New Associated Press data shows the average CEO of a top U.S. company earns 285 times the pay of a median employee. At Starbucks, that ratio hit 6,666-to-1. The number isn’t the problem. What it signals to your employees is — and the leaders getting this right aren’t explaining the ratio. They’re making it irrelevant. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

View original on Inc. Magazine: Workers Can Now Look Up CEO Pay in Seconds. Leaders Need a New Playbook 

A new study of 26,000 students reveals that AI is quietly eroding the thinking skills of your best performers — and the outputs still look great. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

View original on Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-of-experience/202606/a-study-of-26000-students-shows-the-ai-learning-trap 

A University of California, Santa Cruz study tracked what actually happened after California raised the fast food minimum wage to $20. The five structural responses it triggered are a leadership masterclass in what happens when you impose rapid cost change on a complex system — and why every leader needs to map them before issuing any mandate. 

On June 11, NOAA officially confirmed El Niño has formed in the tropical Pacific. Sea surface temperatures have broken daily warm records for more than 20 consecutive days. If projections hold, this would rank among the three most powerful El Niño events in modern history. Dartmouth researchers found the 1997-98 event caused $5.7 trillion in lost global GDP over five years. The window to prepare is open now — and not for long. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

View original on Inc. Magazine: El Niño Is Back—and It Could Cost Businesses Trillions. What Smart Leaders Are to Prepare 

Gartner says half of all AI workforce cuts will reverse by 2027. The reason tells you exactly what AI still can’t do — and what that means for every leader making workforce decisions right now. 

A new study in the journal Science found your childhood neighborhood is literally wired into your brain. Here’s what that means for how you lead — and why your lived experience is a competitive advantage no AI can replicate. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

Denver unanimously voted to halt new AI data center construction for a year. More than 20 proposed facilities were canceled in the first quarter of 2026 alone — over $40 billion in stalled investment. A March 2026 Gallup poll found that 70% of Americans would oppose a data center near them, a higher rate than nuclear plants. The reason isn’t bad PR. Three distinct and compounding forces are driving this backlash, and every leader deploying AI at scale needs to understand all three. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

View original on Inc. Magazine: Cities Are Blocking Data Centers at Record Rates. Here’s the Lesson for All Leaders 

Lake Powell is 24 percent full. Lake Mead is 32 percent full. Seven states can’t agree on new operating rules even though the federal deadline has passed. The leadership lesson isn’t about water. It’s about what happens when rational actors each make self-interested decisions and collectively produce an outcome that hurts everyone — and why the same dynamic is almost certainly happening inside your organization right now. 

Subscribe and listen on: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3e5k8HJeOGEa7AGA97kvVjtpi6uqG0t 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033iseLQje3RnPGqUlh2I8?si=cb19276a3c68459d 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leapfrogging-the-headlines-with-soren-kaplan/id1896880297 

View original on Inc. Magazine: The Colorado River Shows How Organizations Quietly Destroy Their Own Future 

The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report isn't just a retirement story. It's a case study in why leaders defer the decisions they already know they need to make — and what it costs.

⁠Subscribe on Youtube⁠

Learn more at ⁠https://sorenkaplan.com⁠

On June 18, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the American Artificial Intelligence Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, proposing a 50% tax on the largest AI companies to create a $7 trillion public fund. Whether it passes or not, the movement it reflects is already reshaping how workers view their companies’ AI direction. The real question for every leader is whether your employees see AI as something designed to make them more valuable, or something designed to make them replaceable. 

Subscribe on Youtube

Learn more at https://sorenkaplan.com