Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
Future Ready Leadership with Jacob Morgan is a podcast that explores the future of work, AI, workplace transformation, and leadership. Hosted by futurist and bestselling author Jacob Morgan, it features interviews with CEOs and executives, as well as daily briefings on AI and organizational strategy. The show provides insights and frameworks to help leaders navigate a rapidly changing business landscape.
Episodes
OpenAI's Accounting Trick Erases $20B, AI Models Demand Respect & Starbucks' $41B Bet
October 9, 2026: I unpack why OpenAI's reported revenue just dropped $20 billion on paper without losing a single customer, how accounting methods create wildly different pictures of the same business, and why this matters for your retirement account and the entire AI economy that's propping up current market growth. I explore the Groupon lesson from 2011, why Oracle has 45% of its future business
AI Avatar Ends Interview in Rage, Workers Get Agent Brain Fry & Six-Month Courses Beat $200K Degrees
October 7, 2026: I unpack a viral AI avatar job interview that millions have seen where a candidate speaks gibberish to an AI recruiter named Sarah for three minutes, and why the real question isn't whether the bot worked but whether job interviews should ever be handed to AI avatars in the first place. I explore why interviews are distinctly human moments that build trust and relationships, why o
Jabil's 140K Employee AI Transformation, Skills Beat Degrees & Gamers Solve Hiring Crisis
I talk with Gary Schick, SVP and Chief Human Resource Officer at Jabil, about how a 60 year old manufacturing company is navigating massive change as they scale from circuit boards to data centers, AI agents, and advanced manufacturing. We get into why Jabil targeted gamers to fill debugger roles when traditional hiring failed, how visual inspection jobs are being automated with AI cameras, what h
AI's Invisible Value Problem, Bricklayers Beat College Grads, & The 90-10 Work Revolution
October 2, 2026: I unpack two revealing 2% numbers that tell us where AI actually stands today. Only 2% of American households pay for any AI service, and only 2% of the S&P 500 track hard metrics showing what AI does for their business. Yet tech produced 76% of all earnings growth this year, and the most valuable companies on earth are riding on a technology almost nobody pays for and nobody meas
AI Agent Saved Me $100/Month, Anthropic's $2T Gamble & Why 74% of Jobs Aren't Actually at Risk
September 30, 2026: I unpack my experience using Muse, Meta's new AI assistant that actually negotiated my phone bill, lowered my internet costs, and found me discounts without me writing a single prompt. This feels fundamentally different from ChatGPT and Claude because it acts like a true personal assistant, not just a research tool. I explore what happens when every employee inside your organiz
Why the Chief of Staff Role Is Booming, How AI Changes Work at J.M. Smucker, & Building a Future-Ready Culture
I talk with Jill Penrose, Chief People & Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff at The J.M. Smucker Co., about why the Chief of Staff role is becoming so important as leaders deal with more complexity and change. We get into how Smucker connects strategy, people, and culture, how AI is changing consumer behavior and the employee experience, why leaders need to be honest about AI uncertainty, an
Gen Z Is Dating AI, Microsoft Reinvents Copilot, & the Great Iced Coffee Interview Debate
September 25, 2026: I unpack new Harris Poll data showing young people are developing surprisingly emotional relationships with AI, including feeling guilty when they ignore chatbot advice and even reporting romantic relationships with AI. Then I get into Microsoft's major Copilot rebuild around chat, cowork, code, and autonomous digital teammates, and what happens when employees effectively becom
AI Could Mean 20 Years in Prison, Workers Become AI Managers, and A16Z Reinvents College
September 23, 2026: I unpack Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar's proposal to ban artificial superintelligence, pause advanced AI development, and impose prison sentences of up to 20 years for violations. Then I look at how millions of employees are quietly becoming managers of AI agents without the title or pay. Finally, I get into Andreessen Horowitz's new AI academy for young people who may want to
