Podcasts about future of work

In this bonus episode, Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu joins Sam to challenge some of the most common assumptions about artificial intelligence's future. Drawing on his book Power and Progress, Daron argues that technology doesn't have a fixed destiny — and that today's choices will determine whether AI boosts workers or simply accelerates automation and inequality. He makes a case for focusing on new tasks that complement human skills, rather than replacing them, and warns that current incentives push AI toward centralization and automation by default. The conversation tackles productivity myths, reliability risks, and why regulation should proactively steer AI toward social good. Read the episode transcript here. Guest bio: Daron Acemoglu is an institute professor at MIT, faculty codirector of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work, and a research affiliate at MIT's newly established Blueprint Labs. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, the British Academy of Sciences, the Turkish Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the European Economic Association, and the Society of Labor Economists. He is also a member of the Group of Thirty. He has authored six books, including Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity with Simon Johnson. His work in economics has been recognized around the world, notably with the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, along with co-laureates Johnson and James A. Robinson, in 2024. *Please take our listener survey: ⁠⁠mitsmr.com/podcastsurvey⁠⁠ It's short — we promise! — and all respondents will receive a free MIT SMR article collection, "Maximizing the Value of Generative AI." Me, Myself, and AI is a podcast produced by MIT Sloan Management Review and hosted by Sam Ransbotham. It is engineered by David Lishansky and produced by Allison Ryder. We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials. ME, MYSELF, AND AI® is a federally registered trademark of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.

Be yourself. That's the advice we give graduates, job seekers, and leaders. But what if it's wrong? In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with organizational psychologist and author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic to interrogate one of the most popular ideas in modern career advice: authenticity at work. Tomas is the Chief Talent Scientist at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology, and the author of Don't Be Yourself. His research explores personality, leadership, workplace performance, and the science of success. In this conversation, he challenges the notion that “just be yourself” is the key to career growth—especially in a rapidly changing job market shaped by AI, shifting power dynamics, and rising inequality. Together, Jessi and Tomas unpack how authenticity functions as both a personal value and a professional strategy—and why it can be a privilege reserved for those already in the “in-group.” They also examine what young professionals, underemployed graduates, and leaders navigating AI disruption need to understand about perception, communication skills, and the future of work. Jessi and Tomas discuss: • Why authenticity at work is often misunderstood—and how perception matters more than self-expression • The hidden privilege behind “bring your whole self to work” • In-group vs. out-group dynamics in workplace culture • AI and the future of work: entry-level jobs, automation, and the changing career ladder • Why curiosity—not authenticity—may be a critical skill for 2026 • Balancing personal values with organizational expectations • The psychology of influence, impression management, and professional success If you've ever felt frustrated by workplace politics, confused about how much of yourself to reveal at work, or anxious about how AI is reshaping career paths, this episode is for you. We will be launching the Hello Monday book club soon. If you're interested in joining, send us an email at hellomonday@linkedin.com and let us know!   Watch on YouTube: https://bit.ly/hellomonday-LI-video-youtube  Watch/Listen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/hellomonday-LI-video-apple  Listen on Apple: https://bit.ly/hellomonday-LI-video-spotify

Many companies try to solve low morale with simple perks like wellness apps, but workers often care more about real pay and career growth. The big challenge today is keeping frontline employees happy while the world worries about AI impact and high turnover. What could be the most substantial, meaningful investments leaders can make that truly build real loyalty? In this episode, Paul Marchand, EVP and CHRO of Charter Communications, more popularly known as Spectrum, discusses how to invest in people to create a better customer experience. He explains the strategy behind helping a 95,000-person workforce through absorbing rising benefit costs and programs like frictionless, prepaid tuition reimbursement and a unique employee stock purchase plan designed to build an owner mindset. Paul shares how "open mic" sessions at Charter improve their employee retention, and the way Spectrum GPT is being used to make HR more efficient. We also explore the 'high school pathways' initiative, upcoming M&A integration with Cox Communications, and how HR role evolution is turning leaders into Chief Future of Work Officers, going far beyond traditional employee management. This episode shows CHROs how to use a people-first strategy to build a resilient and competitive workforce.

Is your AI agent running a restaurant — or a factory — while you sleep?In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Jensen Teng, CEO and co-founder of Virtuals, to unpack one of the boldest (or craziest) visions in tech today: a hybrid economy powered by AI agents, humanoid robots, teleoperation, and blockchain coordination.An economy that may not really need humans for much at all ...Virtuos has already facilitated:• $14B in tokenized asset trading• $30M+ raised for founders• 100+ live AI agents• $500M in “agentic GDP”Now they're expanding into embodied AI — launching EastWorlds, a vertically integrated robotics incubator with 30 Unitree G1 humanoids in a 10,000 sq. ft. lab.We cover:• What “agentic GDP” really means• How AI agents coordinate using blockchain• Why teleoperation is the bridge to full autonomy• The economics of outsourcing physical labor via robots• Why security guards may be a Day 1 use case• The data gap holding back robotics• Tokenization as a potential solution to AI-era inequality• Whether this future looks more like Stripe… or WestworldThis isn't sci-fi. It's already underway.⸻GuestJensen TengCEO & Co-founder, Virtuals⸻If you care about the future of work, robotics, AI agents, tokenization, and the economic systems emerging around them — this is a must-watch.

Episode 213 with Sander de Klerk, CEO and Founder of The Good Roll, a fast growing ecosystem reshaping the global paper industry through circular production, ethical sourcing, and socially inclusive solutions rooted in Africa.Recently named EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2024, Sander is building far more than a sustainable consumer brand. What began as The Good Roll, producing tree friendly toilet paper from recycled paper, has evolved into a fully integrated value chain anchored in Ghana. At the heart of the model is bamboo pulp production, working with thousands of farmers and creating hundreds of jobs while supplying sustainable raw materials to producers across Africa and Europe.Sander explains how The Good Roll is challenging traditional extractive trade models by retaining value at source and positioning Africa as a serious player in global manufacturing. From building production capacity in Ghana to connecting African processing with European markets, he shares the realities of scaling industry across continents. We explore why sanitation must be viewed not only as a public health issue but as a foundational economic priority, and how sustainability can move from being perceived as a cost to becoming a competitive growth strategy.What We Discuss With SanderThe future of Africa in global manufacturing and how circular production models can increase value retention on the continent.The commercial case for bamboo as a scalable industrial input in sustainable packaging and paper production.How sanitation infrastructure links directly to economic participation and workforce productivity.Designing impact driven businesses that balance ESG commitments with profitability and investor confidence.New financing pathways for African industrial ventures beyond traditional bank lending.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Africa Can Become a Global Remote Work Hub: AI, Employer of Record & The Future of Work? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with Sander:LinkedIn - Sander de Klerk and Talenteum.com / The Good Roll | B CorpWebsite -  thegoodroll.co.ukMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don't do it alone. If you'd like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.ukinfo@etkgroup.co.uk

In this episode of Higher Ed Pulse, hosted by Mallory Willsea, listeners hear directly from a senior marketing major navigating AI in higher education in real time. Mallory sits down with Sydney Yund, a University at Albany student, to unpack what it means to prepare for entry-level roles in an AI-powered workforce. From prompt engineering assignments to AI screening job applications, this conversation explores how today's students are using generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude in both the classroom and internship settings. If you're wondering whether higher ed is truly preparing students for the future of work, this episode offers a refreshingly candid—and energizing—student perspective. Article: Something Big Is Happening - - - -Connect With Our Host:Mallory Willsea https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/https://twitter.com/mallorywillseaAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too!Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Minter Dialogue, host Minter Dial sits down with Peter Morgan, a theoretical physicist turned entrepreneur, data scientist, and AI consultant. With a career that spans from quantum particle physics to building tech companies and now leading Deep Learning Partnership, Peter Morgan brings a provocative and insightful perspective on the current state and future of artificial intelligence. Together, they explore the rapid evolution of AI — from large language models to today's focus on agentic AI and autonomous digital workers. Peter Morgan offers a candid look at the challenges and opportunities businesses face when implementing AI, demystifies artificial general intelligence (AGI), and weighs in on topics like AI and human emotion, the value of proprietary data, and ethical leadership in a time of technological upheaval. The conversation also spans the impact of AI on industries such as healthcare and cybersecurity, the shifting role of the human workforce, and what the emergence of agentic AI means for both business strategy and society at large. Whether you're an executive wondering how to future-proof your organization, or simply AI-curious, this episode offers a blend of humility, practical advice, and mind-expanding discussion that's sure to spark new ideas about our place in the age of intelligent machines.

Welcome to episode #1024 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a time when the digital infrastructure that underpins modern life feels increasingly hostile, few voices have been as prescient... or as relentless... as Cory Doctorow. A science fiction novelist, journalist and technology activist, Cory serves as Special Advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has long stood at the intersection of storytelling, policy and power. Over the course of a prolific career (one that includes bestselling fiction, influential tech policy books like Chokepoint Capitalism and The Internet Con, and his widely read Pluralistic blog) Cory has chronicled how digital markets consolidate, calcify and ultimately betray their users. His latest nonfiction work, Enshittification - Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse And What To Do About It, gives a name to the slow degradation of online platforms: the predictable cycle in which services begin by delighting users, then exploit them, then squeeze the businesses that depend on them, until only monopoly power remains. Cory situates this decline not as technological inevitability but as the result of specific policy choices that empowered monopolies and weakened enforcement. At the same time, Cory challenges the fatalism that often surrounds technological decline. Anti-circumvention laws, regulatory capture and collective action problems may constrain consumers, but they are not immovable forces. Cultural norms can shift. Policy can be rewritten. Markets can be redesigned. Grounded in economic literacy and moral urgency, Cory's work calls for ethical leadership, regulatory courage and a reclamation of agency in the systems that shape our digital lives. Enjoy the conversation… Running time: 1:00:43. Hello from beautiful Montreal. Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts. Listen and subscribe over at Spotify. Please visit and leave comments on the blog - Thinking With Mitch Joel. Feel free to connect to me directly on LinkedIn. Check out ThinkersOne. Here is my conversation with Cory Doctorow. Enshittification - Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse And What To Do About It. Pluralistic. Chokepoint Capitalism. The Internet Con. Cory's books. Cory's newsletter. Follow Cory on X. Chapters: (00:00) - Introduction to Cory Doctorow. (03:07) - The AI Bubble: Understanding the Economics. (06:08) - The Future of AI and Labor. (08:56) - Open Source Models and Their Potential. (11:50) - AI as a Tool: The Multiplier Effect. (14:50) - The Reality of AI's Impact on Society. (17:57) - Billionaire Perspectives and UBI. (20:56) - The Disconnect Between Wealth and Labor. (23:49) - The Future of Work in an AI-Driven World. (30:15) - The Illusion of Value in Economic Activity. (33:34) - The Crisis of Ethical Leadership. (36:56) - The Role of Policymakers in Corporate Behavior. (38:45) - Understanding Lock-In: Users and Businesses. (40:40) - The Impact of Monopolies and Monopsonies. (49:22) - The Need for Anti-Circumvention Law Repeal. (54:24) - Cultural Norms vs. Regulation in Consumer Behavior.

