Blair Bennett

Blair Bennett

Senior Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition - PepsiCo

Like many leaders in talent acquisition, Blair Bennett did not originally plan to build a career in recruiting.

In fact, her professional journey began in an entirely different world.

Before entering talent acquisition, Blair worked in political consulting and initially believed her long-term career path would lead into lobbying and government affairs.

But a connection through a friend introduced her to the head of the government affairs practice at Korn Ferry, who saw potential in her background and recruited her into executive search.

What started as an unexpected opportunity quickly became a defining career shift.

“It was not a planned career goal,” Blair explained, “but it ended up being something that I really enjoyed.”

More than 20 years later, Blair has built a career defined by transformation leadership, innovation, and talent strategy at scale.

Building a Career Through Opportunity and Transformation

When reflecting on the leaders who shaped her career, Blair consistently returned to one central theme: leaders who saw potential in her and created opportunities for growth.

Her first leader at Korn Ferry played a foundational role by taking a chance on someone without a traditional recruiting background and teaching her the fundamentals of executive search.

That early mentorship laid the groundwork for many of the leadership principles Blair still carries today.

Another major turning point came when she was recruited into Walmart by the company’s head of recruiting.

Beyond simply bringing her into the organization, Blair credits that leader with actively sponsoring her career development and exposing her to opportunities far outside traditional recruiting responsibilities.

During her time at Walmart, Blair worked on the President’s Global Council of Women Leaders and later participated in innovation-focused initiatives that expanded her perspective on organizational transformation, leadership strategy, and large-scale change management.

Those experiences helped shape the broader business lens she now brings into talent acquisition leadership.

Blair also highlighted the influence of her current leader—someone she first worked with at Walmart and later reunited with professionally.

She described her as a transformational leader who continuously challenges the status quo and encourages experimentation, innovation, and capability-building across the recruiting function.

That environment of trust and innovation strongly aligns with Blair’s own leadership philosophy today.

Leading Through “Trampoline Leadership”

One of the most distinctive ideas Blair shared during the conversation was her philosophy around what she calls “trampoline leadership.”

Rather than leading through rigid control or risk avoidance, Blair believes great leaders create environments where people feel safe experimenting, learning, and occasionally failing while still having support systems around them.

“I hope to give people the chance to take risks,” Blair explained, “and be there to support them as they learn and grow.”

She compares strong leadership teams to a trampoline—allowing people to bounce higher after trying something new, even if things do not go perfectly the first time.

That mindset reflects much of Blair’s own career journey.

Many of the opportunities that shaped her career came from leaders who trusted her with unfamiliar challenges, gave her room to grow, and encouraged her curiosity and adaptability.

Today, she works to create that same environment for her own teams.

AI as a Catalyst for Recruiting Transformation

As AI rapidly reshapes talent acquisition, Blair sees the current moment as a major opportunity for recruiting organizations rather than a threat.

In her view, AI and advanced technologies are helping solve long-standing recruiting challenges while allowing talent acquisition teams to evolve into more strategic business partners.

Rather than simply increasing efficiency, Blair believes AI has the potential to fundamentally elevate the recruiter’s role.

She pointed to opportunities around improving candidate experience, enabling greater personalization, and helping recruiters become stronger talent advisors to hiring managers and business leaders.

Her team is already leveraging tools like interview companion technologies that help recruiters provide deeper insights and more informed hiring recommendations.

But Blair is equally careful to emphasize that technology alone is never the solution.

“I try not to look at new technology as the leading factor,” she explained. “It’s about understanding what problem we’re trying to solve first.”

For Blair, successful AI adoption starts with identifying organizational challenges and then thoughtfully combining technology, recruiter capability-building, and operational design to solve them.

That philosophy extends into how she approaches transformation itself.

Rather than implementing tools top-down, Blair involves recruiting teams directly in the design process, helping ensure adoption, usability, and long-term impact.

Balancing Innovation With Human Capability

While many organizations are racing to adopt the latest AI solutions, Blair believes the future belongs to talent leaders who balance innovation with human capability development.

Technology may automate portions of the recruiting process, but recruiters themselves still play a critical role in advisory work, relationship-building, and strategic hiring decisions.

That is why Blair places significant emphasis on helping recruiting teams develop stronger talent advisory skills alongside learning new technologies.

For her, AI should enhance recruiters—not replace them.

And as recruiting functions continue evolving, she believes talent acquisition leaders have an opportunity to position themselves as innovation leaders within broader HR organizations.

Because recruiting often sits at the intersection of technology, people strategy, workforce planning, and candidate experience, Blair sees talent acquisition as uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate future transformation.

Advice for Talent Leaders in 2026

As the recruiting industry continues evolving rapidly, Blair encourages talent leaders to remain focused on solving meaningful business challenges rather than simply chasing new technology trends.

AI tools will continue advancing.

Automation will continue accelerating.

But the leaders who create the most impact, she believes, will be the ones who stay grounded in organizational outcomes, recruiter capability-building, and human-centered leadership.

For Blair Bennett, the future of recruiting is not just about adopting innovation.

It is about creating environments where people, technology, and strategy work together to build stronger organizations.