Ask just about any CEO or business leader what their company’s greatest asset is and there’s one answer you will hear again and again: the people. People make a business what it is, and attracting and retaining the right people is still a top priority for companies across all industries.

Although the advent of technological advancements – AI in particular – has caused some consternation about displacement or replacement, people remain a powerful resource. Caught between this truth and the relentless drive of technological innovation, all industries have found themselves at a crossroads unlike any other in history.

The world’s top organizations understand that the labor market is shifting faster that ever, and that to succeed takes a combination of traditional and forward-thinking strategies.

“I believe AI is going to transform the world,” says Karen Meredith, Global CEO of leading talent management and workforce advisory firm Drake International.

“But while it’s amping the known world up to a new level, it’s also emphasizing what makes people, people. When we look back at the age of the internet, that was also transformational – and people are still here.”

Visionary beginnings

Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2026, Drake International is a pioneer of the workforce solutions sector. Its Co-Founder Bill Pollock established a visionary blueprint on day one, insisting his company promote integrity, innovation and industriousness. It’s a vision that persists, according to Meredith, and is perhaps even more relevant today.

“Bill is a force. He’s a guy who had ideas before ideas were in the realm of business,” she says. “Growing up in a blue-collar working family in Winnipeg, he didn’t have a lot, so he held onto his imagination, his curiosity and the art of the possible.”

Pollock’s working-class background also ensured he knew what made people tick.

“In the early days, Bill looked at people through a different lens,” Meredith adds. “He was all about helping people find their potential and put food on the table.”

In doing so, Drake International broke new ground, especially in its support of women joining the workforce at a time when that wasn’t commonplace.

“He’d say that women were the best salespeople because they were so service-oriented,” she explains.

“Now, with AI blowing up and promising so many magical things, we need to double down on what makes people exceptional and how they can contribute to business and the world. At Drake, people are the purpose, and when you recognize the human side of business, you find that profit and purpose aren’t a trade-off – they’re the same ambition.”

Finding your purpose

Now, 75 years after Pollock changed the way organizations managed their talent, Drake International is honoring his values by cutting through the disruption and uncertainty caused by AI with a firm investment in people. For Meredith, that starts with purpose.

“As people we have to ask ourselves constantly: why am I doing what I’m doing? What’s my purpose as an individual? Every one of us needs to consider our purpose, why we’re here and how we can make the world better through our contribution,” she says.

“And that’s part of what we at Drake love to do. We’ll look at a person’s potential and find out how we can match that with their skills, their knowledge and their behavior. Again, it’s purpose and profit coexisting.”

That’s certainly how it was for Meredith herself, who discovered her purpose when she joined Drake International aged just 21. In 2025, she was celebrated as part of The CEO Magazine’s Top 50 Women Over 50 spotlight, living proof that answering the call of purpose can lead to long-term success – just as it did for Pollock.

“Prior to founding Drake, Bill was selling comptometers for Burroughs Corporation. There he quickly realized that it was the people and how they used them that delivered the outcome. Trained people who love what they do and are good at it was Bill’s vision and has been the foundation for Drake’s first 75 years,” she says.

“So when I think about the next 75 years, I think about our mission to help people do what they love and be great at it. That mission hasn’t changed; it’s still about outcomes.

“For us, it’s going to be about helping businesses understand what they really need to accomplish and helping people understand what makes them thrive. And of course, that’s when one plus one equals three.”

For Meredith, helping businesses be successful while helping people reach their full potential is the essence of what Drake does.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” she says.

Far from a job-stealing bogeyman, AI will instead help accelerate that mission by enhancing the way people are trained and prepared.

“That’s what makes it exciting and frankly, pretty scary,” Meredith points out. “The pace of change is incredible and for us it’s about actively listening to the market.

“We have to keep an eye on the way AI is changing everyday work and what that means for the future of work. It’s about active listening, asking questions and understanding context.”

In other words, it’s about being human in the midst of a digital world.

“And that’s what we’ve always done. We’re going to continue on that path that’s brought us here,” she adds.

Behind that push is a company with a footprint in 14 countries and a partner network across 128 more.

“We’re committed to what we call globally local,” Meredith says. “We understand our local communities, but we leverage the global, the power of using technology and being very much scale-oriented.”

Being a global business means Drake International is able to continue to expand while building deeper relationships and connections through active listening, asking questions and a better understanding of the world around it.

“One of the initiatives we’re very proud of is Whiteboard Collective, recently acquired by Drake, which helps high-needs youth better understand who they are and gives them opportunities to realize their potential,” Meredith reveals.

Located in Canada, Whiteboard Collective is improving equitable hiring and workforce readiness – another successful marriage of profit and purpose.

“I’m also excited about the Drake Force for Good Day, our annual commitment to give back and amplify our ability to create change in the communities in which we operate,” she says.

In partnership with the University of Manitoba, where Pollock received a full scholarship to attend school, the event celebrates the company’s 75th anniversary by committing US$719,000 (CA$1 million) to provide youth experiencing challenging economic circumstances the gift of education and a pathway to employment.

“What’s different about our organization is that we tend to be quiet about these things. They’re just part of our ethos,” Meredith says. “It’s part of our value system and we lean into it, but it’s not something we talk about a lot in the market.”

This is despite how close to her heart Whiteboard Collective’s mission is.

“I’m a mother of five; one of my sons has autism and the other has Down syndrome. Having these two boys with their diverse strengths has changed my mind about a lot in the world,” she reveals.

“I’ve learned you don’t have to have the answers, you have to have the questions.”

Meredith says that life experience, the outcome Drake International offers above all else, has shown her those very human values she knows will rise to the top amid this latest technological revolution.

“My boy with Down syndrome has so many great human strengths. He asks great questions, he simplifies things. And I’ll tell you, he gives really great hugs. In this day and age, we can’t get enough of that,” she says.