Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

Imagine an eighty-year-old grandmother discussing Russian literature with ChatGPT in her native tongue; it is a powerful reminder that AI is no longer a futuristic concept but a present reality that bridges generations. For CHROs, the challenge is not simply the technology itself, but rather shifting the human behaviour that interacts with these tools. In this episode, Joanne Rodgers, the CHRO of New York Life, shares the strategic roadmap used to scale AI adoption across 24,000 employees and agents by focusing on the mindset, skill set, and tool set. We explored the firm's Ignite AI initiative, which prioritised responsible AI and AI training, remarkably leading to the creation of over 10,000 self-made GPTs. We look into how they integrated mandatory AI goals into performance reviews while maintaining a strict human-in-the-loop governance model to protect the employee experience. Moreover, Joanne highlights the success of their career hub and talent marketplace, explaining how time-bound gigs have boosted internal mobility to 40%. This discussion is your fresh playbook in change management, demonstrating how to foster employee engagement and upskilling in a rapidly evolving landscape without sacrificing the essential human element. ---------- 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

January 16, 2026: Everyone keeps asking whether AI is going to destroy jobs. That question is already outdated. In this episode of Future-Ready Today, I walk through five stories that reveal what's really happening in the labor market—and why the biggest risk isn't job loss, but broken pipelines. I explore why Boomers are staying in the workforce longer while Gen Z struggles to break in, how AI is driving a surge in construction and infrastructure jobs, and why the real bottleneck in the AI economy isn't software talent but electricians, plumbers, and skilled trades. I also unpack new data showing that AI has already created more than a million jobs globally—and why those jobs aren't evenly accessible. And finally, I look at what it means when firms like McKinsey deploy tens of thousands of AI agents and fundamentally change the leverage equation in knowledge work. Taken together, these stories point to a hard truth: AI isn't replacing humans—it's exposing weak systems. Systems that stopped training, stopped investing in skills, and assumed talent pipelines would take care of themselves.  

January 15, 2026: AI job data says work is stable. Productivity reports promise trillions in gains. Job seekers tell me finding work is getting harder. These stories can't all be true at the same time. In this episode of Future Ready Today, I break down new research from Anthropic on how AI is quietly reshaping jobs task by task, why supposed productivity gains are leaking away through rework and quality issues, how bold $4.5 trillion productivity projections depend on leadership decisions most companies still aren't making, and why job seekers are sensing a tightening labor market before it shows up in official data. This isn't an episode about AI hype or fear. It's about the growing disconnect between what the data says, what companies promise, and what workers are actually experiencing — and what leaders need to understand if they want to be future ready.

January 14, 2026: Change takes far longer than leaders expect—and that gap is where frustration, failure, and missed opportunity live. In this episode, I break down why organizations struggle to move at the pace of the world around them, even when the need for change is obvious. We explore the real blockers slowing transformation: legacy technology, bad data, bureaucracy, internal politics, and cultures built for a different era. AI promises speed and intelligence, but without clean data, modern systems, and the courage to rethink how decisions get made, it only amplifies existing problems. I also unpack how the CHRO role has fundamentally changed. Today's CHRO is the CEO of people—responsible not just for HR, but for aligning talent, culture, technology, and foresight with business outcomes. Finally, we challenge the idea that employee experience is an "HR thing." It's not. It's a shared system co-created by leaders and employees alike. Building a future-ready organization isn't about quick wins—it's a long game that requires persistence, discipline, and the willingness to do the hard work of real transformation.

January 13, 2026: In today's episode, five stories reveal why work is starting to crack under pressure. New data shows employee financial stress is no longer a personal issue but a measurable drag on productivity, just as healthcare costs surge and job mobility slows. At the same time, a major study finds AI is already doing 20–40% of the work in many organizations, yet produces inconsistent and low-quality results when left without human oversight. Research also shows that always-on expectations and over-availability are quietly draining loyalty, even in places where right-to-disconnect laws exist. While employees remain physically present, many are mentally hedging, disengaging, or preparing exit options. On the hiring front, reporting confirms that cold applying still leads to jobs, but hiring systems are buckling under massive application volume and collapsing signal quality. Finally, a viral backlash calling to "fire 90% of HR" exposes a deeper trust and legitimacy crisis, raising hard questions about whether HR functions are delivering outcomes that match today's pace of change.

