What dominates Training Hall of Famers’ conversations about trends in leadership development these days? Artificial intelligence (AI) and hyper-personalization of learning.
Not surprisingly, those were the topics members of the elite Training Hall of Fame (organizations that achieved Top 10 Training MVP Awards rankings for four consecutive years) tackled at an in-person meeting at the Training 2026 Conference & Expo in February. Here, seven of those Training Hall of Fame organizations offer insights on leadership development trends, key program components, priority skills, success metrics, lessons learned, and what tops their training “wish lists.”
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TRENDS
“We are seeing a definitive shift toward ‘AIaugmented’ leadership,” notes the Verizon L&D Team. “It’s no longer just about digital literacy; it’s about AI fluency, where leaders integrate generative AI into workflows while navigating ethical concerns and workforce displacement. This is a core pillar of our AI Unlocked initiative, which is designed to promote AI usage and fluency. We want to ensure our leaders aren’t just users of technology, but architects of AI-driven teams.”
At KPMG, supporting the firm’s overall AI transformation is a priority across multiple learning programs, explains Executive Director of Leadership Development Joan Gutkowski. “For leaders, this means embedding content that equips them to think strategically about AI and guide their teams to harness its power with the appropriate level of review and professional judgment.”
AI likewise is extensively integrated into leadership development at Paychex, Inc., with a focus on helping leaders understand their roles in leveraging AI strategically and operationally. “Development programs aim to foster AI literacy at various leadership levels, from strategic planning to task execution, and to cultivate curiosity about AI applications,” says Karena Roman, senior manager of Talent Management. “The approach includes helping leaders identify AI opportunities and integrate AI thoughtfully within their teams and processes.”
AI platforms that tailor content and recommendations are contributing to the hyper-personalization and continuous learning that is replacing onesize- fits-all leadership development programs. “Modular, learner-driven pathways give leaders just-in-time learning based on their role, experience, and goals,” notes Brooke Jones-Chinetti, vice president, Talent Management, The Haskell Company.
The increased presence of AI also highlights the importance of change management skills as part of leadership development programs, adds Glenn Hughes, senior director, Learning and Development, KLA Corporation. “Leaders need to reduce employee fears of being replaced by AI, as well as spearhead the adoption of new technology.”
And companies must keep in mind that humancentered, culture-first leadership in the age of AI is a critical focus, points out Haskell CEO and Chairman Jim O’Leary, “as organizations recognize that empathy, emotional intelligence, trust-building, and ethical decision-making are the differentiators AI cannot replicate, even as AI reshapes work. We are intentionally developing early talent through a leadership lens so they gain relational, coaching, and decision-making skills, because while AI can optimize information and workflows, it cannot and will not replace leaders who must inspire, align, and steward organizational culture.”
KEY PROGRAM COMPONENTS
What do Training Hall of Famers believe are the “must-have” components of an effective leadership development program?
KLA’s Hughes points to the use of cohorts, executives sharing their growth experiences, and a psychologically safe environment. For the Applied Materials, Inc., Leadership Team, it’s networking, experiential learning, and real-time case studies/ experiences. At Verizon, those components include executive sponsorship, strategic alignment with business strategy, and operational integration.
In addition to those elements, a strong structure that includes clear expectations, defined development milestones, and regular touchpoints is key for State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Leadership Development Team.
At KMPG, Gutkowski says, the most successful leadership development programs are built on three essential pillars: timing, ensuring an experience meets the leader at the right moment in their career; peer-to-peer learning, which helps ensure greater alignment to firm strategy and business priorities; and experiences and tools that build selfawareness and challenge familiar patterns.
The Haskell Company’s most successful programs likewise share three core components: self-leadership and personal clarity; leadership in action and values alignment; and coaching to multiply impact across roles, projects, and geographies.
SUCCESS METRICS
While Hall of Famers do measure leadership development efforts against business results such as ROI, most focus strongly on metrics related to career progression/growth, internal mobility, retention, engagement, and succession.
