75% of AI Strategies Are for Show. Is Yours?

A former Lululemon CIO just said the quiet part out loud — and Steve thinks every executive needs to hear it.

This week, Steve digs into Julie Averill's New York Times opinion piece on what's actually happening with AI inside real companies. Averill spent eight years as CIO at Lululemon and thirty years in tech before that, so this isn't sideline commentary. It's someone who took the vendor meetings, ran the pilots, and felt the board pressure.

Steve unpacks her two big ideas: AI wishing — treating the technology like a magic wand that lets you skip the hard work of fixing messy data and broken systems — and AI washing, where companies under pressure describe what they hope will happen as if it already had. The numbers are sobering: 95% of enterprise generative AI pilots never delivered results, 75% of executives admit their AI strategy is more for show, and roughly a third of hiring managers who cut a role because of AI have already rehired for it.

Plus: why layoffs announced in the name of AI efficiency are often just moving work onto the people who stay, why 44% of Gen Z workers say they're actively sabotaging their company's AI rollout, and the autopilot analogy Steve keeps coming back to — AI holds the course, but people know where you're going and why.

Two questions to take into your week: What did that vendor actually ask about your business? And have you redesigned the work before cutting the role?

Links:

• Julie Averill, "I Helped Run Lululemon. Companies Need to Stop Kidding Themselves About A.I." — The New York Times, Aug 3, 2026
• MIT Project NANDA report (via Fortune): https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/
• Challenger, Gray & Christmas May job cuts report: https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-report-may-job-cuts-rise-16-from-april-highest-may-total-since-2020/
• Robert Half May 2026 labor market update: https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/may-2026-labor-market-update-for-employers-and-job-seekers
• Writer + Workplace Intelligence enterprise AI adoption survey: https://writer.com/blog/enterprise-ai-adoption-2026/

Business Insider dropped a story this week that might be the most important workplace story of 2026 — and it's not about what Amazon is building with AI. It's about what they're being forced to tear down.

Amazon is winding down its flagship AI models, shutting its long-term AI research lab, and laying off some of the most sought-after technical talent in the company — the same team they created a special pay scale just to hire. All of this, less than three years after CEO Andy Jassy stood on stage and championed the very strategy they're now unwinding.

Steve breaks down why this matters far beyond Amazon: if one of the best-funded, most talent-rich companies on the planet is still rewriting its AI playbook in real time, then no one — not you, not your competitors, not the "experts" — actually has this figured out. This episode is about why feeling behind on AI is the wrong frame, why recalibrating your strategy is a sign of strength (not failure), and what leaders should actually do when the ground keeps shifting under their feet.

🎧 10 minutes. One hard truth: behind only means something when somebody else is ahead.

This week I connect that standard to something quietly telling: OpenAI and Anthropic, the two companies insisting AI is about to remake white-collar work, needed to walk into real organizations and make hard calls about how work actually gets done. They didn't hand that job to a model. They partnered with McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, and Accenture. Humans they trust.

I break down the three questions I use to decide when trust is actually in the room versus when I'm being paid to paper over the fact that it isn't. And I make the case that walking away from paid work is a privilege — which is exactly why it matters more, not less, for those of us who can actually afford to do it.

Is there a line you've actually walked away from money over, or just one you tell yourself you'd hold?

Everyone is afraid AI is coming for the jobs. But what if we've been afraid of the wrong number?

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Bank of England, and the Bundesbank surveyed nearly 6,000 senior executives across four economies — and found that more than 90% reported no impact on employment from AI over the past three years. These aren't skeptics. Nearly 70% of them are already using the technology.

So why does the narrative keep running ahead of the data?

In this episode, Steve Cadigan unpacks what the research actually says, why central banks are the right source to trust, and what the real jobs crisis looks like — a projected shortfall of 800 million jobs for young people entering the workforce over the next decade.

The question isn't whether to fear AI. It's whether leaders are going to play defense or offense with it — and whether anyone is going to raise their hand on the job creation challenge that's already here.

