The Future Of Less Work

What happens when AI agents begin doing the work that HR professionals used to do? How do organizations redesign jobs, develop talent, and decide which decisions must remain human?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Gina Vargiu-Breuer, Chief People Officer and Executive Board Member at SAP, live at UNLEASH 2026 in Paris, to explore how AI is transforming HR, recruiting, skills, and the way organizations operate.

Gina shares how SAP is redesigning HR workflows around AI agents, rethinking recruiting, and building skills profiles for 84,000 employees. They explore why traditional job architectures may be becoming obsolete, how AI could help organizations identify talent based on potential, and why human judgment remains essential in decisions affecting people's careers.

The conversation also tackles one of AI's biggest workforce challenges: How will young professionals develop experience and judgment when AI performs the work through which previous generations learned? Gina explains why SAP continues investing in early talent, how roles are being redesigned, and why HR professionals must become organizational architects.

For HR leaders, business executives, and professionals navigating AI transformation, this conversation offers an inside look at the organizational changes already underway at SAP and the difficult decisions leaders must make about the future of human work.

https://youtu.be/2uQGmeUdXKI 

Guest Information:

Gina Vargiu-Breuer is the Chief People Officer and Labor Director at SAP, Member of the Executive Board. In her role, Gina leads the People & Culture organization and owns SAP’s global People Agenda. She brings over 20 years of experience in international human resources to SAP. Before joining SAP, she served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Siemens Energy for more than four years. During this time, she spearheaded the company’s spin-off from Siemens AG and successfully drove the transformation for 94,000 employees. She holds a master’s degree in Economic Psychology from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany.

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-vargiu-breuer/

Gina’s blog for WEF 2026: https://www.weforum.org/stories/all/ai-without-humanity-is-incomplete/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction: How AI Is Transforming HR at SAP

00:45 Why AI Transformation Requires Organizational Redesign

02:10 How AI Agents Are Changing HR Workflows

03:30 Which HR Decisions Should Stay Human?

04:15 Can AI Replace Human Judgment in Recruiting?

05:15 What Human Skills Will Matter Most in the AI Era?

06:20 How Will Entry-Level Employees Develop Judgment?

07:10 Why SAP Is Still Hiring Early-Career Talent

08:40 Rethinking Talent Development When AI Does the Routine Work

09:30 How AI Agents Are Redesigning Jobs and Responsibilities

11:15 How Will AI Transform the HR Function?

13:10 How SAP Is Building a Skills-Based Organization

14:20 Can AI Measure Employee Skills More Accurately?

15:20 Are Traditional Job Architectures Becoming Obsolete?

16:45 How Do You Identify and Measure Employee Potential?

17:45 Why HR Must Become the Organizational Architect

18:25 How SAP Is Managing Employee Fear of AI

19:45 The Most Important Question About the Future of Work

What is self-leadership in the age of AI? How to find your value when AI changes your job?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Andrew Bryant, Founder of Self Leadership International and author of Self Leadership and Potential-ize, to explore why navigating the age of AI requires us to become the drivers of our own development. Andrew defines self-leadership as intentionally influencing your own thinking, feelings and actions, and explains why self-awareness, self-regulation and self-learning become even more important when the road ahead is unclear.

Together, Nirit and Andrew explore why your future may depend less on the profession you trained for and more on understanding the capabilities underneath it. The conversation also examines what happens when job descriptions become obsolete faster than organizations can fill them, why companies need to hire for potential and learning velocity rather than yesterday’s experience, and how AI can become a partner in extending human capability instead of simply replacing it.

And underneath it all is a question Andrew leaves us with: What is possible for me now that wasn’t possible before? In a world where the road ahead is increasingly covered in fog, the ability to keep learning, changing and expanding your own potential may become one of the most important career capabilities of all.

 https://youtu.be/0WR6UzS4_uA

Guest Information:

Andrew Bryant is the Founder of Self Leadership International (est. 1999), a Certified Speaking Professional, executive coach, and the author of five books, including the foundational academic text Self Leadership (Bryant & Kazan, McGraw-Hill, 2012), and his most recent work is POTENTIAL-IZE: How Leaders Unlock Human Potential in the Age of AI (Wiley, 2026).

