The Future of Work With Jacob Morgan

December 19, 2025:  Workers are hesitating before changing jobs. Parents are questioning whether college is still worth the cost. Talent shortages persist even as hiring slows. And U.S. regulators are signaling a major shift in how companies approach DEI. In this episode, we explore six key future-of-work stories shaping how people think about careers, education, productivity, and fairness at work. From new data on job mobility and workforce policy to early recession signals and changing attitudes toward vocational paths, these stories reveal a workforce moving from confidence to caution—and from slogans to systems.

December 18, 2025:  Is artificial intelligence already replacing jobs—or is that narrative getting ahead of the data? This episode examines new research from Vanguard's 2026 Economic and Market Outlook, which analyzes U.S. employment and wage data to understand how AI exposure is actually affecting work today. Contrary to widespread fears, the findings show that jobs most exposed to AI—including analysts, accountants, HR professionals, and other knowledge workers—are not disappearing. They are growing. And real wages in those roles are rising faster than in jobs with lower AI exposure. The episode explores why AI is currently acting as a productivity amplifier rather than a job killer, how this phase mirrors earlier waves of technological change, and where the real risks are beginning to emerge. It also looks ahead to the implications for workforce design, skill development, and career pathways—especially as AI reshapes entry-level work and raises performance expectations across organizations. For leaders, executives, and professionals trying to separate AI hype from reality, this episode offers a grounded, data-driven view of what's happening now—and what signals to watch next in the future of work.

December 17, 2025: Gartner's 2026 HR trends reveal how AI adoption is outpacing people systems and managerial readiness; Ford scales back parts of its electric vehicle strategy as regulatory pressure, legacy infrastructure, and workforce realities collide; white-collar job markets tighten while demand grows for skilled, non-automatable work; rising job anxiety spreads across professional roles as career certainty erodes; companies accelerate skills-based hiring as college degrees lose signaling power; and the UK passes a major Employment Rights Bill aimed at reducing job precarity by expanding worker protections and limiting unstable work arrangements.

December 16, 2025: We start with new data from EY showing that workplace culture—specifically how people treat each other—has become the number one reason employees stay at their company, outranking pay, flexibility, and career growth. We then examine growing evidence that AI and remote work may be accelerating loneliness at work, and why that matters in a society already experiencing declining trust, community, and social connection. We also look at why 2026 is shaping up to be a labor market reset rather than a boom or bust, how the U.S. government is rebuilding its internal talent engine to regain institutional capability, what McKinsey's planned layoffs reveal about the unbundling of white-collar work, and what the latest jobs data tells us about where leverage is shifting between employers and employees.

AI is failing most companies, trapping employees in digital exhaustion. The real problem isn't the technology, but the organization itself. Forget fixing your models—the path to true transformation is redesigning your workflows, structure, and human collaboration to finally work with AI. In this episode, Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute at Glean, unpacks insights from the Work Transformation 100 study, revealing what 100+ leaders, technologists, and researchers are doing differently to make AI actually work. You'll learn how AI needs to be embedded in the flow of work, why organizational structure eats AI for breakfast, how centralization and decentralization must coexist, and how leaders can avoid automating the soul of work by preserving ownership, creativity, and accountability. Rebecca breaks down the emerging collaboration between HR and IT, the rise of agentic workflows, the role of telemetry data in measuring AI adoption, and why flattening org charts for the sake of AI often backfires. She also shares real examples of bottom-up and top-down AI change, the impact of digital exhaustion, and the critical importance of redesigning processes and incentives before redesigning technology. This episode is every CHRO's playbook to lead AI transformation with human insight, organizational clarity, and people-first strategy, not hype.   ________________ This Episode is sponsored by Glean: The AI Transformation 100 is here — Glean's Work AI Institute reveals what's really working with AI at work The AI Transformation 100, authored by Dr. Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute at Glean and Stanford's Bob Sutton surfaces 100 hard-won lessons from leaders actually deploying AI at scale. It's not about what AI could do — it's about what works, what fails, and what companies have to get right to make AI real. One takeaway: AI doesn't fix broken systems. It amplifies them. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/   Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

December 12, 2025: Recent data shows unemployment for new college graduates is now higher than the overall workforce — an unusual and troubling signal that entry-level work is breaking down. At the same time, OpenAI's GPT-5.2 marks a shift from AI as a helper to AI as a task owner, reshaping how professional work gets done and raising hard questions about jobs, accountability, and career paths. We also explore why AI is dramatically expanding the role of the CHRO, turning HR leaders into architects of human-AI collaboration, and how "ghostworking" is emerging as outdated productivity metrics collide with modern knowledge work. Finally, a Microsoft executive draws a rare line in the sand, saying AI development should stop if it threatens humanity — highlighting the growing leadership challenge of governance, judgment, and restraint.

