New research shows a level of pessimism we haven’t seen in a long time. While there are many reasons for this (politics, climate, economy, AI fears), we all need to do something about it.

In this podcast I share the research and give you five important steps you can take to avoid, reduce, and eliminate pessimism at work. (Optimism, certainty, growth, citizenship, and empathy.)

This framework will give you sound information for your own life at work, your role as a leader, and your investments in leadership development and management coaching. I also talk about our research on Trust, and the role trust plays in employee optimism.

I also discuss “The Unquenchable Power of The Human Spirit,” an idea I discuss in Irresistible, which will help you move into an optimistic view of life, work, and business.

Takeaways

Research on Pessimism and Employee Engagement

MeQuilibrium State of Workforce, Summer 2025

U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low (Gallup)

Citizenship At Work: Dealing With Politics Inside and Outside The Company (podcast)

Corporate Citizenship Redefined: Trust, Inclusion, and Responsibility

Suzanne McGovern, CHRO of Ipsy, has many years of experience in consulting, HR, DEI, and business growth (PwC, IBM, Splunk) and now leads HR for a billion dollar beauty company.

In this thought-proving interview, Suzanne explains how the CHRO role has now become an “outside-in” C-level role and how complex and “mission-centric” the CHRO role can be. Suzanne also believes and explains how consulting experience is so important in the CHRO position, the importance of recruitment, hybrid work, and her perspectives on the role of AI.

Additional Information

The CHRO Insights Initiative

Why Is It So Hard To Be A Chief HR Officer (CHRO)?

Learn about Galileo, the World’s AI Expert Assistant for HR

Special Josh Bersin Academy Course: AI in HR (highly acclaimed)

This week I summarize my Irresistible Keynote and explain the five keys to building an AI-powered Superworker company. And as you’ll hear, they revolve around the value of people, not the value of technology. It’s funny how we think AI is “different” and we personify it. It’s basically a tech platform, and if you think about it that way you’ll be much better off.

Additional Information

No, Entry Level Jobs Are Not Going Away

Why AI Is A Job Creator, Not A Job Destroyer

Reinvent your Career: Galileo Learn, the AI Learning Academy for HR

The Revolution in L&D

Anshul Sheopuri, Executive Vice President, People Operations & Insights, Mastercard, talks with Kathi Enderes about the company’s method for using AI in HR.

From Build vs Buy decisions and approaches to govern the roll-out of AI to specific examples of use cases, he explains how to use AI strategically across a fast-growing, tech-first company at the forefront of AI innovation—and he gives tips on how to get started.

Additional Information

Artificial Intelligence in HR: Certificate Course in Galileo Learn

The End of HR As We Know It? AI Is Starting To Change Everything.

The Rise of the Superworker: Understanding The Deep Impact of AI on Business

At the inflection of AI and HR: How we’re equipping employees for the AI era (by Mastercard)

This is a fascinating conversation with Josh Newman, the Global Head of People Strategy & Experience, at WPP. WPP, the world’s leading advertising agency, has around 100,000 employees and a fascinating agency-specific organization around the world. Josh explains the business and operating model for WPP, and how it became an $8.1 Billion market cap business.

Over the last year WPP’s board wanted to look at the workforce and find ways to improve productivity (“the Workforce Intelligence Project”). Josh explains how WPP took this sprawling, high-performance company and developed an enterprise-wide “work-design”, using its own AI and help from a new vendor Reejig, to understand what everyone was doing.

This effort enabled WPP to radically simplify its job families and prepare the jobs and roles for the company’s new AI platform, WPP Open. (As you’ll hear, WPP went from 60,000 job titles to fewer than 600 as the company streamlines operations for its new AI platform WPP Open.) This is work simplification at massive scale.

This kind of work is now essential to every company as we look for ways to embrace AI. And as you’ll hear, the WPP Workforce Intelligence project has helped people find new jobs, advance their careers, and better pinpoint HR investments in the right place. The end result will be a company with higher growth, profitability, innovation, and client service.

If you’re a business leader, HR professional, consultant, or CEO you should listen to this discussion. Josh describes precisely how they accomplished this transformation and explains how AI is “preparing WPP for AI.”

