AI can help us work faster, produce more, and automate tasks that once took years to master. But as technology becomes more capable, a more important question emerges:

What will continue to make you valuable?

In this special 300th episode milestone series of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good sits down with internationally bestselling author, speaker, and leadership expert Sally Helgesen to explore what actually compounds across a career when the tools, expectations, and nature of work keep changing.

Sally explains why visibility matters more when great output becomes easier to produce, why leaders must learn to articulate the value they create, and why deeply human capabilities such as listening, adaptability, relationships, presence, and judgment may become more important rather than less.

They also examine a growing risk of AI: if technology takes over the early work through which people traditionally developed expertise, where will the next generation learn the judgment required to lead?

Sally also shares important lessons from her own career, including why usefulness ultimately matters more than demonstrating how much you know and why becoming a better speaker required her to prepare less, listen more, and become more responsive to the people in the room.

The conversation closes with a practical challenge: rather than trying to predict every way AI might transform your career, identify the capability people already value most in you, strengthen it, and learn how to clearly communicate the value it creates.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why working harder does not necessarily create greater career security
• Why visibility and articulating your contribution matter more in the AI age
• What we risk when AI removes the apprenticeship work that develops expertise
• Why presence, listening, relationships, and adaptability continue to compound
• How to identify and strengthen the capability that makes you uniquely valuable

Chapters
02:16 The importance of inclusive leadership and cultures of belonging
04:58 The dangers of over-pressuring teams and unrealistic expectations
06:32 Visibility strategies for female leaders in the AI era
08:38 What compounds for leaders and what is at risk in the AI era
09:01 The importance of human recognition and respect
10:15 The significance of owning your contributions in the AI age
12:04 The apprenticeship problem and the loss of experiential learning
14:31 The Pope's encyclical on AI and its implications
15:58 The role of dignity and meaningful work in engagement
16:54 The human element in teamwork and collaboration
17:28 The risks of undervaluing human judgment and relationships
18:08 Personal insights from Sally Helgesen's career evolution
20:37 Overcoming over-preparation and embracing improvisation
23:58 The joy of being present and improvising in work
24:19 The importance of a to-don't list for leadership growth
25:15 Starting with what truly matters in the face of AI change
26:28 Focusing on high-value skills and contributions
27:31 Where to find Sally Helgesen and her work
28:19 Closing thoughts: Leadership qualities that endure in the AI era

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Institute for Management Studies

AI can help us work faster, produce stronger outputs, and appear more capable. But what happens when technology allows us to skip the slow and uncomfortable stage where real learning takes place?

In this episode, Charles Good speaks with Whitney Johnson, one of the world’s leading experts on personal disruption and the S-Curve of Learning.

Whitney explains why every period of growth begins with uncertainty and discomfort, accelerates through a productive sweet spot, and eventually reaches mastery. The challenge is recognizing when mastery has become a plateau and finding the courage to become a beginner again.

AI may weaken the signals that once pushed people toward a new challenge. Output can remain strong even when learning has slowed. Professionals may look productive while the capability beneath their work stops growing.

Charles and Whitney discuss how to recognize restlessness and boredom as signals for change, why learning agility becomes more valuable as technology advances, and how trust, character, and human presence continue to compound.

They also explore how professionals can use AI as a mirror for development by reviewing conversations, improving their listening, challenging their assumptions, and identifying one way to become 5 percent better.

Key Takeaways

• Growth follows an S Curve with launch, acceleration, and mastery phases.

• AI can muffle the signal that it’s time to disrupt yourself.

• Naming the feelings associated with change can reduce fear and restore your ability to act.

• Learning agility is a capability that remains valuable across roles and technological shifts.

• Trust, character, and presence become more important as knowledge becomes easier to access.