In this solo episode, Steve digs into new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a source with nothing to sell — that ties roughly 64% of rising unemployment among young grads not to AI, but to remote work. The finding that stopped him cold: when teams spread out, the everyday coaching that turns a 23-year-old into a capable professional didn't move to another channel. It just disappeared.

Steve unpacks why nobody noticed, how a thousand small rational decisions quietly pulled up the on-ramp for early-career workers, and why "AI does that work now" became a more flattering story than "we couldn't figure out how to develop people from a distance." Then he goes one layer deeper — past remote work to the short-termism driving companies to mortgage the next decade for this quarter's numbers.

The good news? If we pulled mentorship out, we're also the ones who can put it back. Here's how.

🎧 ~10 minutes. Got thoughts? Find Steve on LinkedIn — he wants to hear from you.

In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks what that number actually means (and what gets misread about it), why the AI skills shortage is real, and the three paths companies take when they feel the pressure to "do something" about AI: tell people to figure it out, train and develop their own, or hire AI talent while quietly shrinking everyone else.

Backed by the data — Gloat's 144% jump in AI postings, roughly three open AI roles for every qualified person, and ManpowerGroup finding 72% of employers across 41 countries can't find the skills they need — Steve makes the case that the durable answer isn't a skill at all. It's a talent strategy built on constant learning.

The takeaway, straight from the Workquake thesis: AI capacity can be bought. Human capacity has to be built. Only one of those compounds.

If this got you thinking, share it with a colleague — especially the one rewriting their workforce plan right now — and find Steve on LinkedIn to tell him what you're seeing out there.

The average U.S. manager now has 12.1 direct reports — up nearly 50% in just twelve years. Meta is running new teams at 50-to-1. Nvidia's Jensen Huang famously keeps 60 people reporting directly to him. The "flatter is better" playbook is rolling downhill from CEOs to first-line managers, and in this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks what that's actually costing us.

Drawing on his nearly four decades in HR — including building LinkedIn's people function during its hypergrowth years — Steve makes the case that the first-line manager isn't overhead. It's infrastructure. They're the layer that catches the quiet drowner on a Tuesday, invests real time in a new hire, and has the hard performance conversation while there's still time to help. That's the connective tissue of an organization. And it's the first thing that disappears when you double a manager's span.

The data backs him up. Gallup reports manager engagement fell nine points between 2022 and 2025, and for the first time in decades of tracking, managers no longer hold an engagement edge over the people they lead. Korn Ferry found 41% of companies thinned management layers in 2025 alone. The Optimism Company found 75% of managers report extreme burnout, with more than one in four planning to leave within the year. Gartner found 69% of HR leaders say their managers don't have the skills to lead through change — and that's before full AI integration even lands.

Steve also pushes back on the AI assumption driving much of the flattening: yes, AI absorbs coordination work, but it doesn't absorb relational work — the judgment, trust, and read on a person that only builds over time. That still takes a human with room to do it. And at the exact moment we're doubling managers' spans, leadership development investment is at an all-time low.

In this episode:

• Why the "megamanager" trend is being copied from CEOs down to first-line managers — and why that's a category error
• The Gallup, Korn Ferry, Gartner, and Optimism Company data showing the layer that does the human work is breaking
• What "connective tissue" really means, and why it never shows up as a problem until it's already gone
• The three questions every leader should ask before flattening their org chart again
• Why the companies that compound through this decade won't be the ones with the flattest structure — they'll be the ones who protected and prepared the people doing the work that has no calendar invite

If you're a CHRO, people leader, founder, or first-line manager navigating restructuring, AI-driven cost pressure, or expanding spans of control, this episode is for you.

Connect with Steve: Find Steve Cadigan on LinkedIn — he reads everything.

Enjoyed the episode? Rate Workquake Weekly on your podcast platform of choice and share it with a colleague — especially the leader who just flattened their org.

#FutureOfWork #Leadership #Management #HR #EmployeeEngagement #WorkplaceCulture #AIatWork #Workquake

Steve breaks down: why dropping degree requirements barely moved the needle on who actually gets hired (fewer than 1 in 700 hires affected), why 55% of HR leaders regret their AI-driven layoffs and one in three companies are now spending more on rehiring than they ever saved, and why a 40% collapse in entry-level tech hiring is quietly mortgaging the leadership pipeline of 2035.

