We've met future of work visionaries recently like Gary Bolles, Dr. John Boudreau, Mark McCrindle, and Josh Bersin. All have shared unique perspectives on how AI is redefining the employee experience. Today's guest belongs on that Mt. Rushmore of future of work luminaries.Josh Drean is Co-founder & Director of Employee Experience at The Work3 Institute, AI + Work Advisor at the Harvard Innovation Labs, and Co-author of Employment is Dead (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024)His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, and The Economist and he has made appearances on The Today Show, NBC, and FOX Business. He speaks internationally to bring work tech insights to digital-first leaders who value human-centric work experiences.Listen and learn...How AI is changing our relationship with workWork 3... vs. work 1 and work 2How the metaverse is enabling a global talent marketplaceWhat RTW is doing to the relationship between employees and employersWhy "employment is dead"... but we'll soon enjoy work more as a result"There are two camps... those who are embracing AI... and those who will become obsolete."Why employee surveillance is the wrong approachWhy "passion is future-proof"References in this episode...Josh Bersin on AI and the Future of WorkGary Bolles on AI and the Future of WorkJames Lawton from Zebra on AI and the Future of WorkAI Snake Oil by Princeton Professor Arvind NarayananJosh Drean on YouTube

Tom Wheeler served as the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission after being appointed to the role by President Obama in November 2013. His chairmanship has been described as “The most productive Commission in the history of the agency.”Prior to that, he was a venture capitalist and, among other roles, the CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) where we first met in 2001. He is the only person to be elected to both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame, which led President Obama to proclaim him “the Bo Jackson of telecom.” Additionally, Tom is an award-winning author, a sought after speaker about topics ranging from leadership to net neutrality, and a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution.Listen and learn:Why today's Digital Age is reminiscent of the early 20th century Gilded AgeHow owners of today's digital pathways make rules that govern privacy and safetyWhat does history teach us about how can we take back control of our data from Big TechHow to make capitalism work for everyoneWhy AI is triggering an awareness of the impact of Big Tech on our livesWhat's different about regulatory models in the digital eraWhy we need a new agile, digital-first agency to regulate Big TechHow to regulate Big Tech without stifling innovationReferences in this episode:Mark McCrindle on AI and the Future of WorkPew Research: 68% of US adults don't trust Big Tech to self-regulateTechlash: Who Makes the Rules in the Digital Gilded AgeScientific Management by Frederick TaylorWhich tasks is AI being used to do at work today?

Today’s guest is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, one of the most iconic venture capital firms in the world. Foundation has found and funded companies like Netflix, Solana, Jasper, and the list goes on.Joanne Chen began her investing career at Foundation in 2014 and has sourced and advised an incredible group of companies including Tonkean, Tubi, and CaptivateIQ. Joanne received her BS in EE and CS from Cal and her MBA from the University of Chicago. She's also a popular TEDx speaker.Today we get a master class on how the best are adapting to one of the most challenging venture investing climates in decades. Joanne and I met on a panel discussion a few months back . I've been looking forward to introducing her to our community.Listen and learn...Joanne's perspective on the euphoria surrounding GenAIWhat's different about investing in AI post-ChatGPTWhy AI tools are increasing the pace of innovationThe difference between crypto and AI investingWhat responsible AI means to JoanneJoanne's advice to "AI entrepreneurs" pitching venture investorsHow long before AI will take Joanne's jobReferences in this episode...Ashu Garg on AI and the Future of WorkJoanne's TEDx talk: Confessions of an AI InvestorJoanne's TEDx talk: Why AI Promises a Brighter FutureThe ethical implications of using AI in healthcare