December 11, 2025: In today's episode, I break down five major stories reshaping the future of work and leadership. I start with the growing crisis of trust as employees hesitate to adopt new AI tools, then dive into the global debate around "neurorights" and the push to protect cognitive privacy in an era of emerging neurotechnology. I unpack AT&T's candid admission that cultural fixes came far too late, explore how AI managers are beginning to automate managerial busywork and influence organizational design, and examine Disney's landmark partnership with OpenAI and what it signals for the future of creativity and intelligent content creation. Each story includes a futurist lens that connects today's headlines to the deeper shifts every leader must understand to build a truly future-ready organization.

December 10, 2025: Today's episode breaks down the forces reshaping work right now: more than 1.1 million layoffs across the U.S. economy, bank CEOs signaling that AI will replace foundational tasks, engineering leaders using AI to reveal performance gaps, new Harvard research showing AI agents taking over cognitive work, a widening leadership-capacity gap, and the rise of AI-native people management platforms like Shapes. We explore what each story means for talent, leadership, and the future of work.

December 9, 2025: Today's episode brings together the biggest shifts shaping work right now: a global Gen Z unemployment crisis pushing the UK into a $965M skills investment, Amazon's surprising move to position AI agents as "teammates," Jamie Dimon's latest prediction on how AI will reshape jobs and society, new research showing young professionals falling behind in remote roles, fresh data revealing that ChatGPT Enterprise is saving employees nearly an hour a day, and Apple's market boost as investors grow tired of AI hype. These stories together reveal where work is breaking, where it's evolving, and what leaders need to pay attention to in order to stay future-ready.

Automation and AI are rewriting the rules of work, leaving CHROs grappling with a challenge to preserve humanity that fuels innovation. When technology starts moving faster than people, the real test of leadership begins. In this episode, CHRO Katie Watson shares how she's leading an AI revolution without losing the heart of business at Western Digital, a 55-year-old tech company powering the world's data. We explore how Western Digital is modernizing every corner of its workforce—from fully automated "lights-out" factories in Thailand to AI-assisted engineering and HR systems—while protecting what makes work meaningful. Katie shares how upskilling programs have helped thousands of employees transition into higher-value roles, why "AI champions" are key to driving adoption, and how human connection must remain at the center of digital change. She also discusses how HR and business leaders can govern AI responsibly, build comfort with experimentation, and help employees see technology as a collaborator rather than a threat. The tension between innovation and humanity begins as the AI takeover lingers, but the future of work isn't about choosing between people or technology, but learning how they can grow stronger together. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/   Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

December 5, 2025: SHRM reports that AI is accelerating the collapse of traditional entry-level roles, forcing companies to rethink how they develop early-career talent. A WIRED investigation reveals what happened when a startup tried replacing employees with AI agents—and why it quickly fell apart. The CEO of NTT DATA tells Reuters that the current AI bubble will be short-lived before a much larger wave of transformation. A new Times of India story shows that young remote workers are losing career momentum due to reduced visibility and fewer opportunities for mentorship. The Hechinger Report uncovers why "no degree required" is still largely a myth as employers continue to favor credentialed candidates. And a new Challenger report finds more than 71,000 layoffs as companies restructure around evolving skill needs.

December 4, 2025: In today's episode of Future Ready Today, I break down six major stories shaping the future of work. Nvidia's Jensen Huang pushes back on AI job doom while Geoffrey Hinton warns that massive unemployment may be unavoidable. AI is quietly restructuring the rhythm of the workweek, RTO mandates are tightening as employees turn to "microshifting," Microsoft moves aggressively toward an AI-native workforce, and Accenture partners with OpenAI to transform consulting at scale. Each story includes a futurist lens to help leaders decode the signals behind the headlines and build a truly future-ready organization.

December 3, 2025: Today's episode breaks down six major shifts shaping the future of work: companies turning frontline employees into TikTok influencers, robotics transforming scientific labs into fully automated discovery engines, and the rapid rise of career minimalism as workers reject traditional career ladders. Instagram orders a full five-day return to the office while eliminating recurring meetings, Sundar Pichai warns that AI will disrupt every profession—including his own—and new research from Anthropic reveals how AI is reshaping engineering work from the inside. These stories show how culture, technology, and talent expectations are being rewritten in real time.

