tech, AI, and change management
Storytelling still separates good analysts from bad ones
Fraud has spiked in talent acquisition and bleeds into analytics now
AI terms will fade as the tech becomes baseline
Workforce planning is hotter now than at any point since 2008
Leaders don’t want data weather reports. They want “do I need an umbrella?” answers
Lightcast’s data powers nearly 100 HR tech vendors
Chapters
0:00 The High Watermark and Decline of People Analytics
2:00 Who is Cole? IO Psych, Data, and Directionally Correct
4:50 The Real Skills HR Needs: Data, Tech, AI, Change
6:00 Storytelling vs AI-Generated Insights
7:30 Fraud in TA, Analytics, and Payroll
9:20 Workforce Trends and Seeing Around Corners
10:30 Why “AI” Will Become Boring
11:30 The Weather Report Problem in HR Data
12:20 Lightcast’s Ecosystem and Workforce Planning Surge
13:30 What We’ll Be Talking About Next Year
Guest
Cole Naper. VP Research, Innovation, & Talent Insights at Lightcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colenapper
Host of the Directionally Correct Podcast
Host:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup
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