PODCAST · business
Workquake Weekly
by Steve Cadigan
Most leaders are asking the wrong question about AI. Workquake Weekly is where we find the right one. Each week, Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's founding CHRO and author of Workquake, breaks down what's actually happening at the intersection of AI, talent, and organizational transformation. Not hype. Not fear. The patterns that separate companies building lasting competitive advantage from those chasing a mirage. Ten minutes. One insight. Every week.For more on Steve visit stevecadigan.com
Episodes
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75% of AI Strategies Are for Show. Is Yours?
Here's a Spotify-ready description: 75% of AI Strategies Are for Show. Is Yours? A former Lululemon CIO just said the quiet part out loud — and Steve thinks every executive needs to hear it. This week, Steve digs into Julie Averill's New York Times opinion piece on what's actually happening with…
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Nobody has the AI Playbook. Not even Amazon.
Amazon Just Proved Nobody Has AI Figured Out Business Insider dropped a story this week that might be the most important workplace story of 2026 — and it's not about what Amazon is building with AI. It's about what they're being forced to tear down. Amazon is winding down its flagship AI models,...
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When the Work Gets Hard, You Want a Human You Trust. Even the AI Giants Know It.
There's a question I ask before I take on any new client: does leadership already know what's broken, or are they hoping I'll discover it so they don't have to say it out loud themselves? If the answer is the second one, I walk. This week I connect that standard to something quietly telling…
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What If We've Been Sold the Wrong Story About AI and Jobs?
The AI Jobs Story Nobody Is Telling Everyone is afraid AI is coming for the jobs. But what if we've been afraid of the wrong number? New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Bank of England, and the Bundesbank surveyed nearly 6,000 senior executives across four economies — and...
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What if AI isn’t the reason young graduates can't find work?
For two years, we've blamed AI for the disappearance of entry-level jobs. But what if that story was never true? In this solo episode, Steve digs into new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a source with nothing to sell — that ties roughly 64% of rising unemployment among young...
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The 56% Question: Build It or Buy It?
A new PwC analysis of nearly a billion job postings found something hard to ignore: when a role asks for AI skills, it pays about 56% more than the identical role that doesn't — and that premium has doubled in a single year, up from 25%. In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks...
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The Mega Manager Problem: What happens when you cut the connective tissue of work
The Megamanager Era: What Happens When We Stretch Managers Too Thin The average U.S. manager now has 12.1 direct reports — up nearly 50% in just twelve years. Meta is running new teams at 50-to-1. Nvidia's Jensen Huang famously keeps 60 people reporting directly to him. The "flatter is better"...
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Who's running your company in 2035?
Three headlines from this week in work, and the pattern connecting them. Steve breaks down: why dropping degree requirements barely moved the needle on who actually gets hired (fewer than 1 in 700 hires affected), why 55% of HR leaders regret their AI-driven layoffs and one in three companies are...
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Loyalty Is a Broken Contract And it's time to stop pretending otherwise
Loyalty Is a Broken Contract… And It’s Time to Stop Pretending Otherwise What if the biggest misunderstanding in the workplace today isn’t about AI, remote work, or even talent shortages… but about loyalty? In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan challenges one of the most deeply held...
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AI Didn't Fire You. Your Leaders Did
Oracle cut 30,000 people last week. At 6 AM. Via email. No manager conversation. No handoff. Just: you're done, your access is revoked. Steve has been through dozens of staff reductions in his career — and this one hit differently. Not because of the number, but because of what the process...
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Augmentation Made the Jobs Better. So Why Are We Hiring Less?
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve unpacks new research from Harvard Business Review that brings real data to one of the biggest debates in the future of work… are jobs being replaced by AI, or reshaped by it? The answer is becoming clearer. Roles built around human and AI collaboration are...
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Anthropic Knows AI Enriches Work — So Why Are They Only Measuring What It Destroys?
Is AI destroying jobs, enriching them, or doing a bit of both? In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan explores a new research tool released by AI company Anthropic designed to detect when AI is displacing workers across occupations. On the surface, it sounds like responsible…
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Talent Velocity — Staying Calm in the AI Moment
This week, Steve Cadigan tackles the emotional rollercoaster around AI, flipping the script from fear and FOMO to understanding and real confidence. You’ll learn: Why panic isn’t the answer—and what questions leaders should be asking instead How “talent velocity” (a concept highlighted in a…
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When Healthcare Costs More Than Your House
This week, Steve digs into a startling The Wall Street Journal report revealing that, for many Americans, healthcare expenses are now outpacing mortgage payments. Drawing on his own experience as an independent business owner, he explores how soaring premiums and shrinking coverage have turned...
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The Seatbelt Moment: Social Media on Trial — and What AI Should Learn Now
A landmark trial in Los Angeles is testing a hard question: did social media product design cause real harm, especially for younger users? This isn’t a hearing. It’s a courtroom, with jurors and evidence, focused less on content moderation and more on product architecture… infinite scroll,...
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The 2026 Prediction Trap (And What to Do Instead)
Feeling 2026 fatigue? You are not alone. In this episode, Steve digs into the prediction trap so many leaders are stuck in right now, chasing benchmarks and waiting for a safe best practice to appear. In a supersonic world, there are no benchmarks. The only real advantage is your ability to take...