December 2, 2025: Today's episode breaks down several major developments shaping the future of work: new research showing CHROs under intense pressure, employees quietly using AI to automate half their workload, Satya Nadella calling empathy a workplace superpower, Accenture rebranding 800,000 employees as "reinventors," OpenAI declaring a "code red" as Gemini gains ground, and a surprising case of an employee using AI to fake an injury that HR approved instantly. I break down what each of these signals means for leaders, HR teams, and anyone building a future-ready organization.

While technology is transforming work, the real competitive advantage lies in human curiosity, creativity, and connection—because AI can optimize efficiency, but only people can create joy. In this episode, Deborah Borg, Chief People and Culture Officer at International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), joins us to explore how one of the world's most innovative companies is reimagining talent strategy through the fusion of AI, analytics, and human creativity. Deborah shares how IFF—home to the scents, flavors, and enzymes found in everyday products—builds its people strategy around both science and soul. She walks through the entire talent lifecycle, from AI-assisted recruiting and predictive analytics in engagement to apprenticeship-based mentoring for niche roles like perfumers and scientists. The conversation unpacks how IFF balances technology with human judgment, ensuring cultural fit and creativity remain central as AI accelerates hiring and decision-making. Deborah also reveals how IFF's cross-functional AI Council governs innovation responsibly, enabling experimentation without losing the human touch. ------------ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/   Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 26, 2025: Today's episode breaks down six major stories shaping the future of work: Clifford Chance cuts 10% of business services roles, HP slashes up to 6,000 jobs as it embeds AI, a new survey shows worker anxiety at record highs, McKinsey says humans and AI agents will work side-by-side, new UK data warns 3 million low-skilled jobs could vanish by 2035, and a Las Vegas report predicts up to 95% of hospitality jobs may be automated. I unpack what these signals mean for leaders navigating AI disruption, workforce redesign, and the changing psychology of work.   ---------- Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

November 25, 2025: Fast Company reports that on-site workers are experiencing significantly worse "Sunday Scaries" than remote employees. The Wall Street Journal highlights how the U.S. economy is becoming increasingly dependent on corporate AI spending. Fortune features Slack's cofounder warning that employees are drowning in "fake work" that looks productive but delivers little value. Amazon's latest layoffs are tied directly to automation and robotics. The WSJ outlines the next wave of office design focused on biophilic spaces, flexible collaboration zones, and personalized climate control. And Moderna has merged its technology and HR departments, creating a unified workforce systems model that signals a major structural shift in how organizations will operate in the AI era.   ---------- Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

When a leader reaches the top, the climb doesn't stop, it just changes shape. The real challenge isn't getting to the corner office, it's knowing how to stay relevant, resilient, and ready for what's next. The best CEOs don't just lead well once; they lead well through change, mastering the cycles of their own growth. In this episode, I sit down with Kurt Strovink, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and Global Head of McKinsey's CEO Practice, to break down the cyclical nature of leadership from his book A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership. Drawing from research on 200 high-performing CEOs, we explore the four seasons of leadership—stepping up, starting strong, staying ahead, and sending it forward—and what distinguishes those who sustain excellence over time. We dive into how cognitive diversity strengthens decision-making, servant leadership keeps power grounded in purpose, and renewal strategies prevent success from breeding complacency. We also explore how great CEOs develop resilience under pressure and create leadership factories that outlast them. This episode offers CHROs a playbook to help leaders evolve through every phase of their journey, and build organizations capable of thriving through every season of change. ------------ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/ Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It's in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 20, 2025:  This episode breaks down six major stories shaping the future of work and the workplace in 2025. A new study reveals the rise of "Cold Work"—a breakdown of trust between employees and managers marked by hidden behaviors, disengagement, and rising hostility. Google CEO Sundar Pichai makes headlines by claiming the CEO role may be "one of the easier things" for AI to replace, adding fuel to the debate about automation and leadership. The Wall Street Journal reports that the AI boom has become "the most joyless tech revolution ever," with worker anxiety rising even as tech stocks soar. New research from Northeastern shows that workers overwhelmingly prefer retraining over safety nets when facing AI disruption. A delayed U.S. jobs report presents a murky economic picture, combining unexpected job growth with a rising unemployment rate. Meanwhile, Verizon announces 13,000 layoffs, underscoring the turbulence across major industries.  

November 19, 2025: Amazon and Target stumble through chaotic new layoff tactics, Sundar Pichai warns that the AI boom may be tipping into irrational exuberance, and U.S. and European banks reveal two very different—yet equally successful—approaches to return-to-office. We also unpack the alarming collapse of foundational math skills on college campuses, why leaders are outsourcing performance reviews to AI, and why Gen Z's double-major explosion may matter less than what they can actually show and build.

