This session will focus on critical challenges facing organizations in the 21st Century and the unique opportunity for you to play a strategic role in addressing those challenges. This will require the transformation of the role of the HR practitioner into that of a business leader. The role of business leader will require you to assume new roles and responsibilities, understand value creation and extraction, emphasize business outcomes and link to the growth chain of the organization. New core competencies will need to be acquired and the HR profession will need to become forceful advocates for the promotion and adoption of HR standards. Implications for leadership development, succession planning, the HR profession and HR education will be explored.