In this episode of The Effortless Podcast, Dheeraj Pandey speaks with Dr. Abhishek Bhowmick about how quantum mechanics reshaped our understanding of determinism and why that shift matters for AI today.  From the Einstein–Bohr debates to the idea that nature is fundamentally probabilistic, they explore how the collapse of “if-then” thinking began nearly a century ago. The discussion draws parallels between quantum superposition and modern LLM behavior. At its core, the episode reframes AI as a rediscovery of how reality computes. The conversation then moves from physics to computing architecture, tracing the evolution from scalar CPUs to GPUs, TPUs, tensors, and eventually quantum computing. They examine why probabilistic systems and vector math feel more natural than purely deterministic software. Hybrid computing models show that classical systems still matter. The episode also unpacks what quantum computers are truly good at, especially in cryptography and simulation. Ultimately, it reflects on whether the future of computing lies in embracing probability rather than resisting it. Key Topics & Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome, context, and how Dheeraj & Abhishek met 04:00 – Abhishek's journey: IIT, Princeton, Apple, Snowflake 08:00 – The 1927 Solvay Conference and physics at a crossroads 12:00 – Einstein vs. Bohr: determinism vs. probability 16:00 – Superposition and the collapse of the wave function 20:00 – Fields vs. particles: what is an electron really? 25:00 – Matter particles, force particles, and the Standard Model 30:00 – Transistors, voltage, and the rise of deterministic computing 35:00 – From scalar CPUs to vectors and matrices 40:00 – Tensors, linear algebra, and modern AI systems 45:00 – Principle of Least Action and gradient descent parallels 50:00 – Hallucinations, probability mass, and LLM behavior 55:00 – Vector databases, embeddings, and KNN search 59:00 – GPUs vs. TPUs: matrix vs. tensor architectures 1:05:00 – What quantum computers are actually good at 1:10:00 – Post-quantum cryptography and the future of computing Host -  Dheeraj Pandey Co-founder & CEO at DevRev. Former Co-founder & CEO of Nutanix. A systems thinker and product visionary focused on AI, software architecture, and the future of work. Guest -  Dr Abhishek Bhowmick                                                                                                                                                                                                                Co-Founder and CTO of Samooha, a secure data collaboration platform acquired by Snowflake. He previously worked at Apple as Head of ML Privacy and Cryptography, System Intelligence, and Machine Learning, and earlier at Goldman Sachs. He attended Princeton University and was awarded IIT Kanpur's Young Alumnus Award in 2024. Follow the Host and Guest - Dheeraj Pandey: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpandey Twitter - https://x.com/dheeraj Abhishek Bhowmik  LinkedIn –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ab-abhishek-bhowmick Twitter/X – https://x.com/bhowmick_ab Share Your Thoughts Have questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes?

How have jobs changed in the last 150 years? In The Division of Rationalized Labor (Harvard UP, 2025) Michelle Jackson, an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University examines the original theories about the division of labour and explains why many predictions about the future of work did not emerge. Drawing on detailed case studies of medicine, law, education and manufacturing the book charts the intertwined rise of the sciences, the expansion of occupational responsibilities, and the increasing complexity of work. Theorizing the paradox of specialization, alongside detailed empirical analysis, the book is essential reading across the social sciences and for anyone interested in understanding work and occupations today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode, Joe Williams speaks with Andrew White about how the digital economy is reshaping inequality, work, and the social contract. Drawing on the themes of his book Inequality in the Digital Economy: The Case for a Universal Basic Income (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), our conversation explores why technological progress has not translated into shared prosperity, how structural features of digital markets concentrate power and wealth, and what this means for the future of work and social policy. We discuss universal basic income as part of a broader attempt to rethink how societies provide security and dignity in an era of automation, and consider what a more sustainable and humane economic model might look like in practice. Joe Williams website here - Censorship and Sacralisation of Politics in the Portuguese Press during the Spanish Civil War- "Year X of the National Revolution" — Salazarist Palingenetic Myth in the Diário da Manhã Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

How have jobs changed in the last 150 years? In The Division of Rationalized Labor (Harvard UP, 2025) Michelle Jackson, an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University examines the original theories about the division of labour and explains why many predictions about the future of work did not emerge. Drawing on detailed case studies of medicine, law, education and manufacturing the book charts the intertwined rise of the sciences, the expansion of occupational responsibilities, and the increasing complexity of work. Theorizing the paradox of specialization, alongside detailed empirical analysis, the book is essential reading across the social sciences and for anyone interested in understanding work and occupations today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

How have jobs changed in the last 150 years? In The Division of Rationalized Labor (Harvard UP, 2025) Michelle Jackson, an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University examines the original theories about the division of labour and explains why many predictions about the future of work did not emerge. Drawing on detailed case studies of medicine, law, education and manufacturing the book charts the intertwined rise of the sciences, the expansion of occupational responsibilities, and the increasing complexity of work. Theorizing the paradox of specialization, alongside detailed empirical analysis, the book is essential reading across the social sciences and for anyone interested in understanding work and occupations today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

The market has changed. Outbound is noisy. Distribution is fragile. AI is accelerating everything. So how do you know who's actually ready to buy? How do you position in a market that feels unstable? How do you pivot without panicking? This episode dives into the new reality of business in the AI era: the death of lazy volume, the rise of ownership, and the permanent advantage of human connection. Spray-and-pray outreach is fading. Hiring signals are bloated. Metrics are inflated. The old indicators don't mean what they used to mean. And executives are walking away from companies they built because the ground beneath them has shifted. But here's the truth: AI doesn't remove the human game. It amplifies it. You'll hear why: Ownership now beats pure distribution Media companies must become community companies Positioning matters more than ever in a noisy environment Pivoting early beats reacting late AI without humanity fails Intentional outreach outperforms mass automation Signal clarity is the new competitive advantage This isn't about fear. It's about awareness. You can drown in the wave. You can float. Or you can learn to surf. The ones who win won't be the loudest. They'll be the most intentional. Across this episode, you will learn: Why “signal vs noise” is the defining business problem right now How AI is shifting power from distribution to ownership Why outbound at scale is losing effectiveness How to pivot strategically instead of reacting emotionally Why human connection remains the ultimate differentiator How to think chess, not checkers, in a volatile market The importance of intentional positioning in chaotic times Beyond The Episode Gems: Buy My Book, Strategize Up: The Blueprint To Scale Your Business: StrategizeUpBook.com Discover All Podcasts On The HubSpot Podcast Network Get Free HubSpot Marketing Tools To Help You Grow Your Business Grow Your Business Faster Using HubSpot's CRM Platform Support The Podcast & Connect With Troy:  Rate & Review iDigress: iDigress.fm/Reviews Follow Troy's Socials @FindTroy: LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, TikTok Subscribe to Troy's YouTube Channel For Strategy Videos & See Masterclass Episodes Need Growth Strategy, A Keynote Speaker, Or Want To Sponsor The Podcast? Go To FindTroy.com

What happens when fear—not ignorance—keeps people from building wealth?Tax expert and author Hannah Cole unpacks the real reasons so many people feel paralyzed around money, taxes, and financial decisions. We discuss how cultural conditioning and lack of education make taxes feel intimidating—especially for women and first-time founders—and why the system is often more flexible than people think.This conversation is about agency: understanding tax brackets, startup losses, and the difference between avoiding taxes and engaging strategically with them. At its core, it's a reframing of taxes—not as punishment, but as partnership. Because clarity, not fear, creates power.In this episode of Common Denominator with Moshe Popack, you'll learn: - Fear of numbers is a common issue that many face.- Tax literacy can empower individuals to take control of their finances.- The tax code is designed for humans, not robots.- There is a significant lack of tax education in schools.- Understanding tax brackets can prevent unnecessary fear.- The IRS is generally accommodating if approached honestly.- Business ownership offers significant tax advantages.- The government prioritizes economic growth through business support.- Many wealthy individuals evade taxes, creating a fairness issue.- Education is key to reducing fear and increasing tax compliance.Timestamps: 00:00 Understanding the Fear of Money02:48 The Importance of Tax Literacy06:03 Debunking Tax Myths and Fears09:10 Strategies for Tax Efficiency12:10 The Role of Government in Taxation15:06 Future of Work and Taxes18:07 Empowering Through Education21:01 The Fairness of the Tax SystemLike this episode? Leave a review here:https://ratethispodcast.com/commondenominator

Customer service is one of the industries most impacted by AI — but what if AI alone isn't the answer?In this episode of The Neuron Podcast, Grant Harvey and Corey Noles sit down with Matt Price, Founder & CEO of Crescendo, to explore how AI and humans working together can outperform automation alone. After spending 13+ years at Zendesk, Matt is now building an AI-native customer experience platform that automates up to 90% of tickets with 99.8% accuracy — without sacrificing empathy, trust, or outcomes.We cover: • Why LLMs are the biggest shift in customer service since the telephone • Why bolting AI onto old CX workflows fails • How Crescendo's multimodal AI can chat, talk, see images, and control devices in one conversation • Real-world examples (like smart sprinkler troubleshooting via voice + vision + APIs) • Why Crescendo combines AI agents with forward-deployed human experts • How outcome-based pricing aligns incentives around real customer satisfaction • How AI is reshaping (not eliminating) customer service jobs • Why “deflection” is the wrong mindset for CX — and what replaces it • What customer support roles look like in an AI-native futureThis is a deep dive into the next generation of customer experience, where AI handles scale and speed — and humans deliver judgment, empathy, and innovation.Subscribe for weekly conversations with the builders shaping the future of AI and work.Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter for more interviews with the leaders shaping the future of work and AI: https://theneuron.ai

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week we're diving into how AI is actually landing in the workplace — and what that means for managers, employees and the future of work. Our guest is Andrew Palmer, host of Boss Class from The Economist and author of the Bartleby management column. In Season 3 of Boss Class, Andrew goes hands-on with AI — not just talking about it, but living with it, testing it and asking the questions leaders need to answer as the technology transforms jobs and organisations. This episode isn't about hype. It's about what AI is actually good at today, what it's still terrible at, and how leaders should think about deploying it in ways that help people — not replace them.