Novemner 18, 2025:  Today's episode breaks down seven of the most important stories shaping the future of work. We explore why AI adoption is stalling inside organizations—and why companies are turning to internal influencers to drive real behavior change. We look at the surge in "ghost job" postings that are distorting the labor market and frustrating job seekers, and we explore the surprising history of the 40-hour workweek and whether it still makes sense in the age of AI. Next, we dive into brand-new data from Glassdoor's Worklife Trends 2026 report, which reveals rising distrust in leadership, declining career visibility, and how early-career workers are reshaping expectations. We also unpack a Guardian story showing that criticism of Gen Z is nothing new—it's a historical pattern that repeats in every era of disruption. We then examine why Big Tech companies are cutting jobs despite record profits and record AI investment, and we close with an Inc. story about an "AI error" that turned out to be human error—a reminder that the biggest risks of automation come from governance, not algorithms. If you want to understand the signals, trends, and shifts reshaping the future of work, this episode connects all the dots. Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: https://bit.ly/8exlaws  

Growth tests the soul of every organization. As companies expand, consistency often replaces compassion—but CAVA proves you can scale without losing humanity. With 400 restaurants and 12,000 team members, CAVA has built a culture that's as grounded as it is consistent through a people framework rooted in heart, health, and humanity. In this episode, I sit down with Kelly Costanza, Chief People Officer of CAVA, to unpack exactly how they've done it—diving into their MVC framework (Mission, Values, and Competencies) that turns ideals into action. We explore their recognition systems like MVC Awards and Value Cards, the CCT Program that trains leaders as culture coaches, and Impact Plans that replace performance reviews with real-time growth. Kelly also shares how CAVA brings connection to life through the Love Button and Allies in Motion (AIM) programs, integrates culture across the employee lifecycle, and balances AI innovation with human warmth. This episode offers every CHRO a practical look at how to bring values to life, connect them to performance, and make culture come alive. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/ Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 14, 2025: Today's episode breaks down six major stories shaping the future of work and employee experience. We look at how unclear corporate policies are pushing employees into a shadow AI underground, why Meta is rewriting performance reviews around AI-driven impact, and how higher education is scrambling to rebuild workforce pathways for an AI-first world. We also explore why companies predict the toughest job market in years for the Class of 2026, Silicon Valley's renewed push for universal basic income as automation accelerates, and the rise of "polyworking" as more people juggle multiple jobs to survive economic pressure. These stories reveal the trends, tensions, and emerging signals leaders need to watch to stay future-ready.

November 13, 2025: Ford's CEO warns that the U.S. is entering a skilled-trades crisis as thousands of high-paying technical jobs sit vacant. Elon Musk's unprecedented trillion-dollar compensation package reveals the extreme performance targets Tesla must hit—ranging from 20 million vehicles a year to the deployment of a million robots. Glassdoor releases its top workplace trends for 2026, highlighting the rise of transparency, internal mobility, and human-centric leadership. And new reporting from The Wall Street Journal shows that skills-based hiring is fading as companies quietly return to college-degree requirements.

November 12, 2025: PwC's 2025 Global Workforce Survey exposes a growing gap between empowered and excluded workers. Across Australia, employees are already facing the reality of AI-driven job disruption. A WIRED feature explores a startup run entirely by AI agents—including executives—raising new questions about what leadership looks like when teammates aren't human. Amazon announces a massive $2.5 billion investment to upskill 50 million people worldwide. New research from Yahoo UK and Modern Sciences shows AI is reshaping pay and opportunity, rewarding those who work with technology instead of against it. And Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur tells Fortune why AI isn't just a tool—it's a complete redesign of how business operates.

November 11, 2025: IT and HR are joining forces to manage the chaos AI is creating inside companies. A new white-collar gig economy is emerging as professionals get paid to train algorithms. Paramount's return-to-office mandate backfires, with 600 employees choosing severance instead. In India, workers are turning to AI as a career ally, redefining ambition around adaptability. Irish parents are split over whether creativity or coding will prepare kids for the future. And Palantir is skipping universities altogether, hiring high-school grads through its Meritocracy Fellowship.

