Welcome to Pinnacle’s blog

AI is entering performance reviews fast. The real advantage comes from capturing in-situ observations.

Key insights from Pinnacle's November CHRO roundtable on what's working in AI enablement and adoption across leading organizations.

Pinnacle announces its senior advisory council of CHROs and People leaders shaping how enterprises lead, learn, and work with AI.

How Sam Altman’s “legitimate AI researcher” timeline shapes the future of HR, performance, and talent strategy.

Danone made workforce planning about tasks, not headcount, redeploying 90% of affected employees and turning planning into business strategy.

ZoomInfo’s Satu Salminen on how HR leaders are expanding their roles to lead AI transformation across the enterprise.

The 90/10 model reframes workplace learning: 90% through AI support in workflow, 10% through high-touch human development.

Most AI projects fail due to poor adoption. HR leader Gail Fierstein explains why people teams should act like product orgs to drive real change.

Play turns AI from a mandate into a habit. Use sandboxes, challenges, and peer sharing to humanize adoption.

Long AI pilots lose early adopters and fail to convince skeptics. Learn why compressed one to two month timelines drive better ROI.

Just 7% of CEOs see CHROs as AI-savvy. To stay relevant, HR leaders must lead human-AI work design.

AI-generated “workslop” looks polished but wastes time, erodes trust, and costs millions in lost productivity.

People leaders from HubSpot, Zapier, and Marriott share how to drive AI adoption, build trust, and reshape workforce strategy in real time.

HBR Research shows leaders who balance tensions, from teller vs listener to prospector vs miner, are best equipped to lead through disruption.

New Cornell University research shows GPTs may affect up to 80% of U.S. jobs.

Jeff Diana Former CHRO at Calendly & Atlassian, shares how HR leaders can shape AI transformation by starting with tasks, building internal support, and building partnership with the CIO.

As AI reshapes the workforce, pioneering leaders are merging HR and IT into a new leadership model. Learn how executives at Moderna, ServiceNow, and ZoomInfo are designing hybrid human–AI

AI is reshaping jobs at every level, but not in the way most fear. Research from Cornell and MIT shows that while tasks are increasingly automated, human strengths like empathy, judgment, and creativity are rising in value.

Pinnacle welcomes three senior HR leaders, Shelby Wolpa, Jeff Diana, and Barb Bidan, as advisors. They ill work directly with Pinnacle's product and go-to-market teams, ensuring Pascal delivers value whether you're a fast-growth startup or global enterprise managing complexity at scale.

Over the past few months, I’ve hosted closed-door roundtables with HR leaders across industries. While AI was the starting point, the real conversation turned to culture, trust, and the pace of change. These 10 takeaways highlight how CHROs are navigating talent disruption, rethinking learning, reshaping leadership, and partnering across functions to make AI adoption work.

Pinnacle has completed its most recent SOC 2 examination, a rigorous third-party validation of our security practices by BARR Advisory. This milestone backs up the security principles we built Pascal on: no chat data sharing, no AI training on your data, and zero cross-user leakage.

Former CHRO Melinda Wolfe shares why traditional leadership training falls short and how AI-powered coaching can better support managers in real time. Drawing on her experience at Bloomberg, Pearson, and GLG, she outlines the risks of neglecting mid-level leaders and offers clear guidance on making the business case for AI, building internal buy-in, and getting early wins.

A disagreement between the CEOs of Anthropic and Nvidia highlights two opposing views on AI’s workforce impact. Dario Amodei (Anthropic) predicts AI will eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, pushing companies to restructure and flatten hierarchies. In contrast, Jensen Huang (Nvidia) argues that AI will create new roles instead, emphasizing the need for reskilling and continuous learning so humans can work alongside AI in emerging job categories.

Great leaders aren’t born—they’re made. But for too long, leadership development has been slow, expensive, and disconnected from the realities of day-to-day work and how adults learn. It’s time for a change. Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve raised a $2.5M Seed round led by eLab Ventures to fundamentally transform this industry.

AI coaching is transforming leadership development by making personalized guidance available to everyone, not just senior leaders. Unlike traditional human coaching, AI coaches offer 24/7 availability, data-driven insights, and scalable support, tailored to each individual’s organizational context.

Managing team accountability often feels like a balancing act between being too lenient and too strict. The Accountability Dial is a leadership tool designed to help managers navigate this challenge by offering a structured approach with five levels: Mention, Ask, Conversation, Expectation, and Consequence. This framework allows leaders to escalate issues gradually, maintain trust, and address performance concerns fairly and consistently. With practice, it becomes a powerful way to manage team dynamics while preserving positive relationships. Using AI tools like Pascal can further enhance your use of the Accountability Dial by providing guidance, scenario practice, and personalized strategies.

Seeking feedback from your team is crucial for personal and organizational growth, according to Qualtrics's research showing that managers who regularly ask for feedback are perceived as more effective. Using the 5 A’s approach—Approach, Ask Specifically, Alternatives, Actively Listen, and Act Regularly—managers can ease the process and make it part of their routine.