What distinguishes Andrew in this space is not simply what he knows. It is what he has built. He co-authored the most widely cited working definition of self-leadership, then spent the following years testing and refining that framework with executive leadership teams, Fortune 500 companies, Silicon Valley startups, and major multinationals across more than 40 countries. That combination of academic foundation, deep practitioner experience, and the ability to make ideas digestible and applicable is what makes him an in-demand speaker.

In POTENTIAL-IZE, he introduces the IGNITE Framework, a six-stage leadership development model (Inspire, Guide, Nurture, Integrate, Transform, Evaluate) designed specifically for organizations navigating AI-driven change. The book's central argument: as AI assumes cognitive tasks, human judgment, trust-building, and self-directed performance become more valuable, not less. Leadership development that fails to address this shift misses the point.

As a former physiotherapist and acupuncturist who worked with elite athletes, he understands that high performance is an inside-out process. In our minds, bodies, and organizations.

English by birth, Australian by passport, and now based in Portugal after 17 years in Asia, Andrew is a genuine global citizen whose cultural fluency has served audiences from Singapore to Stockholm to San Francisco. 

Links:

www.selfleadership.com

Chapters:

00:00 How To Build Your Potential in the Age of AI
01:15 What Human Skills Still Matter in the Age of AI?
02:15 How To Reinvent Your Career Beyond Your Job Title
07:14 What Is Self-Leadership?
11:49 How To Lead Yourself When the Career Path Is Unclear
14:15 Should You Follow Your Passion or Build Competence First?
17:24 How To Expand What You Are Capable Of
18:42 How To Hire for Potential, Not Past Experience
22:00 How To Turn AI Fear Into Opportunity
23:45 What Makes Human Work Valuable With AI?
31:09 Why Learning Velocity Matters More Than Job Titles
33:17 How Will Entry-Level Workers Build Experience With AI?
35:56 What Is Possible for You in the Future of Work?

When Should You NOT Use AI at Work? How do you transform work when technology and people move at different speeds? What Does AI Transformation Look Like Inside a 128,000-Person Company?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Laurent Aufils, Chief AI & Future of Work Officer at Orange Group, to explore the tension at the heart of his job: redesigning work with AI while supporting the people living through that change.

Together, they discuss how Orange is moving beyond individual AI tools to rethink workflows, customer service and human contribution. Laurent explains why promised time savings don’t always survive implementation—and why the gains that do materialize should benefit the company, its customers and its employees. They explore protected learning time, peer communities and the work underway to recognize AI ambassadors’ contributions in performance reviews. They also discuss why Orange continues to recruit graduates into roles being reshaped by AI, and how people develop the experience to question an AI output and take responsibility for the result.

Whether you’re leading AI transformation, shaping people strategy or rethinking your own team’s work, this conversation explores the choices behind the technology: where human involvement creates value, how to use the time AI frees up, and what organizations must do beyond asking employees to adapt.

https://youtu.be/98IdWkBUUD0

Guest Information:

Laurent Aufils is the Chief AI & Future of Work Officer at Orange Group, leading people transformation for AI across 124,000 employees in 26 countries.

With over 20 years of international experience spanning strategy, transformation, finance, and HR across complex, multicultural environments, I lead the human and organizational transformation required to unlock AI's full potential at Orange Group. Working in close partnership with our Chief AI Officer, I ensure business transformation with AI and people transformation for AI advance together at the same pace, with the same level of ambition and accountability.

Links:

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurent-aufils/

Website : https://www.laurentaufils.com

Chapters:

00:00 How do you lead both AI and people transformation?
01:15 What happens when AI moves faster than people can adapt?
03:25 How do you scale AI beyond individual tools?
07:36 Which parts of the work should remain human?
10:22 When do customers need a person instead of a bot?
12:38 When AI saves time, who benefits?
15:00 How do you turn time saved into more than more work?
19:12 What is Orange still wrestling with?
21:37 How do you reward employees who help others adopt AI?
24:32 What should HR take responsibility for in AI transformation?
27:07 When should we choose not to use AI?
30:31 Why keep hiring graduates for jobs AI is changing?
32:39 How do people build experience when AI does part of the work?
35:08 What keeps people wanting to work?

What Makes a Good Leader in the Age of AI? What do we need human leaders for when AI can do more of the work of management?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Allison Howell, CEO of Hogan Assessments, to explore how AI is changing what makes a leader valuable.