This episode goes somewhere we didn't plan, and we think that makes it one of our best yet.We sat down with Jarah Euston, co-founder and CEO of WorkWhile, a fast-growing app-based staffing platform connecting 80 million frontline workers with flexible shift opportunities. Jarah grew up in Fresno working retail, got burnt out building software for tech people, and decided to build technology for workers instead. It's a compelling vision and a genuinely interesting conversation about flexibility, AI, and what the future of work could look like for hourly employees.But after that conversation wrapped, we learned that WorkWhile had recently settled a second major lawsuit with the San Francisco City Attorney's office for misclassifying workers as independent contractors. So we spoke with David Chu, the San Francisco City Attorney, and asked for his side of the story.What you'll hear in this episode is both interviews back to back. First, Jarah's perspective on building worker-centered technology, and then David's perspective on what happens when "flexibility" becomes a cover for avoiding worker protections.Together, these two conversations raise a question that feels urgent right now: Is it possible to build a genuinely worker-centered future of work, one with flexibility, innovation, and fair treatment? Or are we just repackaging old inequities in new apps? Visit us at InclusionGeeks.com to stay up to date on all the ways you can make the workplace work for everyone! Check out Inclusion Geeks Academy and InclusionGeeks.com/podcast for the code to get a free mini course.

More than seventy percent of Americans now say they're worried about AI-driven job loss. Major companies are announcing layoffs in the tens of thousands and openly citing automation as the reason. Some analysts are predicting that half of all entry-level white-collar roles could vanish within a year. Others are projecting unemployment rates we haven't seen in generations. If you work in coding, law, marketing, customer support, research, or really any field that involves processing information and producing knowledge, you've probably felt the ground shift under your feet recently. And if you haven't, you've almost certainly watched someone in your feed predict that it's about to. So in this episode, we wanted to look at this honestly. Not the tech-optimist version where AI just makes everyone more productive and everything works out fine. And not the doomer version where white-collar work disappears overnight. The actual version. What's really happening, who's actually affected, and what the evidence says versus what the loudest voices are claiming. The psychology of uncertainty One of the things we get into is why this particular moment feels so destabilizing. It's not just about the technology. Uncertainty, psychologically, is often more frightening than loss itself. When you can't clearly see who's going to be affected, when, and how, your mind fills in the blanks with worst-case scenarios. And social media pours gasoline on that process. A single post predicting labor market collapse can reach millions of people before any careful analysis catches up. The algorithm rewards alarm, not nuance. So the most extreme predictions get the most traction, and repetition turns speculation into what feels like consensus. Why white-collar work is uniquely exposed White-collar jobs are at the center of this anxiety because the core tasks — drafting text, analyzing data, processing information, responding to clients — are precisely what modern AI systems can assist with or partially automate. If your job is primarily about organizing and producing knowledge, it's natural to look at these tools and wonder where you fit. And for younger workers entering the workforce, this creates a specific kind of pressure. They did everything they were told. Got the degree, took on the debt, applied for the entry-level role that was supposed to be the first rung. Now they're hearing that rung might not exist by the time they reach for it. The fairness question nobody wants to answer We also dig into something that doesn't get nearly enough attention in the AI-and-jobs conversation: who captures the gains? If AI makes companies significantly more productive, that's not inherently a bad thing. But when executives talk about efficiency and innovation, they're usually talking about margins and shareholder value. The public is asking a different question: does any of this prosperity actually flow down, or does it just concentrate at the top? When nearly seventy percent of people say they would support pausing AI development if it prevented mass layoffs, that's not an anti-technology position. That's a statement about values. It's a moral tension, not just an economic one. What history tells us — and where it breaks down Previous technological shifts displaced certain jobs and created new ones. The industrial revolution, computing, the internet — each time, new industries emerged that no one predicted in advance. The difference now is speed and visibility. Past transitions unfolded over decades. AI tools update monthly. And because of social media, every corporate restructuring gets scrutinized in real time. We're living through the disruption and the commentary about the disruption simultaneously, which makes it genuinely hard to separate signal from noise. What the evidence actually shows Here's what the research suggests when you look past the headlines: AI is reshaping tasks within jobs, but the full replacement of entire professions is still limited. A customer support agent might now supervise automated systems rather than answer every call. A lawyer might use AI for research while focusing more on strategy. A coder might let AI handle routine scaffolding while concentrating on architecture. The nature of the work shifts. The title often stays the same. The skills that matter start to change. That's a real transition with real consequences, but it's a different story than "your job is about to be eliminated." The trust gap What makes all of this harder is the lack of transparency from the companies driving the change. When a firm lays off five thousand people and the CEO gives a vague statement about "embracing the future of work," nobody walks away reassured. People want to know: was this about AI, the economy, bad management, or all three? Without honest answers, suspicion fills the gap. And suspicion makes everything feel less stable than it might actually be. The real question The conversation around AI and jobs has been dominated by two extremes, and neither is telling you the full story. The complete disappearance of white-collar work is not what the evidence supports. What the evidence supports is a significant transition, happening faster than most people expected, with real consequences for people who are early in their careers or in roles that involve routine knowledge processing. The question that matters isn't simply whether AI takes jobs. It's who gets to participate in what comes next. Whether the gains are shared or captured. Whether companies are honest about what's changing. And whether individuals can think clearly about their own situations in an environment that profits from panic. Subscribe to The Healthier Tech Podcast wherever you listen. This episode is brought to you by Shield Your Body—a global leader in EMF protection and digital wellness. Because real wellness means protecting your body, not just optimizing it. If you found this episode eye-opening, leave a review, share it with someone tech-curious, and don't forget to subscribe to Shield Your Body on YouTube for more insights on living healthier with technology.

Send a textIn this special February compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we explore what it truly takes to build AI companies designed to last.While AI innovation moves fast, enduring companies are built on fundamentals. Clear problem selection. Thoughtful product design. Ethical intent. Leadership under uncertainty. And the resilience required to keep going when the market pushes back.This episode brings together insights from founders and operators who have built, scaled, and sustained AI-driven companies across different stages and industries. Their stories reveal a shared truth. Long-term success depends less on hype and more on discipline, courage, and trust.Featured GuestsEric Olson, CEO and Co-founder of Consensus - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11574063 Rich White, Founder of UserVoice and CEO of Fathom - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11911533 Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of MindStudio - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14866979 Daniel Marcous, Founder and CTO of April, former CTO of Waze - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12679210 George Sivulka, CEO of Hebbia - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16572788 What You'll LearnWhy founders must act before certainty appearsHow solving real pain leads to stronger, longer-lasting companiesWhat ethical intent looks like in practical AI system designWhy trust, accuracy, and discipline matter more than speedHow resilience shapes leadership through uncertaintyWhat separates durable AI companies from short-lived experimentsInspired by something you heard in this episode?Share your favorite insight on social and tag us. We'd love to hear what resonated with you. And don't forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the founders and leaders shaping what comes next.Other special episodes: Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)365: What We've Learned from 364 Expert Conversations (Special Episode)

Urban planners are trying to figure out the future just like everybody else. The 2026 Trend Report for Planners looks at the top issues—from artificial intelligence to the future of work—that planning professionals must keep an eye on as they help guide growth in the world's cities and towns.

Unser heutiger Gast war schon mehrfach bei uns. Er gehört zu den Menschen, die wir immer wieder einladen, wenn wir selbst merken: Wir brauchen einen Blick weit über den Tellerrand. Er ist Trendscout und Future-of-Work-Experte bei Vitra. Wer jetzt nur an Möbel denkt, denkt zu klein. Denn was ihn wirklich umtreibt, sind nicht Tische und Stühle, sondern tektonische Verschiebungen: KI, Robotik, geopolitische Dynamiken, neue Organisationsformen und vor allem die Frage, wie Unternehmen in einer Welt handlungsfähig bleiben, die sich schneller verändert, als Strategiepapiere geschrieben werden. Er beobachtet globale Innovationscluster, spricht mit Gründern, Militärstrategen, Wissenschaftlern und C-Level-Führungskräften, und er verdichtet das alles zu einer klaren Diagnose: Tempo wird zur Währung. Kooperation wird zur Überlebensstrategie. Anpassungsfähigkeit ist keine Option mehr, sondern Kernkompetenz. Und doch ist es diesmal eine besondere Folge: Eine Kollaboration Zoomer meets Boomer. Ich spreche gemeinsam mit meinem Sohn Oskar und unserem Gast der als Vertreter der Generation X zwischen uns steht. Drei Perspektiven auf eine Welt im Umbruch. Seit fast neun Jahren sprechen wir mit Menschen darüber, wie sich Arbeit verändert hat und was sich weiter verändern muss und wird. Wir haben in mehr 500 Episoden mit fast 700 Persönlichkeiten nach Mustern gesucht, Brüche analysiert und Zukunftsbilder diskutiert. Heute fragen wir: Wenn Tempo zur Währung wird, was heißt das konkret für Führung, Strategie und Entscheidungskultur? Warum verlagert sich Innovation immer stärker in Netzwerke und was bedeutet das für klassische Organisationen? Und ist „Ability to Adapt“ tatsächlich die wichtigste Kompetenz unserer Zeit, mental, strukturell und kulturell? Fest steht: Für die Lösung unserer aktuellen Herausforderungen brauchen wir neue Impulse. Wir suchen weiter nach Perspektiven, die uns helfen, Orientierung in Bewegung zu finden. Ihr seid bei On the Way to New Work, heute in einer Kollaborationsfolge mit Zoomer meets Boomer und meinem Co-Host Oskar Trautmann. Unser heutiger Gast: Raphael Gielgen. [Hier](https://linktr.ee/onthewaytonewwork) findet ihr alle Links zum Podcast und unseren aktuellen Werbepartnern

Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, technology, and society. Hosts Dave Chapman, Esmee van de Giessen, and Rob Kernahan unpack 2026's defining trends, from AI and sovereignty to adaptability and automation, offering fresh insight, candid reflections, and forward‑looking conversations shaping the year ahead. TLDR00:20 – Introduction of Realities Remixed02:30 – Why the show evolved?04:50 – Dig in with the team: Predictions for 202606:40 – Macro trends13:00 – Sovereignty 17:40 – Agentic AI22:17 – Human–AI interaction26:06 – Cloud trends30:42 – AI scaling, domain‑specific models35:03 – Adoption lag39:34 – Physical AI43:47 – Quantum computing48:21 – Hardware acceleration50:30 – Cybersecurity52:38 – Season outlook HostsDave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini

