While many companies focus only on buying new AI tools, the real secret to success often lies in changing how leaders think and act to drive a massive business turnaround. In this episode, Anna White, EVP and Chief People Officer at Lumen, joins the show to discuss how a major networking company is transforming its business through a deep focus on leadership and AI. We explore how leaders must shift from being "knowers" to "learners" by embracing curiosity and a growth mindset. The discussion covers practical steps like launching an AI literacy academy for all employees, using "Dare to Lead" training to build courage, and managing the risks of "work slop" by ensuring human judgment always checks AI work. We also dive into real examples of AI pilots, such as the GoalPro tool for aligning targets, and examine how to prepare for a future hybrid workforce where humans manage AI agents. This conversation offers a clear roadmap for HR leaders handling the complex mix of culture change and digital transformation.

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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. Order here: 8exlaws.com

March 6, 2026: The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February — and the headline number is almost the least interesting part of the story. When you break down where the losses actually came from, you get a picture far more complicated than the AI-took-our-jobs narrative dominating social media right now. Healthcare, tech, federal government, manufacturing, transportation — each sector tells a different story, and together they reveal a labor market being squeezed from multiple directions at once: AI, tariffs, Baby Boomer retirements, post-pandemic correction, and a geopolitical shock that just sent oil past $87 a barrel. Meanwhile, the Fed is openly questioning whether it even has the tools to respond — because cutting rates doesn't create jobs for people whose skills have structurally shifted out of demand. Also this week: Uber's CEO says don't come here if you want to coast — and why that lands so differently in this economic moment. A new survey reveals that 90% of companies have AI chatbots but almost none have integrated AI into real workflows — and that gap is driving some dangerous workforce decisions. And the Bank of England just started war-gaming what happens if AI triggers a full economic shock.

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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. Order here: 8EXlaws.com

March 5, 2026: The company making AI (Anthropic) just published real data on what AI is actually doing to jobs — and the finding that should concern everyone isn't layoffs. It's that the hiring door for workers aged 22 to 25 has quietly dropped 14% in AI-exposed fields since ChatGPT launched.

Today we cover four stories: Stanford's Erik Brynjolfsson on why minimum wage increases are accelerating robot adoption. Anthropic's brand new labor market study — and why you should read it with a critical eye. The February job cut numbers, which look better than January but hide a more troubling signal. And Vinod Khosla predicting today's five-year-olds will never need jobs — a claim we push back on hard.

The data is in. It's more complicated than either side wants to admit.

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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/

Stop patching problems and start designing an intentional workplace. The 8 Laws of Employee Experience gives you the how. Order your copy: 8EXlaws.com

March 4, 2026: The ECB just released new data showing companies that use AI are hiring, not firing — but the full story of what happened to bank tellers reveals why that optimism has a shelf life. USAA CEO Juan Andrade says Gen Z won't be as well off as Boomers and Gen X, and the numbers are stark: entry-level job postings down 29% globally, Gen Z financial insecurity up 18 points in a single year, and an average net worth of negative $22,000. Slack cofounder Stewart Butterfield says most of what passes for work in large organizations isn't actually work — he calls it hyper-realistic worklike activities, and the data shows it's costing U.S. companies $37 billion a year in ineffective meetings alone. And a neuroscientist who testified before the U.S. Senate says Silicon Valley convinced schools they were broken when they weren't, spent $30 billion putting screens in classrooms, and produced the first generation in modern history to score lower on cognitive tests than their parents — and now AI in classrooms is about to repeat the exact same mistake.

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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/

If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Order now: 8EXlaws.com

March 3, 2026: The hype around AI and jobs is loud. The actual data tells a more nuanced story. This week, Stanford economist Nick Bloom released the most rigorous study yet on AI's impact on employment and productivity — surveying nearly 6,000 executives across four countries with the Federal Reserve and Bank of England. The findings are striking: 90% of firms report zero employment impact from AI so far, yet US executives are planning to cut over two million jobs in the next three years based on gains that haven't materialized yet. We break down what that gap means for workers, leaders, and organizations. Plus: CNN pushes back on the viral AI doom-loop narrative — and why "don't freak out yet" isn't the same as "you're fine." Why 43% of workers want to change careers but almost none will — and the psychological trap behind what researchers are calling "job hugging." And the central irony of the AI economy: the companies spending trillions to automate knowledge work can't build the infrastructure to run it because there aren't enough electricians — and why Gen Z is starting to pay attention.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

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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/

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—order a copy here: 8EXlaws.com

Many parents and leaders are wondering if a college degree is still worth the high educational costs. With student debt reaching nearly $2 trillion and the AI impact changing the future of work, the traditional path to success is facing a major disruption. In this episode, Eric Gertler, Executive Chairman and CEO of US News and World Report, joins us to talk about the "broken compact" in higher education and how college rankings are changing as consumer trust falls. We explore how university leadership must move away from focusing on real estate growth and instead prioritize critical thinking, internships, and lifelong learning. We also cover the growing demand for high-paying trades like electrical work over four-year degrees and a story from Eric's time in government where a hospital leader identified the need for data analysts years before it became a trend. This episode helps CHROs build better talent strategies by showing how to find and train workers based on their actual skill development in a job market where actual skills matter more than a diploma.

Watch on Youtube

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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/

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—order a copy here: 8EXlaws.com

February 27, 2026: Jack Dorsey cuts 40% of Block's workforce — 4,000 jobs — credits AI, and predicts most companies will follow within a year. We do a deep dive on whether this is genuine AI transformation or a compelling narrative layered on top of a management mistake, and why the answer might be both.

Plus: Anthropic draws a hard line against the Pentagon, refusing to allow Claude to be used in autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance — and faces threats of being labeled a national security risk. OpenAI closes the largest private funding round in tech history at $110 billion and an $840 billion post-money valuation. And despite all the doom headlines, computer science graduates are on track to earn $81,500 starting salaries in 2026 — up 7% from last year.

Watch on YouTube.

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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/

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—Order a copy here: 8EXlaws.com

February 26, 2026: Engineers are facing a productivity panic as coding agents accelerate output — and pressure — at the same time. Nvidia just posted a staggering quarter, underscoring how fast the infrastructure buildout is moving compared to the human transition. Reuters reports nearly one million young people in the UK are now "NEET" (not in employment, education, or training), a flashing warning light for the entry-level pipeline. Burger King is rolling out an AI assistant that listens in, coaches, and scores worker performance in real time. And Rolex's ultra-competitive trade school is producing graduates positioned for $95,000 jobs — a counter-narrative to the idea that all opportunity lives in knowledge work.

Watch the full episode on Youtube

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