As AI takes on more of the work traditionally associated with leadership, from analyzing information and monitoring performance to identifying talent and communicating decisions, organizations may need to rethink what they select and develop leaders for. Nirit and Allison explore why judgment is becoming more important, but also harder to define, as leaders increasingly evaluate information generated by AI rather than information created and understood by people. They discuss what happens to accountability when AI becomes part of the decision chain, and why critical thinking may become a capability everyone needs, not just leaders. They also examine the growing value of authenticity. When emails, presentations and even video messages can be generated by AI, human presence, original thinking, vulnerability and genuine connection may become some of the most important qualities a leader can bring.

If AI can do more of what leaders used to do, this conversation asks a more fundamental question: what will make a human leader worth following?

https://youtu.be/u7nh962yHpg 

Guest Information:

Allison Howell is the chief executive officer at Hogan Assessments, where she leads the company’s global strategy, product innovation, and market growth. As CEO, she is responsible for advancing Hogan’s mission to deliver scientifically rigorous, ethical, and impactful personality assessments that support better talent decisions worldwide.

Links:

The Leadership Divide: Global Insights on Who Leads vs. Who Should –

https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/945b2726b6144b38bae12e460fe7abbc/2/6f76c7d95a1a094f0177a22b1e0b3297b5cd856b34d286a1f2638523881d1a13?cache_buster=1776268668

Chapters:

00:00 What Makes a Human Leader Worth Following in the Age of AI?
01:06 How Is AI Changing Leadership?
03:00 What Do Employees Really Want From Their Leaders?
05:22 Why Human Leadership Matters More With AI
07:50 How Should Companies Choose Leaders in the Age of AI?
10:41 What Leadership Skills Will Matter Most in the Future?
12:58 Why the Leadership Divide Is Growing
15:04 How Should We Assess Leaders for the AI Era?
18:03 How Do You Measure Human Judgment?
19:36 How AI Is Changing Decision-Making
21:44 Who Is Accountable When AI Gets It Wrong?
23:27 What Will Human Leadership Look Like in the Future?
25:44 What Should We Automate and What Should Stay Human?
28:03 How Humans Create Value When Everyone Has the Same AI
29:13 What Does Authentic Leadership Look Like in the Age of AI?
29:58 The Question Every Leader Should Be Asking

What Is The Human Edge In The Age Of AI? How Do Humans Create Value When AI Does The Work? 

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Nitin Seth, Co-Founder and CEO of Incedo and author of Human Edge in the AI Age, to explore how AI is changing the meaning of work, careers and human contribution. Nitin argues that the future of work may require a shift from employability to entrepreneurship, not necessarily because everyone will start a company, but because people will need to create new value with AI. He explains why execution alone will no longer be enough, why humans must move toward creativity, context and problem framing, and why organizations need to rethink how they allow ideas and experimentation to emerge from inside the business.

Together, they discuss what it means to move from doing work to creating work, why AI-native early-career talent may generate surprising output, why experience alone is no longer protection, and how the middle layer of organizations may need to shift from task management to domain expertise and problem solving. They also explore why human context still matters, how AI may gradually absorb more of it, and why the next human opportunity may come from asking: what can we now do that we couldn’t do before?

Whether you are leading AI transformation, rethinking talent development, or trying to understand how to stay relevant in the AI age, this conversation offers a practical and thought-provoking look at the human edge of work when AI does more of the doing.

https://youtu.be/DGytt67x-6o

Guest Information:

Nitin Seth is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Incedo Inc, where he partners with Fortune 200 enterprises to reimagine operating models for the AI age—embedding intelligence into workflows, decision-making, and business models to drive measurable outcomes and sustained competitive advantage. With nearly three decades of leadership experience, he has previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Flipkart, Managing Director at Fidelity International, where he also led global strategy and served as Country Head for India, and Director at McKinsey & Company.

