Has talent development really changed in the past 50 years? I don’t think it has—until now.

In this episode of the AI Chore Cast 🤖, we challenge traditional leadership development and explore how AI is forcing a shift into Talent Development 2.0.

This podcast is built for HR Managers and Professionals, Chief Learning Officers, executives, and talent development professionals in corporate who are looking ahead to the future of work.

We explore the origins of Talent Development 1.0, challenge popular leadership quotes, and rethink them through a modern lens. The big idea: we must move away from leader-centric thinking and start recognizing the contributors—the people doing the chores every day.

Talent development shouldn’t just be for managers and high-potential employees. It should empower every position and role.

AI is accelerating this shift and helping us rethink leadership, management, and followership, and how organizations truly develop people.

Learn more at https://doingthechores.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com

If 80–90% of the work in your organization is done by contributors, why is almost all development reserved for managers?

In my latest AI Chore Cast, we dive into the $10 trillion disengagement crisis and how a shift to Talent Development 2.0 can solve it. On the farm, we didn’t wait for a workshop to fix a tractor; we learned while doing the chores.

The future of learning is:

✅ Intelligent: Accessing help via QR codes or AI hubs at the exact point of friction.

✅ Collaborative: Using peer-recorded “learning signals” to share localized genius across shifts.

✅ Embedded: Integrating guidance directly into the tools workers use every day.

AI is the game-changer here—not for generating more paperwork, but for acting as a task coach that travels with your mobile, deskless, and remote team members.

Are you ready to stop treating development as a VIP privilege and start treating it as a strategy for the entire workforce?

🎧 Listen to the full AI Chore Cast on Substack and learn more about Talent Development 2.0 at DoingTheChores.com!

#TalentDevelopment #SmartFollowership #FrontlineWorkers #AI #DoingTheChores #LeadershipDevelopment

📚 Sources & Insights

Association for Talent Development (2025) — 2025 State of the Industry: Talent Development Benchmarks and Trends• 13.7 average formal learning hours per employee• Benchmark data on L&D spend and AI adoption trends

Gallup (2026) — State of the Global Workplace 2026: The Human Side of the AI Revolution• Global engagement dropped to 20% in 2025• $10T annual cost of disengagement• Manager support = #1 driver of AI success

🌱 Learn More (Doing the Chores Movement)

For a deeper look at Talent Development 2.0 and how learning must reach contributors where the work happens:👉 https://doingthechores.com/books-%26-blogs/f/why-the-future-of-learning-must-travel-with-the-contributor

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com

Are leader and manager really the same thing?

In this AI Chore Cast, David Elser challenges one of the biggest assumptions in talent development. Since the early 1980s, most workplace training has been built on leader-centric thinking. But in the post-industrial era, that approach may be keeping organizations stuck in the mud.

Drawing on the work of Joseph C. Rost, Dr. Robert Kelley, and Matthew Chodkowski, this episode explores why leadership, management, and smart followership should not be treated as the same thing, and why we are at our best when we become collaborators. If you are ready to think differently about talent development, leadership development, HR, and workplace learning, this conversation will challenge you to rethink how your workforce is developed through Talent Development 2.0.

Take a listen and learn more at DoingTheChores.com.

References:

* Joseph C. Rost — Leadership for the Twenty-First Century

* Dr. Robert Kelley — The Power of Followership

* Matthew Chodkowski — Post-Industrial Institute

* Abraham Zaleznik — Managers Are They Different? by Abraham Zaleznik

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com

In this episode, David Elser introduces listeners to Talent Development 2.0, a fresh philosophy designed for the 21st-century workplace. Instead of focusing only on leadership programs, this approach takes a holistic view of development, exploring the roles of leadership, management, and smart followership to build stronger collaboration across the entire organization.

In this AI-powered deep dive, we also leverage insights from the Association for Talent Development’s 2025 State of the Industry report, connecting the latest data on learning investment and organizational performance with practical strategies for developing today’s workforce.

If you are responsible for allocating training resources, designing leadership development programs, or improving the impact of learning initiatives, this episode will challenge you to think differently about talent development.

🎧 Tune in to discover:

* A new perspective on leadership development and organizational collaboration

* Why smart followership is the counterpart to management

* How Talent Development 2.0 can help improve the ROI of your learning programs

* Forward-thinking ideas for developing both leaders and contributors

You don’t want to miss this conversation.

Learn more and explore the philosophy at DoingTheChores.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com

Leadership isn’t measured by followers. It is a relationship built through non-coercive influence, mutual purpose, and meaningful change.

In this AI Chore Cast episode, we break down Joseph C. Rost’s leadership model and take an AI deep dive into 1954, when Sam Phillips discovered Elvis at Sun Studios, a spark point that helped ignite a cultural shift.

You will see what that “before he was Elvis” season teaches us about leadership development, talent development, and organizational culture.

You will also discover the benefit of Talent Development 2.0 and how we all should understand and practice all three roles: leader, smart follower, and collaborator.

Learn more at DoingTheChores.com

Hashtags:

#LeadershipDevelopment #TalentDevelopment #LeadershipPodcast #OrganizationalCulture #ElvisPresley #HR

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com

Welcome to Episode 1 of AI Chore Cast!

I kick off the show by sharing what this podcast is all about—using AI as a think tank to challenge the status quo and explore Talent Development 2.0 for front-line managers and contributors.

Then AI takes over with a fully AI-generated deep dive on today’s topic: my book, Doing the Chores. To wrap it up, I’m back on video with a practical debrief—clarifying what AI got right, flagging anything it missed, and translating the insights into real workplace takeaways you can use immediately.

Learn more at DoingTheChores.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doingthechoresacademy.substack.com