Uber moves more than 36 million trips a day, a scale that would overwhelm most systems. But as AI reshapes every corner of business, even a tech giant like Uber must evolve faster than ever. The real question is, how do you lead an organization this massive through an AI revolution without losing reliability, human connection, or trust? In this episode, I sit down with Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber's Chief Technology Officer for Mobility and Delivery, to explore the leadership blueprint driving Uber's AI-powered transformation. He shares how Uber is transforming its software engineering systems using tools like Cursor and agentic AI workflows, integrating machine learning into real-time marketplace technology, and balancing automation with human oversight to avoid what he calls "AI slop." We also dive into how his teams are preparing for autonomous vehicles, managing global scale across 36 million daily trips, and rethinking the engineering culture to adopt AI responsibly and sustainably. For CHROs, this episode reveals how to lead large-scale transformation by aligning people, technology, and purpose, and how to build a culture where AI doesn't replace human capability, but amplifies it.   ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/ Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 7, 2025: AI is rewriting the world of work. This episode covers the major shifts making headlines today: Elon Musk's warning of a "supersonic tsunami" of job losses, record-breaking layoffs across U.S. companies, and Italy's landmark move to regulate how employers use AI. Microsoft's mass cuts are testing the myth of job security, while Airbus redefines HR as the architects of the future. Meanwhile, the New York Times argues the AI apocalypse isn't here yet—it's just reshaping how companies restructure—and Bloomberg reports the worst October for job cuts in over two decades. Together, these stories reveal a deeper trend: AI isn't simply automating work, it's exposing whether leaders can adapt fast enough to build trust, design new roles, and keep the human experience at the center of progress.

November 6, 2025: Five major stories reveal how the rules of work are being rewritten worldwide. Australia's landmark ruling makes remote work a legal right, signaling the next phase of the flexibility debate. CEOs from Palantir to AT&T are reasserting control over DEI, AI, and culture after years of hybrid drift. In the U.S., Gen Z and wealthy professionals are returning to cities like New York for career security as urban networks regain power. Tokyo launches a four-day workweek to address burnout and a collapsing birthrate, while IBM's latest layoffs show how automation is reshaping the entry-level job market. Together, these stories mark a global recalibration of power, purpose, and productivity.

November 5, 2025: In today's episode of Future Ready Today, I explore five major shifts reshaping the modern workplace. Walmart is redefining loyalty and culture by paying top managers up to $620,000 and giving them a real sense of ownership. At the same time, a wave of corporate layoffs continues to ripple across major companies like Amazon and Oracle as businesses trade people for productivity in the age of AI. Gen Z workers are facing an unprecedented career crisis as automation wipes out traditional entry-level roles, leaving an entire generation without a clear path to start their careers. Across organizations, transformation fatigue is spreading as employees grow weary of endless change, while new research from Mercer reveals how a leadership vacuum is fueling widespread technology anxiety. Together, these stories reveal a powerful truth: technology may be transforming how we work, but leadership still determines how it feels.

November 4, 2025:  The traditional systems of education, work, and performance are being upended. Across industries, new signals are emerging that point to a radically different future of work: Palantir's "Meritocracy Fellowship" gives high school graduates a paid, fast-track alternative to college. Microsoft's latest Work Trend Index reveals that the 9-to-5 is dead as the "infinite workday" expands. KPMG is replacing entry-level consulting work with teams of AI agents, redefining what early careers look like. Michael Burry is betting against Palantir and Nvidia, calling out an overheated AI market. The Wall Street Journal traces the century-long evolution of performance reviews—and why AI won't fix them without trust. These stories illustrate how technology, talent pipelines, and performance systems are converging to reshape how people learn, work, and grow.

As companies race to adapt to the rapid AI takeover, many are discovering that their biggest challenge isn't technological change, but knowing what their people can actually do. For CHROs, this means gaining real visibility into workforce skills, so they can move beyond job titles and legacy systems to make faster, smarter talent decisions. In this episode, Mikael Wornoo, Co-Founder and President of TechWolf, joins us to explore how AI and data are reshaping the future of HR through the rise of the skill-based organization—a model that looks beyond job titles to map, measure, and mobilize employee skills at scale. We unpack how organizations can build clean, standardized data layers to power smarter workforce decisions, enable internal mobility through AI-driven talent marketplaces, and forecast future skill needs amid accelerating automation. The conversation also dives into the limits of AI in capturing "invisible skills" like empathy and collaboration, the leadership mindset needed to balance human judgment with machine intelligence, and what the future of work and education might look like in an age of human–AI collaboration. A must-listen for CHROs who want to evolve from HR management to strategic workforce design and lead their organizations confidently into the AI era. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

October 31, 2025: In today's Future Ready Today, PwC quietly abandons its global hiring target as AI begins replacing entry-level consultants and reshaping professional services. Gen Z enters management valuing purpose and wellbeing but faces a growing need for accountability. Danone redeploys 90 percent of employees affected by restructuring, showing how workforce agility and empathy can coexist. Amazon cuts 14,000 corporate jobs in an AI-driven push to run leaner and faster, while Big Tech pours $400 billion into AI infrastructure—and still can't meet surging demand. Meanwhile, CEOs at JPMorgan, Airbnb, and others ban phones in meetings to reclaim focus and respect.

