Building a skills-first AI-enabled workforce is a lynchpin for the future of work but it cannot pit humans against AI – success hinges on AI working in tandem with Human Intelligence (HI).

That is the core tenet of energy technology giant Schneider Electric’s people strategy, particularly where it concerns ensuring it has the right skills pathways in place to best harness the potential of AI.

Chief Talent & Diversity Officer, Tina Kao Mylon, tells UNLEASH that the successful confluence of people and technology means Schneider can amplify “how employees take ownership and agency in their own career and skill development.”

But in an operating environment of rapid AI disruption, skills shortages and pressure to ensure transformation is conducted responsibly, the challenge for HR leaders is significant.

Ahead of Mylon’s session at UNLEASH America 2026, UNLEASH sits down for an exclusive interview to dig into how Schneider Electric is building out future skills pathways to realize its people and organizational strategic objectives.

Build foundations and skills first, then amplify with AI

Tina Kao Mylon, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Schneider Electric

Skills have become almost a byword for success in the future of work, but the reality of how to achieve success is rooted in the fundamentals – taxonomy, architecture, governance, and consistent definitions.

Mylon acknowledges this “sounds so basic and operational,” but it enables Schneider to view and use skills as “the hub of the different spokes” for the career development pathways to become more visible for all.

As she explains, this could be “how we hire, how we reward, or how we train and develop skills as a data foundation, as a philosophy, as a mechanism for that architecture to translate into real people, experiences, processes.”

Schneider’s approach is one of “a huge dose of energy and very big dose of humility,” Mylon adds. It’s a recognition that skills transformation is an ongoing journey that requires regular vigilance and refinement.

“To keep our position as the energy technology partner, we must ensure our workforce is future-ready, equipped with key technical, digital and human skills. That’s why we’re launching a company-wide transformation that puts skills at the heart of everything,” Mylon explains.

This starts from harmonizing skills taxonomy – really breaking it down, not just by roles and job families, but by skills today and for tomorrow – and making sure this infrastructure, this ecosystem, is maintained.”

This foundational architecture is enabled by AI – helping the organization get the right data and an accurate overview of what skills already exist internally and how to strategize for future needs.

For Schneider, AI enables to take more insight-led actions into the management and development of its skills pathways with employees, but “also for the company, anticipating those things at scale and in a level of depth and scope that we didn’t ever imagine.”

The “next horizon” for the organization is moving from talent management to organizational design and strategy, by expanding the use of AI for skills to reshape and redesign work processes.

Mylon states that this is currently being experimented in “certain domains – supply chain, accounting, even a little bit of HR and finance” but fits squarely within Schneider’s strategy to “use skills as a vector” of how work is done in the future.

Success relies on a confluence of skills, talent and equity

The challenge of successfully blending AI and HI is not just about building up technical skills or realigning from role-based to task-based workflows.

Like many other leading organizations, Schneider is taking a human-centric focus to its AI journey and valuing what are traditionally referred to as ‘soft skills’ at a premium.

Mylon explains the organization refers to skills, such as problem solving and critical thinking, as ‘human skills’ that focus squarely on creativity, augmenting the technical skills required for the future of work.

Part of this view is informed by cultural factors, she adds, such as the impact of AI on future workforces where “the concern is not so much AI taking jobs away – it’s more that is AI truly destroying cognitively and emotionally what people are.”

Giving employees agency, data and transparency – even decision-making capability – into their skills development is a critical factor towards addressing both concerns and achieving enterprise objectives simultaneously.

“There’s a whole cultural piece around that transformation, and that is a different way of behaving,” Mylon states.

We are also trying to shift skills knowledge, as well as the AI enhancements, to make sure it’s not just a power play for companies, but also a way to bring employees up in terms of their agency and ownership of how they want to work and grow at the company.”

Mylon adds that Schneider is focused on ‘T-shaped’ careers which combine deep specialist knowledge with the skills that can be applied across disciplines.

This means employees are equipped to embrace “career fluidity” by building the right skills, while also being adaptive and agile: “We really put that expectation on our people in terms of owning their career and skill development.”

“That ability to live to their ‘T’ is delivered through our culture philosophy, through which we provide equal access to the right tools, the right data on skills, the right types of platforms, information, programs and mentors, so that people have an equal playing field,” she explains.

Reimagining HR at Schneider Electric and UNLEASH America 2026

This also applies to both HR within Schneider and other organizations. Mylon acknowledges it’s “an exciting time for HR in in the context of this transformation” but also that “HR has to learn new skills, and HR has to unlearn and let go of certain other skills.”

Mylon will be a first-time speaker and attendee at UNLEASH America 2026 and she says that it’s a place “of big ideas and practical solutions – you get the thought leaders and the practitioners together, because that’s where the real stuff happens.”

Her message to other HR leaders is clear: to thrive in the era of AI, organizations must invest in strong skills foundations, human capability, and offer equal chances of success.

To learn more, make sure you don’t miss out on Mylon’s panel discussion on 18 March during this year’s UNLEASH America – get your pass now!