“We look at outcomes such as promotions to leadership roles, performance metrics specific to role, and feedback from leaders,” says State Compensation Insurance Fund’s Leadership Development team. “We also assess the impact of our leadership development on overall employee engagement. In addition, we measure success by the relative strength of our succession bench year-over-year.”
Paychex monitors top talent retention and overall leadership retention separately to assess program effectiveness, Roman notes. “Future initiatives include embedding leadership framework competencies into performance cycles to measure development outcomes.”
In addition to measuring learning application, behavior change, and business impact, KPMG is focusing on pre-and post-program assessments of self-efficacy, a leader’s confidence in their ability to act, Gutkowski says.
L&D WISH LIST
More coaching and AI capabilities (or a combination of the two) topped the wish list if Hall of Famers had a $5 million budget for leadership training.
The Verizon L&D Team is in the process of securing integrated gen AI coaches that provide 24/7, real-time feedback to leaders at their moment-ofneed, such as preparing for difficult conversations or growing a new skill. “This will pull data from all Verizon tools and dashboards to provide hyperpersonalized coaching for every leader,” the team explains. “A wish list budget would cover the ongoing updates and user experience enhancements.”
Haskell’s Jones-Chinetti would invest in scaling and deepening the company’s leadership ecosystem, in part by growing an internal and external coaching network. “We also would enhance a digital- first, AI-enabled learning environment that personalizes content and supports continuous learning,” she says. “We would expand experiential development labs and simulations that allow cross-functional leaders to practice strategy execution, change leadership, and decision-making in realistic scenarios tied to our project-based business.”
The State Compensation Insurance Fund Leadership Team likewise would invest in expanding coaching, including bringing in external coaches to complement internal support. The team also would bring in experts to build leaders’ AI capabilities to help them lead and guide their teams.
Paychex’s Roman would focus on making leadership development accessible beyond top talent to include a broader range of employees, noting that “investing broadly in development can reveal hidden potential and support diverse career paths.”
PRIORITY LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Training Hall of Famers’ leadership development programs focus on helping leaders hone the following skills:
- AI literacy
- Agility
- Business acumen
- Care and candor
- Change management
- Coaching mindset
- Communication under pressure
- Cross-functional thinking
- Curiosity
- Decision velocity
- Digital fluency
- Empathy
- Emotional intelligence
- Enhanced decisionmaking
- Ethical judgment
- Humility
- Leading without authority
- Strategic thinking
- Self-awareness
- Reflection
- Trust
CASE STUDY: AI-POWERED PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Getting busy leaders to pause and wholeheartedly engage in leadership development training—and retain what they learn—is a challenge for many organizations today.
A European defense company found that an artificial intelligence-powered simulation platform paired with facilitated sessions can be an effective solution.
Program Details
In 2025, the company launched an executive leadership development program (ELDP) for 18 VPs and senior directors. The five-month program was custom designed and facilitated by UK-based leadership development consultancy CTG Group (https://www.ctggroup.co/). Alongside CTG Group’s facilitated workshops, participants were given access to LeaderCoreAI (https://leadercore. ai), an AI-powered simulation platform built by Blue Horizon Training, where they could privately rehearse high-stakes leadership conversations—conflict resolution, performance management, stakeholder influence, managing resistance to change, and more—at any time, at their own pace, with no audience and no consequences. The program offered 13 scenarios across five levels of difficulty.
Participants were not required to use the platform outside workshop sessions, but they could choose to do so.
Most leadership programs end when the workshop ends. Leaders return to their roles with new frameworks and good intentions but no structured way to practice applying what they learned. This is the practice gap: the space between knowing what good leadership looks like and being able to do it under pressure. The defense company aimed to close that gap by making realistic, private practice available on demand—not as a replacement for facilitated development but as a complement that extends the program’s impact beyond the classroom.