Links:

• Nitin’s Blog: https://nseth71.blogspot.com/
• Human Edge in the AI Age: https://humanedgeintheaiage.com/

Chapters:

00:00 How Do Humans Create Value When AI Does The Work?01:15 Is Entrepreneurship The New Career Skill In The AI Age?02:55 What Does Entrepreneurship Look Like Inside Companies?03:42 Why AI Will Change The Structure Of Work07:15 How AI-Native Companies Are Redesigning Jobs10:14 How Leaders Can Unlock Employee Innovation With AI12:07 How Entry-Level Workers Use AI To Create More Output16:09 Will AI Replace Middle Managers Or Redefine Them?17:29 Why Context Is The Human Edge In AI Work20:09 How To Train Early-Career Talent In The AI Age23:25 Why Domain Experts Matter More With AI25:04 What Is Unique Human Value When Everyone Has AI?26:25 Context, Creativity And The Future Of Human Work29:06 How AI Creates Entrepreneurial Opportunities In Every Industry31:39 What Question Should We Ask About The Future Of Work?33:11 How AI Can Expand Human Potential

Can AI measure skills at work? How Will AI Change Learning and Employee Development? What if AI could tell what you’re actually capable of, not from your resume, job title or performance review, but from the work you do every day?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Kian Katanforoosh, Founder and CEO of Workera and Stanford Adjunct Lecturer, to explore how AI could change the way we measure skills, learn at work and understand human capability. Kian explains how AI can observe work in real time, identify strengths and skill gaps, and provide personalized coaching exactly when people need it. They explore whether verified skills profiles could eventually move with us across jobs, how AI is changing what expertise looks like in fields such as software engineering, and whether AI could one day assess human capabilities more fairly than managers do.

The conversation also tackles the harder questions: Can AI really measure judgment and critical thinking? Who owns the data? What happens when AI itself keeps taking over more of the skills we are trying to develop? And why might our ability to keep learning become one of the most important forms of human agency in the age of AI?

For leaders rethinking talent, learning and workforce capability, this episode explores what changes when AI can finally see not just the work people do, but what they are capable of becoming.

https://youtu.be/EnConpvUupQ

Guest Information:

Kian Katanforoosh is the ‍Founder and CEO of Workera. He is also an award-winning lecturer at Stanford University, where he co-created their Deep Learning program alongside AI legend Andrew Ng and has helped teach AI to over 4 million people. Kian has been acknowledged for his teaching excellence by Stanford with the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford’s highest teaching award, and the Centennial Award for Excellence in teaching.

Links:

https://www.workera.ai/ 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiankatan/
https://www.workera.ai/platform/ai-agent/ambient

Chapters:

00:00 Can AI Judge Your Skills Better Than Your Manager?
01:28 Can AI Really Measure Human Skills and Expertise?
04:20 How AI Is Changing the Skills We Need at Work
06:39 What Human Skills Will Still Matter in the Age of AI?
09:10 How AI Can Coach You While You Work
10:29 Is AI Skills Monitoring Workplace Surveillance?
14:09 Will Verified Skills Replace Resumes and Credentials?
16:16 What Skills Will Become More Valuable Because of AI?
17:52 How AI Is Changing Software Engineering Skills
19:00 Can AI Teach Leadership, Judgment and Critical Thinking?
21:31 Can AI Assess Employees More Fairly Than Managers?
23:23 Can AI Make Hiring and Performance Reviews More Fair?
25:43 How Do Humans Keep Learning as AI Takes Over More Work?

What Happens When AI Learns Your Company’s Knowledge? How Do Humans Stay Valuable When AI Gets Smarter? How Do Companies Redesign Work Around AI?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Katy George, Corporate Vice President of AI and Work Transformation at Microsoft and co-author of the Becoming a Frontier Firm playbook, to explore the business case for humans in an AI-powered organization. George explains why so much knowledge work is still tacit, undocumented and shaped by experience, relationships and context, and why organizations first need to understand how work actually happens before they can redesign it with AI. Together, they explore what happens when that tacit knowledge is codified into AI systems. George describes a continuous learning cycle in which humans teach AI what the organization knows, AI adds capabilities humans did not have before and people continue to apply judgment and creativity to raise the bar again. They also discuss why the real opportunity is not simply to make existing work faster, but to use AI to create new capabilities, experiences and forms of value.

The conversation also examines how organizations will need to change around that cycle: redesigning early-career development so people still build judgment, loosening traditional job boundaries, moving toward more dynamic roles and end-to-end work, and changing what managers are expected to do. George shares Microsoft's early thinking that humans may increasingly “aim the machine, train the machine and own and govern the machine,” while acknowledging that the operating model to support that continuous learning system is still being worked out.