• Small improvements practiced consistently can produce extraordinary long term growth.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the series and the pattern of growth in the AI era

02:11 Why leaders feel less confident despite working harder

04:43 Unpacking the phases of the S Curve and their feelings

06:07 The importance of naming feelings to tame fear

07:02 AI’s role in muffling the jump signal and delaying growth

07:54 Recognizing restlessness and boredom as growth signals

09:00 The importance of wrestling with discomfort for growth

09:26 What compounds for leaders and what is at risk

10:19 The importance of trust, character, and presence in leadership

11:44 The meta skill of learning agility in the AI era

12:53 The risk of skipping the slow part of growth with AI

13:30 The value of doing things you’re bad at for growth

14:18 Signals that indicate you’re on the right growth curve

16:31 Whitney Johnson’s personal disruptions and internalized lessons

18:56 Signs you’re at the top of your growth curve

21:50 Managing multiple S Curves in your career and life

22:16 Using AI as a mirror for self development

23:28 The importance of human qualities in the AI age

24:20 The power of small, consistent improvements over time

25:01 How to connect with Whitney Johnson and further resources

Whitney Johnson is the bestselling author of Disrupt Yourself and Smart Growth. Her S Curve framework helps individuals and organizations understand how growth feels, why people plateau, and what it takes to begin climbing again.

This episode is part of The Good Leadership Podcast milestone series, What It Takes to Keep Rising in the AI Era.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠The Institute for Management Studies

Artificial intelligence can accelerate output, but sustainable performance depends on whether human and organizational capability can keep pace.

In this milestone episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good speaks with renowned leadership and HR thinker Dr. Dave Ulrich about turning individual talent into organizational capability that creates value for customers, investors, employees, and communities.

Dr. Ulrich explains the difference between competence—what an individual knows, does, and embodies—and capability—what an organization consistently does well. He explores how leaders can combine AI with the distinctly human strengths of vision, innovation, emotion, and wisdom while protecting judgment, honest feedback, human connection, and the future leadership pipeline.

The conversation also examines the danger of mistaking increased activity for stronger capability, why leaders must become better observers of themselves and others, and how careers and leadership brands must evolve in an AI-driven world.

This episode is part of our milestone series, What It Takes to Keep Rising in an AI Era.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Milestone Series Announcement
01:23 Dr. Ulrich’s Perspective on Turning Talent Into Value
02:09 The Difference Between Competence and Capability
03:21 Leadership Challenges in a Volatile World
04:16 The Multiplier Effect of Human Ingenuity and AI
05:40 Four Pillars of Human Ingenuity: Vision, Innovation, Emotion, and Wisdom
07:41 The Risks of Output Racing Ahead of Capability
08:37 Creating Value for Stakeholders
10:21 Signals of Building Activity Versus Capability
12:56 The Power of Honest Feedback in Leadership
14:20 Leadership in the AI Age: Human Connection and Feedback
16:17 The Risks of Automation and the Future Leadership Pipeline
19:05 Redefining Careers and Developing Future Leaders
22:28 Self-Interrogation and an Evolving Leadership Mindset
27:10 A Critical Leadership Skill: Observation and Reflection
32:59 Building a Leadership Brand in the AI Era
34:36 Final Reflections and Connecting With Dr. Ulrich

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⁠⁠⁠The Institute for Management Studies

AI can make your work faster, cleaner, and more impressive. But can it also create an illusion of competence—improving the output while the judgment, expertise, and original thinking underneath it stop developing?

In this special episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good speaks with bestselling author and globally recognized business thinker Dorie Clark about what it takes to win the long game in an AI-driven world.

Dorie explains why the abundance of information is making human attention increasingly scarce and why leaders must differentiate through clarity, a distinctive perspective, and ideas grounded in real experience. She also discusses the lasting value of trusted relationships, reciprocity, personal branding, visibility, and becoming known for something meaningful.

The conversation explores why many capable leaders are working harder while feeling less confident about their futures, how short-term wins can conceal long-term capability erosion, and why AI-generated polish should never be confused with genuine expertise.

Dorie Clark teaches executive education at Columbia Business School and is the bestselling author of The Long Game, Reinventing You, Stand Out, and Entrepreneurial You. She has been named four times to the Thinkers50 list of the world’s leading business thinkers.

This conversation is part of our milestone series, What It Takes to Keep Rising in the AI Era.

