Proco Group
Predictions for 2025: Chris Powell, Group CEO of Proco Group
2024 was an unpredictable year, with geopolitical tensions, market volatility, and heightened risks prompted organisations to reassess strategies and focus on areas delivering the greatest impact.
At the same time, advancements in technology, new initiatives, and emerging hubs spurred growth, created fresh opportunities, and reshaped talent demands.
Looking ahead to 2025, we anticipate continued evolution in these markets, driven by ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and unrest. To gain valuable insights, we spoke with thought leaders from our core sectors to reflect on 2024 and share their predictions for the year ahead.
Kicking off this new series, we sit down with Proco Group’s CEO, Chris Powell, to discuss his perspectives on the global commodities, industrial, and consumer markets.
Reflecting on 2024, what were some key trends that have impacted your industry?
2024 was a driven by a combination of uncertainty and opportunity. We witnessed significant turbulence across our three core markets, driven by global conflicts, extreme weather conditions and political unease.
The build up to the US election created market volatility, with unusually strong trading in June, July and August. These months are traditionally fraught with challenges due to ‘summer holiday’ periods in Europe and North America, yet we witnessed revenue levels up 18% from the same period in 2023. However, with the election on the horizon, from September organisations became hesitant to move forward with previously planned strategies, including hiring – some of which still hang in the balance whilst we wait to see which policy promises Trump will commit to once in office.
Conflicts across the world continued to impact the global economy last year, with the war between Russia and Ukraine exerting significant pressure on energy markets, trade dynamics and economic growth. Global crude oil exports declined by 2% in 2024, the World Bank projected global growth to slow to 2.4%, and Europe’s efforts to reduce dependency on Russian gas led to a 22% decrease in Middle Eastern oil exports to Europe – all as a result of the conflict.
Extreme weather events like hurricanes Milton and Helene in North America, extensive flooding in Europe, typhoon Yagi in Southeast Asia led to economic losses of $320 billion – underscoring the urgent need for enhanced resilience and adaptation measures around the world.
Despite these challenges, the global economy showed signs of stabilisation in 2024, and the world managed to avoid entering a global recession. Although considerably lower than before the pandemic (3.1% average), global growth stayed at 2.6% in 2024.
What were the key talent trends that arose in 2024?
The volatility and uncertainty that arose from the various conflict and events that happened in 2024 also had an impact on talent.
Organisations become more nervous to commit to hiring, and those that did demonstrated increased indecisiveness around talent. Our average retained process in 2024, the period between beginning a search and delivering an offer, increased by 8 days. This was mainly attributed to the period between Proco Group shortlisting and our clients delivering the offer.
Despite the cautiousness, hiring strategies continued to move forward in 2024, and Proco Group’s global team of executive search consultants partnered with commodity, industrial and consumer organisations to source in-demand talent to fill critical roles.
The face of leadership continued to evolve, with new skill requirements at executive level emerging over the year. This was driven in part by the growing presence of AI (mandates increased 13% from 2023) and other new technologies, increasing pressure to operate sustainability and the continued the drive to improve diversity and inclusion.
Demand for demonstratable resilience and agility attributes also grew in response to the increasingly volatile environments many organisations were operating in.
How did your role as a leader in your industry evolve in 2024?
The global economy in 2024 exemplified a VUCA environment, with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity putting significant pressure on the global commodity, industrial and consumer markets:
- Geopolitical conflict disrupted energy markets and global supply chains
- Economic uncertainties heightened sensitivity to inflation across the financial markets
- The unpredictable nature of US trade policies under the Trump administration contributed to macro uncertainty
- Post-pandemic inflation remained a significant risk, with unstable inflation rates across the world
As a leader of a global organisation that covers multiple industries, managing Proco Group and our team to deliver success despite the challenges in front of them was a key priority in 2024.