Send a textA mid-level Director delivers an AI-generated presentation that looks flawless on the surface until the CEO starts asking real follow-up questions about implementation, trade-offs, and stakeholder impact. Suddenly, the limits of AI are exposed. It can draft the slides and script the talking points, but it cannot supply judgment, relationship capital, or strategic instinct. That gap is where promotions are decided and where replacements are too. What this episode is aboutAI is democratizing competence: anyone can use tools to generate strategic memos, slide decks, and data visualizations that look “senior.” Being technically excellent is no longer a differentiator; it is the new baseline. At the same time, major consulting firms are cutting thousands of roles as AI absorbs work that used to belong to junior and mid-level professionals, underscoring how vulnerable execution-only careers have become. If you are only using AI to get through your task list faster, you are still operating in execution mode. In this episode, Kele shows you how to use AI to clear the noise so you can double down on what AI cannot replicate: your Presence, your Perspective, and your Positioning, what she calls the Three Pillars of your AI-Proof Leadership Brand.What you'll learnWhy AI is raising the floor on competence and turning technical skills into the starting line, not the finish line, for your career.The real leadership moment behind the “perfect” AI-generated presentation and what actually separates who gets promoted from who gets replaced.What your leadership brand really is (not your job title or LinkedIn headline) and how it shows up when you are not in the room.The Three Pillars of Your AI-Proof Leadership Brand, Presence, Perspective, and Positioning, and why AI fundamentally cannot replicate them.Practical ways to strengthen your Presence and Perspective so you are known for how you think, decide, and show up in high-stakes moments.How to intentionally position yourself and your AI use so your value is visible, strategic, and clearly differentiated in an AI-driven workplace.Mentioned in this episodeIgnite Your Leadership Power Accelerator: Stop executing and start architecting your move to senior leadership. JOIN THE WAITLIST HEREAbout your host:Kele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer, coach, and speaker who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.Connect with Kele for more leadership insights:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com

What does it really take to build teams that can adapt, move fast, and still stay human? In this episode of The Future of Teamwork, Dane Groeneveld chats with Sam Spurlin, an organization designer, future of work strategist, and transformation advisor who has spent the past decade helping executive teams rethink how work happens. Together, Dane and Sam dig into ideas like mission-based teams, team charters, and how AI can play a role in teaming. If you're rethinking hierarchy or curious about self-managed teams, this episode offers thoughtful insights and plenty of practical takeaways.

Reviewing a conversation by a leading thinker about AI and the future of work

Welcome back to a brand-new series of the Building Better Cultures Podcast! In the first episode of the season, host Scott McInnes is joined by Phil Codd, Managing Director of Expleo in Ireland. They discuss the multifaceted nature of organisational culture, emphasising the importance of aligning leadership and employee cultures. Phil shares insights on employee happiness, effective communication, and the significance of feedback loops in fostering a positive work environment. The conversation also touches on the challenges of hybrid work, the future of organisational culture, and the need for organisations to adapt to a more flexible and inclusive work environments.   Here are some of the key insights from the episode: ·      Culture isn't just one thing; organisations have multiple cultures. ·      Happy employees lead to happy customers and growth. ·      Effective communication is a critical leadership skill. ·      Feedback loops are essential for employee engagement. ·      Celebrating employee longevity can enhance morale. ·      Technology can facilitate continuous feedback in organisations. ·      Hybrid work requires new ways of connecting teams. ·      Organisational culture is not confined to physical spaces. ·      Aligning leadership culture with employee culture is vital. ·      Policies should focus on the human aspects of work. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Building Better Cultures Podcast 03:12 Understanding Organisational Culture 09:54 The Importance of Communication in Culture 12:30 Feedback Loops and Employee Engagement 17:29 Flexibility and Hybrid Working Models 23:51 Challenges of Geographic and Hybrid Work 28:58 Future of Work and Cultural Alignment Keywords: Organisational culture, leadership, employee engagement, communication, feedback loops, hybrid work, employee happiness, culture alignment, workplace dynamics, future of work Connect with us: LinkedIn YouTube Instagram

While farmer distrust of AI remains a key adoption barrier, will farm businesses that are being set up for an AI future have a competitive advantage?Paul Windemuller is a pioneering first-generation farmer and Nuffield Scholar from Coopersville, Michigan (USA). Along with his wife Brittany, Paul built his farm from the ground up with limited capital, relying on ingenuity, automation, and data-driven decision-making to grow Dream Winds Dairy into a highly tech-enabled operation.In this episode, Paul shares his unconventional journey into dairy farming from digging parlor pits by hand and retrofitting sheds on a shoestring budget, to becoming an early adopter of robotics, wearable sensors, and AI-enabled tools. Paul didn't grow up on a farm, so technology became a way to compensate for what he calls a lack of “cow sense,” helping him make faster decisions around health, breeding, and herd performance.As AI accelerates, Paul argues that adoption is less about buying another gadget and more about building the underlying foundations: connectivity, clean data, and a culture of curiosity within farming teams.Sarah and Paul discuss:How a lack of traditional farming experience became a catalyst for data-driven innovation.Why AI should be viewed as a utility, like electricity, rather than a single technology purchase.The practical steps farmers can take today to become “AI ready.” Why governance models that keep value with farmers and rural communities could determine whether AI delivers long-term benefits.Why farmer-owned data infrastructure and interoperability may be the next big innovation in agriculture.Useful Links:Leading the Herd: AI, Insight, and the Next Agricultural Revolution, (Paul's Nuffield report)Getting Into the weeds: the AI data dilemmaArtificial Intelligence and the Future of Work in AgricultureYield maps killed agtech software, can AI fix it? (report)For more information and resources, visit our website. The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Jaeden and Conor discuss a viral blog post by Matt Shumer that highlights the rapid advancements in AI technology and its potential impact on the workforce. They explore the differences in perception about AI between tech enthusiasts and the general public, the acceleration of AI models, and the implications for job automation. The conversation emphasizes the exponential growth of AI capabilities and the need for organizations to adapt to these changes.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiConor's AI Course: https://www.ai-mindset.ai/coursesConor's AI Newsletter: https://www.ai-mindset.ai/Jaeden's AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustleWatch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v5_nOorwyp0Chapters00:00 The Viral Blog and AI's Impact02:59 AI's Acceleration and Job Displacement09:46 The Future of Work and Organizational Change See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey CX Nation,In this CXWeekly Update episode #277 we walk through ideas, goals & CTAs the team at CXC has been focused on, not only internally but from the learnings we're being exposed to from clients & strategic partners on a regular basis. In this episode we walk through a few emerging trends around how AI is impacting the future of Sales, CX, Customer Success & Support + the future of work. Thanks to our friends at GoTo, Intercom & TriNet for supplying some amazing market reports that fuel this week's episodes. They collectively went out & interviewed & surveyed thousands of business leaders from across the world to see where they are in their AI foundation building efforts. Click here for GoTo Pulse of Work Report 2025Click here for Intercom Customer Service Transformation Report 2026Click here for Tri-Net State of Workplace Report 2025Don't worry we have a ton of amazing brand new guest interviews & episodes coming down the pipeline.We're also working on new forms & mediums of customer focused business content -- including my 2nd book "Make Happiness A Habit" that we are launching in the New Year. We've also been building a few new podcasts behind the scenes to take all that we've learned with CXCP & start finding other podcast areas ripe for more content. A big part of CXC's mission is to continue creating valuable customer & employee focused business leader content, including CXWeekly updates like this that are digestible, actionable & most importantly entertaining. The CXChronicles Podcast is approaching a huge milestone in the upcoming months that most podcasts will never achieve. We closing in on 300+ episodes of customer focused business content from incredible Founders & Executives from all over the world. CXC is partnered with several leading software & technology providers including Hubspot, Intercom, Freshworks, & several others who might be the difference in your CX/EX performance moving forward. We provide our clients with audits, assessments & scorecards and we provide custom CTAs centered around your content engine to drive CX/EX health, utilization & health performance for our partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, Freshworks), & on-demand managed services (partner led implementation, utilization performance & training for several of our partner solutions).If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player and leave us a review today.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content, CX/CS/RevOps services, our customer & employee focused community & invite them to join the CX Nation!For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused video content & short-reel CTAs to improve your CX/CS/RevOps performance today (politely go smash that subscribe button).Contact us anytime to learn more about CXC at INFO@cxchronicles.com and ask us about how we can help your business & team make customer happiness a habit now!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