The thread tying it together: companies are making decisions that look smart this quarter but will look like obvious mistakes a decade from now.

10 minutes. No fluff. Find Steve on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.

What if the biggest misunderstanding in the workplace today isn’t about AI, remote work, or even talent shortages… but about loyalty?

In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in leadership: that employees should be loyal to organizations, even as the terms of employment have fundamentally changed.

From companies reducing entry-level roles in anticipation of AI, to return-to-office mandates pushing top performers out the door, the signals are everywhere. The traditional “loyalty in exchange for security” contract no longer reflects reality. And yet, many organizations are still operating as if it does.

Steve unpacks what he calls the “Employer Loyalty Paradox” and explores why this disconnect continues to persist… even when both employers and employees know the old model is broken.

Drawing on his experience as LinkedIn’s first Chief HR Officer, Steve shares the story behind the “Tour of Duty” approach… a more transparent, growth-focused model that reframes the employer-employee relationship around mutual value, not false promises.

You’ll hear why:

• Retention may no longer be the best measure of success

• Growth and employability are becoming the real currency of work

• Organizations that embrace shorter tenures can actually create more value

• The future of work depends on honesty, not nostalgia

This episode is a call for leaders to rethink what they’re really offering… and what employees are actually agreeing to.

Because the problem isn’t that loyalty is gone.

It’s that the contract behind it hasn’t caught up.

And the organizations willing to rewrite that contract… are the ones that will win.

Tune in for a candid, practical, and optimistic take on what comes next.

No manager conversation. No handoff. Just: you're done, your access is revoked.

Steve has been through dozens of staff reductions in his career — and this one hit differently. Not because of the number, but because of what the process communicated. In this episode, he breaks down why the Oracle move is a leadership failure dressed up as a technology decision, what every major tech shift has taught us about the human cost of "deploy first, figure people out later" — and why the organizations that will win with AI are asking a completely different question than everyone else.

The research is clear. The logic is there. So why aren't more executive teams listening?

The answer is becoming clearer.

Roles built around human and AI collaboration are growing fast, while purely automated roles are shrinking. But the real story isn’t job loss or job growth. It’s how the work itself is changing.

Steve walks through what this shift looks like in practice, from financial analysts spending less time gathering data and more time making decisions, to organizations redefining what productivity and value actually mean.

But there’s a tension emerging.

As companies lean into augmentation, entry-level opportunities are quietly declining, especially in AI-exposed fields. Steve challenges this instinct and asks a bigger question. If AI is unlocking capacity across organizations, why are we using it to do less instead of more?

This episode explores:

• Why augmentation is winning over automation, and what that really means for leaders

• How AI is reshaping the day-to-day reality of knowledge work

• The unintended consequences for early-career talent

• Why shrinking roles may be the wrong response to increased capacity

• A powerful example of how one company bridged the gap between experienced and junior workers

Steve offers a grounded but optimistic perspective on what leaders can do next, and why this moment is less about efficiency and more about imagination.

Because the real opportunity isn’t just improving what already exists. It’s building what comes next.

Harvard Business School — "Displacement or Complementarity? The Labor Market Impact of Generative AI" — Suraj Srinivasan, Wilbur Xinyuan Chen, Saleh Zakerinia. Covered in Harvard Business Review, March 2026. https://hbr.org/2026/03/research-how-ai-is-changing-the-labor-marketFederal Reserve Bank of Dallas — "AI is simultaneously aiding and replacing workers, wage data suggest" — J. Scott Davis, February 2026. https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2026/0224McKinsey & Company — "The State of AI in 2025: How Organizations Are Rewiring to Capture Value" — Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, Bryce Hall, Lareina Yee, Michael Chui, November 2025. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai

In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan explores a new research tool released by AI company Anthropic designed to detect when AI is displacing workers across occupations. On the surface, it sounds like responsible foresight. But Steve asks a deeper question: if we’re building sophisticated systems to track job loss, why aren’t we building equally powerful tools to track job enrichment?

