A Battle Brewing the C-Suite
The C-suite can’t afford to have many differences among its members.
September 26, 2025
Frustration was mounting between the two executives. The chief technology officer wanted to license a new AI application but was having trouble convincing his counterpart. The CTO felt it was the best fit for the company’s overall AI strategy; his counterpart worried it felt too clunky to drive widespread adoption at the firm. It was a standstill between the CTO and the head of human resources.
A new battle is brewing in the C-suite between leaders who have rarely clashed before. With AI being integrated into workflows, employees need a lot of training and reskilling to drive adoption, creating a mounting interdependency between CHROs and CTOs. Just how much training is needed? Which employees, in fact, are essential? The decision now rests in two hands, instead of one, unless the CEO steps in. “Finding ways to ensure cooperation is critical,” says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at The Wharton School, who anticipates the push and pull will only increase as AI marches deeper into the workplace and corporate strategy.
Already, some firms have gone so far as to combine IT and HR into one unit, a somewhat dramatic step that remains an outlier for now. Instead, friction reigns at many firms: According to one recent survey, two-thirds of tech leaders say they are experiencing differences with HR counterparts over everything from talent acquisition to strategic direction to resources. CHROs have complaints of their own. They say CTOs don’t consider negative repercussions for existing employees or talent-acquisition strategies when making new AI investments. “As the silos between the two functions break down, the friction is becoming more visible,” says Philippe Remy, managing director in France for Korn Ferry.
C-suite leaders, regardless of position, don’t give up power easily, especially when the viability of their role is at stake. But Emilie Petrone, a Korn Ferry vice chairman and member of the firm’s Global Human Resources and CEO Succession practices, cautions both CHROs and CTOs not to miss the big-picture opportunity in front of them. “They could own the narrative at the enterprise level and position themselves as critical strategic advisors to the CEO and board,” says Petrone. One way to do that is by creating more fluency between the two functions—with CHROs boosting digital literacy and CTOs working on their soft skills with workers. Firms could also encourage alignment through task forces or ad hoc committees—but a solution is needed sooner than later, all agree. “A closer CHRO/CTO collaboration will be a defining feature of high-performing executive teams in the future,” Remy says.
Photo credits: Boris Zhitkov/Getty Images
