Feb 13, 2026: Inflation just cooled to 2.4%. Markets are betting on rate cuts. And at the same time, Anthropic raised $30 billion at a $380 billion valuation.

That's not coincidence — it's transition.

In today's episode, I break down:

• What falling inflation actually means for capital and corporate strategy
• Why Anthropic's massive funding round signals intelligence becoming infrastructure
• The U.S. Department of Labor's new national AI literacy framework — and what it means for workforce strategy
• The "AI scare trade" hitting markets beyond tech
• Why IBM is tripling entry-level hiring in the middle of AI disruption

This isn't about hype. It's about capital flows, workforce redesign, and how leadership must evolve as intelligence scales. When the cost of capital falls and the cost of intelligence falls, the cost of standing still rises.

Let's unpack what this moment really means.

Feb 12, 2026: In this episode of Future-Ready Today, I break down four major stories that reveal how the workplace is recalibrating in 2026.

Ford is boosting companywide bonuses to 130% after major quality improvements — a clear signal that performance discipline is back. At the same time, 60% of Gen Z say they plan to pursue skilled trade careers, challenging the long-standing college-to-corporate pipeline.

I also dive into a new Harvard Business Review study showing that AI isn't reducing workloads — it's intensifying them. Employees are working faster, taking on broader responsibilities, and extending their hours, often voluntarily. And as AI adoption accelerates, safety leaders at major AI firms are quitting, raising deeper questions about ethics, speed, and institutional trust.

If you're a leader trying to understand compensation strategy, talent shifts, productivity pressure, and cultural tension in an AI-accelerated world, this episode is for you.

Leaders often try to "brute force" AI adoption, only to find their best people pushing back. The blame often goes to a lack of skill. But this friction is actually caused by a crisis of identity where high performers feel their professional value is being replaced by an algorithm. To overcome this means moving from "enforcement" to "normalization" by focusing on how people actually work. In this episode of Future Ready Today, I break down eight exclusive insights from Uber's CTO, Praveen Neppalli Naga, on why organizational velocity, not just efficiency, is the new competitive divide. Expect a deep dive into why ROI obsession sabotages growth, how to disassemble jobs into tasks, and why the real risk of AI isn't job loss, but the threat of rogue agents. We also unpack why HR and Tech must now operate as a single leadership system to keep culture from becoming purely software-driven.

----------

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

Feb 10, 2026: Today's leaders are buried under an avalanche of trend reports and news cycles, making it nearly impossible to distinguish between genuine structural shifts and mere media noise. This "trend inflation" has created a cycle of reactive decision-making and to move forward, leaders are required to shift from simple awareness to discernment—the ability to separate a true signal from temporary hype. In this episode of Future Ready Today, I give you a practical walkthrough of the STEEPLE framework to help your organization categorize every emerging trend into one of three actions: adapt, pause, or push back. By examining a case study of a manufacturing company evaluating AI for performance reviews, I teach you how to interrogate the context of a trend rather than just copying a headline. We're focusing on using internal data and organizational values to ensure innovation fits the company's unique culture rather than being forced upon it. Not Every Trend Deserves Action.

----------

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

The old playbooks for leadership no longer apply when your top performers might never step foot in a traditional office. It's time to move past the superficial logistics of where people sit and uncover the specific cultural habits that maintain high standards and relentless speed as your organization evolves. In this episode, LJ Brock, Chief People Officer at Coinbase, joins me to explore the high-stakes evolution of leading a remote-first organization that scales without losing its competitive edge. We dive into the practical reality of managing 5,000 global employees, moving beyond the "return to office" debate to discuss Coinbase's "magnet, not mandate" hub strategy and their recent pivot toward mandatory quarterly in-person sessions designed specifically for execution. LJ pulls back the curtain on the unique operating system that powers their culture—including the bold decision to outlaw committees—and shares the specific decision-making frameworks, like the Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) and Problem Proposed Solution (PPS) models, that ensure individual accountability remains front and center. From tackling the nuances of performance management and asynchronous collaboration to leveraging AI for future efficiency, this conversation is a must-watch for CHROs who want to build a high-performance culture that prioritizes measurable results over physical proximity.

----------

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

Feb 6, 2026: Artificial intelligence is hitting a tipping point — and it's showing up everywhere at once.

In today's episode of Future-Ready Today, I break down a wave of stories that all landed at the same time: Big Tech's plan to spend roughly $650 billion on AI infrastructure, a trillion-dollar selloff in software stocks, healthcare workers protesting the use of AI on the front lines, and a new wave of state AI laws set to reshape how employers use technology at work.

Taken together, these stories reveal how AI is no longer just a technology trend — it's becoming a force reshaping markets, labor, and regulation simultaneously.

Feb 5, 2026: Are software vendors in trouble? Why are employees suddenly complying with return-to-office mandates? And what happens when leaders are afraid to ask their own teams for feedback?

In today's episode of Future-Ready Today, we unpack five stories that together reveal a major reset happening inside organizations:

• Why Workday is cutting jobs — and what falling enterprise software stocks (including ServiceNow) signal about how AI is disrupting traditional SaaS business models.

• New data showing workers backing down on return-to-office demands as employers reclaim leverage.

• A leadership study revealing that senior executives want feedback — but fear appearing weak if they ask.

• Layoffs surging to the highest January level since 2009, driven in part by restructuring at UPS following shifts in volume from Amazon.

• And research from Bain & Company showing a massive disconnect between leaders who think change is working and employees who say it isn't.

Feb 4, 2026: In this episode of Future-Ready Today, I explore a fundamental shift in the workplace: the transition from a task economy to a trust economy. As artificial intelligence moves from "future tech" to "daily tool," the basic mechanics of how we hire, manage, and let go of people are under intense pressure. We aren't just dealing with new software; we're dealing with a breakdown in identity and accountability.

I dive deep into five stories shaping this week's headlines:

• The Deepfake Candidate: Why identity verification is becoming the most critical new skill in HR.

• California's Algorithmic Guardrails: The new legislative push to ensure humans—not code—remain responsible for firing decisions.

• The "Job Apocalypse" Debate: Analyzing Ben Horowitz's take on why new work emerges even as old categories vanish.

• The $818 Billion Admin Tax: How poorly designed organizations are drowning in emails, and why AI might be the only way out.

• The AI Layoff Script: Why "technology made us do it" is becoming the new corporate excuse, and how leaders can maintain credibility during transitions.

The Bottom Line: The future of work won't be won by the companies with the most AI. It will be won by the companies that use technology to remove "administrative garbage" while doubling down on human accountability.