CEOs Spend 5% of Their Time on People. Alain Bejjani Says That’s the Problem

Most CEOs say people are their greatest asset. Alain Bejjani actually measured how much time they spend on them: less than 5%. The rest goes to balance sheets, asset returns, quarterly reporting. Then they wonder why culture falls apart when the market shifts.

Bejjani knows something about market shifts. He took over as CEO of Majid Al Futtaim in 2015, a brick-and-mortar retail giant spanning 17 countries and serving 560 million customers a year. He spent five years rewiring the business for digital while colleagues questioned the urgency. When COVID hit, they were ready. Most competitors were not.

His argument is sharp and backed by a career of doing it: the companies that win long-term are the ones that treat people as capital to invest in, not resources to consume. He calls this framework "Talentism," and his new book NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities lays out why it matters more now than ever, as AI reshapes every industry.

In this conversation, Ivan Palomino and Alain Bejjani dig into what talentism looks like when it stops being a slogan and starts showing up in how a CEO actually spends Monday morning.

In this episode:

• Why CEOs spend less than 5% of their time on the one thing that determines long-term success
• The real difference between human resources and human capital, and why renaming the department was a strategic signal, not a branding exercise
• How the global financial and tax system actively penalizes investing in people and rewards investing in assets
• Which human skills matter most as AI gets more capable: judgment, adaptability, and the learning mindset
• Why role modeling beats training programs. What toddlers can teach us about how adults actually learn
• The "jaws of culture": how organizational culture grinds leaders into conformity unless they break through
• Resilience vs. efficiency: how to sell redundancy to a board that only sees margins

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Why the logic of “technology scales, people don’t” is exactly backwards
01:56 - What is Talentism, and why did Bejjani bet on it over automation?
04:41 - How garage startups dethroned billion-dollar balance sheets
06:07 - Why investing in people is treated as expense while software gets capitalized
08:21 - AI as the most life-changing invention since fire. And why that terrifies him
10:45 - Judgment is still a human exclusive. For now
12:43 - AI agents getting trolled: the brake pedal argument in real time
13:32 - “People are our greatest asset” was bullshit before COVID. Is it still?
15:05 - The tension between short-termism and long-termism that traps every CEO
18:11 - Why labor is taxed 4-5x more than capital gains, and what it signals
20:15 - Real leaders balance quarterly profits with building for tomorrow
21:43 - The jaws of culture: they grind you or you break them
22:27 - Nassim Taleb, skin in the game, and the systems that reward the wrong behaviors
24:42 - “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Why sustainability reporting failed
25:46 - The four new realities every leader must face at once
30:02 - CEOs should manage strategy like a portfolio, not a single bet
31:16 - Which human skills actually matter as AI takes over tasks?
32:07 - Raise your employees like you raise your kids. Start with values, not skills
34:17 - Role modeling: why what people observe beats what they hear
36:26 - “The world will never be as slow as it currently is”
37:25 - There is no adaptability pill you can buy on a shelf
39:29 - What toddlers teach us about leadership. We learn 50% of everything by age three
41:49 - Monday morning: the first concrete thing a CEO should do
44:20 - How Majid Al Futtaim was ready for COVID when competitors weren’t
48:27 - When you don’t have a burning platform, the CEO should become one
50:17 - Stakeholder capitalism: creating value beyond the balance sheet

This one is for the CEO, CHRO, or people leader who suspects their organization says the right things about talent but hasn't changed where the time and money actually go.

🔗 Connect with Alain Bejjani:
Website: https://alainbejjani.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alainbejjani/ 
Book: NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities - amzn.eu/d/07OanO1O

📘 Explore Expired? The Science of Staying Indispensable in a World Obsessed with New by Ivan Palomino. Because if talent is the real capital, staying visible and indispensable is how you protect yours. https://www.ivanpalomino.net/expired-book-ivan-palomino 

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Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast exploring the neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral science behind leadership and workplace culture. Hosted by Ivan Palomino