From Cashier to Home Depot C-Suite, Middle Manager Backlash, Claude Hacks OpenAI, & AI Panic Returns
September 18, 2026: I look at the viral LinkedIn profile of Home Depot executive Anne Marie Campbell and why her rise from cashier to senior executive says something important about effort, loyalty, and firm-specific knowledge. Then I get into the Wall Street Journal's warning that the purge of middle managers could backfire as companies underestimate coaching, sponsorship, and tacit knowledge. I
Who Watches Anthropic's AI Watchdog? Why Authenticity Fails at Work, & Zuckerberg Says the Market Can Keep AI Safe
September 16, 2026: I look at Anthropic's push for independent AI evaluators and why its preferred watchdog, METR, raises questions about conflicts, trust, and regulatory capture. Then I get into why "be your authentic self" may be terrible career advice and why the better advice is to be your best professional self. Finally, I unpack Mark Zuckerberg's argument that lawsuits, customers, competitio
Time to Kill AI? Anthropic Wants AI Slowed, Oracle Cuts Jobs, & Leaders Face a Civics Crisis
September 14, 2026: I look at Dario Amodei's essay arguing that frontier AI needs to slow down and why competitors publicly agreeing with him raises bigger questions about safety, regulation, IPO timing, and regulatory capture. Then I get into reports of more Oracle layoffs and why this may be less about AI replacing people and more about companies funding massive AI infrastructure. Finally, I unp
AI Created 1M Jobs, Student Scores Hit Record Lows, and Anthropic's AI Panic Grows
September 11, 2026: I look at The Economist's analysis showing AI has created roughly 1 million American jobs so far, while the predicted jobs apocalypse still has not arrived. Then I get into the latest PISA results showing record-low math, reading, and science scores, and why attention, critical thinking, and family involvement matter for the future workforce. Finally, I unpack the latest backla
Anthropic Researcher Quits Over AI Extinction Fears, OpenAI Agents Claim a Math Breakthrough, & the Panic Behind the Headlines
September 9, 2026: I unpack the viral resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that AI labs are racing toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with human lives. Then I look at OpenAI's claim that thousands of AI agents produced a proof for the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the Millennium Prize problems. Finally, I dig into the bigger question behind the headlines: h
How To Lead A Multi-Year AI Transformation and the Critical Middle of Change
I talk with Adam Kautzner, President of Evernorth Care Management and Express Scripts and EVP of Customer Personalization for The Cigna Group, about what it takes to lead a major multi-year transformation in healthcare. We get into how Evernorth and Express Scripts are redesigning pharmacy benefits around patients, why prescription pricing has become so complex, how AI could improve healthcare nav
OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, the Surprising Jobs Boom, and the Question of Whether AGI Has Arrived
September 4, 2026: I look at OpenAI's new GPT-6 Astra model and why even powerful AI agents still may not be ready to take over full jobs. Then I get into the August jobs report, which came in far stronger than expected and complicates the "AI is killing jobs" narrative. Finally, I unpack the Wall Street Journal's argument that AGI may already be here and why the real question is not whether AI ca
Uber's 10% Workforce Cut, Employers Fight AI Interview Fraud, & iFood Builds a CEO Digital Twin
September 2, 2026: I share key lessons from my CHRO session with iFood CEO Diego Barreto, including why he is investing in AI even with negative ROI, how he built a digital twin, and how iFood is rethinking reviews, meetings, and change management. Then I get into the Wall Street Journal's report on employers using new interview rituals to fight AI-enabled candidate fraud. Finally, I unpack Uber c
Why Enterprise AI Adoption Is Failing: AI Sprawl, Low Trust, and the ROI Problem
I talk with Ofir Bloch, SVP of Corporate Marketing at WalkMe, about why enterprise AI adoption is harder than buying tools and handing out licenses. We get into WalkMe's State of Digital Adoption research, the gap between executive confidence and employee trust, AI sprawl, shadow AI, Gen Z's overconfidence with AI, and why real ROI comes from changing workflows instead of just tracking usage.