In this episode, I'm joined by Rebecca Hinds — organizational behavior expert and founder of the Work AI Institute at Glean — for a practical conversation about why meetings deteriorate over time and how to redesign them. Rebecca argues that bad meetings aren't a people problem — they're a systems problem. Without intentional design, meetings default to ego, status signaling, conflict avoidance, and performative participation. Over time, low-value meetings become normalized instead of fixed. Drawing on her research at Stanford University and her leadership of the Work Innovation Lab at Asana, she shares frameworks from her new book, Your Best Meeting Ever, including: The four legitimate purposes of a meeting: decide, discuss, debate, or develop The CEO test for when synchronous time is truly required How to codify shared meeting standards Why leaders must explicitly give permission to leave low-value meetings We also explore leadership, motivation, and the myth that kindness and high standards are opposites. Rebecca explains why effective leaders diagnose what drives each individual — encouragement for some, direct challenge for others — and design environments that support both performance and belonging. Finally, we talk about AI and the future of work. Tools amplify existing culture: strong systems improve, broken systems break faster. Organizations that redesign how work happens — not just what tools they use — will have the advantage. If you want to run better meetings, lead with more clarity, and rethink how collaboration actually happens, this episode is for you. You can find Your Best Meeting Ever at major bookstores and learn more at rebeccahinds.com.  00:00 Start 00:27 Why Meetings Get Worse Over Time Robin references Good Omens and the character Crowley, who designs the M25 freeway to intentionally create frustration and misery. They use this metaphor to illustrate how systems can be designed in ways that amplify dysfunction, whether intentionally or accidentally. The idea is that once dysfunctional systems become normalized, people stop questioning them. They also discuss Cory Doctorow's concept of enshittification, where platforms and systems gradually decline as organizational priorities override user experience. Rebecca connects this pattern directly to meetings, arguing that without intentional design, meetings default to chaos and energy drain. Over time, poorly designed meetings become accepted as inevitable rather than treated as solvable design problems. Rebecca references the Simple Sabotage Field Manual created by the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. The manual advised citizens in occupied territories on how to subtly undermine organizations from within. Many of the suggested tactics involved meetings, including encouraging long speeches, focusing on irrelevant details, and sending decisions to unnecessary committees. The irony is that these sabotage techniques closely resemble common behaviors in modern corporate meetings. Rebecca argues that if meetings were designed from scratch today, without legacy habits and inherited norms, they would likely look radically different. She explains that meetings persist in their dysfunctional form because they amplify deeply human tendencies like ego, status signaling, and conflict avoidance. Rebecca traces her interest in teamwork back to her experience as a competitive swimmer in Toronto. Although swimming appears to be an individual sport, she explains that success is heavily dependent on team structure and shared preparation. Being recruited to swim at Stanford exposed her to an elite, team-first environment that reshaped how she thought about performance. She became fascinated by how a group can become greater than the sum of its parts when the right cultural conditions are present. This experience sparked her long-term curiosity about why organizations struggle to replicate the kind of cohesion often seen in sports. At Stanford, Coach Lee Mauer emphasized that emotional wellbeing and performance were deeply connected. The team included world record holders and Olympians, and the performance standards were extremely high. Despite the intensity, the culture prioritized connection and belonging. Rituals like informal story time around the hot tub helped teammates build relationships beyond performance metrics. Rebecca internalized the lesson that elite performance and strong culture are not opposing forces. She saw firsthand that intensity and warmth can coexist, and that psychological safety can actually reinforce high standards rather than weaken them. Later in her career at Asana, Rebecca encountered the company value of rejecting false trade-offs. This reinforced a lesson she had first learned in swimming, which is that many perceived either-or tensions are not actually unavoidable. She argues that organizations often assume they must choose between performance and happiness, or between kindness and accountability. In her experience, these are false binaries that can be resolved through better design and clearer expectations. She emphasizes that motivated and engaged employees tend to produce higher quality work, making culture a strategic advantage rather than a distraction. Kindness versus ruthlessness in leadership Robin raises the contrast between harsh, fear-based leadership styles and more relational, positive leadership approaches. Both styles have produced winning teams, which raises the question of whether success comes because of the leadership style or despite it. Rebecca argues that resilience and accountability are essential, regardless of tone. She stresses that kindness alone is not sufficient for high performance, but neither is harshness inherently superior. Effective leadership requires understanding what motivates each individual, since some people thrive on encouragement while others crave direct challenge. Rebecca personally identifies with wanting to be pushed and appreciates clarity when her work falls short of expectations. She concludes that the most effective leaders diagnose motivation carefully and design environments that maximize both growth and performance. 08:51 Building the Book-Launch Team: Mentors, Agents, and Choosing the Right Publisher Robin asks Rebecca about the size and structure of the team she assembled to execute the launch successfully. He is especially curious about what the team actually looked like in practice and how coordinated the effort needed to be. He also asks about the meeting cadence and work cadence required to bring a book launch to life at that level. The framing highlights that writing the book is only one phase, while launching it is an entirely different operational challenge. Rebecca explains that the process felt much more organic than it might appear from the outside. She admits that at the beginning, she underestimated the full scope of what a book launch entails. Her original motivation was simple: she believed she had a valuable perspective, wanted to help people, and loved writing. As she progressed deeper into the publishing process, she realized that writing the manuscript was only one piece of a much larger system. The operational and promotional dimensions gradually revealed themselves as a second job layered on top of authorship. Robin emphasizes that writing a book and publishing a book are fundamentally different jobs. Rebecca agrees and acknowledges that the publishing side requires a completely different skill set and infrastructure. The conversation underscores that authorship is creative work, while publishing and launching require strategy, coordination, and business acumen. Rebecca credits her Stanford mentor, Bob Sutton, as a life changing influence throughout the process. He guided her step by step, including decisions around selecting a publisher and choosing an agent. She initially did not plan to work with an agent, but through guidance and reflection, she shifted her perspective. His mentorship helped her ask better questions and approach the process more strategically rather than reactively. Rebecca reflects on an important mindset shift in her career. Earlier in life, she was comfortable being the big fish in a small pond. Over time, she came to believe that she performs better when surrounded by people who are smarter and more experienced than she is. She describes her superpower as working extremely hard and having confidence in that effort. Because of that, she prefers environments where others elevate her thinking and push her further. This philosophy became central to how she built her book launch team. As Rebecca learned more about the moving pieces required for a successful campaign, she became more intentional about who she wanted involved. She sought the best not in terms of prestige alone, but in terms of belief and commitment. She wanted people who would go to bat for her and advocate for the book with genuine enthusiasm. She noticed that some organizations that looked impressive on paper were not necessarily the right fit for her specific campaign. This led her to have extensive conversations with potential editors and publicists before making decisions. Rebecca developed a personal benchmark for evaluating partners. She paid attention to whether they were willing to apply the book's ideas within their own organizations. For her, that signaled authentic belief rather than surface level marketing support. When Simon and Schuster demonstrated early interest in implementing the book's learnings internally, it stood out as meaningful alignment. That commitment suggested they cared about the substance of the work, not just the promotional campaign. As the process unfolded, Rebecca realized that part of her job was learning what questions to ask. Each conversation with potential partners refined her understanding of what she needed. She became more deliberate about building the right bench of people around her. The team was not assembled all at once, but rather shaped through iterative learning and discernment. The launch ultimately reflected both her evolving standards and her commitment to surrounding herself with people who elevated the work. 12:12 Asking Better Questions & Going Asynchronous Robin highlights the tension between the voice of the book and the posture of a first time author entering a major publishing house. He notes that Best Meeting Ever encourages people to assert authority in meetings by asking about agendas, ownership, and structure. At the same time, Rebecca was entering conversations with an established publisher as a new author seeking partnership. The question becomes how to balance clarity and conviction with humility and openness. Robin frames it as showing up with operational authority while still saying you publish books and I want to work with you. Rebecca calls the question insightful and explains that tactically she relied heavily on asking questions. She describes herself as intentionally curious and even nosy because she did not yet know what she did not know. Rather than pretending to have answers, she used inquiry as a way to build authority through understanding. She asked questions asynchronously almost daily, emailing her agent and editor with anything that came to mind. This allowed her to learn the system while also signaling engagement and seriousness. Rebecca explains that most of the heavy lifting happened outside of meetings. By asking questions over email, she clarified information before stepping into synchronous time. Meetings were then reserved for ambiguity, decision making, and issues that required real time collaboration. As a result, the campaign involved very few meetings overall. She had a biweekly meeting with her core team and roughly monthly conversations with her editor. The rest of the coordination happened asynchronously, which aligned with her philosophy about effective meeting design. Rebecca jokes that one hidden benefit of writing a book on meetings is that everyone shows up more prepared and on time. She also felt internal pressure to model the behaviors she was advocating. The campaign therefore became a real world test of her ideas. She emphasizes that she is glad the launch was not meeting heavy and that it reflected the principles in the book. Robin shares a story about their initial connection through David Shackleford. During a short introductory call, he casually offered to spend time discussing book marketing strategies. Rebecca followed up, scheduled time, and took extensive notes during their conversation. After thanking him, she did not continue unnecessary follow up or prolonged discussion. Instead, she quietly implemented many of the practical strategies discussed. Robin later observed bulk sales, bundled speaking engagements, and structured purchase incentives that reflected disciplined execution. Robin emphasizes that generating ideas is relatively easy compared to implementing them. He connects this to Seth Godin's praise that the book is for people willing to do the work. The real difficulty lies not in brainstorming strategies but in consistently executing them. He describes watching Rebecca implement the plan as evidence that she practices what she preaches. Her hard work and disciplined follow through reinforced his confidence in the book before even reading it. Rebecca responds with gratitude and acknowledges that she took his advice seriously. She affirms that several actions she implemented were directly inspired by their conversation. At the same time, the tone remains grounded and collaborative rather than performative. The exchange illustrates her pattern of seeking input, synthesizing it, and then executing independently. Robin transitions toward the theme of self knowledge and its role in leadership and meetings. He connects Rebecca's disciplined execution to her awareness of her own strengths. The earlier theme resurfaces that she sees hard work and follow through as her superpower. The implication is that effective meetings and effective leadership both begin with understanding how you operate best. 17:48 Self-Knowledge at Work Robin shares that he knows he is motivated by carrots rather than sticks. He explains that praise energizes him and improves his performance more than criticism ever could. As a performer and athlete, he appreciates detailed notes and feedback, but encouragement is what unlocks his best work. He contrasts that with experiences like old school ballet training, where harsh discipline did not bring out his strengths. His point is that understanding how you are wired takes experience and reflection. Rebecca agrees that self knowledge is essential and ties it directly to motivation. She argues that the better you understand yourself, the more clearly you can articulate what drives you. Many people, especially early in their careers, do not pause to examine what truly motivates them. She notes that motivation is often intangible and not primarily monetary. For some people it is praise, for others criticism, learning, mastery, collaboration, or autonomy. She also emphasizes that motivation changes over time and shifts depending on organizational context. One of Rebecca's biggest lessons as a manager and contributor is the importance of codifying self knowledge. Writing down what motivates you and how you work best makes it easier to communicate those needs to others. She believes this explicitness is especially critical during times of change. When work is evolving quickly, assumptions about motivation can lead to disengagement. Making preferences visible reduces friction and prevents misalignment. Rebecca references a recent presentation she gave on the dangers of automating the soul of work. She and her mentor Bob Sutton have discussed how organizations risk stripping meaning from roles if they automate without discernment. She points to research showing that many AI startups are automating tasks people would prefer to keep human. The warning is that just because something can be automated does not mean it should be. Without understanding what makes work meaningful for employees, leaders can unintentionally remove the very elements that motivate people. Rebecca believes managers should create explicit user manuals for their team members. These documents outline how individuals prefer to communicate, what motivates them, and what their career aspirations are. She sees this as a practical leadership tool rather than a symbolic exercise. Referring back to these documents helps leaders guide their teams through uncertainty and change. When asked directly, she confirms that she has implemented this practice in previous roles and intends to do so again. When asked about the future of AI, Rebecca avoids making long term predictions. She observes that the most confident forecasters are often those with something to sell. Her shorter term view is that AI amplifies whatever already exists inside an organization. Strong workflows and cultures may improve, while broken systems may become more efficiently broken. She sees organizations over investing in technology while under investing in people and change management. As a result, productivity gains are appearing at the individual level but not consistently at the team or organizational level. Rebecca acknowledges that there is a possible future where AI creates abundance and healthier work life balance. However, she does not believe current evidence strongly supports that outcome in the near term. She does see promising examples of organizations using AI to amplify collaboration and cross functional work. These examples remain rare but signal that a more human centered future is possible. She is cautiously hopeful but not convinced that the most optimistic scenario will unfold automatically. Robin notes that time horizons for prediction have shortened dramatically. Rebecca agrees and says that six months feels like a reasonable forecasting window in the current environment. She observes that the best leaders are setting thresholds for experimentation and failure. Pilots and proofs of concept should fail at a meaningful rate if organizations are truly exploring. Shorter feedback loops allow organizations to learn quickly rather than over commit to fragile long term assumptions. Robin shares a formative story from growing up in his father's small engineering firm, where he was exposed early to office systems and processes. Later, studying in a Quaker community in Costa Rica, he experienced full consensus decision making. He recalls sitting through extended debates, including one about single versus double ply toilet paper. As a fourteen year old who would rather have been climbing trees in the rainforest, the meeting felt painfully misaligned with his energy. That experience contributed to his lifelong desire to make work and collaboration feel less draining and more intentional. The story reinforces the broader theme that poorly designed meetings can disconnect people from purpose and engagement. 28:31 Leadership vs. Tribal Instincts Rebecca explains that much of dysfunctional meeting behavior is rooted in tribal human instincts. People feel loyalty to the group and show up to meetings simply to signal belonging, even when the meeting is not meaningful. This instinct to attend regardless of value reinforces bloated calendars and performative participation. She argues that effective meeting design must actively counteract these deeply human tendencies. Without intentional structure, meetings default to social signaling rather than productive collaboration. Rebecca emphasizes that leadership plays a critical role in changing meeting culture Leaders must explicitly give employees permission to leave meetings when they are not contributing. They must also normalize asynchronous work as a legitimate and often superior alternative. Without that top down permission, employees will continue attending out of fear or habit. Meeting reform requires visible endorsement from those with authority. Power dynamics and pushing back without positional authority Robin reflects on the power of writing a book on meetings while still operating within a hierarchy. He asks how individuals without formal authority can challenge broken systems. Rebecca responds that there is no universal solution because outcomes depend heavily on psychological safety. In organizations with high trust, there is often broad recognition that meetings are ineffective and a desire to fix them. In lower trust environments, change must be approached more strategically and indirectly. Rebecca advises employees to lead with curiosity rather than confrontation. Instead of calling out a bad meeting, one might ask whether their presence is truly necessary. Framing the question around contribution rather than judgment reduces defensiveness. This approach lowers the emotional temperature and keeps the conversation constructive. Curiosity shifts the tone from personal critique to shared problem solving. In psychologically unsafe environments, Rebecca suggests shifting enforcement to systems rather than individuals. Automated rules such as canceling meetings without agendas or without sufficient confirmations can reduce personal friction. When technology enforces standards, it feels less like a personal attack. Codified rules provide employees with shared language and objective criteria. This reduces the perception that opting out is a rejection of the person rather than a rejection of the structure. Rebecca argues that every organization should have a clear and shared definition of what deserves to be a meeting. If five employees are asked what qualifies as a meeting, they should give the same answer. Without explicit criteria, decisions default to habit and hierarchy. Clear rules give employees confidence to push back constructively. Shared standards transform meeting participation from a personal negotiation into a procedural one. Rebecca outlines a two part test to determine whether a meeting should exist. First, the meeting must serve one of four purposes which are to decide, discuss, debate, or develop people. If it does not satisfy one of those four categories, it likely should not be a meeting. Even if it passes that test, it must also satisfy one of the CEO criteria. C refers to complexity and whether the issue contains enough ambiguity to require synchronous dialogue. E refers to emotional intensity and whether reading emotions or managing reactions is important. O refers to one way door decisions, meaning choices that are difficult or costly to reverse. Many organizational decisions are reversible and therefore do not justify synchronous time. Robin asks how small teams without advanced tech stacks can automate meeting discipline. Rebecca explains that many safeguards can be implemented with existing tools such as Google Calendar or simple scripts. Basic rules like requiring an agenda or minimum confirmations can be enforced through standard workflows. Not all solutions require advanced AI tools. The key is introducing friction intentionally to prevent low value meetings from forming. Rebecca notes that more advanced AI tools can measure engagement, multitasking, or participation. Some platforms now provide indicators of attention or involvement during meetings. While these tools are promising, they are not required to implement foundational meeting discipline. She cautions against over investing in shiny tools without first clarifying principles. Metrics are useful when they reinforce intentional design rather than replace it. Rebecca highlights a subtle risk of automation, particularly in scheduling. Tools can be optimized for the sender while increasing friction for recipients. Leaders should consider the system level impact rather than only individual efficiency. Productivity gains at the individual level can create hidden coordination costs for the team. Meeting automation should be evaluated through a collective lens. Rebecca distinguishes between intrusive AI bots that join meetings and simple transcription tools. She is cautious about bots that visibly attend meetings and distract participants. However, she supports consensual transcription when it enhances asynchronous follow up. Effective transcription can reduce cognitive load and free participants to engage more deeply. Used thoughtfully, these tools can strengthen collaboration rather than dilute it. 41:35 Maker vs. Manager: Balancing a Day Job with a Book Launch Robin shares an example from a webinar where attendees were asked for feedback via a short Bitly link before the session closed. He contrasts this with the ineffectiveness of "smiley face/frowny face" buttons in hotel bathrooms—easy to ignore and lacking context. The key is embedding feedback into the process in a way that's natural, timely, and comfortable for participants. Feedback mechanisms should be integrated, low-friction, and provide enough context for meaningful responses. Rebecca recommends a method inspired by Elise Keith called Roti—rating meetings on a zero-to-five scale based on whether they were worth attendees' time. She suggests asking this for roughly 10% of meetings to gather actionable insight. Follow-up question: "What could the organizer do to increase the rating by one point?" This approach removes bias, focuses on attendee experience, and identifies meetings that need restructuring. Splits in ratings reveal misaligned agendas or attendee lists and guide optimization. Robin imagines automating feedback requests via email or tools like Superhuman for convenience. Rebecca agrees and adds that simple forms (Google Forms, paper, or other methods) are effective, especially when anonymous. The goal is simplicity and consistency—given how costly meetings are, there's no excuse to skip feedback. Robin references Paul Graham's essay on maker vs. manager schedules and asks about Rebecca's approach to balancing writing, team coordination, and book marketing. Rebecca shares that 95% of her effort on the book launch was "making"—writing and outreach—thanks to a strong team handling management. She devoted time to writing, scrappy outreach, and building relationships, emphasizing giving without expecting reciprocation. The main coordination challenge was balancing her book work with her full-time job at Asana, requiring careful prioritization. Rebecca created a strict writing schedule inspired by her swimming discipline: early mornings, evenings, and weekends dedicated to writing. She prioritized her book and full-time work while maintaining family commitments. Discipline and clear prioritization were essential to manage competing but synergistic priorities. Robin asks about written vs. spoken communication, referencing Amazon's six-page memos and Zandr Media's phone-friendly quick syncs. Rebecca emphasizes that the answer depends on context but a strong written communication culture is essential in all organizations. Written communication supports clarity, asynchronous work, and complements verbal communication. It's especially important for distributed teams or virtual work. With AI, clear documentation allows better insights, reduces unnecessary content generation, and reinforces disciplined communication. 48:29 AI and the Craft of Writing Rebecca highlights that employees have varying learning preferences—introverted vs. extroverted, verbal vs. written. Effective communication systems should support both verbal and written channels to accommodate these differences. Rebecca's philosophy: writing is a deeply human craft. AI was not used for drafting or creative writing. AI supported research, coordination, tracking trends, and other auxiliary tasks—areas where efficiency is key. Human-led drafting, revising, and word choice remained central to the book. Robin praises Rebecca's use of language, noting it feels human and vivid—something AI cannot replicate in nuance or delight. Rebecca emphasizes that crafting every word, experimenting with phrasing, and tinkering with language is uniquely human. This joy and precision in writing is not replicable by AI and is part of what makes written communication stand out. Rebecca hopes human creativity in writing and oral communication remains valued despite AI advances. Strong written communication is increasingly differentiating for executive communicators and storytellers in organizations. AI can polish or mass-produce text, but human insight, nuance, and storytelling remain essential and career-relevant. Robin emphasizes the importance of reading, writing, and physical activities (like swimming) to reclaim attention from screens. These practices support deep human thinking and creativity, which are harder to replace with AI. Rebecca uses standard tools strategically: email (chunked and batched), Google Docs, Asana, Doodle, and Zoom. Writing is enhanced by switching platforms, fonts, colors, and physical locations—stimulating creativity and perspective. Physical context (plane, café, city) is strongly linked to breakthroughs and memory during writing. Emphasis is on how tools are enacted rather than which tools are used—behavior and discipline matter more than tech. Rebecca primarily recommends business books with personal relevance: Adam Grant's Give and Take – for relational insights beyond work. Bob Sutton's books – for broader lessons on organizational and personal effectiveness. Robert Cialdini's Influence – for understanding human behavior in both professional and personal contexts. Her selections highlight that business literature often offers universal lessons applicable beyond work. 59:48 Where to Find Rebecca The book is available at all major bookstores. Website: rebeccahinds.com LinkedIn: Rebecca Hinds  

