Gen Z Is Dating AI, Microsoft Reinvents Copilot, & the Great Iced Coffee Interview Debate
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
Release Date: 09/25/2026
Why the Chief of Staff Role Is Booming, How AI Changes Work at J.M. Smucker, & Building a Future-Ready Culture
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
I talk with Jill Penrose, Chief People & Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff at The J.M. Smucker Co., about why the Chief of Staff role is becoming so important as leaders deal with more complexity and change. We get into how Smucker connects strategy, people, and culture, how AI is changing consumer behavior and the employee experience, why leaders need to be honest about AI uncertainty, and how the company is looking beyond productivity to find where AI can create differentiated business value.
info_outline
Gen Z Is Dating AI, Microsoft Reinvents Copilot, & the Great Iced Coffee Interview Debate
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 25, 2026: I unpack new Harris Poll data showing young people are developing surprisingly emotional relationships with AI, including feeling guilty when they ignore chatbot advice and even reporting romantic relationships with AI. Then I get into Microsoft’s major Copilot rebuild around chat, cowork, code, and autonomous digital teammates, and what happens when employees effectively become managers of AI agents. Finally, I break down the viral debate over bringing iced coffee to a job interview and why it says something bigger about workplace etiquette and the balance of power...
info_outline
AI Could Mean 20 Years in Prison, Workers Become AI Managers, and A16Z Reinvents College
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 23, 2026: I unpack Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar’s proposal to ban artificial superintelligence, pause advanced AI development, and impose prison sentences of up to 20 years for violations. Then I look at how millions of employees are quietly becoming managers of AI agents without the title or pay. Finally, I get into Andreessen Horowitz’s new AI academy for young people who may want to skip college and build instead.
info_outline
From Cashier to Home Depot C-Suite, Middle Manager Backlash, Claude Hacks OpenAI, & AI Panic Returns
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 18, 2026: I look at the viral LinkedIn profile of Home Depot executive Anne Marie Campbell and why her rise from cashier to senior executive says something important about effort, loyalty, and firm-specific knowledge. Then I get into the Wall Street Journal’s warning that the purge of middle managers could backfire as companies underestimate coaching, sponsorship, and tacit knowledge. I also unpack how researchers used Anthropic’s Claude to break into OpenAI through a bug bounty program. Finally, I break down OpenAI’s recent “misalignment” example involving compaction...
info_outline
Who Watches Anthropic’s AI Watchdog? Why Authenticity Fails at Work, & Zuckerberg Says the Market Can Keep AI Safe
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 16, 2026: I look at Anthropic’s push for independent AI evaluators and why its preferred watchdog, METR, raises questions about conflicts, trust, and regulatory capture. Then I get into why “be your authentic self” may be terrible career advice and why the better advice is to be your best professional self. Finally, I unpack Mark Zuckerberg’s argument that lawsuits, customers, competition, and trust may do more to keep AI companies careful than a forced industry slowdown.
info_outline
Time to Kill AI? Anthropic Wants AI Slowed, Oracle Cuts Jobs, & Leaders Face a Civics Crisis
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 14, 2026: I look at Dario Amodei’s essay arguing that frontier AI needs to slow down and why competitors publicly agreeing with him raises bigger questions about safety, regulation, IPO timing, and regulatory capture. Then I get into reports of more Oracle layoffs and why this may be less about AI replacing people and more about companies funding massive AI infrastructure. Finally, I unpack why civic education is becoming a workforce readiness issue, especially when so many leaders say entry-level hires are not prepared for work.
info_outline
AI Created 1M Jobs, Student Scores Hit Record Lows, and Anthropic’s AI Panic Grows
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 11, 2026: I look at The Economist’s analysis showing AI has created roughly 1 million American jobs so far, while the predicted jobs apocalypse still has not arrived. Then I get into the latest PISA results showing record-low math, reading, and science scores, and why attention, critical thinking, and family involvement matter for the future workforce. Finally, I unpack the latest backlash around Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s viral resignation, the AI extinction narrative, regulatory capture, and why leaders need evidence before buying into panic.
info_outline
Anthropic Researcher Quits Over AI Extinction Fears, OpenAI Agents Claim a Math Breakthrough, & the Panic Behind the Headlines
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 9, 2026: I unpack the viral resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that AI labs are racing toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with human lives. Then I look at OpenAI’s claim that thousands of AI agents produced a proof for the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the Millennium Prize problems. Finally, I dig into the bigger question behind the headlines: how much of the AI extinction narrative is about real technical risk, and how much is about incentives, regulatory capture, effective altruism, IPO timing, and control over the future of AI?
info_outline
How To Lead A Multi-Year AI Transformation and the Critical Middle of Change
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
I talk with Adam Kautzner, President of Evernorth Care Management and Express Scripts and EVP of Customer Personalization for The Cigna Group, about what it takes to lead a major multi-year transformation in healthcare. We get into how Evernorth and Express Scripts are redesigning pharmacy benefits around patients, why prescription pricing has become so complex, how AI could improve healthcare navigation and personalization, and why leaders cannot ignore the “critical middle” of transformation where the hard work actually happens.
info_outline
OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra, the Surprising Jobs Boom, and the Question of Whether AGI Has Arrived
Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan
September 4, 2026: I look at OpenAI’s new GPT-6 Astra model and why even powerful AI agents still may not be ready to take over full jobs. Then I get into the August jobs report, which came in far stronger than expected and complicates the “AI is killing jobs” narrative. Finally, I unpack the Wall Street Journal’s argument that AGI may already be here and why the real question is not whether AI can do tasks, but whether organizations can actually change fast enough to use it.
info_outlineSeptember 25, 2026: I unpack new Harris Poll data showing young people are developing surprisingly emotional relationships with AI, including feeling guilty when they ignore chatbot advice and even reporting romantic relationships with AI. Then I get into Microsoft’s major Copilot rebuild around chat, cowork, code, and autonomous digital teammates, and what happens when employees effectively become managers of AI agents. Finally, I break down the viral debate over bringing iced coffee to a job interview and why it says something bigger about workplace etiquette and the balance of power between employers and candidates.