Scaling a massive workforce culture often fails because the big-picture strategy never reaches the people on the front line. What is the real secret to consistent growth future-ready leaders should know to scale culture within a massive organization of 130,000 employees? In this episode, I sat down with Chipotle COO Jason Kidd to explore how culture actually scales through systems, standards, and leadership discipline. Jason breaks down the discipline of "mastering the mundane," a strategy that ensures every department—from the CHRO to marketing and finance—is perfectly aligned to support the front line. We discussed how Chipotle achieves an incredible 80–90% internal promotion rate for General Managers by identifying "happy people" with a competitive drive and utilising "Avacado," more often called "Ava," their AI-driven recruitment assistant, to remove friction from the hiring process. For executive leaders, Jason provides a masterclass in granular succession planning, revealing how they forecast leadership needs up to four years in advance to sustain rapid growth. This episode highlights that while technology like AI serves as a powerful "assist," the human touch and leadership intuition remain the essential ingredients for scaling a high-performance culture.   ---------- 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  

Most organizations aren't shaping the future of work, they're chasing it. In this episode, I share what CHROs admit privately but rarely say out loud: HR has become reactive, stuck in firefighting mode, and focused on looking good instead of doing what actually drives results. Traditional HR metrics are backward-looking, accountability has eroded, and the pendulum has swung dangerously toward entitlement. This isn't about blaming employees. It's about restoring honesty, balance, and courage in leadership. Because work is a value exchange—and when leaders are afraid to say that, both performance and culture suffer. The future of work doesn't need more perks. It needs leaders willing to tell the truth.

January 8, 2026:  In today's episode of Future Ready Today, I break down the most important future-of-work stories shaping how work is actually changing right now. I look at new research showing workers rank AI as one of the top forces shaping their workplace — even as pay and work-life balance remain their biggest concerns. I examine why Amazon is tightening its performance review process and asking employees to clearly articulate what they accomplished, and what that says about accountability making a quiet comeback at work. I also dig into new labor data showing more Americans are working multiple jobs than at any time since 1999, what LinkedIn's latest talent research reveals about a growing confidence gap in the workforce, and why falling job openings matter more than the headlines suggest. Taken together, these stories paint a picture of a labor market where expectations are rising, pressure is increasing, and work is becoming less forgiving — even as many workers feel less prepared to navigate what comes next.

January 7, 2026: Nearly a decade ago, I wrote The Employee Experience Advantage to challenge organizations to move beyond perks, surveys, and surface-level engagement. Since then, employee experience has become a top priority—but in many cases, we've lost sight of what it actually means. In this episode, I share why post-pandemic workplace strategies focused on "giving everything to everyone" were unsustainable, how accountability and performance quietly disappeared, and why great employee experience isn't about making work easy—it's about enabling people to grow, contribute, and do meaningful work. I also explain why employee experience is a leadership responsibility, not an HR program, and introduce a futurist framework built from conversations with over 100 CHROs around the world to help organizations design workplaces that are human, challenging, and future-ready. If you're trying to cut through the noise and rethink what employee experience should look like for the next decade, this episode will help reset your perspective.

January 6, 2026: Is AI actually increasing productivity — or just shifting responsibility without reward? In this episode of Future Ready Today, I unpack seven of the most important future-of-work stories shaping leadership decisions right now. From why Gen Z is entering the workforce anxious about AI, to new evidence that AI can slow work down instead of speeding it up, to the rise of empowered employees quietly ignoring return-to-office mandates, this episode explores what's really changing beneath the surface. I look at why the U.S. government is reviving apprenticeships, how AI is enabling four-day workweeks only when leaders redesign work intentionally, why flexibility debates have shifted from where work happens to when it happens, and how expanding responsibility without expanding pay is setting the stage for the next trust crisis at work.

When a longtime CEO steps down, it's not just a change in leadership—it's a shift in the organization's heartbeat. After 40 years of service, Williams faced exactly that moment: a legacy to honor, a culture to protect, and a future to build. But how do you preserve stability while ushering in transformation? In this episode, Debbie Pickle, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer at Williams, talks about orchestrating a seamless CEO succession  after long tenures and the CHRO's pivotal role in managing the culture, priorities, and structure during these executive transitions. She walks through creating a CEO Resource Guide, using tools like Hogan Assessments, 360 feedback, and development plans to prepare candidates, and crafting a thoughtful 30–60–90-day plan for the incoming CEO. Debbie also shares how Williams redefined its core values and replaced its mission and vision with a purpose statement, all while aligning the board of directors through strong governance principles like "noses in, fingers out." CHROs will learn all tips into managing leadership transitions through feedback loop, the importance of continuous learning during change, and how to become a true strategic partner and CEO whisperer in the organization. You'll learn how to guide your company through its next defining leadership chapter and balance what's changing vs. what's staying the same.   ---------- 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