CHAPTERS

02:25 Having a long-term strategy in a speed-driven world

03:28 Scarce attention in an age of abundant information

04:32 The value of in-person experiences and relationships

05:04 Differentiating through clarity and perspective

06:30 Why leaders are working harder but less confident

07:04 Learning AI skills through deliberate practice

08:59 The myth of career stability and reinvention

09:59 Personal branding, visibility, and adaptability

11:16 Building reciprocal human relationships

12:17 Short-term wins versus long-term capability

13:11 The artisan mindset and generalist skills

14:22 The illusion of competence created by A

I16:04 The capabilities most at risk in the AI era

16:33 Andrew Ridgeley, likability, and relationships

18:32 Trust and the power of a strong network

19:19 Building judgment through difficult problems

20:08 Using AI as a sparring partner

20:52 Investing time in strategic assets and skills

23:15 Dorie’s focus on video, content, and AI mastery

24:07 Career lessons and the importance of a platform

26:21 Community and accurate information in career growth

27:08 Long-term success and the need for patience

28:02 Using analytics and feedback to improve

29:42 When to stay the course or reposition

30:48 Exponential growth and patience

32:17 Small actions that create long-term returns

33:42 AI, healthcare innovation, and human longevity

34:12 One practical step for building long-term capability

36:34 Braces and the power of consistent action

37:07 Final advice on relationships and deliberate practice

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⁠⁠⁠The Institute for Management Studies

What if your motivation problem is actually a belief problem?

We often assume that knowing what to do and understanding why it matters should be enough to change our behavior. Yet knowledge rarely produces lasting action on its own. The missing ingredient is often the belief that our effort will make a difference.

In this episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good speaks with Nir Eyal, New York Times bestselling author of Hooked, Indistractable, and his new book, Beyond Belief.

Nir explains how beliefs function as working models of reality, shaping what we notice, what we expect, how we feel, and what we ultimately do. Rather than treating beliefs as unquestionable truths or relying on empty positive thinking, he offers a science-backed approach to developing beliefs that are useful, empowering, and open to revision when new evidence emerges.

This conversation is not about pretending that obstacles do not exist. It is about developing beliefs that help us see reality more clearly, persist through discomfort, and recognize where our actions can meaningfully influence the outcome.

NIR EYAL is a globally recognized authority on behavior change and human potential. His frameworks have empowered millions to build better habits, enhance focus, and unlock greater agency in their lives and work.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of the international bestsellers Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, which have sold over one million copies in more than 30 languages. Hooked was a finalist for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards. Indistractable won the 2019 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award and was named one of the Best Business & Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon, Audible, and The Globe and Mail. His third book, Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results, became an instant New York Times best-seller and reveals how to identify and replace the hidden beliefs that define our limits.

His writing has been featured in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, and Psychology Today.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction to Beliefs and Human Performance
01:07 Nir Eyal’s Background and Work
02:12 From Habits to Behavior Change
03:38 Why We Don’t Do What We Know
05:03 Beliefs as the Linchpin of Motivation
06:55 What Is a Belief? Fact, Faith, or Tool?
07:49 The Three Powers of Belief
09:16 Beliefs Filter Our Reality
11:09 Seeing Through the Lens of Beliefs
13:01 Beliefs and the Perception of Opportunities
16:34 Anticipation and Experience Loops
20:25 The Power of Expectation in Experience
25:39 Beliefs and Behavior: Building Hope
28:37 The Role of Limiting and Liberating Beliefs
30:22 The Impact of Beliefs on Performance
34:58 Pain, Discomfort, and Growth
36:56 The Problem With Positive Thinking
38:24 Mental Contrasting and Preparing for Obstacles
40:06 The Dark Side of Labels and Nocebos
42:00 The Power of Expectations and Placebos
44:08 Changing Limiting Beliefs for Empowerment
45:18 Actionable Steps to Re-Engineer Beliefs

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⁠⁠The Institute for Management Studies

AI is not just changing the tools leaders use. It is changing how leaders think, learn, make decisions, and build confidence in their own capabilities.

This episode is part of our 300th episode milestone series, “What It Takes to Keep Rising in an AI Era.”

In this conversation, Charles Good sits down with Alison McCauley to explore one of the most important leadership questions of this moment: how do we use AI without losing the judgment, curiosity, and human capability that make leadership matter?

Alison argues that many organizations are doing AI backward: investing heavily in the technology while underinvesting in the people, workflows, and cultural conditions required to turn AI into real value. Alison shares why curiosity matters, why engagement may be more important than ROI in the early stages, how productivity gaps are forming inside organizations, and why the best AI users treat the technology as a thought partner rather than an answer machine.