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to WPP and Its Role in the Future of Work

Additional Information

The Rise of the Superworker: Designing You Company for AI

The End of HR As We Know It? AI Is Starting To Change Everything.

Galileo Learn: The AI Professional Development Academy for Leaders

Recent comments from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claims that we’ll have a “white collar bloodbath” in jobs and 50% of jobs are going away, leading to 20% unemployment. I believe this is completely incorrect, and in this podcast I explain why.

Tech leaders may have a distorted perspective because so much of their energies go into pure software development – there’s a much bigger positive effect happening. (The Superworker effect.)

Background

Why Entry Level Jobs Are Not Going Away

The Rise Of The Superworker

Axios story

This week I discuss Cornerstone Galaxy, the new, integrated version of Cornerstone, which includes Skyhive, Edcast, Grovo, Tailspin, and other technologies built in. As you’ll hear, Cornerstone is the largest enterprise learning platform company in the world and they’re getting very aggressive with bundling, pricing, and features.

At the same time I discuss the role of other competitors such as Docebo, Oracle, Workday, SAP, and the role of Sana and Galileo Learn (our new offering).

There’s lots more to discuss, please call us if you’d like help with your LMS | enterprise learning strategy and I urge to read our Revolution in Corporate Learning comprehensive study on how AI can totally reinvent your corporate learning, enablement, and skills strategy.

Additional Information

The Revolution in Corporate Learning (research report)

Galileo Learn – A Revolutionary Approach To Corporate Learning

This is a fascinating and essential podcast about leadership, AI, HR, and business transformation, featuring Tanuj Kapilashrami, the CHRO and Chief Strategy Officer of Standard Chartered.

In this conversation, Tanuj talks about the strategic direction of Standard Chartered Bank, her role as Chief Strategy and Talent Officer, and the importance of aligning organizational capabilities with business strategy. She discusses the transformation of work processes, the integration of AI, and the evolving role of HR in the banking sector. Tanuj explains the role of job architecture and the importance of skills in driving organizational success, and she also clearly explains the future role of the CHRO.

The CHRO role has risen tremendously in the last two decades. Tanuj is an inspirational example of a CHRO who has taken her experience in all areas of human capital management to become a powerful chief strategy officer, a career transition which will become much more common in the future. You will also hear how Tanuj views the AI transformation and how she puts a clear business focus on the AI strategy, moving far beyond AI as a tool to streamline HR.

(Listen to her discussion about AI in performance management and how the “AI Sandpit” works at Standard Chartered.)

Listen also to Tanuj’s focus on “plumbing,” as the foundation for business growth and transformation.

Takeaways

Sound Bites

“Transformation is such an abused word.”

Chapters

00:00 Overview of Standard Chartered Bank

Additional Information

Our New CHRO Insights Research

Yes, HR Organizations Will (Partially) Be Replaced by AI, And That’s Good

The White Collar Recession Is Real: What Should We Do About It?

The Rise of the Superworker: Reinventing Jobs, Careers, and Organizations

Welcome to Galileo Learn, the world’s first AI-native platform for all areas of corporate learning and professional development. And yes, Galileo Learn is also the new, dynamic version of The Josh Bersin Academy, and also your personal professional development coach. As the world’s first AI native platform for learning, Galileo Learn delivers an exciting new learning experience and the most dynamic, productive way to build content in the market.

And in an exciting new innovation, Galileo Learn connects directly to Galileo, the world’s AI Assistant for HR and Managers.

Read more here:

Buy Galileo Learn.

Learn more about The Revolution in L&D.

This week I dig into digital twins and AI and why I believe the “pedagogical” approach to corporate learning is going away. While we will always have educational programs in business, the L&D world is going in a wild new, positive direction. This podcast explains the forgetting curve, spaced learning, and what I call “the curiosity cycle” in business.

Does this mean “the death of courseware?” In some ways the answer is yes, so listen in.

Additional Information

Galileo Now Embedded Into ServiceNow and HiBob

The Mercury Release of Galileo Signals a New Era for Intelligent Agents

The White Collar Recession Is Real: What Should We Do About It?

A Revolution In Corporate Learning Begins, Join The Journey