Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

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.

They unpack why AI can be far more expensive than companies expect, from runaway compute bills to hidden infrastructure overhead. They contrast hiring strategies as some firms cut jobs while others like Tesla add people anticipating huge productivity gains. They explore autonomous agents already applying for jobs and the governance and HR blind spots that create legal and identity risks.

March 12, 2026: Companies are failing to communicate the real promise and potential of AI to their people. Sam Altman stood in front of BlackRock and admitted nobody knows what to do about the labor-capital shift AI is creating. At Morgan Stanley's TMT Conference, the dominant investor question was what AI means for the next generation of workers — and the anxiety in that room is trickling down into every organization. Axios published data showing white-collar job cuts have been compounding for three years, giving employees every reason to be pessimistic. Gen Z is bringing parents to job interviews and planning early retirement in their 40s — two symptoms of a generation that has stopped believing the employment system will work for them. And Fast Company makes the case that women over 50 are the most undervalued workforce asset in the AI age — a missed opportunity hiding in plain sight.

Workers at a major retailer say internal AI tools are increasing surveillance and creating more work, not less. A tech giant openly links AI to headcount cuts while balancing heavy debt. Founders are planning exits amid an AI-driven consolidation wave. The century-old unemployment system is failing to reach most displaced workers, raising urgent policy concerns.

March 10, 2026: AI is generating real, measurable productivity gains at major companies. Workers aren't seeing any of it. A new survey of 100 major CEOs finds only 9% plan to cut jobs because of AI this year — but buried inside that optimistic headline is an admission about ROI that changes the entire picture. China just launched the most ambitious society-wide AI employment push in history, betting that the technology creates more jobs than it destroys with 300 million retirements on the horizon. Fortune has the one metric CEOs are now using to quietly recalculate how many humans they actually need — and most employees have never heard of it. And Mercor, a $10 billion startup, is paying doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers hundreds of dollars an hour to train the AI that may eventually replace them.

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. ---------- 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

A deep dive into the messy February jobs collapse and which industries actually shed workers. Sector-by-sector breakdowns reveal how AI, tariffs, retirements and geopolitics are squeezing the labor market. A culture clash at a major rideshare company sparks debate about demanding workplaces. A survey finds chatbots everywhere but real AI workflow integration remains rare, prompting warnings about premature cuts.

A data-driven look at how AI is reshaping hiring and entry-level opportunities, including a striking 14% drop in hires for 22–25-year-olds in AI-exposed roles. Discussion of research linking minimum wage hikes to faster robot adoption and global automation trends. Examination of observed AI usage versus theoretical capability and concerns about who captures the gains and what that means for future work.