You’ll also hear why leaders need to keep their own thinking in the lead, what it means to become a “compounded human,” and the simple rule that can help you use AI without outsourcing your judgment.

For more than two decades, Alison McCauley has helped organizations turn emerging technology into real human-centered value. She is a bestselling author, social scientist, and AI strategist advancing human potential globally. As a digital transformation strategist focused on human-centered technology adoption, she works at the intersection of AI, behavior, and strategy.

Chapters:

00:00 Celebrating Milestones in Leadership Conversations
03:29 The Role of Curiosity in Thriving with AI
06:29 Engagement Over ROI: The New Focus for Organizations
09:11 Navigating the Learning Curve of AI
11:56 Understanding the Emotional Landscape of Leadership
14:30 The Dunning-Kruger Effect and AI Usage
17:09 Building Mental Muscles: The Discipline of Thought
20:22 Opportunities for New Graduates in the AI Era
23:13 Compounding Benefits of AI Engagement
25:48 The Human Element in AI-Driven Work
28:43 Personal Growth Through Change
31:08 Key Behaviors for Effective AI Usage

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⁠The Institute for Management Studies

Nothing was wrong in that meeting. That's exactly the problem.

Everyone was polite. Heads nodding. Full agreement in the room. And then everyone left — and nothing changed. The frustration no one named kept building. The project everyone quietly doubted kept moving. The talented person who never felt heard started updating their resume.

Amira Barger calls this the price of nice.

In this episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good sits down with award-winning executive, author, and professor Amira Barger to unpack the argument every leader needs to sit with: that the "niceness" we mistake for professionalism is often just the avoidance of the conversations that would actually move us forward and that nerve, the willingness to balance honesty with genuine care, is the higher form of respect.

This isn't about being harder on people. It's the opposite. It's about offering the most honest thing a leader can give: the truth, delivered with empathy, in service of someone's growth.

In this conversation:

• Why organizations engineer silence without ever meaning to

• The difference between genuine strategy and self-protective avoidance dressed up as strategy

• Four diagnostic questions to tell the difference in the moment

• What the Challenger disaster still teaches us about the cost of unspoken concerns

• How "priming" signals shape whether your team speaks up or stays quiet

• Why the same facts, framed differently, create completely different realities

• The Three C's — communication, connection, cohesion — and why most teams never climb past the first rung

About the guest:Amira Barger is an award-winning executive, author, and professor who helps leaders build workplaces where courage matters more than convenience. Her book, The Price of Nice, grounds its argument in communication theory and social science — making the case that comfort, left unchecked, quietly becomes the thing that keeps teams stuck.

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 — Introduction to Amira Barger and Her Work

02:16 — The Dangers of Avoidance in Leadership

05:03 — Understanding Nice vs. Nerve

08:36 — Practicing Nerve in Leadership

11:59 — Diagnostic Questions for Leaders

15:05 — The Cost of Silence in Organizations

16:54 — Communication as Infrastructure

19:20 — Challenger Moments in Organizations

22:16 — Priming and Organizational Culture

27:53 — Nice vs. Nerve in Feedback Conversations

30:44 — Framing as a Leadership Superpower

35:32 — The Three C's of Communication

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The Institute for Management Studies

Your work has never looked better. So why do you feel less sure of yourself than you did five years ago?

In this episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, behavioral economist Dan Ariely (author of Predictably Irrational and Misbelief) unpacks a quiet problem facing ambitious leaders right now: AI is polishing your output faster than you're actually growing your capability. The result is an "illusion of competence" — work that looks sharper while the person behind it quietly stalls.

We get into:

• Why effort and outcome have decoupled — and why working harder is making leaders feel less in control
• The hidden forces shaping how you judge yourself: effort discounting, social comparison on speed, and attribution error
• What still compounds in the AI era (hint: it's the meta-capacities machines can't touch)
• What "context collapse" does to leaders who lean too hard on their tools
• The simple weekly decision-review habit that will still be paying off in 10 years

This is the kind of conversation that changes how you think about your own thinking. If your performance reviews and your nervous system are being trained on different signals, this one's for you.