Drawing on new surveys from Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, and others, Steve looks at the growing anxiety among Gen Z and Millennial workers who are trying to adapt quickly to AI while hearing mixed signals from the companies building it. At the same time, he highlights the massive investments companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Google are making in reskilling millions of workers around the world.

This episode explores the real challenge leaders face today: not just managing disruption, but shaping a more balanced and hopeful narrative about how AI can expand human potential at work.

Because the future of work isn’t something that just happens to us. It’s something we shape.

• Why panic isn’t the answer—and what questions leaders should be asking instead

• How “talent velocity” (a concept highlighted in a recent LinkedIn report) puts learning security ahead of job security

• Why AI adoption isn’t a sprint but a human-centered learning cycle

• Practical examples from AT&T, Unilever, and Guild on building internal learning pathways and talent marketplaces

• Four focus areas for leaders: speeding up learning, safe experimentation, rewarding curiosity, and redesigning roles for ongoing development

Tune in to replace anxiety with real confidence, and discover how to build organizations that move at the pace of human capability—not just the technology curve.

https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/talent-velocity-report

Steve breaks down why today’s healthcare system has become so entrenched—and so maddeningly hard to fix—touching on politics, economics, insurance, technology, and fear. He then connects the dots to the workplace, showing how healthcare costs distort career mobility, fuel job-lock, and even clash with the adaptability we tout in the age of AI.

Tune in for practical steps leaders can take right now to acknowledge this pressure, rethink benefits conversations, and share risk more thoughtfully within their organizations.

Key Takeaway:

It’s time to stop treating healthcare as an afterthought. By facing these costs head-on, leaders can help unleash the very innovation and agility they expect from their teams.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow the podcast, and leave a review so you don’t miss future insights. And if you’ve read my book Workquake, I’d really appreciate you taking a minute to leave a review on Amazon—your support helps keep the conversation going. See you next Friday.

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/aca-health-insurance-cost-subsidies-expire-37a595a9?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcQ7hAaSlDjbCAqfsAQMOwm1hC6_7vzfnGefpGP4BIzLzcna72YedGU9kXGyCw%3D&gaa_ts=697a76f5&gaa_sig=wcby4hKof7dCDgOEZnZEaEP0NX8WO6sJ_c0ALGjs9IBt4--ExX_qSz1hGW4jjzh-AjFGTxjcNNA8GAjfDLTNOA%3D%3D

What You Will Learn

• Why this case centers on design decisions, not just user behavior

• How business models shape engagement and risk

• The seatbelt analogy and what it teaches about cultural change

• Practical questions leaders should ask before shipping new tech

• Why thoughtful beats fastest in the long run

Steve reframes the AI conversation as a cultural challenge, not a technical one. If AI is only a cost play, your team will feel it. If AI is an enabler of more meaningful work, they will feel that too. You will hear how to set a clear belief about AI, how to fuel your pioneers rather than convince your skeptics, and how to stop outsourcing strategy to headlines.

You will learn:

• Why waiting for best practices keeps you behind.

• How to state your personal belief about AI and lead from it.

• How to use AI to elevate people, not squeeze them.

• How to anchor decisions in what is truest for your team, not what is newest in the newsfeed.

Try this week:

• The Meaning Audit: does your AI plan create more time for meaningful work, or just more work?

• Map Your Pioneers: find three early adopters using AI already, interview them, and channel their energy into your broader culture.

If this episode helps clear the fog, follow, share, and leave a review. And if you want to compare notes or talk about your own AI beliefs, connect with Steve on LinkedIn.

New Year’s resolutions rarely stick because they start with wishes, not reality. In this episode, Steve Cadigan shares a simple, honest alternative he learned from Tim Ferriss, the Past Year Review. Instead of guessing what to change, you look back at what actually happened, who and what gave you energy, and what quietly drained you. From there, you make small, meaningful adjustments that fit real life, at work and at home.