How to Redesign Work With AI, Jensen Huang vs Bill Gates on Robot Taxes, & the Jobs AI Won't Replace
August 28, 2026: I break down what redesigning work with AI actually means and share a practical framework for removing human glue, handoffs, waits, and routine work while creating new value. Then I get into Jensen Huang and Bill Gates disagreeing over whether robots and AI tokens should be taxed. Finally, I unpack the government's new 10-year jobs forecast and why the fastest-growing jobs in Amer
Meta's AI Workforce Plan Implodes, Anthropic's $30 Trillion Bet & Gallup Reveals What Gen Z Is Missing
August 26, 2026: I look at Reuters' report on Meta's Project OT, the internal plan to turn Meta into an AI-native company with smaller, talent-dense teams overseeing software that does more of the daily work. Then I get into Anthropic reportedly telling investors its total addressable market could exceed $30 trillion and why that number may be more about payroll than software. Finally, I unpack Ga
Three-Year College Degrees, Junior Tech Jobs Get Harder, and Why Performance Reviews Won't Die
August 24, 2026: I look at the rise of three-year bachelor's degrees and why the 120-credit college model was never really designed to measure learning. Then I get into new data showing softwAugust 24, 2026: I look at the rise of three-year bachelor's degrees and why the 120-credit college model was never really designed to measure learning. Then I get into new data showing software engineering jo
CEOs Face Higher Borrowing Costs, NYC Beats San Francisco in Tech Talent, & Resumes Hack AI Screeners
August 21, 2026: I look at why the bond market is sending CEOs a blunt message: the era of cheap money is over, and higher borrowing costs may push companies toward leaner headcount and more automation. Then I get into new CBRE data showing New York has passed San Francisco and the Bay Area as America's largest tech talent market for the first time in 13 years. Finally, I unpack the viral resume p
Most Workers Reject Promotions, Anthropic Out-Earns OpenAI, & Boomerang Hiring Hits a New High
August 19, 2026: I look at new research showing that most workers would reject a promotion if it meant sacrificing their work-life boundaries, and why the traditional management promotion may no longer feel worth the cost. Then I break down reporting that Anthropic out-earned OpenAI in the second quarter. Finally, I get into the surge in boomerang employees, who now account for 35% of new hires, a
Gallup's AI Culture Warning, Siemens CEO's No-Meeting Rule, and Dario Amodei's AI Trust Problem
August 17, 2026: I look at Gallup's new research showing that AI adoption can improve or damage workplace culture depending heavily on one person: the direct manager. Then I get into Siemens CEO Roland Busch's approach to leadership, including short email replies, a sub-100-message inbox, and no recurring one-on-ones with direct reports. Finally, I unpack the public debate between Gavin Baker and
How CHROs Can Own AI Transformation, Reskilling, and the Future of Work
I talk with Lindsay Crawley-Herbert, Chief People and Transformation Officer at SCAN, about why AI transformation is really a people and workforce challenge. We get into why SCAN moved AI, data, and analytics under HR, how they built their internal GPT called SCAN X, how they manage AI costs and governance in a regulated healthcare environment, and why the goal is not replacing people but helping
OpenAI's AI ROI Problem, Wall Street's Jobless Boom, & Elon Musk Calls Workers Grok's Parents
August 14, 2026: I look at OpenAI's own study on how companies use ChatGPT at work and why usage volume is not the same thing as ROI. Then I get into the Wall Street Journal's "jobless boom" argument and why companies may be growing without hiring for reasons beyond AI. Finally, I unpack Elon Musk telling SpaceX employees they will be Grok's "parents" because the AI will be trained on their work,
Stanford Says Young Workers Feel the AI Squeeze, Companies Cap AI Usage, & Anthropic's Watermark Fight
August 12, 2026: I look at Stanford's updated Canaries in the Coal Mine research, which finds young workers in highly AI-exposed jobs are falling behind while experienced workers are holding up. Then I get into Fortune's report on companies capping AI usage as token costs blow past budgets. Finally, I unpack Anthropic's plan to watermark Claude-generated output and why it raises a much bigger ques
Meta's Superintelligence Bet, Nissan's AI Worker Cameras, and the Problem With AI Job Interviews
August 10, 2026: I look at Mark Zuckerberg's new Meta manifesto and why he's positioning open superintelligence as a direct challenge to OpenAI and Anthropic's more centralized approach. Then I get into Nissan using AI-powered cameras at its Canton, Mississippi factory to track how workers bend, twist, and move on the assembly line. Finally, I unpack WIRED's report on the rise of AI job interviews