Today’s guest is one of the most respected thought leaders in the HR and HRTech space. Josh Bersin’s name is synomous with HR thought leadership. He first started covering the space in 2001 before selling Bersin & Associates to Deloitte in 2012. His current namesake company, The Josh Bersin Company, hosts the popular annual conference Irresistible and is a prolific publisher of content related to the future of work, talent management, corporate learning, and leadership.Josh is also the author of the popular book Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World's Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations, which was published in 2022. Oh, and he also hosts a great podcast. I always enjoy his candid commentary on HRTech.Listen and learn...The single employee behavior that most impacts productivityWhat people practice surprised Josh most about what distinguishes leading from lagging companiesHow "taking care of people" saved many companies during the pandemicThe HRTech innovation that improves the employee experience mostWhy employees took back power from employers... and insisted on better toolsWhere are there opportunities to innovate in HRTechHow AI "meets people in the flow of work"How talent intelligence is assisting HR leadersWhy employees shouldn't feel threatened by AIWhy what Josh calls "organizational ingenuity" is more important than having the best tech skillsThe future of work, according to JoshReferences in this episode...Mark McCrindle on AI and the Future of WorkDr. John Boudreau on AI and the Future of WorkGary Bolles on AI and the Future of WorkJosh's book IrresistibleJosh's podcastWhy are LLMs getting dumber?

Amr and I met on a genAI panel and everything he said was both insightful and contrarian. Immediately, I knew I wanted to introduce him to you. Amr is a legend in the search space who, by the way, also founded Cloudera which went public in 2017 at a valuation of over $5B.Dr. Amr Awadallah is a luminary in the world of information retrieval. He's the CEO and cofounder of Vectara, a company that is revolutionizing how we find meaning across all languages of the world using the latest advances in Deep Neural Networks, Large Language Models, and Natural Language Processing. He previously served as VP of Developer Relations for Google Cloud. Prior to joining Google in Nov 2019, Amr co-founded Cloudera in 2008 and as Global CTO. He also served as vice president of product intelligence engineering at Yahoo! from 2000-2008. Amr received his PhD in EE from Stanford University, and his Bachelor and Masters Degrees from Cairo University, Egypt.Listen and learn...How Amr discovered the power of "talking to software" via LLMs while at GoogleAbout the history of new computing modalitiesAbout the current state of generative AIThe technical explanation for hallucination in LLMsHow do we mitigate bias in LLM models and prevent copyright infringementWhy a semantic understanding of queries is the next frontier in searchThe challenge faced by search providers of making money incorporating ads into LLM-based answersHow "grounded search" will fix the hallucination problemWhat is a "fact" in the era of ChatGPT?How long before we have "antivirus sofware for fact-checking" genAI propagandaHow should AI be regulated... and who is responsible for AI regulationThe next big idea in genAI Amr and I are ready to fundAmr's advice to entrepreneurs... and to himselfReferences in this episode...Eric Olson, Consensus CEO, on AI and the Future of WorkD Das, Sorcero CEO, on AI and the Future of WorkSeth Earley, Earley Information Science, on AI and the Future of WorkChatGPT for searching scientific papers

Dr. John Boudreau is a luminary in the future of work academic community. He has published more than 50 books and articles. His scholarly research is published in Management Science, Academy of Management Executives, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology. Features on his work have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company and Business Week, among others. Dr. Boudreau helped  establish and then directed the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS), at Cornell University, where he was a professor for over 20 years, before his current position as Research Director for the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California.Thanks to friend of the podcast David Creelman for the intro to Dr. Boudreau!Listen and learn...How Dr. Boudreau got his start as an academic in HRTechWhat inspired Dr. Boudreau to make work life better for employees everywhereHow Dr. Boudreau defines work (the most enlightened definition we've heard)How to build high-functioning teamsWhy diverse teams don't perform betterHow alternative work and workers are redefining the labor forceWhy jobs don't equal work and degrees don't equal jobsWhat does it mean to be human when your colleague is a botWhy ATM machines led to more human bank tellers being hiredAbout the rise of internal talent marketplacesWhich skills AI will never automateReferences in this episode...Mark McCrindle on AI and the Future of WorkBryan Talebi from Ahura on AI and the Future of WorkKamal Ahluwalia from Eightfold on AI and the Future of WorkWork without Jobs, Dr. Boudreau's most recent bookThe Center for Effective Organizations Using AI as a co-pilot for songwriting

Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and Soar, discusses the importance of humility in disruptive innovation, the flaws of traditional education, the potential of AI to restore lost human connections, and the ethical considerations of being an AI publisher. He also explores the founding vision of Soar and their plans for innovative services.

