Hello Community,

Change keeps testing every organization, and some handle it far better than others.

The Agility Project, a study of 325 companies led by industrial-organizational psychologist Elaine Pulakos, PhD, shows what sets them apart:

Let’s meet them.

The goal of the Agility Project was to understand what makes an organization sustain high performance and be agile during change and disruption.

They found that seven skills shape how people move through uncertainty, and how fast they recover from setbacks. But they also influence proactiveness to find new opportunities created by change and how quickly they adjust.

Most of us use these skills every week, but rarely name them.

These are durable, inherently human skills. As AI takes on more of the work and technical skills expire faster, Pulakos notes that every one of them is “something that AI and technology simply can’t do well.” That makes them the skills worth hiring for, developing, and assessing.

➡️ Where HR can start: Pick one critical role. Decide which of the seven skills would change performance most in it, then check whether your hiring and development processes measure any of them.

Skills also need the right environment to show up. Leaders and teams create it with clear priorities, candor, and room to experiment.

In The Agility Advantage, Elaine Pulakos, PhD, CEO of PDRI by Pearson, walks through the Agility Project’s findings, the stories behind them, and her answers to HR leaders’ questions on assessing the seven skills.

Skills like these grow faster in a room full of people working on the same problems. That room opens in Scottsdale next March.

⌚ Early bird ends Saturday · 4 days left ◂

More than 200 HR leaders from organizations including HubSpot, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Citi and Blue Origin have registered for BUILD, our first major in-person conference. Will you join them?

On March 10, 2027, we’ll spend a full day in Scottsdale working through real HR challenges with fellow practitioners. You’ll leave with frameworks and strategies you can use the following week.

📍 Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona

📅 Workshops March 9 · Conference March 10

🎟️ $199 early-bird pass through October 31, including meals and the sunset reception. From November 1: $299. Group discounts available.

Need your manager’s approval? Visit the BUILD website to download the letter Enrique Rubio prepared to help you make the case.

If you’d rather start building this month, our next free bootcamp begins next Tuesday.

How many hours did you spend last week turning a brief into a plan, chasing status updates and writing the weekly report by hand?

Most project tools track tasks. The planning, the reporting and the risk-spotting still land on YOU.

On November 3–4, Enrique Rubio will build a complete AI-powered project management system live, from an empty database to a working app, in two 2-hour sessions. You’ll see how to build:

You watch the full build, then rebuild your own using a sample dataset we provide. Every tool has a free tier, and you don’t need to set anything up beforehand.

🎓 Free for all Hacking HR members, with a certificate of completion and SHRM, HRCI and IHRIM credits.

🎁 Bonus: Register and enter a raffle for a free Premium membership.

📅 November 3–4 (Tuesday–Wednesday) · 6:00–8:00 AM PT

🎯 Level: Advanced

*Premium membership required.

Keep building and learning, and get ready for our next summit in London. Next June, we’re putting humans and AI at the center of the conversation!

Next June, we're meeting again in London for a new edition of the AI x People Summit, co-hosted with People Strategy Hub.

It's the only AI conference built for HR, People Ops, and people leaders, making it a people conference first. Every session connects AI to leadership, culture, and the way we actually work.

Picture a full day with 300+ HR and AI leaders, 12+ real case studies, three breakout streams, and an evening reception in the heart of the City. Last June, leaders from Shell, Microsoft, Moody’s, and NTT Data took the stage. For 2027, leaders from Distrilog Group, Campari Group and SVT are already confirmed.

You’ll leave with the frameworks, checklists and working examples to take AI from pilot to everyday work.

📍 1 Basinghall Avenue, London

📅 Thursday, June 17, 2027

🎟️ £199 early bird (save £150). Group discounts available.

➡️ Save your seat in London →

Most of us have signed up for a live program, then watched a reorg, a hiring sprint or a time zone take the sessions off our calendar.

Flexible Learning lets you complete our programs on your own schedule, with no start dates and no deadlines.

Flexible access covers the program content. Discussion boards and cohort announcements stay with the live editions, and free bootcamps remain free.

➡️ Explore Flexible Learning →

And if you are in Canada, our partners in Toronto are hosting a two-day festival in November.

HRFest Canada is a two-day festival for HR professionals, executives, and people leaders, taking place November 10–11, 2026 at Rebel, Toronto.

HRFest is built around interactive sessions, hands-on workshops, and real conversation across four stages covering the topics shaping Canadian HR right now: AI adoption, workforce planning, total rewards, legal risk, and more. With 750+ attendees and speakers from some of Canada’s biggest organizations, it’s where Canada’s HR community comes to learn, connect, and leave with ideas they can actually use.

Hacking HR members can use the code HACKINGHR30 at checkout to receive a 30% discount on their registration. ➡️ Register today

And as the year winds down, a small thank-you for the people who kept things running goes a long way.

We created a full catalog of gifts for the office exchange, your HR team, and the colleague who has read every policy twice.

There’s something for every gift budget: stickers starting at $4.49, gifts under $10, and mugs, candles, and more under $25. Shopping for the whole team? Bulk pricing starts at 12 items.

You can even wrap them in red tape. We know you have some.

👉 Shop the Holiday Gift Guide

If you are a CMO in the HR Tech space, we would love to connect. Every Friday we host a Hacking HR Live Webinar Planning session with Q&A at 09:00 AM Pacific Time. 👉 Register here→