November 26, 2025: Today’s episode breaks down six major stories shaping the future of work: Clifford Chance cuts 10% of business services roles, HP slashes up to 6,000 jobs as it embeds AI, a new survey shows worker anxiety at record highs, McKinsey says humans and AI agents will work side-by-side, new UK data warns 3 million low-skilled jobs could vanish by 2035, and a Las Vegas report predicts up to 95% of hospitality jobs may be automated.

I unpack what these signals mean for leaders navigating AI disruption, workforce redesign, and the changing psychology of work.

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Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

November 25, 2025: Fast Company reports that on-site workers are experiencing significantly worse “Sunday Scaries” than remote employees. The Wall Street Journal highlights how the U.S. economy is becoming increasingly dependent on corporate AI spending. Fortune features Slack’s cofounder warning that employees are drowning in “fake work” that looks productive but delivers little value. Amazon’s latest layoffs are tied directly to automation and robotics. The WSJ outlines the next wave of office design focused on biophilic spaces, flexible collaboration zones, and personalized climate control. And Moderna has merged its technology and HR departments, creating a unified workforce systems model that signals a major structural shift in how organizations will operate in the AI era.

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Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

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

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Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It’s in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 20, 2025: 

This episode breaks down six major stories shaping the future of work and the workplace in 2025. A new study reveals the rise of “Cold Work”—a breakdown of trust between employees and managers marked by hidden behaviors, disengagement, and rising hostility. Google CEO Sundar Pichai makes headlines by claiming the CEO role may be “one of the easier things” for AI to replace, adding fuel to the debate about automation and leadership.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the AI boom has become “the most joyless tech revolution ever,” with worker anxiety rising even as tech stocks soar. New research from Northeastern shows that workers overwhelmingly prefer retraining over safety nets when facing AI disruption. A delayed U.S. jobs report presents a murky economic picture, combining unexpected job growth with a rising unemployment rate. Meanwhile, Verizon announces 13,000 layoffs, underscoring the turbulence across major industries.

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If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder now: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

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

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Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It’s in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

Novemner 18, 2025: 

Today’s episode breaks down seven of the most important stories shaping the future of work.

We explore why AI adoption is stalling inside organizations—and why companies are turning to internal influencers to drive real behavior change. We look at the surge in “ghost job” postings that are distorting the labor market and frustrating job seekers, and we explore the surprising history of the 40-hour workweek and whether it still makes sense in the age of AI.

Next, we dive into brand-new data from Glassdoor’s Worklife Trends 2026 report, which reveals rising distrust in leadership, declining career visibility, and how early-career workers are reshaping expectations. We also unpack a Guardian story showing that criticism of Gen Z is nothing new—it’s a historical pattern that repeats in every era of disruption.

We then examine why Big Tech companies are cutting jobs despite record profits and record AI investment, and we close with an Inc. story about an “AI error” that turned out to be human error—a reminder that the biggest risks of automation come from governance, not algorithms.

If you want to understand the signals, trends, and shifts reshaping the future of work, this episode connects all the dots.

Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

Growth tests the soul of every organization. As companies expand, consistency often replaces compassion—but CAVA proves you can scale without losing humanity. With 400 restaurants and 12,000 team members, CAVA has built a culture that’s as grounded as it is consistent through a people framework rooted in heart, health, and humanity. In this episode, I sit down with Kelly Costanza, Chief People Officer of CAVA, to unpack exactly how they’ve done it—diving into their MVC framework (Mission, Values, and Competencies) that turns ideals into action. We explore their recognition systems like MVC Awards and Value Cards, the CCT Program that trains leaders as culture coaches, and Impact Plans that replace performance reviews with real-time growth. Kelly also shares how CAVA brings connection to life through the Love Button and Allies in Motion (AIM) programs, integrates culture across the employee lifecycle, and balances AI innovation with human warmth. This episode offers every CHRO a practical look at how to bring values to life, connect them to performance, and make culture come alive.

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Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

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

Quick heads-up: my new book, The 8 Laws of Employee Experience, is a practical playbook for building an environment where people do their best work—preorder a copy here: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

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

Stop patching problems and start designing an intentional workplace. The 8 Laws of Employee Experience gives you the how. Preorder your copy: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

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

If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder now: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

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

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Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It’s in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

Uber moves more than 36 million trips a day, a scale that would overwhelm most systems. But as AI reshapes every corner of business, even a tech giant like Uber must evolve faster than ever. The real question is, how do you lead an organization this massive through an AI revolution without losing reliability, human connection, or trust? In this episode, I sit down with Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s Chief Technology Officer for Mobility and Delivery, to explore the leadership blueprint driving Uber’s AI-powered transformation. He shares how Uber is transforming its software engineering systems using tools like Cursor and agentic AI workflows, integrating machine learning into real-time marketplace technology, and balancing automation with human oversight to avoid what he calls “AI slop.” We also dive into how his teams are preparing for autonomous vehicles, managing global scale across 36 million daily trips, and rethinking the engineering culture to adopt AI responsibly and sustainably. For CHROs, this episode reveals how to lead large-scale transformation by aligning people, technology, and purpose, and how to build a culture where AI doesn’t replace human capability, but amplifies it.

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Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

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

Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It’s in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: https://bit.ly/8exlaws

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

Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: https://8exlaws.com/

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

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If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com

November 4, 2025: 

The traditional systems of education, work, and performance are being upended. Across industries, new signals are emerging that point to a radically different future of work:

• Palantir’s “Meritocracy Fellowship” gives high school graduates a paid, fast-track alternative to college.

• Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index reveals that the 9-to-5 is dead as the “infinite workday” expands.

• KPMG is replacing entry-level consulting work with teams of AI agents, redefining what early careers look like.

• Michael Burry is betting against Palantir and Nvidia, calling out an overheated AI market.

• The Wall Street Journal traces the century-long evolution of performance reviews—and why AI won’t fix them without trust.

These stories illustrate how technology, talent pipelines, and performance systems are converging to reshape how people learn, work, and grow.

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Quick heads-up: my new book, The 8 Laws of Employee Experience, is a practical playbook for building an environment where people do their best work—preorder a copy here: 8EXLaws.com

As companies race to adapt to the rapid AI takeover, many are discovering that their biggest challenge isn't technological change, but knowing what their people can actually do. For CHROs, this means gaining real visibility into workforce skills, so they can move beyond job titles and legacy systems to make faster, smarter talent decisions. In this episode, Mikael Wornoo, Co-Founder and President of TechWolf, joins us to explore how AI and data are reshaping the future of HR through the rise of the skill-based organization—a model that looks beyond job titles to map, measure, and mobilize employee skills at scale. We unpack how organizations can build clean, standardized data layers to power smarter workforce decisions, enable internal mobility through AI-driven talent marketplaces, and forecast future skill needs amid accelerating automation. The conversation also dives into the limits of AI in capturing “invisible skills” like empathy and collaboration, the leadership mindset needed to balance human judgment with machine intelligence, and what the future of work and education might look like in an age of human–AI collaboration.

A must-listen for CHROs who want to evolve from HR management to strategic workforce design and lead their organizations confidently into the AI era.

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Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXLaws.com