To conquer a particularly challenging year, it was critical to maintain a high-performance sales culture across the team. Defining clear activity levels for every member of the team, driving cross-function and cross-region collaboration and encouraging knowledge sharing helped Proco Group’s team thrive in the face of a difficult year.
Alongside instilling a high-performance mindset, it was also important to support the team through step changes in their markets and guide them to find alternative solutions and opportunities. Finally, as a leader it became even more important to celebrate their successes – big and small – to maintain momentum throughout the year.
As we look towards a new year, what predictions do you have for your industry?
2025 will be another bumpy year, with challenges carrying over from last year and new ones surfacing over the next 12 months.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of stopping and although a ceasefire has been agreed between Israel and Hamas, the process could still unravel if not handled carefully. These conflicts will continue to disrupt the global supply chain and will do so after they end, whilst the dust settles. Sanctions will continue to drive up prices and effect trade. However, we are entering a new year with a clearer understanding of how these conflicts impact international trade, so many organisations will start the year with a clear strategy to adapt to the disruptions.
Donald Trump is set to take office on 20th January, which has the potential to kickstart a period of political and economic instability as the world waits to see what his finalised policies on trade will be. The universal tariffs he has proposed will change the dynamics of international trade and cause a substantial shift in trade policy around the world. As Trump’s policies start to unfold in 2025, organisations around the world will need to review their supply chains and make them more resilient to change.
AI will continue to be a prevalent topic in the boardroom as organisations interpret how to embed it across their organisations. Although it’s been a core focus for a few years now, AI was still in its infancy in 2024, with many organisations either uncertain of how to use it, or not ready to use it at all. As 2025 progresses, AI solutions will become more refined, backed by better quality data, and tested more to ensure their suitable for use. With this in mind I anticipate that we will see a broader uptake in AI solutions over the course of the next 12 months.
Further to this, I anticipate that AI will create new opportunities and provide the opportunity for existing employees to upskill – in fact, for some employees, it will be a need, rather than a want, as AI will become an integral tool to support delivery in their roles. Leaders across procurement and supply chain functions will need to develop a deeper understanding of AI, including its potential and challenges.
The concerns around AI replacing humans across the workforce remains. Whilst it’s extremely unlikely that AI will be in a position to fill a significant number of roles, as it becomes more mature and advanced, we should expect that this efficiency will replace some roles in 2025.
How do you believe the talent landscape across your industry will evolve in 2025?
After a year of hesitation, we anticipate a loosening of the talent market, driven by a combination of organisational and candidate dynamics.
Many organisations will focus on achieving healthier attrition levels, reflecting a strategic approach to workforce planning and a shift away from the lower turnover rates seen in recent years. At the same time, we expect a rebound in candidate confidence levels, which have been tempered by last year’s economic and market uncertainties.
This renewed confidence among candidates will likely translate to a higher acceptance rate of job offers. Additionally, organisations may also take deliberate steps to engineer higher attrition rates, aligning with goals for workforce optimisation or strategic talent renewal. As a result, 2025 could see a more fluid talent environment, characterised by increased mobility and a recalibration of employer-employee dynamics.
The role of a leader transformed significantly in 2024; looking forward to 2025, how do you anticipate the role to change over the next 12 months?
In 2025, the role of a leader will be centred around providing stability, clarity, and direction following the uncertainty and disruption experienced in 2024. A clearly defined business strategy will be essential to offer the structure and guidance that colleagues need to feel confident and engaged.
Leaders will need to prioritise listening to the business’s evolving needs and actively gathering and learning from colleague feedback. This commitment to understanding and responding to internal dynamics will position leaders to effectively steer their organisations forward.
In essence, the role of a leader in 2025 will be about combining strategic vision with adaptability and empathy, ensuring the business remains resilient and focused in an ever-changing environment.
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Next week we will be sharing predictions for 2025 from Dave Cloete, Chief Procurement Officer for North America at Kellanova.
In the meantime, for a conversation about your organisation’s talent strategy for 2025, please get in touch.