In this episode

• A 4 step Past Year Review you can do in under an hour

• Why energy, not time, is the real constraint

• How to spot patterns in your calendar and protect what matters

• Practical ways to set boundaries, say yes with intention, and build in joy on purpose

Perfect for leaders, parents, and anyone ready to design a year that feels aligned, not performative.

If you enjoy the show, follow Workquake Weekly and leave a quick review. It helps more people find these conversations.

You’ll hear why centralized control collapses under modern complexity, how leadership can be a behavior instead of a title, and exactly where to start if you’ve built your career on being the hub for every decision. Expect concrete moves you can try this week, like rotating who leads meetings, pushing decisions to the edges, removing one bottleneck, and running short retros to learn quickly.

If the NBA can evolve, so can your team. This is the Workquake in action, and the future belongs to leaders who design for speed, autonomy, and trust.

You’ll learn:

• Why growth goals outperform cost cutting in AI initiatives

• How workflow redesign becomes the strongest predictor of impact

• What high performers prioritize across industries, from personalization to agentic systems

• The people moves that matter most, including reskilling and leader literacy

• How to shift the narrative so employees feel enhanced, not reduced

Takeaway:

The best AI strategies are talent strategies. Start with value creation, redesign the work, invest in hybrid human–AI skills, and measure outcomes, not pilot activity.

McKinsey AI Report 2025 : https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai

• The early-career “handshake deal” is dissolving: students do the work, the system returns silence.

• Push factors (ghosting, black-hole processes) are beating corporate pull factors.

• Covid-shaped grads are unusually adaptive and entrepreneurial.

• Leaders must redesign the first mile of work: responsive communication, real projects, faster feedback.

• Families can champion experimentation, portfolios, and non-linear paths.

• Wall Street Journal article by Lindsay Ellis, “Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five Years.”https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/2026-graduates-job-market-7928bcd7?st=Lbd1QE&reflink=article_copyURL_share

You’ll hear about:

• Why growing confidence in AI can mask complacency and confusion

• How leadership pressure for speed can crowd out reflection

• Simple prompts to bring curiosity, context, and healthy skepticism back into your workflow

Mentioned:

The New Yorker, “The Case That A.I. Is Thinking,” by James Somers.

Spoiler alert: it’s not.

Drawing on Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s recent comments that “AI can do the interns’ work, but leaders should still hire Gen Z,” Steve explores why cutting early-career roles is one of the most dangerous mistakes companies can make — and how it’s quietly dismantling the leadership ladder from the bottom up.

He shares lessons from his time building LinkedIn’s early-career hiring programs, explains the real culture cost of removing young talent, and makes the case for why Gen Z might be the generation best equipped to help organizations use AI more intelligently.

You’ll learn:

• Why the “AI took my job” narrative misses the real issue.

• How skipping entry-level hiring sabotages your future leadership pipeline.

• How to redesign early-career roles so humans and AI actually work better together.

• Why Gen Z could be your company’s best AI accelerators.

And as always, Steve leaves you with a Workquake Challenge to turn insight into action — by reimagining one role on your team for the age of AI.

Tone: Conversational, optimistic, and deeply human — this episode is a wake-up call for leaders who want to future-proof their culture and their talent.

🎙️ Workquake Weekly — helping you make sense of the chaos we call modern work… one short episode at a time.

https://fortune.com/2025/10/30/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-ai-can-do-intern-work-bosses-should-hire-gen-z-lose-management-automation-employment-hiring-advice/

In an age of nonstop change, AI disruption, and emotional overload, leaders aren’t just managing projects — they’re managing nervous systems. Steve explores why burnout today is less about weakness and more about biology, how disconnection shows up before disengagement, and what great leaders are doing differently to restore trust, calm, and meaning at work.

If you’re leading anyone — or just trying to stay grounded yourself — this episode is your reminder that being human isn’t a liability. It’s the advantage.

🎧 Listen in under 10 minutes — and start leading like it’s 2025, not 1999.

In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve explores how AI could finally repair our broken relationship with technology — if we let it. From burnout to trust, from productivity to potential, this is a call to leaders everywhere to rethink what “progress” really means.