October 30, 2025: Today's episode explores the shifting dynamics shaping business and leadership. Across industries, experience itself is being questioned as companies reject overqualified candidates, revealing how age bias and short-term thinking are reshaping hiring. Business leaders are entering 2026 with growing pessimism as geopolitical instability overtakes inflation as their top concern, and 84% now cite political and legal volatility as a major business risk. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase is using its in-house AI system to help employees write performance reviews, offering a glimpse into how artificial intelligence is changing not just operations but management itself. And in retail, Walmart's CEO warns that AI is no longer an emerging tool but a leadership necessity. Together, these stories show a world where adaptability, technological fluency, and cultural stability have become the defining traits of future-ready organizations.

AI is tearing through corporate America — and this time, it's coming for white-collar jobs. Tens of thousands of office workers are being laid off as automation and efficiency pressures reshape how companies operate. Amazon's latest restructuring shows that the era of middle management may be ending, while new data reveals why strong employee experience is the single biggest factor keeping talent from walking out the door. Meanwhile, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon doubles down on the return to office, arguing that mentorship and innovation depend on proximity. Yet, as companies slash management layers to cut costs, research from HR Dive warns productivity and culture are taking a hit. And in the background, a new hiring trend is emerging — one where skills matter more than age, giving older workers a second act in the modern workplace. Across these stories, a clear signal emerges: the future of work is being rebuilt in real time — flatter, faster, and more human than before.

October 28, 2025: Companies are re-establishing discipline after years of expansion, excess, and employee-first drift. This episode explores five major shifts reshaping the future of work: Amazon's "lean in on AI" directive following 14,000 layoffs, UPS cutting 48,000 jobs as automation accelerates, the limits of Gen Z's workplace expectations, CEOs pushing to restore a performance culture, and the rise of ultralean organizations focused on output over headcount. Each story reveals how technology, accountability, and efficiency are redefining what it means to be future ready.

The real challenge for today's HR leaders isn't adopting AI, but ensuring people still feel seen, heard, and valued in a world shaped by it. Today's CHROs face a powerful question: how can we design organizations that are as human as they are high-performing? At Novartis, this challenge sparked a bold rethink of what it means to lead, grow, and belong. In this episode, Rob Kowalski, Chief People and Organization Officer at Novartis, shares how the company is reimagining HR through human-centered experiences that transform culture into a living system. He unpacks Novartis' Inspired, Curious, and Unbossed culture framework, the "behaviors in action" that make culture discussable, and programs like Future Me that redefine career growth through lattices instead of ladders. Rob also explores how storytelling connects every employee—scientists to HR teams—to patient impact, why leaders must balance empowerment with accountability, and how "unbossed" leadership is reshaping management itself. From AI coaching tools to redefining what growth and retention really mean, this conversation gives CHROs a fresh blueprint for building organizations that are truly human by design. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

October 22, 2025: In this episode of Future Ready Today, Jacob Morgan unpacks five powerful stories defining the next era of leadership and work: 1️⃣ Amazon's 600,000 Robots – A leaked roadmap shows how automation will replace or reconfigure hundreds of thousands of jobs, raising urgent questions about reskilling and purpose. 2️⃣ OpenAI's New Browser “Atlas” – The company behind ChatGPT is reimagining web navigation with built-in reasoning. For HR, it signals how internal AI layers could soon connect every system and agent inside organizations. 3️⃣ Global Petition to Ban AI Superintelligence – Over 3,000 global figures, from Richard Branson to Steve Bannon, call for limits on AI's cognitive reach. 4️⃣ Gartner's Report on HR Resilience – The top priorities for CHROs in 2025 include embedding adaptability into culture and responsibly operationalizing AI. 5️⃣ The AI Rebellion Inside Electronic Arts – Employees are pushing back on AI mandates they don't trust, revealing the widening gap between leadership enthusiasm and workforce skepticism.

October 20, 2025: In this episode of Future Ready Today, Jacob Morgan breaks down five major stories that show how leadership, learning, and loyalty are being redefined in real time. Korn Ferry reports that 79% of employees say their job isn't what they were promised, revealing a growing gap between expectations and reality. Business Insider finds that white-collar professionals now value employer loyalty more than higher pay, signaling a deeper cultural shift in what workers want from companies. Another Business Insider story by Amanda Hoover explores the rise of “vibe working,” where AI tools reshape how we create, collaborate, and code — but also remind us that real innovation still requires human skill and judgment. Meanwhile, SHRM's State of Recruiting 2025 shows that 69% of organizations are struggling to fill full-time roles, turning hiring into the first real test of the employee experience. And according to Forbes, education systems are falling behind as AI redefines work, leaving both schools and companies scrambling to keep people future ready. Together, these stories reveal a new reality: transparency replaces stability, loyalty outweighs pay, and learning becomes the ultimate competitive edge.