The world of work didn't just change, it fundamentally broke the old rules. Forget just 'adapting'—this episode is your essential guide to understanding the radical shifts currently squeezing CHROs and how to build a team that can truly withstand them. In this special episode, we revisit three of our most important conversations from the past year. Entrepreneur and author Mark Matson reframes the American Dream for the modern workplace, revealing how distorted mindsets—entitlement, resentment, and "juicy victimhood"—are limiting performance more than circumstances ever could, and what leaders can do to revive accountability and ownership. Endurance expert and best-selling author Alex Hutchinson shows how the science of athletic training applies directly to leadership today, from managing chronic stress to sustaining creativity and peak performance. And Stephen Schmidt, Chief Security Officer at Amazon, breaks down why the biggest AI threats aren't technical at all, but human—rooted in behavior, trust, and a lack of guardrails. Together, these segments surface a simple truth: the future belongs to leaders who can build personal responsibility, manage stress like an athlete, and create a culture strong enough to withstand the risks of an AI-powered world.   ________________ 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—preorder a copy here: 8EXlaws.com  

December 24, 2025:  The systems we've relied on to organize work are starting to crack. In this episode of Future Ready Today, we unpack four stories that reveal how deeply work is being reshaped — often in ways leaders aren't prepared for. AI was supposed to make hiring fairer and faster, but instead it's flooding employers with indistinguishable candidates and eroding trust in the hiring process. Workers are debating whether flexibility is worth a massive pay cut, exposing a deeper shift in how people value time, money, and quality of life. LinkedIn's CEO argues that five-year career plans are now outdated as skills evolve faster than organizations can plan for. And inside offices, introverts are pushing back on collaboration models designed for visibility rather than outcomes — raising hard questions about accommodation, performance, and accountability. Together, these stories point to a larger truth: work is moving away from rigid structures and toward adaptability, learning velocity, and human judgment. The future of work won't be defined by perks, policies, or platforms — it will be shaped by how well organizations redesign hiring, careers, and culture for a world of constant change.   ---------- Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

December 23, 2025:  AI is moving from experiment to expectation at record speed, but employees say leadership hasn't built the systems needed to support it. Remote work is quietly becoming a privilege instead of a right. And a growing number of professionals are reclaiming Sundays as deep-work days because weekdays have become fragmented and unproductive. In this episode, we examine four stories that reveal a powerful shift underway: the future of work is no longer about where or when people work — it's about who has leverage, who controls their time, and which organizations can redesign work fast enough to keep up. If you want to understand what's really changing beneath the headlines, this episode connects the dots.   ---------- 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

For many leaders, "transformation at scale" feels like an impossible task—especially when employees are overwhelmed, technology is accelerating, and expectations about the future of work keep shifting. But Norfolk Southern has done this successfully in one of the toughest environments imaginable: a 200-year-old freight railroad with a safety-sensitive, unionized workforce. And in this episode, you'll hear how. Annie Adams, CHRO and former Chief Transformation Officer, shows what operational excellence powered by AI really looks like in practice. You'll learn how she led a headquarters relocation to Atlanta, built a future-ready corporate headquarters around employee experience, and used guiding principles like clear communication, leader toolkits, and discretionary effort to manage transformation fatigue. Annie dives into how Norfolk Southern "puts the AI in railroad" through innovations like digital train inspection portals, machine vision, on-edge computing, and 75+ algorithms that turn "finders into fixers." She also breaks down how their data science team uses predictive maintenance to model track wear, how giving frontline employees mobile tools has improved the way work gets done, and how Copilot is helping leaders make sense of 26,000+ employee survey comments. She shares cultural anchors like their SPIRIT values and the iconic Lake Pontchartrain recovery story that reveals the company's deep commitment to innovation and purpose. ________________ 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