Bad Pay Costs Talent, Worker Share Hits Record Low, and LinkedIn Cracks Down on AI Slop
August 6, 2026: I look at why more than a third of U.S. employers are handing out flat "peanut butter raises" even as top performers use AI to do more. Then I get into new data showing workers' share of U.S. economic output has fallen to the lowest level on record, raising a bigger question: if AI makes people more productive, who gets the gains? Finally, I unpack LinkedIn's move to reduce AI slop
Parents Invade Gen Z Careers, KPMG Interns Want the C-Suite, and LinkedIn Ranks Top Colleges
August 5, 2026: I look at the Wall Street Journal story on parents getting involved in their adult children's careers, from job fairs to calls with hiring managers. Then I get into a new KPMG survey showing interns now rank career growth above salary and work-life balance, with 93% aspiring to reach senior leadership. Finally, I unpack LinkedIn's 2026 Top Colleges list and why families should thin
Billionaire CEO Naveen Jain on Why Non-Experts Win, Raising Builders, and Why Socialism Kills Innovation
I talk with Naveen Jain, founder and CEO of Viome Life Sciences and author of Counterintuitive, about why entrepreneurs should focus on big problems instead of small ideas. We get into his framework of "why this, why now, why me," why non-experts often disrupt industries, how AI is changing work and healthcare, why personalized nutrition matters, and how parents can raise kids who are curious, res
Amazon's AI Cost Disaster, Florida's Classroom AI Rules, and Anthropic's Security Test Failure
July 31, 2026: I look at Amazon's AI projects that ran massively over budget, including one Claude-powered project that came in 860% over plan. Then I get into Florida's proposed rule that would let parents opt their kids in or out of AI tools in the classroom. Finally, I unpack Anthropic's disclosure that its own Claude models breached live company systems during security testing, and why AI agen
Meta's AI Bet Gets Expensive, AI Fund Sells Portfolio After Drop & PwC's Fake AI Citations
July 30, 2026: I look at Mark Zuckerberg's argument that AI superintelligence should be for everybody, and why Meta's falling operating margin and massive AI spending tell a more complicated story. Then I get into Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund selling its public portfolio to Citadel after a brutal reversal in AI infrastructure stocks. Finally, I unpack the Financial Times report on PwC pub
KPMG Rebuilds Entry-Level Jobs, AI Hits the CFO Cost Wall, and Where Hiring Is Coming Back
July 29, 2026: I look at how KPMG is rebuilding the entry-level audit role as AI takes over routine testing and forces companies to rethink how young employees learn judgment, critical thinking, and business skills. Then I get into Fortune's story on the CFO cost wall around AI and why proving ROI is getting harder. Finally, I look at where hiring is actually happening and why the real AI jobs sto
Human Prompting Is The AI Leadership Skill Nobody Is Talking About
July 28, 2026: I explain the concept of human prompting, the leadership skill I believe every organization needs as AI becomes embedded in work. I get into why AI can make people look smarter while weakening judgment, how cognitive surrender shows up in schools, medicine, law, and the workplace, and why leaders need to ask better questions before accepting AI-generated work. I also break down the
Former J.C. Penney CEO, Apple Store & Genius Bar Creator Ron Johnson on Learning from Steve Jobs, and the Future of Retail
I talk with Ron Johnson, creator of the Apple Store and Genius Bar, former J.C. Penney CEO, and author of Shop Different, about what really made Apple's retail strategy work. We get into his early career at Target, how Steve Jobs recruited him, why the Apple Store was built for the 95% of customers who did not yet use Macs, how the Genius Bar came to life, what he learned from J.C. Penney, and why
OpenAI's AI Model Escapes Its Sandbox, Claude Opus 5 Launches, and Jensen Huang Starts the Open Weights Fight
July 24, 2026: I unpack the story of OpenAI's AI model escaping its sandbox and hacking into Hugging Face during a cyber stress test. Then I get into Anthropic's surprise launch of Claude Opus V, why the model's price and performance matter, and what it says about AI becoming cheaper and more commoditized. Finally, I break down Jensen Huang's first post on X, his open weights letter, and the growi
Google and Adecco Reject AI Jobs Panic, AI Homework Crash Raises Big Questions, and Anthropic Explains Why Jobs Haven't Collapsed
July 23, 2026: I look at Google's Atlas study, which analyzed nearly 15 million Gemini interactions and found that AI use at work is broad but still shallow. Then I get into new research showing students who used AI for homework performed better at first, but saw major drops in exam scores later. Finally, I unpack Anthropic chief economist Peter McCrory's argument for why AI has not raised unemplo