Because the defining question of this era isn’t “How fast can we deploy AI?”

It’s “Will we use AI to bring people back — to creativity, curiosity, and possibility?”

Listen for practical hope and grounded wisdom on how leaders can make AI a force for human good.

What you’ll learn:

• Why many firms are moving away from 25/25/25/25

• How front-loaded equity changes behavior and incentives

• The role of refresher grants in rewarding real impact

• Risks to watch, from shorter cycles to signaling effects

• Practical questions to ask when evaluating an offer

Accenture’s Julie Sweet admits reskilling isn’t moving fast enough. Walmart’s Doug McMillon promises to guide employees “to the other side.” Both perspectives reveal a deeper tension: leaders are trying to look in control while racing to figure it out themselves.

Are companies really ready to upskill at scale? Or are they just cramming for the AI exam and hoping to pass?

In under 10 minutes, Steve unpacks what these CEO confessions mean for you, why fear-driven upskilling may backfire, and what to watch for in the next wave of earnings calls.

If your CEO sounds like they’re cramming… they are. And so are we.

Can you engineer human connection… with a script?

Steve unpacks Starbucks’ surprising move to give baristas more time to connect with customers — while also standardizing exactly how those connections should happen. It’s a fascinating case study in the delicate balancing act every leader is facing:

Speed vs. Humanity. Efficiency vs. Experience. Cost vs. Culture.

We explore:

• Why burnout is bad business — for employees and customers

• How scripting authenticity might backfire

• What Starbucks’ decision says about the broader evolution of work

• And how you can rethink what you’re optimizing for in your own organization

Whether you’re leading a team, designing employee experience, or just ordering your next oat milk latte… this episode will get you thinking about what really drives connection — and why that matters more than ever.

Tune in, reflect, and maybe look a little closer at your barista next time.

☕

If you enjoy the show, be sure to follow, rate, and leave a review. And if you’ve read Workquake, a review on Amazon goes a long way in helping others join the conversation. See you next Friday! https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/starbucks-barista-training-sales-b1f11395?st=unzGPP&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Inspired by Arthur Brooks’ recent article in Harvard Business Review, “You Need to Be Bored. Here’s Why,” Steve explores how boredom isn’t wasted time—it’s fertile ground for creativity, reflection, and even breakthrough ideas. From brain science to leadership strategy, Steve makes the case that embracing stillness might be the smartest move for anyone trying to innovate, lead, or simply think more clearly.

He also shares a personal story, practical tips, and one simple challenge to help you tap into your creative default mode.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, overstimulated, or just too busy to think—this episode might be the nudge you didn’t know you needed.

https://hbr.org/2025/08/you-need-to-be-bored-heres-why by Arthur C. Brooks

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by AI hype or unsure where to start, this episode offers clarity, encouragement, and a powerful mindset shift for navigating what’s next in work.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-email-ai-hidden-pattern-behind-tech-adoption-failure-umanah-gfmec

Steve connects this to earlier stigmas like online dating, then shifts the conversation to culture, identity, and how we define value when AI is always in the room. You’ll hear practical steps for leaders and teams, from setting norms on when and how AI can be used, to creating safe forums, to running low-stakes experiments that build confidence and transparency.

What you’ll take away:

• Why secrecy emerges when there is no playbook.

• How to talk about contribution and originality in an AI-assisted world.

• A simple starter plan for leaders and teams to make AI use normal, not taboo.

If you find this helpful, follow the show and leave a quick review to support the conversation.

You’ll hear:

• Why 27% isn’t the real headline

• How slowing down builds trust and better decisions

• Why human, not heroic, leadership wins

• Simple ways to create space, support, and clarity for managers

Takeaway: less noise, more depth. Create one meaningful pause this week, ask a better question, and give your team room to be heard.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow and leave a review. And if you’ve read Workquake, a quick Amazon review helps keep the conversation going. See you next Friday.