Whether you are leading AI transformation, redesigning work or thinking about the future of human expertise, this conversation asks a deeper question: as AI learns more of what organizations already know, how do people keep creating what comes next?

https://youtu.be/BmKjcIBShTI

Guest Information:

Katy George is Corporate Vice President of AI & Work Transformation at Microsoft. She leads a team focused on understanding AI’s impact on labor markets and shaping Microsoft’s AI & Work strategy. Previously, she was Chief People Officer and a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she led global operations and workforce research. Katy holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard and a B.A. from Oberlin College. Her work bridges technology, labor economics, and organizational design to prepare for the future of work.

Links:

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/09/17/what-weve-learned-from-microsofts-own-ai-transformation/

Chapters:

00:00 What Is A Microsoft Frontier Firm?
02:24 What Is The Human Role In AI Transformation?
03:37 How Do You Capture Tacit Knowledge With AI?
05:12 What Happens When AI Learns Human Judgment?
06:41 How Should Early-Career Jobs Change With AI?
08:54 How Do People Build Judgment And Experience With AI?
10:27 How Microsoft Is Codifying Tacit Knowledge Into AI
12:34 How Can AI Create New Value, Not Just Efficiency?
14:22 Why Organizations Block AI Transformation
16:19 How Do You Redesign Work From An AI-First Blank Page?
18:29 What Is The Manager’s Role In Human-AI Teams?
21:11 Why Managers Need To Use AI Themselves
23:02 What Human Skills Will Matter As AI Agents Improve?
24:54 Can Large Organizations Really Transform With AI?
25:47 What Skills Will Keep Humans Valuable In The AI Age?
26:26 What Should Early-Career Professionals Do About AI?

How is AI changing the way we communicate at work? And what happens to trust when employees can no longer tell whether a message from a leader was actually written by that leader?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with David Maffei, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Staffbase, to explore what authentic workplace communication means in the age of AI.

Together, they discuss how AI can personalize communication at scale while making it harder to know what is genuinely human, why efficiency can come at the expense of authenticity, and what happens when people begin communicating with colleagues the way they communicate with AI. They explore the connection between communication, trust and belonging, why knowing what matters to employees has to come before communicating with them, and why human experience and relationships may become more valuable as AI makes intelligence increasingly accessible.

As AI becomes embedded in everyday work, David argues that the response may be surprisingly human: communication will need to become more personal, transparent and authentic than ever before.

Whether you're leading AI transformation, managing distributed teams, building organizational culture or simply wondering how AI will change human relationships at work, this conversation explores what we risk losing when communication becomes more automated, and what may become more valuable because of it.

https://youtu.be/AOpSEHgSpXo

Guest Information:
David Maffei is the SVP/GM Americas at Staffbase and a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience driving strategic and operational growth for both public and private companies. He leads the go-to-market strategy across the US, Canada, and Mexico, sitting on the global Executive Leadership Team and overseeing sales, marketing, operations, and customer success. With deep expertise in B2B technology, David has a proven track record in scaling teams, executing direct and indirect sales models, forging strategic alliances, and expanding internationally. His leadership has driven major growth milestones across multiple organizations, including doubling Carbonite’s B2B SaaS revenue, tripling Bridgeline Digital’s SaaS business, and establishing Akumina as a category leader through a strategic
partnership with Accenture Ventures. At Staffbase, he continues to deliver exceptional value to enterprise and mid-market clients in the fast-evolving employee communications space.

Links:
https://staffbase.com/

Chapters:
00:00 How AI Is Changing Communication at Work
02:22 What Does Authentic Communication Mean in the Age of AI?
06:03 Can AI Personalization Feel Authentic?
07:55 Why Workplace Communication Needs to Start With Listening
09:16 How Can Leaders Personalize Communication at Scale?
13:50 Is AI Changing How We Communicate?
15:58 How Is AI Changing Human Communication Skills?
17:25 Does AI Efficiency Come at the Cost of Authenticity?
18:21 What Human Value Can AI Not Replace?
20:49 Why Human Communication Is a Competitive Advantage
23:04 How Do You Create Belonging in a Digital Workplace?
24:42 How Should Leaders Communicate With Distributed Teams?
28:20 Will AI Make Workplace Communication More Human?
32:12 How AI Is Blurring Work and Life
34:32 How Can You Stay Valuable in the Future of Work?

Can organizations trust AI to make decisions? What Should AI Never Decide? What happens when employees trust AI more than they trust their managers, colleagues, or even themselves?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Marinela Profi, Global AI & Generative AI Market Strategy Lead at SAS and Human & AI Trust expert, to explore what trust really means in the age of AI.

