Season 6 - Ep. 1 | The Truth About Talent, AI, and Why Some Leaders Get It Wrong with RRA Chief Science Officer Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Podcast: Redefiners
Hosted By:
Portrait of Marla Oates, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
Portrait of Emma Combe, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
January 14, 2026 | 33 min
Portrait of Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
Portrait of Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Chief Science Officer, Russell Reynolds Associates

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Season 6 - Ep. 1 | The Truth About Talent, AI, and Why Some Leaders Get It Wrong with RRA Chief Science Officer Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Welcome back for Season 6 of Redefiners! What better way to kick off the new year than introducing Russell Reynolds Associates’ first-ever Chief Science Officer, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. And if that wasn’t enough, Emma Combe from the Leadership Lounge joins Marla Oates for this special conversation.

In this episode, Tomas shares his latest research on talent management, leadership development, and the human-AI interface. He’ll explain why authenticity is overrated, how to use negative thinking as a positive force, and what leaders new in their roles can do to gain competence and confidence to be successful. He’ll dig into AI and how people can stand out in a sea of technology while avoiding the growing problem of “AI workslop.” He’ll look at how AI is impacting the traditional career ladder and what leaders need to do to develop young talent for future leadership roles. And he’ll highlight the key leadership topics he’s tracking in 2026.

We’ll also hear from Amy Scissons, RRA’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, who will highlight a key AI challenge many leaders are only just beginning to notice.

 


 

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Chief Science Officer, Russell Reynolds Associates

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is an international authority in people analytics, talent management, leadership development, and the human-AI interface. His commercial work has focused on the creation of science-based tools that improve organizations' ability to predict performance, and people's ability to understand themselves.

He was recently the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, and is a co-founder of DeeperSignals and MyTrudy, as well as Professor of Business Psychology at University College London and Columbia University. He has previously held academic positions at New York University and the London School of Economics, and lectured at Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, London Business School, Johns Hopkins, IMD, and INSEAD, as well as being the CEO at Hogan Assessment Systems.

 

Four things you’ll learn from this episode:

  1. How to rethink authenticity and use negative thinking as a positive force 

  2. What leaders new to their roles need to do to gain competence and be successful 

  3. How to avoid AI workslop and how AI is impacting the traditional career ladder 

  4. What are the key leadership topics Tomas is tracking in 2026

 


 

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes:

 

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Redefiners: A Russell Reynolds Associates Leadership Podcast

With each episode, you’ll come away with fresh ideas and tangible takeaways on how you can redefine your own leadership trajectory—no matter where you are on your journey.