In this episode, Steve Cadigan digs into a surprising insight from recent research covered in Fast Company. Many people are opening up more to an AI coach than to a human one. Why would that be, and what does it mean for real coaches, leaders, and teams? Steve unpacks the idea of psychological safety wrapped in code, shares what he is seeing through Slate Advisers and their AI coach, Kai, and lays out where AI can help and where humans still shine. We also talk about the big caveat, privacy, and how to blend AI for breadth with humans for depth so coaching becomes more accessible and more effective.

Highlights: why people feel safer with a bot, what stays uniquely human, experiments you can try this week, and the privacy must-haves to earn trust.

Questions or want to learn more about Kai, email kai@teamslate.com.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Your support helps grow this conversation.

Steve Cadigan takes inspiration from Bill Belichick’s new book The Art of Winning—specifically Chapter 5, a masterclass in talent evaluation—and breaks down how the Patriots’ legendary coach built a dynasty by spotting potential others overlooked.

Forget résumés and star power. Belichick built his teams around grit, adaptability, and fit. And as Steve argues, it’s exactly the mindset modern leaders need now more than ever.

Tune in to learn:

• Why hiring for potential beats hiring for pedigree

• How to build roles around people—not the other way around

• The overlooked power of development-first cultures

• What NFL stars like Brady, Edelman, and Vrabel can teach us about seeing talent differently

Whether you’re building a team, leading a company, or just trying to unlock more from your people—this one’s for you.

And hey… if you’ve ever passed on someone who “wasn’t quite ready,” this episode might make you think twice.

In this week’s episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve unpacks two powerful articles—one from Sally Thornton at Forshay, and another by David Michels in Forbes—that both spotlight a surprising but critical truth: the real AI opportunity isn’t just about upskilling. It’s about skill visibility.

Steve explores why organizations are freezing instead of evolving, how outdated talent systems are holding us back, and what leaders at every level can do to move forward—one smart question at a time.

If you’re leading people, growing your own career, or just trying to make sense of the future of work, this one’s for you.

Inspired by a recent article in The Economist — “Does working from home kill company culture?” — Steve unpacks why this debate is still alive years after the pandemic “officially” ended, and why the return-to-office narrative isn’t as clear-cut as some leaders might think.

Key takeaways from the episode:

• Culture is complicated. Everyone agrees it’s important… but no one fully agrees on what it is. Is it energy? Values? Trust? Decision speed? That ambiguity makes it a tough scapegoat for in-office mandates.

• The data tells a different story. Research from the University of Pittsburgh shows that forcing employees back into the office led to lower engagement and higher turnover — not the cultural boost leaders hoped for.

• Maybe it’s not culture that’s the issue… it’s leadership. Remote and hybrid environments don’t kill culture, but they do expose weak leadership. If your direction is vague, your communication is inconsistent, or your team doesn’t feel seen — it shows up fast in a remote setup.

• Most companies are already hybrid. Whether leaders realize it or not, if you have teams across time zones or offices in different cities, you’re already managing remotely. So why treat working from home like a radical shift?

• It’s time for better questions. Instead of asking “Where should people work?” Steve suggests asking things like:

  
  

  • “What kind of experience are we trying to create?”

  • “What do our people need to do their best work?”

  • “Is it really the culture that’s struggling… or our ability to lead in new ways?”

  
  

Ultimately, Steve challenges us to stop seeing proximity as a proxy for culture — and to start seeing trust, clarity, and intentional leadership as the real drivers.

🎧 Final thought:

The future of work isn’t about one-size-fits-all answers. It’s about choice, context, and the courage to keep evolving.

Steve breaks down two recent articles from The Atlantic by Rose Horowitch that reveal a surprising shift in education trends:

✅ Humanities majors are making a comeback

❌ Computer science degrees are cooling off

What’s going on here? And what does it say about how we prepare people for a future that’s moving way too fast for old playbooks?

Tune in as Steve explores:

• Why the “major = career” formula is cracking

• What future-fluency means in a world of AI and ambiguity

• How parents, educators, and leaders can shift the conversation around career readiness

Plus, he shares a mindset challenge to help you rethink how we learn, lead, and grow—no matter where you are in your career journey.