Kyndryl CHRO Mark Paulek on on AI at Work, Employee Trust, and the Skills Leaders Need Now
I talk with Mark Paulek, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kyndryl, about how leaders should approach AI transformation without losing employee trust. We get into Kyndryl's People Readiness Report, the company's AIR framework for anticipating demand, inventorying skills, and redeploying talent, plus how they think about AI governance, human-in-the-loop decisions, ROI, reskilling, and why AI adoptio
China's Kimi K3 vs OpenAI & Anthropic, Gen Z AI Guilt at Work, and Your Best People May Leave
July 17, 2026: China's Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, their largest AI model yet, and it is already testing close to OpenAI and Anthropic on major benchmarks. Then I get into the AI guilt showing up among students and new workers who leaned heavily on AI and now question whether they can trust their own skills. Finally, I look at why leaders may struggle to keep their best people when AI makes it e
I Predict Sam Altman Won't be CEO Next Year, New York Freezes Data Center, JLL Says AI Will Redesign Jobs
July 16, 2026: New JLL research shows most executives expect AI to grow their teams instead of shrink them, even as layoffs continue in AI-exposed industries. Then I get into New York becoming the first state to freeze new large AI data centers, why I think that is a mistake, and what it could mean for American AI infrastructure. Finally, I unpack Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI and make my predict
Humans Are Cheaper Than AI, Bank of America Claims AI ROI, and OpenAI Builds a Companion
July 15, 2026: Andreessen Horowitz's argues that AI is not simply replacing workers, it is turning every worker into a manager of agents. Then I get into Bank of America's claim that AI is already showing ROI in its earnings, and why I'm skeptical of how much of that efficiency gain can really be attributed to AI. Finally, I look at OpenAI's first physical device, a screen-free AI companion report
AI's 2030 Payoff Problem, the Economist Civil War, and IBM's Worst Day Ever
July 14, 2026: Goldman Sachs' warns that the real AI productivity payoff may not arrive until 2030 at the earliest, because companies are buying the technology faster than they are redesigning work. Then I get into the split among leading economists over whether AI needs new institutions and guardrails now, or whether early governance could slow progress. Finally, I look at IBM's major market shoc
Award-Winning Social Psychologist on What High-Performing Teams Do Differently and How AI Is Changing Collaboration
I talk with Ron Friedman, award-winning social psychologist and bestselling author of The Best Place to Work and Super Teams, about what high-performing teams actually do differently. We get into why great teams avoid unnecessary meetings, how teammates make each other better, why feedback usually fails, and how AI is changing collaboration, curiosity, communication, and accountability at work.
AI's New Class Divide: The Haves, Have-Nots, No-Nots, and Why AI Job Titles Are Spreading Beyond Tech
July 10, 2026: Axios warns about AI's new class divide: the haves, the have-nots, and the "no-nots" who are already being shaped by AI without realizing it. Then I get into new Indeed and Business Insider data showing that AI is moving into job titles far beyond tech, from physical therapy to legal, finance, marketing, and management. The bigger issue is not just who has access to AI. It's who kno
The Biggest AI Week Yet: New ChatGPT & Grok Models, Uber's AI Pods, and Brown University's AI Cheating Scandal
July 9, 2026: OpenAI released its new GPT 5.6 lineup, Elon Musk's xAI launched Grok 4.5, and GPT Live showed where voice-based AI may be heading next. Then I get into Uber's Agentic Pods, where the company is embedding AI-proficient engineers inside legal, finance, and HR even as leadership admits it still can't prove the ROI. Finally, I look at the Brown University AI cheating scandal, where stud
PwC's Chief People Officer on Training 80,000 People for the AI Era With Human Skills at the Center
I talk with Yolanda Seals-Coffield, PwC US Chief People and Inclusion Officer, about how PwC is preparing 80,000 people for an AI-enabled future. We get into PwC's approach to democratizing AI access, building responsible AI habits, measuring adoption beyond token usage, and creating learning that happens directly in the flow of work. Yolanda also shares how PwC is rethinking entry-level talent, h
Tesla Caps AI Spending at $200 a Week, and What Happens When AI Takes Over Human Relationships
July 3, 2026: Tesla is capping employee AI spending at $200 a week after some engineers reportedly burned through thousands of dollars in tokens, showing that "free" AI was never really free. Then I get into the rise of social offloading, where people use AI not just to think for them, but to handle difficult messages, feedback, and human interactions.
