Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

An accidental leak of a supercharged AI model raises cybersecurity and enterprise risk questions. Leaders warn that AI agents are being built as coworkers instead of workflow tools. A major bank now makes AI adoption a measurable performance requirement for tens of thousands of engineers. A new survey highlights Gen Z's push for both logout culture and seats in the C-suite.

A landmark court ruling links addictive platform design to legal liability and explores how that logic could reach enterprise AI. Big Tech pay is being restructured as base raises pause and equity becomes central. Data shows 95% of job listings omit AI, revealing uneven adoption across roles. A looming shortage of electricians and trades raises alarms about the physical infrastructure needed for AI's growth.

They unpack reverse recruiting and the staggering 863 applications per hire phenomenon. They explore an AI doom loop that floods hiring systems and how skills-based, human-centered hiring could win. A huge ADP survey reveals widespread job insecurity and shows skills investment boosts employee safety. They examine Microsoft’s HR overhaul and what structural changes mean for the future of work.

Three major reports paint a complex picture of AI and work right now. CFOs report little job impact in 2025 but predict concentrated losses in clerical roles. A productivity paradox shows perceived AI gains without matching revenue. User fluency matters: experienced AI users outperform newcomers. College graduates feel unusually pessimistic about entry-level opportunities and shifting role requirements.

Amy Coleman, Microsoft EVP and Chief People Officer who leads global people strategy, talks culture, reskilling, and responsible AI. She explores why AI demands unlearning and a growth mindset. Short takes cover embedding tech into HR, large-scale reskilling and talent redeployment, keeping human judgment central, and increasing leader closeness to maintain trust during rapid change.

March 20, 2026: The White House dropped its national AI legislative framework today — I go through the whole thing, because there's a provision about preempting state AI laws that is one of the most consequential things to happen in AI policy in years. A columnist at The Sunday Times made an argument that stopped me: the real AI risk isn't losing your job — it's what happens to your retirement if AI disrupts your career at 50 instead of 30. Most people aren't thinking about it this way. They should be. Jensen Huang proposed paying engineers in AI tokens worth half their salary, on top of cash. I explain what tokens are, why elite engineers are leaving high-paying jobs over GPU access, and what it means that the unit of value in the AI economy is shifting from time to compute. The New York Times is calling it tokenmaxxing. And JPMorgan deployed AI to monitor junior bankers' hours — not because they're over-reporting, but because they're deliberately hiding how much they're actually working. Watch the full episode on YouTube ---------- 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 a copy here: 8EXlaws.com

March 19, 2026: Jensen Huang had one of the biggest weeks in tech at Nvidia's GTC — but his sharpest line wasn't about chips. When asked why companies are laying off workers, he said simply: because they're out of imagination. We unpack what that means, plus his surprise take on compensation from the All-In podcast. Then Cognizant drops a bombshell update to its 2023 workforce study: 93% of jobs impacted by AI, $4.5 trillion in labor shifting to machines, six years ahead of schedule. Their own words: "We underestimated the technology." But two CEOs are pushing back on the doom narrative — Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick says humans will be "super fine" until AGI arrives, and Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi argues the demand for human labor isn't going anywhere, and has the data to back it up. We close with JPMorgan Chase's 2026 tech trends report and the concept quietly reshaping what leaders actually do: context engineering. Watch the full episode on YouTube ---------- 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 18, 2026: Two-thirds of CEOs are freezing hiring while betting billions on AI — and a gender economist argues they're cutting the very people needed to make those bets pay off. A 7,000-word Substack essay imagined a "Ghost GDP" collapse by 2028, moved the Dow 800 points, and sparked a Wall Street war between Citrini Research and Citadel Securities over whether AI job fears are real or overblown. Management consulting was supposed to be dead by now — Capgemini's strategy chief explains why it's not, and why the shift to outcome-based billing may be the more disruptive story. And Microsoft's chief scientist says the degree with the worst starting salaries may be the most future-ready credential in the age of AI. Sources: Fortune, Bloomberg, Fortune Eye on AI. Watch full video on YouTube ---------- 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 17, 2026: Five major AI models shipped in a single week in February. Your company's training budget grew 5%. Cathie Wood told Bloomberg this morning that AI is already pushing productivity above trend and projects it hits 6% annually — Goldman Sachs says there's no macro evidence of it yet. Both can be right, and today we explain why. Plus: FedEx's blueprint for an AI agent workforce across 50% of its operations, the real argument against traditional corporate training programs, and the full financial math on Meta's reported 15,000-person layoff — including whether the company leaked it on purpose to let Wall Street price in $160 billion in market cap before a single cut is confirmed.

Emily Field, Chief People Officer at LPL Financial and former McKinsey partner, describes her shift into people leadership and her 30-day listening tour. She outlines a People Leader Operating System, a talent flywheel from hire to retire, a 50/50 performance split for outcomes and values, and using AI as a superpower while preserving human judgment.