What does it take to build a culture so strong that it powers 68 ships, 100,000 employees, and 12 million ecstatic guests each year? In this episode, Richard Fain, former CEO and current Chairman of Royal Caribbean Group, shares how he led the company's evolution from a small cruise line into a $16 billion global powerhouse by anchoring performance in purpose and people. Drawing from his new book, Delivering the WoW: Culture as a Catalyst for Lasting Success, Richard unpacks the mindset behind Royal Caribbean's growth—from defining culture as a shared North Star to prioritizing fit over fitness in hiring and leadership. He explains how the company grew leaders through cross-functional rotations, built transparency through metrics like guest satisfaction and employee Net Promoter Scores, and created alignment through a shared “culture dashboard.” Along the way, he highlights lessons from bold innovations like the VR Innovation Lab—and even a runaway blimp experiment—that shaped a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. Every CHRO who believes culture is the new competitive advantage will find in this episode the proof and the playbook for making it real.   ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Friday October 17, 2025: In this episode of Future Ready Today... The Wall Street Journal reports that SHRM's invitation to anti-DEI speaker Robby Starbuck triggered outrage across HR circles. Jacob explains why boycotting the event might reveal more about HR's fragility than its values. Then, a Times of India report shows nearly half of U.S. employees are secretly using AI tools at work — a growing “shadow AI” movement that exposes weak leadership and poor communication. Reuters highlights how Citigroup's AI copilots now save 100,000 hours per week, while Unleash.ai and Gallup reveal deep workforce divides: only one in three workers feel future-ready and just 40% have a “quality job.” Finally, HR Canada Magazine finds that Gen Z workers feel more comfortable talking to ChatGPT than coworkers — and Harvard Business Review questions if CHROs should abandon performance improvement plans. Each story uncovers one truth: the future belongs to leaders who can handle discomfort, embrace AI, and rebuild trust in the workplace. Get my new book here: 8EXLaws.com

October 16, 2025: Amazon is cutting 15% of its HR team, signaling a shift from administrative people functions to data-driven, AI-powered HR. Younger workers are turning to TikTok and ChatGPT to understand their benefits instead of relying on HR portals. Facebook is re-entering the job market, bringing hiring into local digital communities. Microsoft says AI could save over 12 billion hours a year—but only if we manage “shadow AI” responsibly. And billionaire CEO Ken Griffin predicts a future where humans work just three days a week. In this episode, Jacob Morgan breaks down what these stories really mean for leaders. What happens when HR becomes more automated than human? Why are employees trusting algorithms and influencers more than their companies? And how do leaders create balance between productivity and purpose in an AI-driven world? Each story reveals a deeper truth: technology may change how we work, but leadership defines why we work.

October 15, 2025: AI is no longer just automating work — it's reorganizing it. In today's episode of Future Ready Today, Jacob Morgan explores five major stories reshaping leadership and HR:

What if business leaders cared for their employees the way loving parents care for their children? That simple, profound shift of treating employees like family actually became the engine behind a $4 billion global success story. In this episode, Bob Chapman, Chairman of Barry-Wehmiller, also known as The CEO Who Put Humanity Back into Business, pulls back the curtain on how to build an organization that seamlessly combines economic strength with genuine human care. He explains how Barry-Wehmiller grew from an $18 million struggling manufacturer into a $4 billion global company by designing a balanced business model and fueling it with a “culture of care.” Bob also breaks down the three teachable skills behind his leadership philosophy: empathetic listening, recognition and celebration, and a culture of service. He also advocates for “hard love, not layoffs,” aiming for natural attrition and efficient design instead of job cuts because fear-based management, and short-term thinking destroy both people and performance. He even addresses the role of AI in business, arguing that technology can enhance humanity when guided by leaders who care. For CHROs leading cultural transformation, this episode offers a blueprint for turning human care into a lasting competitive advantage. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

October 10, 2025: A new era of Responsible Intelligence is emerging. Governments are considering human-quota laws to keep people in the loop. Kroger is rolling out a values-based AI assistant that redefines trust and transparency. And legal experts warn that AI bias in HR could soon become a courtroom reality. In today's Future-Ready Today, Jacob Morgan explores how these stories signal the end of reckless automation and the rise of accountable leadership. He shares how the future of work will be shaped not by faster machines, but by wiser humans—and offers one simple “1%-a-Day” challenge to help you lead responsibly in the age of AI.