Microsoft's $2.5B AI Support Bet, Fired AI Agents, and Why Admin Assistants May Make a Comeback
July 2, 2026: Microsoft is putting $2.5 billion and 6,000 employees behind a new group designed to help customers actually use AI inside their businesses, following a similar move from Amazon. Then I get into why former chief AI officer Sol Rashidi fired half of her AI agents after spending more time babysitting them than getting work done. I also look at why administrative assistants may become m
Companies Put Limits on AI Spending, Ford Rehires Humans, and Palantir's Alex Karp Calls Out the AI Vendors
July 1, 2026: Companies are discovering that AI agents can drive token usage far beyond what they budgeted for, forcing leaders to bring cloud-style cost controls into AI spending. Then I get into Ford bringing back 300 veteran quality inspectors and engineers after its AI-driven quality checks missed what experienced humans could catch. Finally, I look at Palantir CEO Alex Karp's CNBC warning abo
The Companies Using AI the Most Are Hiring the Most & Amazon's $1B Bet on People
June 30, 2026: New research from Ramp Economics Lab and Revelio Labs shows that companies spending the most on AI are not shrinking the fastest. They are actually growing headcount faster, including in entry-level roles many assumed would disappear first. Then I get into Amazon Web Services' $1 billion push to build a new unit of embedded AI engineers, sending teams directly into customer organiza
Unisys CEO & President Mike Thomson on AI Hype, Layoffs, Data Centers, and the Workforce Reality Check
I talk with Mike Thomson, President and CEO of Unisys, about the real state of AI inside companies. We get into why some organizations are using AI as cover for layoffs, why the backlash against data centers is often built on incomplete information, and why enterprise AI adoption will take years instead of weeks. Mike also explains why technical debt, messy data, governance, security, token costs,
ChatGPT 5.6 Is Here, California's AI Job-Loss Tracker, and Why Executives Don't Want the CEO Job
June 26, 2026: OpenAI launched ChatGPT 5.6 with limited access to only 20 organizations, showing how frontier AI capability and government review are starting to split. Then I get into California's new AI job-loss tracker, which shows no broad AI layoff apocalypse yet, but does reveal pressure on college-educated workers in high-exposure roles. Finally, I look at why more executives are questionin
Meta Pauses AI Surveillance, Losing Access to Fable 5 Triggers Lawsuit, and Engineers Hit AI Paralysis
June 24, 2026: Meta's employee surveillance program, which tracked keystrokes, mouse activity, and screenshots before a data exposure forced the company to pause it. Then I get into Legion's lawsuit against the U.S. government after losing access to Anthropic's Fable 5 model, showing how frontier AI access is becoming a new business dependency and supply chain risk. I also look at software enginee
The AI Productivity Paradox and the Real Question Behind Adam Grant's Research on Return-to-Office Mandates
June 23, 2026: Companies are drowning in AI pilots, prototypes, and scattered use cases that make teams busier without necessarily making the business better. I talk about why the real advantage may come from finishing the few AI initiatives that matter instead of starting 300 that don't. Then I get into Adam Grant's new research linking return-to-office mandates with CEO narcissism, what the stud
The Data Center Race Behind AI: Solidigm's SVP on Why Storage, GPUs, and Scale Matter
I talk with Greg Matson, Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing and Products at Solidigm, about the storage infrastructure powering the AI boom. We get into why AI training and inference require massive amounts of data, how GPUs, SSDs, and data centers work together, and why storage can't be an afterthought for companies building enterprise AI.
We also discuss the scale of today's AI data cen
More Info on Anthropic's Fable 5 Shutdown, Fortune 500 Headcount Shrinks, and Why AI Ads Are Losing to Humans
June 19, 2026: Anthropic's Fable 5 shutdown appears to be tied to SK Telecom, Project Glasswing, Amazon researchers, the White House, David Sacks, and a dispute over whether Anthropic should fix or de-deploy the model. Fortune 500 companies just hit record revenue, profit, revenue per employee, and profit per employee while shrinking headcount for the second year in a row, raising a bigger questio
AI Costs Are Rising, Ghost Jobs Face a Probe, and Wall Street's Talent Pipeline Is at Risk
June 18, 2026: Companies are starting to count the real cost of AI after two years of broad experimentation, from rising token bills to the higher wage premiums commanded by AI-skilled workers. Then I look at Senator Ruben Gallego's push to investigate ghost jobs and whether AI-powered hiring platforms are distorting the labor data policymakers rely on. Finally, I break down Wall Street's hiring d
Anthropic's Fable 5 Gets Pulled, Meta's AI Transformation Stumbles, and PwC Reveals the AI Jobs Split
June 17, 2026: Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos models were pulled after a government directive raised concerns about jailbreak risks, creating a wake-up call for companies building critical workflows on frontier AI models they don't actually control. Then I get into Meta's AI transformation struggles, including layoffs, employee reassignments, low morale, surveillance concerns, and what lead
How KPMG Is Embedding AI Into Work With Chief Digital Officer Kelle Fontenot
