From Women in HR to People-First CEOs: Recognising the leaders shaping the future of work

HR leadership has moved well beyond managing the employee lifecycle. As people strategy increasingly shapes growth, productivity, capability building, and organisational resilience, senior people leaders’ decisions are becoming business decisions in their own right. The real measure of leadership, therefore, lies not simply in the programmes introduced, but in the choices made, the risks taken and the measurable impact that follows.

The Leadership Honours at the ET HR Excellence Awards 2027 recognises leaders whose individual decisions have created that kind of impact across people strategy, business leadership, leadership development and organisational capability. The segment brings together four honours, each focused on a distinct dimension of leadership and the difference an individual has made.

Also read more: Why your talent acquisition team deserves the industry’s highest honour

The Economic Times HR Excellence Awards 2027: Recognising the people strategies shaping tomorrow’s workplace

• People Leader of the Year

For the CHRO, Chief People Officer, Head of HR or People Director who has shaped people strategy through a significant strategic decision or transformation.

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The focus is on the individual’s leadership, strategic foresight and innovation particularly a strategic bet they personally made and what it returned for the organisation.

• People-First CEO of the Year

For CEOs, Managing Directors, Country Heads and Founder-CEOs who have made people decisions central to how the business is run.The honour looks beyond statements about culture and purpose to the board-level choices that carried a visible cost and produced a visible return decisions that were difficult to make, but necessary to move the organisation forward.

• Woman HR Leader of the Year

For women in senior HR and people leadership roles whose contribution extends beyond their own function. The honour recognises individual business impact alongside demonstrable sponsorship and advancement of other leaders, recognising not only what the leader built, but also who she helped build along the way.

• Learning & Development Officer of the Year

For L&D Heads, Learning Officers, Talent Development Leaders and equivalent professionals who have made capability building a measurable business priority. The honour recognises learning, upskilling and development initiatives that have strengthened employee capabilities while delivering tangible business impact.

Across all four honours, the focus is on the individual behind the outcome.

What decision did you make? What did you change? What did it take to make it happen? And most importantly, what changed because you did? For HR leaders, these are often the decisions that sit behind an organisation’s most visible successes but remain less visible themselves. The ET HR Excellence Awards 2027 – Leadership Honours provide a platform to put those decisions, outcomes and leadership stories into focus.

If your leadership has changed how your organisation hires, develops, leads or enables its people, it is time to put that impact forward.

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