✦ Design Mockup · thecoalyard.work  |  Blog will be populated from your LinkedIn posts: paste them in and I'll format them  |  Save your preferred photo as ranjit-headshot.jpg in the same folder as this file
Future of Work Advisory

Most people functions
are built for
the last decade.

The companies getting ahead aren't running better HR programmes. They're rethinking the Office of the CHRO: built for a world where managers lead and technology does the rest.

Read the thinking → What we do
fuel the future
Point of view

The Future of Work is not a buzzword.
It's the biggest leadership opportunity of the decade.

The problem

Most companies still run people decisions through HR. Managers don't hire. They approve. They don't develop their teams. They complete reviews. The system was built to protect the company, not to help managers lead.

What's making it urgent

AI is moving faster than any HR transformation programme can keep up with. The tools now exist to automate most of what HR does administratively. What's left (building and developing teams) has to sit with managers. The companies that figure this out first will have a structural advantage that compounds.

What we do about it

The Coalyard works with investors and leadership teams who want to get ahead of this shift. Not build another HR programme. Build the people infrastructure that wins.

The Office of the CHRO

We call the destination the Office of the CHRO for the 2030s: the strategic people function sitting at the centre of the business, not the edge of it. Leaner than traditional HR. Technology-enabled at the core. Built around manager capability rather than HR process. The companies building this now will have an advantage that's hard to close.

239%
Rise in average applications per job since ChatGPT launched, via The Economist
1 in 4
Candidate profiles estimated to be AI-generated by 2028, via Gartner
70%
Of employees say their direct manager has more impact on their wellbeing than their therapist, via Gallup
Services

We work with investors and companies building for what comes next.

For investors: PE & VC

Understand where the value is being created.

The Future of Work is reshaping every sector in your portfolio. We help PE and VC firms map what this means: for valuations, for hiring markets, for where competitive advantage is being built, and where it's quietly being lost.

  • Future of Work landscape analysis for investment decisions
  • Talent and people due diligence on target companies
  • Identifying early-stage businesses building the infrastructure the market needs
For portfolio companies

Build the people infrastructure that actually works.

Your people strategy is a competitive advantage. Or it isn't. We work with leadership teams to build people infrastructure for the next decade: manager-led, technology-enabled, with as little administrative HR in the middle as possible.

  • People strategy for high-growth companies post-acquisition
  • Manager capability (hiring, development, feedback) without the HR overhead
  • AI and technology strategy for people functions
Office of the CHRO

Strategic people leadership, without building a full HR function.

Not every company needs a full-time CHRO. All of them need the thinking. We act as the strategic people leadership layer for companies navigating growth, transformation, or a change in ownership: providing CHRO-level advisory when you need it, without the overhead.

  • Fractional CHRO advisory for companies in transition
  • People strategy design for the next phase of growth
  • Leadership team coaching on people decisions
Thinking

Ideas on the future of work, talent, and technology.

Featured
Job applicants have already won the AI arms race.
Future of Work

Job applicants have already won the AI arms race. Recruiters just don't want to admit it yet.

Since ChatGPT launched, average applications per job are up 239%. Paid bots now apply to hundreds of roles while candidates sleep. Most recruiting teams responded with better filters. That was the wrong move. The smartest companies have shifted entirely: from waiting for inbound applications to proactive sourcing. AI didn't break recruiting. It exposed where the signal was always weak.

Ranjit de Sousa February 2025 4 min read
Read article →
AI & Change

Classic change management is not built for AI. Your next 90 days will prove it.

AI forces two things at once: a shift from activity to outcomes, plus a culture of curiosity your organisation has never formally required. The old change playbook was not built for both at the same time.

March 2025 · 5 min read
AI & Operations

AI is failing in your business. The reason is not the technology.

The enterprises seeing real ROI from AI are not asking how to deploy more of it. They are asking which parts of the process should not exist at all. That is a leadership problem. Not a technology one.

January 2025 · 4 min read
Technology

"I could just build this myself with ChatGPT." No, you couldn't.

The argument sounds right: generic AI is cheaper, more flexible, already paid for. But context beats intelligence every time. Workflow beats features. Outcomes beat optionality. Vertical AI is not about convenience. It's about fixing the systems people are stuck working around.

December 2024 · 3 min read
Sales & Technology

Only 15% of companies expect to reduce their sales teams because of AI. Here is what they understand.

Technology does not replace great salespeople. It removes the reasons they underperform. The companies winning with AI in sales are not cutting headcount. They are removing friction so the people they have can actually sell.

November 2024 · 3 min read
Future of Work

The manager is the new HR department.

We spent 30 years building HR systems to protect companies from bad managers. The next decade is about equipping good managers to not need HR at all. That shift is already underway. Most companies just haven't named it yet.

October 2024 · 4 min read
Investors

Every portfolio company you own has a people function built for the last decade.

That is not a talent problem. It is a structural risk to your returns. The PE firms getting ahead are mapping this now, before it shows up in the numbers.

September 2024 · 4 min read
View all articles →
About
Ranjit de Sousa Photo placeholder

Twenty-five years building, advising, and backing the Future of Work.

I'm the Founder of The Coalyard, an advisory business focused on shaping and fuelling the Future of Work. I advise investors and companies across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific on where this shift is going and how to position ahead of it.

The Coalyard works with worktech startups at every stage: coaching founders on strategic focus, helping leadership teams scale their commercial operations, and building the narrative that gets them funded. Current mandates range from pre-seed ventures to a Series E unicorn.

We also work with mid-sized to Fortune 50 corporates on Future of Work and innovation challenges: what this shift means for their talent model, their technology stack, and the people function they need to build.

My background is in Professional Services: Consulting, M&A, HR Services. I'm also co-founder of Finder, a recruiting technology provider supporting HR Services Firms and Talent Acquisition to radically speed up and simplify talent sourcing.

LinkedIn → Get in touch →
Get in touch

Let's talk about what comes next.

Whether you're a fund looking at Future of Work as an investment theme, a portfolio company building your people strategy, or a founder who wants a sharper go-to-market: tell me what you're working on.

Or reach out directly
ranjit.desousa@thecoalyard.work

This will open your email client. A backend form handler can be wired up when the site goes live.