December 19, 2025:  Workers are hesitating before changing jobs. Parents are questioning whether college is still worth the cost. Talent shortages persist even as hiring slows. And U.S. regulators are signaling a major shift in how companies approach DEI. In this episode, we explore six key future-of-work stories shaping how people think about careers, education, productivity, and fairness at work. From new data on job mobility and workforce policy to early recession signals and changing attitudes toward vocational paths, these stories reveal a workforce moving from confidence to caution—and from slogans to systems.   ---------- Stop patching problems and start designing an intentional workplace. The 8 Laws of Employee Experience gives you the how. Preorder your copy: 8EXlaws.com

https://bit.ly/8exlawsDecember 18, 2025:  Is artificial intelligence already replacing jobs—or is that narrative getting ahead of the data? This episode examines new research from Vanguard's 2026 Economic and Market Outlook, which analyzes U.S. employment and wage data to understand how AI exposure is actually affecting work today. Contrary to widespread fears, the findings show that jobs most exposed to AI—including analysts, accountants, HR professionals, and other knowledge workers—are not disappearing. They are growing. And real wages in those roles are rising faster than in jobs with lower AI exposure. The episode explores why AI is currently acting as a productivity amplifier rather than a job killer, how this phase mirrors earlier waves of technological change, and where the real risks are beginning to emerge. It also looks ahead to the implications for workforce design, skill development, and career pathways—especially as AI reshapes entry-level work and raises performance expectations across organizations. For leaders, executives, and professionals trying to separate AI hype from reality, this episode offers a grounded, data-driven view of what's happening now—and what signals to watch next in the future of work.   ---------- If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder now: 8EXlaws.com

December 17, 2025: Gartner's 2026 HR trends reveal how AI adoption is outpacing people systems and managerial readiness; Ford scales back parts of its electric vehicle strategy as regulatory pressure, legacy infrastructure, and workforce realities collide; white-collar job markets tighten while demand grows for skilled, non-automatable work; rising job anxiety spreads across professional roles as career certainty erodes; companies accelerate skills-based hiring as college degrees lose signaling power; and the UK passes a major Employment Rights Bill aimed at reducing job precarity by expanding worker protections and limiting unstable work arrangements.   ---------- Looking for what actually moves the needle on performance and retention? It's in The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

AI is failing most companies, trapping employees in digital exhaustion. The real problem isn't the technology, but the organization itself. Forget fixing your models—the path to true transformation is redesigning your workflows, structure, and human collaboration to finally work with AI. In this episode, Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute at Glean, unpacks insights from the Work Transformation 100 study, revealing what 100+ leaders, technologists, and researchers are doing differently to make AI actually work. You'll learn how AI needs to be embedded in the flow of work, why organizational structure eats AI for breakfast, how centralization and decentralization must coexist, and how leaders can avoid automating the soul of work by preserving ownership, creativity, and accountability. Rebecca breaks down the emerging collaboration between HR and IT, the rise of agentic workflows, the role of telemetry data in measuring AI adoption, and why flattening org charts for the sake of AI often backfires. She also shares real examples of bottom-up and top-down AI change, the impact of digital exhaustion, and the critical importance of redesigning processes and incentives before redesigning technology. This episode is every CHRO's playbook to lead AI transformation with human insight, organizational clarity, and people-first strategy, not hype.   ________________ This Episode is sponsored by Glean: The AI Transformation 100 is here — Glean's Work AI Institute reveals what's really working with AI at work The AI Transformation 100, authored by Dr. Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute at Glean and Stanford's Bob Sutton surfaces 100 hard-won lessons from leaders actually deploying AI at scale. It's not about what AI could do — it's about what works, what fails, and what companies have to get right to make AI real. One takeaway: AI doesn't fix broken systems. It amplifies them. ________________ 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

December 12, 2025: Recent data shows unemployment for new college graduates is now higher than the overall workforce — an unusual and troubling signal that entry-level work is breaking down. At the same time, OpenAI's GPT-5.2 marks a shift from AI as a helper to AI as a task owner, reshaping how professional work gets done and raising hard questions about jobs, accountability, and career paths. We also explore why AI is dramatically expanding the role of the CHRO, turning HR leaders into architects of human-AI collaboration, and how "ghostworking" is emerging as outdated productivity metrics collide with modern knowledge work. Finally, a Microsoft executive draws a rare line in the sand, saying AI development should stop if it threatens humanity — highlighting the growing leadership challenge of governance, judgment, and restraint.   ---------- If you lead people, you design experiences—do it on purpose with The 8 Laws of Employee Experience. Preorder now: 8EXlaws.com