October 9, 2025: Burnout isn't always burnout — sometimes it's just work that's lost its rhythm. In today's Future-Ready Today episode, Jacob Morgan explores six powerful signals reshaping the modern workplace. From Google tightening its hybrid work policy to new data revealing that most corporate cultures aren't ready for AI, the future of work is moving from convenience to clarity. You'll hear how job seekers are prioritizing reputation over perks, why “linchpin” executives are cracking under pressure, and how one-third of leaders are now testing AI before hiring. Then Jacob takes aim at the burnout narrative — separating stress from exhaustion, and explaining why the real issue is recovery, not overwork. He closes with the 1%-a-Day Challenge: one practical habit to build discipline, focus, and energy for the long game of leadership. If you lead teams or shape culture, this episode will help you rethink what it truly means to be future-ready in an era where easy work is over — and meaningful work is what's next.

AI was supposed to make work faster and smarter — but for many organizations, it's doing the opposite. In this episode, Jacob breaks down three powerful signals shaping the AI reality check every leader needs to understand: • AI Workslop – the flood of low-quality, machine-generated output wasting time and eroding trust. • The AI Plateau – why 95% of companies report no measurable ROI from their AI tools. • The EY Report – new data revealing nearly $4.4 billion in financial losses from poor AI governance. Through a futurist lens, Jacob reveals why the next competitive advantage won't go to the fastest adopters — but to the most discerning ones. He shares how future-ready leaders can design systems of clarity, ethics, and accountability to make AI truly work for people, not against them.  

CHROs today face a pressing mandate: how to build cultures of clarity and belonging while navigating hybrid work, rising employee expectations, and the disruptive pace of AI. The risk of drifting into transactional cultures is real, yet so is the opportunity to shape organizations where culture drives performance and technology enables growth. The question for CHROs is, how do you create alignment while preparing your workforce for what's next? In this episode, Paulo Pisano, EVP and CHRO at Booking Holdings—and the leader shaping the Future of Work for 24,000 employees—shares how culture and AI intersect to redefine leadership. He explains why culture is ultimately about how people get things done, why clarity is the cornerstone of inclusion, and what it means to bring your “whole professional self” to work. Paulo also addresses polarizing topics at work, the trade-offs of remote versus office culture, and how employee sentiment, trust in leadership, and decision effectiveness can be measured as cultural indicators. Finally, he offers a forward-looking view on how generative and agentic AI—through both HR applications and customer-facing tools—are accelerating productivity and experimentation, and what this means for reskilling and the future role of HR in shaping culture.   ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

We've all had that moment: working at a job we dislike, then moving to a nearly identical role at a different company, and suddenly loving it. The work didn't change, the industry didn't change, and the location didn't change. So what did? The answer is the environment. In today's Leadership Spark, we explore why employee experience has become the foundation of modern workplaces. Drawing on research, case studies, and over 150 executive interviews, I share why employee experience is not about perks, but about fundamentally changing how organizations shape the environment in which work gets done. Every employee's experience comes down to three things: culture, technology, and physical space. Organizations can't control the work employees choose to do, but they can control the environment around it, and that environment determines whether people love or hate their jobs.   ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

The future of work is unfolding faster than anyone expected, and leaders are scrambling to keep up. In this special Best of the Quarter episode, we revisit two standout conversations that tackle the future of work from very different, yet complementary angles. Charlotte Eaton, Chief People Officer at Arm, shares how the company is rolling out AI tools to thousands of employees, the cultural shifts required to keep pace with rapid technological change, and the risks of outsourcing human thinking to machines. Joe Hart, President and CEO of Dale Carnegie, explores why timeless human skills like empathy, trust, and confidence are more vital than ever, especially as younger generations enter the workforce and AI reshapes how we work. Together, these episodes reveal that the future of work isn't about choosing between people or technology—it's about how leaders bring both together. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Bad leadership doesn't just hurt engagement. It can literally hurt people. Studies show that working under a poor leader is one of the leading causes of stress, contributing to health issues like cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, great leaders don't just make work enjoyable. They shape culture, values, and even society itself. In today's Leadership Spark, I explore why leadership matters more than ever and what it will take to be a leader in the future. I share insights from my extensive research, including interviews with 140 CEOs from some of the world's biggest organizations and a global LinkedIn study with nearly 14,000 employees. Together, these conversations reveal how leadership is being redefined in the face of AI, globalization, and the changing expectations of employees, and why every leader needs to rethink their role as a lighthouse for the future. ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/