2025 saw the war for talent intensify within the corporate governance world, and we expect more of the same in 2026. While navigating economic volatility, regulatory change, digital acceleration and changing workforce expectations, one thing has become ever more clear: traditional talent strategies need to evolve. Hiring reactively, benchmarking salaries annually, or relying solely on internal data leaves organisations exposed: particularly in specialist, high-impact functions such as risk, audit, ESG, compliance and legal.
So, as we enter this new year, organisations should be asking themselves: do we really understand our talent position - and are we confident it will support the business we’re trying to build?
This is where Leonid Group’s new Talent Intelligence service plays a critical role.
The new year reality: talent risk is business risk
The start of a new year is often when firms reassess budgets, headcount and growth priorities. But too often, talent strategy lags behind commercial strategy.
In 2025, we saw organisations struggle with:
- Scarcity of specialist and hybrid skill sets
- Rising competition for mid-senior talent
- Longer time-to-hire and higher attrition risk
- Misalignment between job design and market reality
As we move into 2026, these pressures are unlikely to ease. If anything, they are becoming more structural.
Talent intelligence replaces anecdotal decision-making with real-time market data, thereby enabling organisations to anticipate risk, plan proactively and retain critical capability.
What exactly is Talent Intelligence and why does it matter right now?
At its core, talent intelligence is about understanding:
- Whether you have the right people in the right roles
- Where there are any skill gaps – and how to address them
- Whether your compensation is fair and how it compares externally
- Where future capability gaps will emerge
- What it will take to attract and retain the right people
Leonid’s Talent Intelligence service combines deep market expertise with robust data analysis to give firms a clear, actionable view of their talent landscape across competitors, geographies and emerging skill areas.
In 2026, talent intelligence will increasingly underpin decisions around:
- Workforce planning and succession
- Compensation and reward strategy
- Location strategy and near-shoring
- Build vs buy decisions
- Retention of high-risk or high-impact individuals
From hiring to capability building
One of the most common challenges we see is organisations optimising for individual hires rather than long-term capability.
Talent intelligence shifts the focus from roles to systems.
Instead of asking:
“Can we fill this position?”
Leaders start asking:
“Do we have the right mix of skills, experience and potential to deliver our strategy over the next three to five years?”
Leonid supports clients in identifying:
- Which skills are becoming commoditised - and which are becoming scarce
- Where competitors are investing ahead of the curve
- Which roles are critical to future resilience, not just current delivery
This allows firms to build futureproof teams - designed around adaptability, scalability and retention - rather than short-term fixes.
Retention: the hidden value of talent intelligence
In a competitive market, retention is often more valuable than recruitment.
Leonid’s Talent Intelligence service helps firms:
- Identify flight-risk roles and individuals
- Understand why talent leaves (and where they go to)
- Benchmark internal career paths against market alternatives
- Align reward, progression and development with external reality
When organisations understand how their talent is perceived in the market, they are far better equipped to retain top performers; not through reactive counteroffers, but through thoughtful, forward-looking design.
Interpreting data is key
What differentiates Leonid’s approach is not just access to data, but interpretation.
Our Talent Intelligence service is built on:
- Specialist market knowledge across risk, audit, ESG and governance functions
- Ongoing engagement with candidates, clients and competitors
- Real-world hiring outcomes, not static datasets
We don’t simply present information. Our clients receive detailed reports where we translate insight into clear strategic options, helping leadership teams make confident decisions in uncertain environments. These reports can be tailored to address specific questions or pain points where evidence is needed, such as building a business case for a new hire.
A call to action for 2026
As organisations reset priorities for the year ahead, now is the right time to ask:
- Are we confident in our talent strategy?
- Do we know where our greatest capability risks sit?
- Are we building teams for today, or for the future?
Talent Intelligence can enable you to answer the above correctly, and with complete confidence.
Leonid is the only talent advisory firm to offer talent intelligence which is tailored to the corporate governance and tax & incentives industries. Our decades of experience in these sectors combined with a strong international network means we are ideally placed to deliver the insights you need.
To find out more about our talent intelligence services, please reach out to Leonid’s CEO, James Mitchell, to find out more.