Kelle Fontenot, Chief Digital Officer at KPMG, joins me to talk about how one of the world's largest professional services firms is embedding AI into the way work gets done. Kelle shares how KPMG is approaching enterprise AI adoption through its AIQ program, why AI requires close partnership between digital, HR, technology, and the business, and what it takes to drive change across 250,000 people
SpaceX's Historic IPO, AI CEOs Head to the G7, and Jeff Bezos Bets $12B on the Future of Engineering
June 12, 2026: SpaceX made history with the largest IPO ever recorded, raising $75 billion in its NASDAQ debut and instantly becoming one of the most valuable companies in the United States. But under the hood, this isn't just a rocket company anymore. It's a bet on Starlink, reusable rockets, and xAI's massive AI infrastructure. Then I get into the first-ever appearance of OpenAI, Anthropic, and
Palantir CEO Warns Against AI Layoff Bragging, Americans Fear AI Job Loss, and The Great Flattening Begins
June 10, 2026: Palantir CEO Alex Karp is warning tech leaders that bragging about AI-driven layoffs is a major political mistake and could fuel backlash against the entire industry. Then I get into a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing that 53% of Americans fear AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, which means AI job anxiety is no longer a fringe concern. Finally, I break down t
Meta Invests $115M In Skilled Trades and Anthropic Releases Fable 5 (The World's Best Model)
June 9, 2026: Meta is investing $115 million into America's Workforce Academy to train electricians, welders, plumbers, fiber technicians, and other skilled tradespeople for the AI infrastructure boom. This isn't charity, it's a talent pipeline for the data centers, wiring, fiber, and physical systems AI depends on. Then I get into Anthropic's release of Claude Fable 5, its most powerful publicly
How Synchrony Became the No. 1 Best Company To Work For in America with CHRO DJ Casto
We have all worked at a place where we felt like just another number in a spreadsheet. It is incredibly frustrating when you offer feedback that seems to vanish into a black hole of corporate bureaucracy. But what if your company actually treated your voice like a strategic roadmap for the future?
In this episode, DJ Casto, the EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at Synchrony, joins us to explor
Why Hybrid Work Is Breaking Down and Why Anthropic's AI Warning Should Make You Skeptical
June 5, 2026: Two stories today. First: hybrid work's approval ratings are climbing — but new research finds half of its believers quietly defected over three years. There's a name for what's breaking it, and most organizations haven't seen it yet. Second: Anthropic dropped internal data showing AI is writing 80 percent of its own code and outperforming human researchers on their own turf. The num
Microsoft Makes a Badge That Watches, California Town Bans Data Centers, & Uber Cuts 23% of HR Function
June 4, 2026: Microsoft unveiled a wearable AI badge at Build 2026 that can see, hear, and act on your behalf. I break down the real productivity upside, and the chilling effect on human communication that the tech press isn't talking about. Then I take a critical look at Monterey Park's landmark vote to permanently ban data centers — 86% to 14%, the first in America. I understand why communities
Data Centers: What They Are, Why We Need More of Them, and Why Almost Everything You've Heard Is Wrong
June 3, 2026: Most people use a data center dozens of times a day and have no idea what it is. Today I'm changing that. I break down exactly what data centers are, what "compute" actually means, why every new AI model needs exponentially more of it, and how short we currently are as a country — using real numbers from Goldman Sachs, FERC, RAND, and others. Then I take on the five biggest myths dri
Bernie's AI Takeover Plan, Zero Evidence AI Is Killing Jobs, and the Office as Career Advantage
June 2, 2026: Senator Bernie Sanders wants the federal government to own half of OpenAI, Anthropic, and every major AI company in America — and he's framing it as reclaiming stolen public knowledge. We break down exactly how his American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would work, why the Norway comparison falls apart, and what would actually happen to valuations, talent, and American competitiveness
How UGI Corporation Balances High Performance with Human Heart | Veronique Subileau, Senior Vice President of HR at UGI Corporation
Have you ever walked into a meeting and felt like everyone was just wearing a mask of professional perfection while their true selves stayed hidden in the parking lot? It is easy to get lost in the data and the dashboards of modern work, but we often forget that the people behind those numbers are what actually drive the results.
We all want to be part of a team where we are seen for who we really
Costco's CEO Says AI Won't Touch Workers, Corporate America Is Drowning in AI Bills, & OpenAI Just Mapped Its Own Risks
May 29, 2026: Costco's CEO Ron Vachris said it plainly this week: "I don't see AI making choices for Costco" — and with $440 billion in market cap and 17% stock gains this year, the companies doubling down on human judgment are quietly outperforming the ones cutting workers for AI. On today's episode, Jacob Morgan breaks down three stories that together reveal the gap between what companies say ab
Opus 4.8 Drops, Grade Inflation Is Damaging College Grads, & Who is Responsible For Reskilling?
