In episode 84 of the SWP Podcast, I sit down with Karthik Yogeshwar from Meta to explore his journey into strategic workforce planning and the evolving nature of the discipline. Karthik shares how he “fell into” SWP through operations, analytics, and finance, and why he’s stayed by choice ever since.

We unpack the reality that workforce planning isn’t just forecasting—it’s about aligning demand, supply, and strategy in an environment where the future rarely behaves as expected. Karthik highlights the importance of understanding the business, building strong stakeholder relationships, and moving beyond data to real insight.

We also dive into some fascinating areas, including hybrid workforce planning—where people, AI, and automation combine—and a novel approach to workforce management using concepts from stock market analysis.

Finally, we explore the growing impact of AI, including Karthik’s research into AI readiness at a country level, and what this means for the future of workforce strategy.

In Episode 83 of the SWP Podcast, I’m joined by Lisa Dalgliesh, People Strategy and Org Development Leader at PayPal.

Lisa shares her journey into workforce and talent strategy, starting in learning and development and evolving into a role that sits at the intersection of strategy and execution. We explore the growing convergence of workforce planning, people analytics, and talent strategy, and why breaking down silos across these areas is becoming critical.

We also dive into PayPal’s work on skills, including building a robust skills framework to better understand workforce capability, redeployment opportunities, and the impact of AI. Lisa offers a pragmatic view on the future of workforce planning, challenging the industry to move beyond “HR stuff” and focus on real business impact.

A super enthralling conversation in we discuss how to cut through the noise, stay anchored to business outcomes, and rethink the relationship between skills, roles, and tasks in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Episode 82 of the SWP Podcast featured Tyler Blackwell, Director of Global Workforce Planning at Morningstar, for a thought-provoking discussion on the evolving practice of strategic workforce planning.

Tyler shares his unconventional journey into SWP, moving from foreign affairs and diplomacy into organisational effectiveness, org design, and ultimately workforce planning. The conversation explores how Morningstar has developed its workforce planning capability, including headcount forecasting, location strategy, and the shift from fragmented Excel-based processes to a more integrated approach using Workday, Adaptive Planning, and TalentNeuron.

Tyler and I also dive into the growing influence of AI on the profession, including the use of tools like Claude Code to support capability modelling, job redesign, and workforce intelligence. Throughout the episode, Tyler highlights the enduring importance of trust, judgment, curiosity, and human conversation, reinforcing why strategic workforce planning remains central to organisational decision-making in an increasingly AI-enabled world. What an episode...! What an incredibly insightful and interesting human!