As AI accelerates innovation and adoption, leaders are facing rising cognitive load, shifting systems, and new emotional realities inside their organizations. In this episode, Deloitte's Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Golden joins us to explore how AI is reshaping leadership, why vulnerability and empathy are critical in this moment, and how anti-fragility, not just resilience, will define the future of work.Featuring:Deborah Golden – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:DeloitteSponsor: Framer - The website builder that turns your dot com from a formality into a tool for growth. Check it out at framer.com/PRACTICALAIUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

If you could order a presidential administration to do one specific thing to improve the lives of working people — what would it be? At Democracy Journal's recent conference in Washington, DC, Nick and Goldy heard some of the country's leading economic thinkers take their best shot at that magic-wand question: one idea, three minutes, no BS.  The result is a rapid-fire lineup of bold proposals — from fixing Social Security and raising wages to reclaiming time, strengthening unions, and rethinking what “affordability” really means. This week, we're sharing some of our favorites with you. This episode is a quick policy lightning round packed with big ideas, sharp arguments, and plenty to discuss. Elizabeth Garlow is a Senior Fellow at New America focused on economic policy and the future of work, with research centered on time, caregiving, and policies that improve everyday economic security. Jim Kessler is the Executive Vice President for Policy at Third Way, where he works on economic reforms aimed at expanding wealth-building opportunities and retirement security for working families. Thea Lee is a visiting fellow at American University and a longtime labor economist specializing in worker rights, trade policy, and labor standards in global supply chains. Heidi Shierholtz is president of the Economic Policy Institute, where she focuses on wage growth, labor markets, and policies that strengthen workers' bargaining power and reduce inequality. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week we explore career motivation, generative AI for leaders and the psychology of meaningful work. Plus we put Neuro-Linguistic Programming under the microscope and answer career questions from future business psychologists.