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Confidence Gap: Knowledge vs. Perception

03:46 The Dangers of False Confidence in the Age of AI

04:28 The Learning Process: Embracing the Messy Middle

07:35 AI's Role in Knowledge Acquisition: A Double-Edged Sword

10:32 The Temptation of AI: Short-Term Gains vs. Long-Term Growth

12:09 Measuring Success: The Risks of Misguided Metrics

14:09 Innovation and AI: Who Really Benefits?

15:05 The Impact of Measurement on Innovation

16:56 Employee Engagement and AI Integration

19:39 Balancing AI and Human Capital

20:44 The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

21:20 The Role of Planning in Change

23:31 Defining Boundaries with AI

23:51 AI as a Tool for Self-Reflection

25:44 The Importance of Impact in Academia

29:04 Skills to Protect in an AI World

32:53 Fostering a Joy of Learning

Listen, then ask yourself: What am I doing not just to do more but to become someone whose judgment I trust more, year after year?

🎙️ This episode is part of What It Takes to Keep Rising in the AI Era , a series exploring how leaders grow real capability while AI reshapes the work. The combined kickoff episode dropped June 16; this is the first of the solo episodes, with more arriving over the coming weeks.

Follow the show so you don't miss the rest of the series.

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For our 300th episode, Charles Good sat down separately with six of the most influential thinkers alive, and asked them all the same question: in an age where AI can produce the work, what's actually happening to us?

Dan Ariely. Dorie Clark. Sally Helgesen. Whitney Johnson. Dave Ulrich. Alison McCauley. None of them heard the others' answers. They work in completely different fields. And every one of them landed on the same uncomfortable truth: your output is rising, your capability may be quietly falling behind, and you can't feel it happening, because the work still looks great.

This episode weaves all six voices into one conversation about what AI is really doing to human capability and what the sharpest minds in the world say you should do about it.

Because in the age of AI, the output is no longer the proof. The output is just the output. You are the proof.

Over the coming weeks, we're releasing the full deep-dive conversation with each guest as its own episode. Follow the show so you don't miss them.

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆?

In this episode of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁, award-winning social psychologist 𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻 joins us to unpack the science behind high-performing teams and the practical habits that turn ordinary groups into superteams.

Drawing on the most comprehensive study of elite teams ever conducted, featured in his new book 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀, Dr. Friedman explains why the strongest teams aren't the ones that collaborate the most, work the longest hours, or get along best. What sets them apart is how they manage energy and attention, bring out the best in one another, and keep improving over time.

You'll learn how leaders can build stronger team dynamics, cut distractions, and design work environments—physical and digital- that make focus and high performance the path of least resistance.

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀:

  • What separates high-performing teams from average ones

  • The core practices that define a superteam

  • How to manage time, energy, and attention more deliberately

  • Why leaders should speak last in meetings

  • How to build shared goals, role clarity, and healthy interdependence

  • Why constant communication can quietly undermine productivity

  • How your environment shapes the way people work together

If you lead a team, work on a team, or want to build a culture of higher performance, this episode delivers research-backed strategies you can put to work immediately.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻 is an award-winning social psychologist and bestselling author of The Best Place to Work and Superteams. His research on building high-performing teams has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Harvard Business Review, where his article “How to Build a Superteam That Keeps Getting Better” is this month’s cover story.

Ron’s Website: www.superteamsinc.com⁠

Ron’s Social Media Handles:

LinkedIn: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

Instagram: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

X: ⁠@ronfriedman⁠

Threads: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

YouTube: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

Book: Superteams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams available on Amazon and all book sellers.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀

00:00 Defining Super Teams

03:31 The First Steps to Building a Super Team

06:09 The Importance of Team Design

07:49 Creating a Team Mentality

09:46 Addressing Survivorship Bias in Team Success

12:32 The Role of Environment in Team Performance

16:33 The Impact of Constant Communication

17:48 The Shift from Individual to Team Success

19:18 The Surprising Office Amenity for High Performance

21:06 Strategies for Minimizing Distractions

22:25 Collaborative Focus: A New Approach to Productivity

25:26 Concrete Practices for Team Leaders

26:40 Embracing Mistakes for Team Growth

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Substack Channel (Outlearn to Outperform): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠charlesgood.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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