In this episode, I dig into two recent Fortune articles that finally move the AI-leadership conversation from theory to reality. We explore how Chris O’Neill, CEO of GrowthLoop, is using AI to become more present, not less. And we zoom out with Fortune’s bold insight: “AI doesn’t make you less of a leader. It forces you to become more of one.”

This is a turning point. We’re seeing leaders use AI not to escape their responsibilities, but to elevate them.

If you’re wondering how to lead when machines can do almost everything (except be human), this one’s for you.

Let’s talk about what makes leadership truly human—and how to use AI to double down on exactly that.

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Follow Workquake Weekly for practical insight on the future of work, every Friday.

From students solving real-world problems to industry partners co-designing curriculum, TU Dublin isn’t just innovating—they’re implementing. In this episode, Steve shares what he saw, what surprised him, and why he walked away more energized than ever.

If you’ve ever wondered what the future of education and work could look like… this is it.

With headlines flooding in from The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, and more, it’s clear—this isn’t just a bad year for new grads. It’s a global shift. And it’s time we stop pretending otherwise.

In this episode, Steve Cadigan unpacks why the entry-level job market is drying up… and what we can do about it. From rethinking internships and onboarding strategies, to building better bridges between education and employment, this conversation is a wake-up call for leaders, educators, parents—and anyone trying to launch a career in 2025.

🔥 Plus: practical takeaways, a dose of optimism, and a big call to action for companies that want to stay competitive in the age of AI.

If you’re a grad, a parent, or someone who hires early talent—you don’t want to miss this one.

In this episode, Steve explores how political volatility—not just AI or tech disruption—is reshaping workforce strategy in 2025. He reflects on the emotional toll of uncertainty for workers, the rising strategic burden on HR, and why today’s leaders need more than operational plans… they need civic agility.

Whether you’re running a factory or managing a team, this one’s for you.

Tune in for fresh insights, a challenge to spark honest conversations about volatility, and a call to lead with trust—even when the rules keep changing.

That’s right. We’re not talking about AI in the abstract. We’re talking about AI and YOU. And me. And how it’s reshaping not just our workflows, but how we think about value, identity, and growth.

Here’s what we’ll dig into:

• Why graduation season isn’t just for students anymore

• How AI is shifting the question from “What do you do?” to “What do you uniquely bring?”

• Why soft skills are now power skills — and how to flex them

• What it means to build a mindset for reinvention

• And the one question I think everyone should sit with this week

Spoiler alert: this isn’t about competing with machines. It’s about becoming more human than ever before.

Ready to rethink your edge in the age of AI?

Let’s do this.

🎧 Listen now and check out the LinkedIn post that inspired this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cadigan_its-graduation-season-and-the-career-advice-activity-7335357597136392192-nmSO

And if you’ve read my book Workquake, I’d love it if you left a quick review on Amazon — it really helps keep the momentum going.

First up: Gen Z is not waiting around for corporate ladders to offer stability. A new global study from Fiverr shows nearly 70% of Gen Z is leaning into freelancing — not as a backup plan, but as their main gig. Why? It’s not just about flexibility… it’s about agency, protection, and building something they can count on.

Then we look at a growing shift in how companies scale: small teams are making a big comeback. New research from MNP shows that some of the most efficient and profitable companies today are going public with fewer than 20 employees. Agile, fast-moving, customer-focused — these lean teams are proving that small can be a superpower.

Together, these shifts are pushing us to ask: Are we building organizations based on control… or trust? Are we designing work for the world we used to live in — or the one we’re in now?

Tune in for a fresh, optimistic look at how we can build better, more human workplaces — one decision at a time.

Steve breaks down why “just-in-case” job postings are backfiring in a world craving clarity, and how short, intentional breaks could be the leadership unlock we’ve been missing.

If you’re rethinking how to build trust, momentum, and performance in today’s workplace, this episode is for you. Tune in to explore what it means to lead with more intention — and maybe even press pause, on purpose.

🎙 Topics covered:

• The hidden cost of ghost job postings

• Micro-retirements and the power of a purposeful pause

• Why the future of leadership is about trust, not just output