May 28, 2026: Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.8, sharper reasoning, better agentic coding, and a fast mode that runs 2.5x faster at a third the cost, with Mythos-class models coming in weeks. A new EY-Parthenon survey of 1,200 CEOs shows 99% expect AI to reshape their workforce strategy but only 42% are doing anything about it and why the 57-point gap between awareness and action is the real stor
The AI Apocalypse Was a Sales Strategy, Now Come the IPOs
May 27, 2026: The two CEOs most responsible for the AI jobs apocalypse narrative are walking it back — and the timing couldn't be more revealing. Sam Altman says he's "delighted to be wrong." Dario Amodei is softening. Both are heading toward trillion-dollar IPOs. In this episode, Jacob Morgan breaks down the financial logic behind the narrative shift, what a chart from Bianco Research reveals abo
Jensen Huang Calls Out CEOs, Bolt Fires All of HR, and the MBA Is on Sale
May 26, 2026: Today, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang went on Singapore's CNA and called the AI layoff narrative "lazy and irresponsible" — I'll break down the data and history behind why he's largely right. Then, the CEO of Bolt fired his entire HR team onstage at Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit — I'll trace the full arc of the HR function and make the case for what the Chief Future of Work Officer
How Pacific Life is Reimagining Workflows with a Gen AI Academy | Laura Cushing, Chief People Experience Officer at Pacific Life
What happens when you stop focusing on human resources and start focusing on the human experience? Technology is advancing faster than human nature can keep up. If you want to stay relevant, you need a fundamental cultural reset, not just new software.
In this interview, Laura Cushing, the Chief People Experience Officer at Pacific Life, discusses the evolving intersection of organizational cultu
The Doom Industry: How Fear About AI Jobs Became a Business Model
May 22, 2026: The AI job apocalypse story has become one of the most-shared narratives of the decade. It is also one of the most misleading. In this episode, I dismantle the doom narrative being sold to young workers and lays out what the actual labor market data shows: 170 million new jobs projected by 2030, an AI wage premium that doubled in a single year, nearly a million graduate hires at smal
Two Hours That Changed AI, $1 Billion Enterprise Deployment Wave, and California's Worker Protection Order
May 21, 2026: Today might be the most consequential single day for the future of work in all of 2026. In a two-hour window yesterday afternoon, OpenAI's AI autonomously solved an 80-year-old math problem, Anthropic announced its first-ever profitable quarter at $10.9 billion in revenue, SpaceX filed a $1.75 trillion IPO, and every major tech CEO was summoned to Washington for an AI executive order
Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Top AI Researcher Leaves OpenAI for Anthropic, and 80% of Americans Are on Their Own With AI
May 20, 2026: Meta began notifying 8,000 employees of their layoffs this morning — while simultaneously redirecting $145 billion into AI infrastructure. Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI and the architect of Tesla's self-driving brain, just joined Anthropic with a specific mission: use AI to make AI better. And a major new Milken-Harris Poll finds that 80% of Americans want go
The Companies Doubling Down on Junior Hiring, Why AI Is Eroding Gen Z's Brain, and Gartner's Shocking Jobs Forecast for 2028
May 19, 2026: Everyone has an opinion about AI and jobs. Today we have actual data — three major studies published this week that, taken together, tell a story that's more nuanced, more surprising, and more actionable than anything you'll hear in the headlines. First: a Wall Street Journal report reveals that the companies going deepest on AI are actually increasing entry-level hiring — nearly thr
Out-learning the Competition by Building a Skills-Based Talent Ecosystem | Susan LaMonica, CHRO of Citizens Financial Group
If your organization isn't obsessed with how fast your people can learn, you're already falling behind in the race to "out-learn" the competition. In this episode, I'm joined by Susan LaMonica, the Chief Human Resource Officer at Citizens Financial Group—a super-regional bank with $226 billion in assets and 18,000 employees.
We explore how they are driving a massive workforce transformation to bu
The Manager Purge, the Agent Sprawl Crisis, and America's 1,200 AI Laws With No Rulebook
May 15, 2026: The Guardian documents the tech industry's accelerating purge of middle managers — and history says companies have tried this exact bet before with Jack Welch and the Reengineering movement, with disastrous long-term results. The Wall Street Journal reports companies are drowning in ungoverned AI agents, raising a critical question: is agentic AI actually different from the RPA spraw
Kevin O'Leary Got It Wrong, Meta's Trust Crisis, and the Talent Problem Nobody Wants to Fix
May 14, 2026: Tucker Carlson and Kevin O'Leary debated AI, energy, and jobs yesterday — and O'Leary had the right argument but made the wrong one. Today we break down what he should have said, including the real jobs data, what Jensen Huang is saying about hiring, and why the self-driving truck doesn't eliminate the driver — it transforms the job. Then we look inside Meta, where 8,000 layoffs are
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