Send a textFor years, we treated emotional intelligence like a cultural add-on.Nice to have. Important, maybe. But not central to performance.That framing doesn't survive the AI era.In this episode of FUTUREPROOF., I sit down with Dr. Bushra Khan, founder of Leading with BK, to examine what actually differentiates leaders as automation compresses the knowledge gap. When AI can draft, analyze, summarize, and even simulate difficult conversations, the advantage shifts. It moves from what you know to how you show up.Bushra has spent over 15 years helping leaders translate emotional intelligence from buzzword into operating system. We talk about why “soft skills” should be understood as strategic skills, how negativity bias quietly distorts leadership judgment, and why loneliness inside high-performing teams is less about remote work and more about emotional avoidance.We also explore some uncomfortable tensions:If AI amplifies leaders, what exactly is it amplifying?When does candor become bluntness — and erode trust instead of building it?Why do leaders underestimate the emotional consequences of automation?What does bravery look like when decisions are both rational and painful?Bushra argues that most organizations are still trying to fix people instead of fixing environments. They invest in workshops while ignoring incentives. They push productivity while neglecting psychological safety. They assume proximity equals connection.But as AI takes over more technical tasks, influence becomes the real differentiator. And influence is emotional before it is analytical.This conversation isn't about positivity or platitudes. It's about leadership under pressure — layoffs, automation, rapid skills shifts — and what it takes to signal trust and authority through noise.Because the future of work won't just test our systems.It will test our emotional maturity.

Subscribe to Click Beta on SpotifySubscribe to Click Beta on Apple PodcastsIn this episode of Click Beta, Matt Zeigler sits down with Cameron Dawson of NewEdge Wealth and Dave Nadig of ETF.com for a wide-ranging conversation on markets, macro data, positioning, tokenization, AI productivity, and the narratives driving investor behavior. The discussion dives into consensus forecasts, the K-shaped economy, international equity performance, dollar positioning, AI capex, and whether the biggest market moves are driven by fundamentals or liquidity shifts. Along the way, they explore tokenization in financial markets, stablecoins, Fed balance sheet dynamics, and how AI is quietly reshaping productivity for small businesses and individuals. This episode is a deep dive into stock market trends, economic data distortions, asset allocation shifts, and the structural forces shaping the investing landscape in 2026.Main topics covered:• Why consensus forecasts are average and why that creates risks for investors• Cyclical reacceleration narrative versus liquidity-driven market rotation• The K-shaped economy and distortions in US jobs data• Healthcare hiring versus cyclical employment weakness• AI capex spending and who actually benefits• Energy, industrials, and staples outperformance versus tech concentration• International equities versus US stocks and valuation percentiles• US dollar positioning extremes and contrarian signals• Positioning versus narrative and where market surprises hide• Tokenization, decentralized finance, and DTCC proposals• Stablecoins, collateral efficiency, and capital reuse in markets• Fed balance sheet, leverage ratios, and financial system risk• AI productivity gains in small and mid-sized businesses• The future of work, automation, and economic dispersionTimestamps:00:00 Cameron on cyclical reacceleration and market expectations03:00 Consensus forecasts and average return assumptions06:00 K-shaped economy and distorted jobs data10:00 AI capex and disconnect between perception and reality12:30 Liquidity shifts and market rotation beyond mega caps14:00 International equity valuations and performance gap16:50 Dollar positioning and contrarian signals18:20 Positioning versus narrative in stock performance20:00 Tokenization and ETF market plumbing22:00 Stablecoins and capital efficiency24:00 Atomic settlement versus traditional clearing27:00 Fed balance sheet and leverage ratio debate30:00 Recessions, market resets, and social impact39:00 Cultural distribution, media fragmentation, and market narratives47:00 AI productivity, small business impact, and economic implicationsFor more episodes from the Excess Returns network, including macro investing, asset allocation, ETFs, and AI-driven market insights, visit excessreturnspod.com

I'm taking you behind the scenes of my journey, from "artist to entrepreneurship" as I found my way to podcasting and then built my branded podcast agency Avant Haüs Media, in this special feature episode.This episode originally released on The Future of Work podcast, presented by Pasadena City College, hosted by Dr. Salvatrice Cummo and Leslie Thompson, executive produced and developed by me and on-goingly produced and managed by my team at Avant Haüs Media for six years now.We dive into my journey from aspiring actor to innovative business owner, and explore how I transformed my artistic passions into a successful podcasting career.In this conversation, you'll also hear how community college and mentorship shaped my path, the hurdles I faced in a male-dominated industry, and the powerful lessons I learned of self-awareness and resilience in both business and life.From building my first podcast audio-drama project out of a love for storytelling and in a search for my identity, to forming an agency and finding a passion for guiding others in finding their voice...I hope my story inspires you to take action on your dream - it really can begin with one step.In this episode, you'll learn:How to find and build your unique voice as an artist, creative, or empathThe importance of support and mentorshipHow to let go of perfectionism and ego to allow space for learning, and cultivating compassionWhy creating space for more diverse voices is imperativeLinks:Get the FREE Audio-First Podcasting Action PlanMore episodes on this topic:EP.185- The 3 Steps To Creating A Podcast From PurposeEp.184- The First Step To Starting Is PermissionThank you so much for listening! If you loved this episode, please consider becoming a follower on Apple Podcasts by clicking the plus + sign or become a subscriber on Spotify by clicking the “follow button” or wherever you enjoy listening to this podcast so you don't miss any new episodes!Mentioned in this episode:FREE Audio-First Podcasting Action PlanI'm here to tell you that…most successful podcasters did not begin with video- they started with audio and grew from there. Start mapping out your aligned starting point right now with my FREE Audio-First Podcasting Action Plan! Because podcasting works best when it's serving you. Get the FREE Audio-First Podcasting Action Plan

Sophie Wade is a work transformation strategist, workforce innovator and well-known authority on the future of work. She is Founder of Flexcel Network where she advises executive leaders on human-centric, AI-driven change while also hosting her own show, the Transforming Work Podcast. Mike Petrusky asks Sophie about her latest book, "Empathy Works: The Key to Competitive Advantage in the New Era of Work", and why she believes we need a more holistic approach to workplace innovation, considering the human element and the psychology of collaboration. They explore the importance of integrating different departments such as facilities management, HR, and IT to create a cohesive work environment and discuss the role of technology and AI in shaping the future of work. FM leaders must embrace empathy and understanding in our distributed and hybrid work environments, so Mike and Sophie share stories about collaboration, music, and next generation connections as they encourage and inspire you to be a Workplace Innovator in your organization! Connect with Sophie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-sophie-wade/ Learn more about Sophie's work: https://www.sophiewade.com/ Subscribe to The Work in Progress Report: https://theworkinprogressreport.substack.com/ Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSkmmkVFvM4H3pwnlU2AuqynuRDpvnh4J Discover free resources and explore past interviews at: https://eptura.com/discover-more/podcasts/workplace-innovator/ Learn more about Eptura™: https://eptura.com/ Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikepetrusky/  

Open, well-facilitated forums turn AI anxiety into trust and engagement, helping employees feel heard, informed, and invested while enabling organizations to adopt Gen AI with clarity, confidence, and collaboration. That's the key take-away message of this episode of the Wise Decision Maker Show, which talks about the silent crisis of Gen AI anxiety in the workplace.This article forms the basis for this episode: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/the-silent-crisis-of-gen-ai-anxiety-in-the-workplace/

Kentaro Toyama spent a decade designing technologies to fight global poverty and improve education and health. As co-founder of Microsoft Research India lab, he made a troubling discovery – innovative technologies can't create change on their own. Realizing that social progress depends more on people than on the technology they use, Kentaro became a self-proclaimed “geek heretic” who now teaches others the importance of putting people over tech. In this revisited episode, Dart and Kentaro discuss why technology is never the solution on its own, how human systems shape outcomes, and what it really takes to create meaningful social change.Kentaro Toyama is W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan, a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center at MIT, and author of Geek Heresy.In this episode, Dart and Kentaro discuss:- Why technology needs a human touch to succeed- Kentaro's leadership at Microsoft Research India- The 10 fallacies of technology- Why the most important areas of focus are unmeasurable- The pitfalls of focusing on the end-goal- How to create societal change- Innovation versus tried-and-true approaches- The law of amplification- 3 elements of intrinsic growth- And other topics…Kentaro Toyama is W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information, a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. Before moving to Michigan, Kentaro co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he helped grow the lab into 60 full-time research staff. Kentaro is also a former researcher for UC Berkeley and former co-editor-in-chief of the Information Technologies and International Development journal.Resources Mentioned:Geek Heresy, by Kentaro Toyama: https://www.amazon.com/Geek-Heresy-Rescuing-Social-Technology/dp/161039528XConnect with Kentaro:www.kentarotoyama.orgWork with Dart:Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what's most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

Jason Green was serving in the Obama White House when a phone call from his mother sent him home to sit with his grandmother in the hospital — and into a story he never knew was his. In this conversation, we talk about the hidden history of Quince Orchard, a Black community founded after emancipation, and three segregated churches that chose to merge in 1968 after Dr. King's assassination. We explore remembrance before reconciliation, the communal strength of the Black church, breaking cycles of harm, and what it actually costs to build resilient, integrated community in a divided time. If you're asking where we go from here — chaos or community — this episode is for you.Jason G. Green is a Maryland-born community organizer, attorney, entrepreneur, and storyteller whose work sits at the intersection of economic opportunity, community trust-building, and democratic renewal. He is the author of the forthcoming book Too Precious to Lose (One World | Penguin Random House, 2026), an intimate narrative that blends a personal, community history with a broader call to repair the connections that bind us together.Green served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel to President Obama, advising on domestic and economic policy during the recovery from the Great Recession. He later co-founded SkillSmart, a pioneering workforce and economic-impact software company that has helped quantify more than $100 billion in economic development activity and supported a talent pipeline of more than 50,000 skilled workers across the United States.He is the President and CEO of EverGreen Labs, a strategy studio that helps organizations deepen stakeholder alignment, improve market positioning, and drive measurable business outcomes. Green previously served as Executive-in-Residence at Zeal Capital Partners, supporting early-stage companies focused on the future of work, financial technology, and health equity.A civic leader deeply committed to history, memory, and reconciliation, Green is a trustee of the Pleasant View Historic Association and a founding commissioner and former chair of the Montgomery County Commission on Remembrance and Reconciliation. His award-winning PBS documentary, Finding Fellowship, explores the intertwined Black and white history of Quince Orchard and the community-led fight to preserve its legacyGreen has served several corporate and nonprofit boards, including Daivergent, Flare, Clear Impact, Per Scholas, the Arena, the Washington University Alumni Board of Governors and Regional Cabinet, and the Yale Law School Executive Committee and is a non-resident fellow at the Urban Institute. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.His work—spanning technology, public service, storytelling, and community leadership—is rooted in a belief that our shared future depends on our capacity to connect and build together. Green currently lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife Ritu and their son Aidan.Jason's Book:Too Precious to LoseJason's Recommendation:Great ExpectationsConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, ThreaGet Your Sidekick Support the show

