The Future Of Less Work How AI Will Transform Jobs, Skills, and Leadership with Jeetu Patel
What happens when 8 billion people suddenly have the productive capacity of 80 billion?
In this special live episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s President and Chief Product Officer, at #WebexOne in San Diego to explore what the AI-powered workplace means for leaders, employees, and the future of collaboration.
Jeetu unpacks why “distance zero” is the new frontier of work—erasing barriers between people wherever they are—and why creativity and human connection remain central even as AI agents become digital teammates. He explains why unlearning is as critical as learning, why experience can sometimes get in the way of progress, and why freezing entry-level hiring is “the stupidest thing” companies can do if they want to stay adaptable.
Together, Nirit and Jeetu explore how jobs will be reconfigured rather than replaced, how AI can generate original insights that humans could never reach alone, and why the leaders who master AI themselves—not just delegate it—will be the ones to keep their organizations relevant.
If you’ve ever wondered how to balance human creativity with AI scale—and how to build organizations that thrive in a world of human–AI collaboration—this episode offers clarity, challenge, and a call to action.
Want to dive deeper into this topic? Read Nirit’s Forbes article, " Why Freezing Hiring For Entry-Level Jobs Is A Stupid Move", to explore these ideas further.
Guest Information:
Jeetu Patel is Cisco’s President and Chief Product Officer. He combines a bold vision, steeped in product design and development expertise, operational rigor, and innate market understanding to create high growth businesses. He is relentlessly focused on building world class products that solve Cisco customers’ biggest problems—bringing the power of the Cisco portfolio together to connect and protect every aspect of their organization in the era of AI.
Previously he was Cisco’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration where he led the strategy and development for these businesses and held P&L responsibility for the multibillion-dollar portfolio.
Prior to joining Cisco in 2020, Jeetu was the Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Box, a role he pioneered. He led the company’s product and platform strategy, setting the company’s long-term vision and roadmap for cloud content management in the enterprise. He transformed Box from a single product application to a multi-product platform used by 100K customers representing 69% of the Fortune 500. Before joining Box, Jeetu was General Manager and Chief Executive of EMC’s newly acquired Syncplicity business unit, a cloud service for Enterprise File Sync Sharing (EFSS) and collaboration. Previously, Jeetu was President of Doculabs, a research and advisory firm co-owned by Forrester Research. The firm focused on collaboration and content management across a range of industries including financial services, insurance, energy, manufacturing, and life sciences.
He currently serves on the board of JLL, an American commercial real estate services company.
Jeetu holds a B.S. in Information Decision Sciences from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family.
Chapters
00:00 – What Happens When 8 Billion People Work Like 80 Billion?
00:53 – What Is “Distance Zero” Collaboration?
03:37 – Will AI Replace Human Creativity?
05:15 – Can AI Generate Original Insights Never Seen Before?
06:59 – Will AI Take My Job or Transform It?
09:24 – Why Is Unlearning as Important as Learning?
12:25 – Why Stopping Entry-Level Hiring Is a Huge Mistake
14:24 – How Should CEOs Learn and Lead With AI?
17:25 – What Is the Human Instinct Machines Can’t Replace?
20:16 – What Impossible Problems Can AI Help Solve Next?
22:24 – Should We Approach AI With Fear or Optimism?