Together, they discuss why using AI is very different from trusting it, how organizations should decide which decisions can be delegated to AI and which must remain human, and why governance, accountability, and decision intelligence will become essential capabilities for every business. Marinela shares why curiosity and continuous learning may become the most important career skills, why AI performance should be managed alongside human performance, and how organizations can build trust without losing the uniquely human judgment that drives innovation.

They also explore one of the most surprising shifts emerging today: people are increasingly turning to AI before they turn to colleagues, managers, or even themselves. What does that mean for leadership, learning, communication, and the future of human relationships at work?

Whether you're leading AI transformation, designing AI governance, managing hybrid human-AI teams, or simply wondering what should never be delegated to artificial intelligence, this conversation offers a thoughtful perspective on how organizations can build trust while keeping people at the center of decision-making.

https://youtu.be/nuCiiwl-k3k

Guest Information:

Marinela Profi is an AI strategist, TEDx speaker, and Human & AI Trust Expert focused on the future of work and the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems. She currently leads global market strategy for agentic AI at SAS, where she works at the intersection of technology, trust, and business transformation. With roots in data science and a passion for helping people navigate change, Marinela brings a human-centered perspective to how AI is redefining jobs, leadership, and opportunity. 

Links:

Website: marinelaprofi.com 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinelaprofi/

Instagram: marinelaprofi

Chapters:

00:00 Can Organizations Trust AI to Make Decisions?
01:20 What’s the Difference Between Using AI and Trusting AI?
02:32 Why Are People Trusting AI More Than Humans?
06:08 What Human Capabilities Could AI Replace Without Us Realizing?
09:24 How Do We Develop Human Skills in the Age of AI?
13:54 What Is Decision Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?
15:34 Which Decisions Should Humans Never Delegate to AI?
19:21 When Should Companies Use AI Agents vs Traditional Automation?
22:18 How Do You Measure the Performance of AI Agents?
25:11 What Work Should Always Remain Human?
29:25 What Will Organizational Trust Look Like in Five Years?
30:03 How Will AI Change HR, Leadership and Employee Trust?

How to use freelance talent in enterprise companies? How Do You Manage Employees, Freelancers and AI Together? What Happens to Careers When Work Becomes Fractional?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Lara Vandenberg, Founder and CEO of Assemble, to explore how marketing teams are combining employees, freelancers, agencies and AI around changing business needs.

They discuss why freelance talent is becoming a strategic capability, which roles companies are keeping inside, why senior creative judgment is gaining value, and how organizations are building trusted external talent benches instead of relying on one-off hires.

The conversation also raises a harder question: if more experienced work moves outside the organization, where will future talent gain the experience, relationships and judgment needed to grow?

https://youtu.be/YCY9NqYchWo

Guest Information:

Lara Vandenberg is the Founder & CEO of Assemble, a managed workforce platform that has placed 50,000+ senior freelance marketers inside Fortune 500 organisations like Delta, MassMutual and Colgate.

The best leaders she works with are starting to think less like executives and more like casting directors. Figuring out the right mix of permanent staff, freelancers and agentic AI for every brief, every quarter, every objective.

By 2027 freelancers are projected to outnumber full-time employees in the US for the first time. Most organisations aren't built for that yet. Lara has the live platform data and the CMO/CEO conversations to show exactly what that transition looks like on the ground.

Chapters:

00:00 How AI Turns Jobs Into Fractional Work
01:40 How Do You Build a Workforce Around Capabilities?
03:15 Why Are Companies Moving Beyond Traditional Headcount?
06:00 Why Freelance Talent Is Becoming a Strategic Workforce Model
08:49 Is Fractional Talent Really About Cost Savings?
10:07 Which Marketing Skills Are Companies Hiring Now?
11:39 Why AI Hasn’t Replaced Copywriters
13:49 Which Capabilities Should Companies Keep In-House?
14:45 Why Enterprise Freelancers Are Becoming Easier to Hire
18:25 How Do You Integrate Freelancers Into the Organization?
21:01 What Happens to Career Development in a Fractional Workforce?
22:05 Where Will Future Experts Gain Experience?
26:03 Why More Professionals Will Become a Business of One
27:52 How Worker Protections Need to Change
28:38 What Does the Future of Work Really Look Like?