Anyone who has ever hired a new employee knows how important and broken the background check process is. The experience is awful for candidates and employers. Plus, it's inherently unfair for under-represented and non-traditional candidates. Imagine a world where hiring the best people is easier and faster and all forms of verification data are provided automatically from trusted sources.Today's guest is making that vision a reality. Denise Hemke is the Chief Product Officer at Checkr, the amazing company making employee screening more fair for everyone. Checkr has raised nearly $700M since its founding in 2014. Denise heads up product management, design, and program management after having served in various leadership roles at Workday including most recently GM for Analytics. Denise is also the San Francisco chapter lead for the excellent organization Products That Count started by friend of the podcast SC Moatti.Listen and learn...How to fix the broken background check processHow to give candidates with non-traditional backgrounds access to the labor forceHow technology is making the hiring process more fair and helping workers get paid fasterHow to use AI to reduce bias in hiring decisionsHow AI used for background checks should be regulatedWhat Denise learned about building customer communities as a General Manager at WorkdayReferences in this episode...Mustafa Suleyman's new Turing testKamal Ahluwalia, former President of Eightfold, on AI and the Future of WorkGiselle Mota from ADP on AI and the Future of Work

AI is here to accelerate the world's creativity. In fact, it's one of the things generative AI does best. Imagine a world where personalized campaigns help products you love find you. Today's guest did just that and he created Evolv AI to help brands connect with customers across all digital channels. Tyler Foster is the CTO of Evolv AI, a platform that helps brands improve conversion and experiment faster. He started the company with CEO Michael Scharff in 2019 and together they've grown it into an early leader in AI-first digital experimentation having helped brands like Safelite, DirectTV, and Verizon. Prior to Evolv AI, Tyler was the founding CEO and Chief Architect of Senient Systems and an early Software Engineer at Cloudera.Listen and learn...How a farmhand and SCUBA diver became an AI developerHow AI is helping brands target consumersThe tradeoff between personalization and data collectionHow to eliminate bias in automated decisionsWill AI eliminate creative jobs?How society needs to adapt to new definitions of work imposed by AIWhy we need to disconnect ideas from tools and processesWhat does it mean that we're entering a "post-truth" era?Why AI is more fair than humansReferences in this episode...Meredith Broussard on AI and the Future of WorkDiane Keng from Breinify on AI and the Future of WorkAre AI-generated ads more or less effective?Evolv.ai

Tim Guleri has had a remarkable run at Sierra Ventures since 2001. He has invested in transcendent companies including Sourcefire and MakeMyTrip which both went public. Before that, Tim had a successful career as an entrepreneur and exec at companies like Scopus and Octane which was acquired by Epiphany in 2000.Sierra has one of the strongest future of work and AI portfolios that includes companies like Paro, Krisp, and SupportLogic which acquired Emtropy Labs which was founded by great former guest Harish Batlapenamurthy. In full disclosure, Sierra and I are both investors in ArmorCode.Listen and learn...Why the most successful venture investors were previously entrepreneursTim's thesis for investing in gen AI customer journey company SimulateHow Tim identifies "gen AI whitewashing" when hearing pitchesWhy gen AI is more than just another platform shiftHow gen AI startups can beat Big Tech incumbentsWhy all companies are ultimately "financial products"Sierra's primary data from CIOs: "...they're spending money on use cases that unlock employee productivity"What Tim means by "build horizontally but execute vertically"Which jobs AI will eliminate vs. augmentTim's "one that got away" pitch from his early days at SierraReferences in this episode...According to CNBC, 69% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with AI that can mimic human thinkingAshu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of WorkRory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of WorkSierra Ventures