Mission Possible: The CHRO’s Role in Solving the CEO’s Top Problems

Let’s start here: geopolitical disruption is no longer a niche concern for diplomats or economists. It’s already reshaping the very environments where companies hire, produce, and compete.

As Nikolaus Lang, Global Chair of BCG’s Center for Geopolitics, and Managing Director & Senior Partner, reminded us, recent shifts in US trade policy (including moves to increase tariff levels and drive industrial reshoring) are shaping the economic landscape in real-time. These policies are designed to strengthen American industry and workforce participation. For HR leaders, that translates into planning for job growth in manufacturing hubs and recalibrating talent strategies in line with national priorities.

Whether you’re running HR for a multinational or a regional player, the message is the same: the global is now local.

A Multipolar World Demands a Multipurpose CHRO

Lang outlined the four poles of global power: the US, China, the Global South, and Europe. Each operates with different priorities, different economic levers, and vastly different levels of political cohesion. For example, while the EU wrestles with shifting coalitions, China is expanding its influence as the number-one trading partner across Latin America and Africa.

But this isn’t just a chessboard for national leaders. It’s an operating environment for every global company. Lang emphasized how the Global South’s rise, especially India’s growing middle class, should shift how CHROs think about hiring, localization, and talent strategy.

Aspect43‘s recent research reinforces this shift. Talent pipelines are being rebuilt around resilience, flexibility, and geopolitical awareness. HR can no longer act as a back-office function in isolation. It has to be embedded in global risk, business continuity, and innovation.

Building Geopolitical Muscle

Lang gave a compelling call to action: companies need to build geopolitical muscle. That means:

• Hiring talent with geopolitical literacy from a variety of backgrounds.
• Creating internal radar systems that track regulatory, policy, and trade changes.
• Building resilient, localized supply chains.
• Establishing an operating model that allows for the integration of geopolitical factors in strategic decision-making.
• Restructuring organizations to operate with agility in each region.
• Getting technology and cybersecurity right, from the ground up.

For HR, this isn’t theory. This is operational necessity. From new compliance risks to managing workforce relocations or addressing the mental toll of global conflicts on employees, HR leaders must get involved early.

This reminded me of a section in The Power of HR, where I argue that strategic HR leadership is not about “seat at the table” talk anymore. It’s about owning part of the table, especially in high-stakes domains like geopolitical risk.

The AI and Tech Battleground

Lang pointed out that tariffs are ancient tools, dating back to Mesopotamia. But the new battleground is AI and tech sovereignty. The US and China are sprinting to dominate AI, and Europe is trailing. Lang noted that true AI sovereignty is hard to achieve because semiconductor supply chains and talent are globally interwoven and politically complex.

Here’s where it gets personal for CHROs. BCG research found that over half of top AI talent in the US are foreign-born. Talent mobility, visa access, and the geopolitical climate directly influence your ability to build future-ready teams. If your company is betting on AI, your HR strategy is already geopolitical.

What CHROs Can Do Today

Lang closed with a pragmatic framework for “no-regret” moves, and this is where CHROs can take the lead:

1. Develop geopolitical intelligence. HR leaders need to read beyond industry news. Subscribe to international policy briefings, talk to global government affairs teams, and stay fluent in how macro shifts affect micro realities.
2. Create geopolitical radar systems. Some leading firms have HR or compliance teams in each country submit monthly reports on political and regulatory changes. These are compiled into executive dashboards that inform workforce decisions.
3. Embed geopolitical risk in org design. This includes differentiating operations and HR strategies by region. Headquarters can’t run everything like a single playbook anymore.
4. Design for resilience. Build redundancy into talent pipelines. Relying on one source of talent or visa program is risky. Diversify your sourcing models and upskill internal talent in core regions.
5. Partner with your CIO. Geopolitics and cybersecurity are connected. From ransomware to data sovereignty laws, HR needs to be at the table when designing secure work environments.

HR’s Strategic Role Has Never Been More Urgent

What stuck with me most was Lang’s call for companies to appoint Chief Geopolitics Officers, but not from government or academia. He believes they should be business leaders who understand operations and can translate global risk into strategy.

This is where CHROs can step up. We already lead workforce strategy, culture, and compliance. Adding geopolitical awareness to our toolkit makes us even more vital partners to the CEO.

As Lang said, there are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen. In this new world, CHROs can’t afford to be the last to know. We need to be among the first to act.

The world isn’t just changing. It’s rebalancing. And HR has the power to help businesses not only survive it, but lead through it.