Sponsor Prospectus
Designing the Future:
A Talent Leader’s Guide
to Ethical AI
AI is already influencing who gets seen, who gets shortlisted, who gets developed, and how performance is interpreted.
Markets
United States · India
Publication
Q2 2027
Sponsor Levels
$15K · $35K · $75K
Most leaders are using AI-supported tools without shared standards or clear ownership. Access is uneven. Advancement is becoming uneven. As work speeds up, standards drift. Trust breaks quietly.
Decision cycles keep shrinking. Documentation is thin. Leaders are carrying three loads at once — making judgment calls with AI in the mix, keeping decisions consistent, inclusive, and explainable, and thinking ahead as systems accelerate. Few leaders can hold all three in the same moment. When the pace outruns governance, opportunity narrows and the leadership bench thins.
The Challenge
“AI changes speed and scale. It puts pressure on judgment, governance, and trust.”
A system moving faster than its governance creates real risk for people and organizations.
Research Scope
What We Study
This research looks directly at how AI shows up inside live work. The core question is simple: are your systems producing consistent, explainable decisions — or accelerating inequity?
Judgment
How leaders use judgment when AI is involved in decisions
Inclusion
Where inclusive routines hold or slip under pressure
Standards
How standards drift across teams and markets
Talent
Where systems misread talent and scale those misreadings through technology
Geography
Market Perspective
The study is currently expected to focus on the United States and India. These markets offer different contexts for AI adoption, workforce scale, leadership decision-making, and talent systems. Studying them together will help identify where ethical AI practices travel across borders and where local context shapes how leaders need to govern, explain, and apply AI-supported decisions.
US
United States
IN
India
Optional UK Market Expansion
The UK can be added to the study if sponsor interest reaches the required funding level.
A UK lens would make the research more directly useful for leaders navigating AI governance, HR transformation, performance systems, inclusion, and trust in a UK context.
Adding the UK market would require a Project Sponsor commitment of $35,000 / approximately £26,250, or equivalent pooled UK sponsorship. This would support UK-specific research activity, market-level interpretation, and a UK-facing briefing or salon.
Sponsor Access
What Leaders
Receive
Sponsors receive practical insight from real organizational conditions. The work is anchored in programs and systems companies already use, including:
AI academies
Manager training
Performance cycles
Talent reviews
Governance & safeguard routines
Manager training
Performance cycles
Talent reviews
Governance & safeguard routines
All Sponsors
- ·Evidence from real conditions
- ·A view of where decisions hold and where they break
- ·Early signals on gaps across markets
- ·One tested routine leaders can use immediately
Lead & Project Sponsors
Receive a small advisory pilot inside one initiative they already own. The pilot tests one convergent routine so Coqual and sponsor teams can see what holds under pressure and what slips.
“This is a research partnership. Sponsors help shape the questions and see the signals first.”
Timeline
Research Timeline
Study Period
Estimated study period: six months
Publication
Q2 2027
Before Publication
Sponsor briefings, early insight sessions, and working sessions
Investment
Sponsor Levels
For UK conversations, sponsor figures may be shown in both USD and GBP. GBP figures are rounded estimates based on recent exchange rates and should be confirmed at contracting.
| Sponsor Level | USD | Approx. GBP |
|---|---|---|
| Lead Sponsor | $75,000 | £56,250 |
| Project Sponsor | $35,000 | £26,250 |
| Supporting Sponsor | $15,000 | £11,250 |
Lead Sponsor
$75,000
approx. £56,250
For teams that want influence, early warning, and a deeper view into how AI is shaping workforce decisions.
Benefits include:
- →Shape the inquiry and contribute priority questions
- →Help refine market focus and interpretation
- →Deeper pilot inside an AI academy, manager program, talent review, performance system, or safeguards process
- →Private briefings for CHRO, CTO, CEO, or other senior leaders
- →First access to emerging routines and guardrails
- →Earliest signals across markets
- →All Project and Supporting Sponsor benefits
Project Sponsor
$35,000
approx. £26,250
For teams that want to test one practical routine inside current work.
Benefits include:
- →A focused pilot inside one initiative the sponsor already manages
- →Interviews for up to five leaders per market
- →Practical evidence from live work
- →One tested routine the sponsor team can use immediately
- →Participation in sponsor working sessions
- →Supporting Sponsor benefits and direct collaboration time
Supporting Sponsor
$15,000
approx. £11,250
For teams that want visibility into the research with a lighter lift.
Benefits include:
- →Participation in a cross-company innovation session
- →Interviews for up to five leaders per market
- →Early patterns across markets
- →Early signals on where standards hold or slip
- →Access to routines emerging from the pilots
Join Us
If This Matters for
Your 2026 Decisions
If AI is already influencing workforce decisions inside your organization, this is the moment to understand where judgment, governance, and trust are holding — and where they need support.
This study brings together a small sponsor group because the work is hands-on. Sponsors help shape the questions, see the signals first, and leave with practical insight they can apply inside real systems. We invite you to join us.
About
About Coqual
Coqual is a global think tank with more than two decades of experience helping organizations navigate change and build workplaces where people and ideas can thrive.
Formerly the Center for Talent Innovation, Coqual is known for rigorous research, sharp cultural insight, and strategic tools that move leaders from good intentions to real impact. The Global Lab at Coqual is our applied innovation hub, designed to test, refine, and share what works in real time.
Get in Touch
Ready to sponsor?
The sponsor group for this study is intentionally small. If you are interested in joining, we would welcome a conversation.