Jared Correia welcomes a true legal tech legend for a record-breaking three-segment appearance. First, Jared and Larry Port (founder of Rocket Matter) crack open a new entry in the "Perfect Album" series: Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever (1989). They debate the merits of the album's solo status, the genius of Jeff Lynne's production, and whether "Free Fallin'" is actually a good song or just California propaganda. Then, in the main interview, Larry discusses life after his successful exit from Rocket Matter. He reveals his new venture, WaySpark, a career coaching platform designed to help young people navigate a volatile labor market shaped by AI, the "silver wave" of retirements, and the decline of white-collar hiring. Larry explains why interpersonal skills are the new currency and why he advocates for the "Family Dinner Test" when choosing a career path. Finally, stick around for the Counter Program: "Hard Work." Jared tests Larry's career coaching expertise with a quiz on bizarre historical and futuristic jobs. Is a "Quantum Janitor" a real thing? What about a Victorian "Pure Finder" who collects dog feces? Tune in to find out! Check out Larry's podcast Dream Job Cafe. Check out this week's Spotify playlist here. Oh, man! I bet you didn't know how much you were missing Jared's unique take on culture, legal practice, and whatever else pops into his head. But don't fret, there's plenty to go around. Jared's back with a new **WEEKLY** show, Legal Late Night, available not only on your favorite podcast app, but in living color on your neighborhood YouTubes. That's right, Jared's more than just a pretty voice. Join him and his guests in high-def 2D through the links below. Subscribe to Legal Late Night with Jared Correia on: Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/legal-late-night/id1809201251 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Rkik0LLMaU6u0e7AKfK9h Or your favorite podcasting app. And bask in the majesty of our YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZO71dMbPZJWAKWw_-qrRRQ

About This Episode  In this episode of The Future of Work® Podcast, host Frank Cottle speaks with Carlos Almansa, co-founder of Nexudus—the leading white-label software platform powering thousands of coworking spaces across 90+ countries. From automating operations to scaling global teams, Carlos shares insights on how data, AI, and flexibility are shaping the coworking world. The conversation explores Nexudus' approach to using AI for predictive analytics, customer support, and dynamic pricing, while maintaining human-centric values like community and collaboration. Whether you're a workspace operator, HR leader, or tech innovator, this episode offers a roadmap to the digitally enhanced, distributed future of work. 

Episode Summary:In this episode, we explore the significant shifts in the job market driven by AI and automation, emphasizing the importance of skills over traditional job titles. Trevor Houston highlights essential skills for the future, including adaptability, emotional intelligence, and financial literacy. Listeners are encouraged to repackage their existing skills, build a strong personal brand, and embrace continuous learning to stay relevant in a rapidly changing landscape.Resources:Trevor Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorhouston/Career Transition Summit: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/04404igv LinkedIn e-book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://online.flippingbook.com/view/714118097/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/who-ya-know-show ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Trevor Houston is a licensed financial professional offering insurance/financial products through various carriers. For more info visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://cpwstrategies.comChapters:(00:00) The Shift to Skills Clusters(03:02) Adapting to the Skills Economy(05:49) The Importance of Continuous Learning(08:11) Building a Personal Brand(11:00) Essential Skills for the Future(13:42) Strategic Reskilling and Adaptability(16:25) Creating a Skills Portfolio(19:20) The Power of Discipline and Transformation

AI is moving faster than anyone predicted.In a massive new study analyzing 1,000 jobs and nearly 20,000 tasks, Cognizant found that 93% of jobs are already impacted by AI ... with $4.5 trillion in U.S. labor value potentially automatable today.But here's the twist: AI isn't replacing entire jobs. On average, only 39% of a role's tasks can be automated. The future isn't AI alone: it's humans plus AI. But will it be fewer humans?In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Babak Hodjat, CTO of Cognizant, to unpack:• Why construction and transportation are seeing surprising AI growth• Why programming jobs may have hit an automation plateau• What “agentic AI” actually means — and why it matters• How management roles are more automatable than we thought• The rise of vibe coding and democratized software creation• Why compute power — not ideas — may be the biggest bottleneckWe also explore how companies can safely capture AI's upside, why training matters more than ever, and what happens when digital twins, LLMs, and human expertise combine.This isn't hype. It's a data-driven look at where AI is actually changing work right now.⸻

Episode 212 with Nicolas Goldstein, HR Tech entrepreneur and Co Founder of Breedj, an artificial intelligence powered talent marketplace transforming global hiring in Africa. With over fifteen years of experience in international recruitment, outsourcing, Employer of Record services, payroll compliance, and remote workforce management, Nicola joins the Unlocking Africa Podcast to explore how Africa can position itself at the centre of the future of work.Breedj is building the infrastructure for cross border hiring by enabling international companies to source, hire, onboard, and pay African talent in full legal compliance. Through artificial intelligence driven talent matching, Employer of Record solutions, and payroll management across more than sixty five countries, the platform makes hiring remote teams in Africa as seamless as hiring locally.In this episode, Nicolas explains why the real bottleneck in Africa's participation in the global labour market is not talent shortages, but compliance infrastructure and trust. He discusses how remote work can reduce brain drain without forced migration, how AI can enable economic inclusion rather than displace workers, and why Africa has the potential to become a global remote talent hub.He also reflects on the transition from Talenteum Group to Breedj, highlighting the shift from traditional recruitment to scalable HR tech platforms that combine technology, impact driven hiring, and local regulatory expertise.What We Discuss With NicolasAfrica as a global remote talent hub rather than just a sourcing destination.Why Employer of Record models and compliance infrastructure are critical to scaling cross border hiring in Africa.How artificial intelligence is reshaping recruitment, talent matching, and remote workforce management.Whether remote work can reverse brain drain while driving economic inclusion.What governments, corporates, and founders must do to ensure Africa captures long term value in the future of work.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Diaspora Capital Can Unlock Africa's Next Generation of Scalable Businesses? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with Nicolas:LinkedIn - Nicolas Goldstein and Talenteum.com / Breedj Website - Breedj.comMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don't do it alone. If you'd like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.ukinfo@etkgroup.co.uk

Send a textAndrea Iorio is one of Brazil's most requested keynote speakers on digital transformation, innovation, and leadership. His work has reached more than 50,000 people through live talks, and his podcasts have surpassed 300,000 downloads. A former Head of Tinder across Latin America and Chief Digital Officer at L'Oréal Brazil, he brings firsthand experience leading digital change inside large organizations. Today, he advises leaders, teaches MBAs, and studies how AI reshapes work, skills, and decision making. His latest book, Between You and AI, explores how humans stay relevant as machines take on more cognitive tasks.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI replaces tasks rather than entire jobs, and how reframing work around tasks changes how leaders redesign roles, workflows, and value creation.Andrea shares surprising data from a global HR survey that reveals why 93% of HR leaders prioritize soft skills over hard skills in new hires, and why this trend signals a massive shift in the future of work.Andrea outlines nine new skills, grouped into Three Pillars of Transformation essential for professionals and leaders: cognitive, behavioral, and emotional.Why asking better questions matters more than producing answers, and how prompting extends beyond AI inputs into everyday leadership and decision making.Andrea shares how L'Oréal's reverse mentoring program shifted the C-Suite's perspective on emerging digital trends, demonstrating why understanding the Gen Z consumer requires direct immersion over passive presentations.What the rise of autonomous AI agents means for responsibility, goal setting, and collaboration, and why agency remains a human obligation even as systems gain autonomy.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Andrea on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how investors decide what to fund in gen AI and what most entrepreneurs get wrong

In this episode I'm joined by leadership expert, speaker and author Helen Beedham to explore what really keeps people in organisations.Helen returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, People Glue, and the research behind it. We dig into how to create a working environment where people feel able to do their best work, stay engaged, and choose to stay — even when other options are available.In this episode, we explore:What People Glue really meansThe paradox at the heart of retention: why giving people more freedom often makes them more likely to stayThe four freedoms people want at workHow to tell if your team or organisation is truly “sticky”Practical, low-risk ways leaders can offer more freedom while maintaining clarity and accountabilityWhat leaders can do to protect morale and people glue during restructures and periods of changeHow individuals can reflect on their own experience of freedom at work and take more control of their careersHelen also shares practical examples from organisations that are getting this right, including simple leadership practices that build trust, psychological safety, and connection - without losing focus on results.This is Influence & Impact for Leaders, the podcast that helps leaders like you increase your impact and build a happy and high performing team. Each episode delivers focused, actionable insights you can implement immediately, to be better at your job without working harder.Work with Carla:1:1 Leadership Coaching with Carla – get support to help you get your voice heard at work and develop your career. Book a discovery callAbout Helen BeedhamHelen Beedham, MA Cantab, is an organisational expert, business book author, speaker and host of The Business of Being Brilliant podcast. Her first book 'The Future of Time: How ‘re-working' time can help you boost productivity, diversity and wellbeing' was named People, Culture & Management Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards, and her second book 'People Glue: Hold on to your best people by setting them free' was published in January 2026.Helen advises business and HR leaders on creating a positive culture that fuels growth; helps teams to deliver more and have more fun; and coaches executives to become their sharpest, brightest best. She speaks publicly about the future of work and is regularly featured in national, business and HR press including the FT, Financial News, Forbes, FastCompany and HR Review.Helen's websiteHelen on LinkedInThe Business of Being Brilliant podcast

Is AI just a buzzword, or are we witnessing an electricity-level shift in how the world works? In this solo episode of The Greatness Machine, Darius Mirshahzadeh shares a passionate public service announcement for business owners, leaders, and operators: the AI moment is here, and it is bigger than most people realize. Drawing on his experience as an early adopter, from the early internet days to Bitcoin and blockchain, Darius explains why this wave of AI is not like the dot-com boom. It is foundational. It is transformational. He breaks down how tools like Claude and no-code automation platforms such as n8n are already replacing hours, even weeks, of manual work inside his private equity firm. From building complex financial models and investment decks in minutes to automating data enrichment projects that once took 70+ hours, Darius shares real examples of how AI workflows and agents are reshaping productivity, cost structures, and competitive advantage. His core message: this is no longer optional. Companies that aggressively adopt and train their teams to leverage AI will dramatically outperform those who hesitate. Whether you are a CEO, salesperson, operator, or individual contributor, the future belongs to those who learn to build, manage, and optimize AI-powered systems. In this episode, Darius will discuss: (00:00) The AI Revolution Begins (06:50) Embracing AI in Business (13:01) The Future of Work with AI (19:14) A Call to Action: Adapting to Change Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On tonight's midweek Nightcap: Attorney General Pam Bondi goes on the attack during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about the Epstein investigation. Then, Olympic athletes speak out against the Trump administration's actions in Minnesota. Plus, what will artificial intelligence really mean for the future of work? Evan McMorris-Santoro, Pablo Torre, Steve Liesman, and Josh Tyrangiel join The 11th Hour this Wednesday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.