5 must attend sessions at UNLEASH America 2026

UNLEASH America is coming back to Las Vegas.

This year’s show is about going beyond talking about the future of work, and instead actively shaping and reinventing HR, together.

Our speaker line-up are true trailblazers who are not just talking the talk, but actually walking the walking on the future of work.

Leading academics and thinkers in leadership AI and HR, Ethan Mollick, Amy Edmonson, Peter Hinssen and Jaime Teevan, are taking to the Main Stage to deliver ground-breaking keynotes.

Of course, that’s not all – CHROs and senior HR leaders from the world’s biggest brands like The Coca-Cola Company, MetLife, Adobe, Visa, Takeda, New York Life, 7Eleven and Phillips 66 will be sharing their HR challenges and secrets to success live in Las Vegas.

This agenda really hits the jackpot. As always, there’s so much going on across the three-day show, but here are five standout sessions you can’t miss.

Feeling the FOMO? No need to stress, there’s still time to grab a pass and join us in Las Vegas, 17-19 March.

1. Unleashing employees to build a learning organization

Kicking off Day Two of UNLEASH America is Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School.

Having heard Edmondson speak at previous conferences, I know this keynote is going to be insightful, and truly help HR leaders make the right decisions to improve employee engagement.

It is well-known that employee engagement is declining, and there’s lots that organizations can (and should) do to fix the problem. Hint: creating psychologically safe workplaces are a key piece of the puzzle.

Want a taste of Edmonson’s insights? My Senior Journalist colleague, Lucy Buchholz, interviewed Edmonson at UNLEASH World last year about how to promote “fearless candor” and reap the engagement rewards.

2. From one to many: The future of AI is collaboration

It’s so exciting that Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow at Microsoft, will be delivering a Day Three keynote at UNLEASH America.

Microsoft research defined 2025 as the year “the Frontier Firm was born” – one of the things that defines these high-performing organizations is they are not just reaping the individual productivity rewards, they are going further to rethink how work happens by truly integrating AI into workplace collaboration.

This means that AI is changing how teams work together, and driving collective intelligence at scale, in Frontier Firms.

During her keynote, Teevan will dig deeper into the learnings from Frontier Firms, and sharing what all organizations must do to emulate their approach.

Make sure you attend this session at UNLEASH America if you want your organization to had a competitive advantage now and into the future.

3. The new leadership DNA in an agentic AI world

Agentic AI is challenging organizations across the world. It is changing the makeup of organizations – they are no longer just made up of humans, digital labor is now picking up tasks.

How does agentic AI change how leaders need to act? What is the role of CHROs in developing leaders who are ready for the AI challenge?

Answering these questions are four incredible CHROs – The Coca-Cola Company’s Lisa Chang, Katarina Berg from On, Maryjo Charbonnier of Kyndryl, and MetLife’s Shurawl Sibblies.

These four HR leaders will be also be sharing their expertise at the invite-only UNLEASH CHRO summit on Day One of the Las Vegas show.

Charbonnier, Sibblies and Chang will be on a panel discussing the CHRO playbook for 2026, while Berg will lead a roundtable on how HR can be strategic by design and become a C-Suite leader.

Where else can you get access to the insights of leading CHROs in one place?

My Senior Journalist colleague, John Brazier, has previously spoken to Berg when she as CPO at Spotify, and she is a real trailblazing HR leader with stories, insights and advice to share, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Charbonnier this year in the run up to UNLEASH America.

You can read the full interview with Charbonnier to get a sneak peek of what she’ll be discussing at UNLEASH America – you’ll have to join us live to get the full Kynrdryl, Coca-Cola, On and MetLife story.

4. Policy shocks & talent markets: How Washington’s moves are shaping recruiting

If you’re struggling to stay up-to-date on US policy changes, you’re in luck, Andrew Flowers, Chief Economist at Appcast, is taking to the stage at UNLEASH America to cut through the noise.

He’ll unpack changes in tax, immigration and trade policy, and delve into how they are directly impacting HR strategies, particularly around recruitment.

While these forces may be out of HR leaders’ control, the HR function still has agency and the ability to stabilize organizations in this changing legislative landscape.

You won’t regret adding this session to your UNLEASH America 2026 agenda.

Policy is also taking center stage during a fireside conversation between Insight 222’s David Green and Taylor Stockton, Chief Innovation Officer at the US Department of Labor.

Stockton will candidly discuss his views on how AI is reshaping careers, national competitiveness, as well as opportunities across borders.

5. Architecting the future workforce: Leveraging AI and skills to drive talent mobility

One of the standout sessions for me at UNLEASH America 2025 was a Main Stage panel, featuring CHROs from LVMH, Microsoft and Phillips 66.

On that panel, Phillips 66’s SVP and CHRO Andrez Carberry noted: “Leadership is not a rung on a career ladder”, “it is a true responsibility”.

Leaders must not assume they know the organizational culture – instead, they need to be really intentional and reward the right behaviors.

This year in Las Vegas, attendees will be treated to a closer look at the culture of Phillips 66 from the energy giant’s Chief Learning Officer Phil Rhodes.

Rhodes will be talking about the topic of the moment – AI and skills – and how Phillips 66 is embracing a skills transformation that breaks silos, empowers employees and redefines career growth in the age of AI.

Stay tuned for a sneak peek into his UNLEASH America session in an exclusive interview, coming soon.

That’s a tiny snippet of the incredible agenda for UNLEASH America 2026 – worried you’re going to miss out on some essential learnings? It’s not too late to grab a pass for you and your team so you can reinvent HR with us in Las Vegas.