“Our VPs and senior directors bring decades of leadership experience, but even at that level, you don’t get many chances to rehearse high-stakes conversations without consequences. That’s exactly what LeaderCoreAI gave them inside our executive training program run by CTG,” notes the defense company’s VP of Talent Development, Nerys Thomas. “What I didn’t expect was how much our leaders would use it voluntarily. They kept going back to test different approaches between workshops. At that level, people simply don’t do that with tools they don’t find valuable.”
Results
Participants completed 132 voluntary practice sessions— and some chose to practice on their own time: mornings, evenings, and weekends. The voluntary return rate was 67 percent. Participants who returned voluntarily logged 75 hours of self-directed practice, averaging more than six hours per person. The average session lasted 34 minutes, with 37 back-and-forth message exchanges with the AI per session.
One senior leader at the defense company admits, “My initial reaction was that I didn’t see the value. But then the scenarios became relatable to real-life situations, and I found them genuinely useful.”
Another VP said what surprised them most was the insight the AI gave into their style and where they could improve, adding, “I mostly enjoyed the challenge and the scenarios. It felt like a safe space.”
“When a VP returns 25 times without being asked, that’s practice winning against every other demand on their time,” says Frank Basinski, founder, Blue Horizon Training and LeaderCoreAI. “That tells you more than any satisfaction score.”
Adds Brad Solomon, CEO of CTG Group, “We’ve always believed that what happens between sessions matters as much as what happens in the room. The engagement data from this client’s program validated that design choice—and it’s shaped how we’re thinking about program architecture going forward.”
Thomas says the defense company is looking to extend the approach to future leadership development programs.
CASE STUDY: Fast Tracking Leadership
The Leadership Series Fast Track (LS Fast Track) has been one of The Haskell Company’s most effective leadership development programs in the last two years, according to Vice President of Talent Management Brooke Jones-Chinetti. The program is designed specifically for senior‑level leaders (directors and above) who are new to Haskell or were unable to participate in the company’s full three-year, 160‑hour Leadership Series.
Content is focused on high‑impact, practice‑oriented topics. Sessions include:
- Coaching, Mentoring, Counseling, and Managing (Knowing the Difference), which clarifies expectations of senior leadership roles.
- Coaching and Vulnerability, which emphasizes inspiring rather than directing and modeling authenticity and emotional openness.
- Leadership theory (Being vs. Doing), a mindset shift central to the series that views leadership as a way of being, not just a set of tasks.
- DISC, Driving Forces, and EQ, which build self‑awareness and improve leaders’ ability to regulate emotions, influence constructively, and motivate diverse teams.
- The Five C’s of Self‑Development, an original framework from Haskell lead coach Chip Scholz, guiding reflection on Context, Clarity, Conditioning, Choice, and Character and culminating in a personal “Waypoint” commitment to action.
- Driving Team Performance, based on Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, focusing on trust, healthy conflict, and continuous improvement.
- GROW Model plus Coaching Gyms, where leaders adopt a structured coaching framework and immediately apply it to real conversational scenarios.
Leadership Development Manager Liz Powell says the program has increased consistency across leadership levels, with more unified coaching language, stronger reinforcement of Haskell’s values, and clearer expectations for how leaders interact, give feedback, and drive culture. “LS Fast Track also has strengthened leadership cohesion and collaboration,” she notes, “as senior leaders from different business units build relationships and trust.”
LESSONS LEARNED
- Leadership development is most effective when it is a two-way dialogue that involves future leaders, not just a top-down monologue from trainers or executives. Current leaders’ role-modeling and active engagement to share wins and vulnerabilities can be game-changers for driving cultural change and accountability.
- Programs must be tailored to the unique context and values of the organization. Using company-specific language, reflecting core values, and tying content to real-world organizational challenges ensures that training resonates with participants.
- Leadership development should stay grounded in people and mission, prioritizing human-centered and peer-learning approaches. Flexible, dynamic programs that support leaders in serving their teams and connecting their work to the organization’s purpose are key to talent development and retention.