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Why Google’s New AI is the Irony We Need Right Now
Email promised speed and delivered FOMO. In this episode, Steve reacts to Google’s deeper AI features in Gmail, calls out the irony of tech solving a problem it helped create, and reframes the real win of AI: buying back quiet time. We dig into how summaries, prioritization, and automated triage...
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Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions
Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions New Year’s resolutions rarely stick because they start with wishes, not reality. In this episode, Steve Cadigan shares a simple, honest alternative he learned from Tim Ferriss, the Past Year Review. Instead of guessing what to change, you look back at what…
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What Chris Paul’s Retirement Teaches Us About Work
What can the NBA teach us about modern leadership? In this fast, practical episode, Steve riffs on a Wall Street Journal piece about Chris Paul’s retirement and the fading era of the classic “floor general.” On the court and at work, running everything through one person no longer fits the speed...
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The Real AI Advantage Isn’t Cost Cutting — It’s Rethinking Work.
Most AI headlines still shout about job loss. This week, I unpack McKinsey’s new State of AI report and the story is very different. Yes, many companies are experimenting, piloting, and playing. Only a small fraction are seeing real profit lift today. The ones that are winning share a pattern…
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The Old Career Ladder Is Crumbling. The Class of 2026 Knows It.
In this special, more personal episode, Steve looks past the headlines and into his own home to explore why early career paths feel so discouraging for today’s students. Using Lindsay Ellis’s Wall Street Journal article, “Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five...
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Our AI Shields Are Dropping
Are our AI shields down? In this short, reflective episode, Steve explores how quickly skepticism around AI has faded and why that matters for leaders, teams, and culture. He unpacks the subtle forces behind the rush to adopt, from fear of being left behind to groupthink inside organizations, and...
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AI Isn’t Killing Entry-Level Jobs — Short-Sighted Leadership Is
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan dives into one of the biggest myths in today’s workplace — that AI is killing entry-level jobs. Spoiler alert: it’s not. Drawing on Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s recent comments that “AI can do the interns’ work, but leaders should still hire Gen Z,” Steve...
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People Are Not OK
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks a powerful truth Brené Brown shared at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit: “If you’re leading people, you probably know people are not okay.” In an age of nonstop change, AI disruption, and emotional overload, leaders aren’t just managing...
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Beyond Productivity: Using AI to Bring People Back to Life at Work
AI has officially moved from curiosity to urgency. But before we race ahead, Steve Cadigan asks a better question: Fast enough… toward what? In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve explores how AI could finally repair our broken relationship with technology — if we let it. From burnout to…
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From Stay Bonus to Perform Bonus: Rethinking Equity in the Workplace
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks a quiet shift in tech compensation: companies are moving from the classic four-year, even vesting schedule to front-loaded equity. Think 40/30/20/10 or even three-year designs. Why the change, what it signals, and how it might reshape trust,...
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The Great Reveal: CEOs Finally Show Their People Strategy on AI
This week on Workquake Weekly, we’re peeling back the curtain on something rare: CEOs getting real about AI and talent. Accenture’s Julie Sweet admits reskilling isn’t moving fast enough. Walmart’s Doug McMillon promises to guide employees “to the other side.” Both perspectives reveal a deeper...
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Coffee, Customers, and Connection: Starbucks’ Playbook for Work’s Future
This week on Workquake Weekly, we’re stirring things up with a story that hits close to home — especially if you’re a coffee lover. Inspired by Heather Haddon’s recent piece in The Wall Street Journal, “Inside the Starbucks Plan to Get 200,000 Baristas on the Same Script,” we dive into one of the...
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Boredom: The Hidden Superpower We’ve Been Dodging
In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan dives into something that feels almost rebellious in today’s always-on world: boredom. Inspired by Arthur Brooks’ recent article in Harvard Business Review, “You Need to Be Bored. Here’s Why,” Steve explores how boredom isn’t wasted time—it’s...
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The Truth Bomb About AI We Don’t Want to Hear
AI feels brand new, but the pattern we’re living through is not. In this week’s episode, Steve Cadigan explores why most AI investments are failing to deliver value — and what history can teach us about breaking that cycle. Inspired by Ibanga Umanah’s article “From Email to AI: The Hidden Pattern...
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AI and the New Workplace Taboo
AI is supposed to be our shiny new superpower, yet many people feel embarrassed using it. In this episode, Steve digs into the rise of “AI shame” at work, unpacking a Times of India report, “AI Shame Is a Real Phenomenon in the Workplace, Claims Report: What Is Scaring Top Execs in America.” The...
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Leading 'All Too Well' — The Taylor Swift Edition
In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan explores why Taylor Swift isn’t just a global pop icon — she’s also a masterclass in leadership. From constant reinvention to building genuine community, from generosity that strengthens her team to humanity that inspires an entire industry…
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From Dashboards to Depth — Rethinking Leadership Today
Manager engagement just dipped to 27% in Gallup’s latest survey, and Steve asks a sharper question: is this a manager problem, or a system that keeps overloading and undertraining leaders? In this episode, Steve pairs the Gallup data with Jonathan J. Hsu’s Rolling Stone argument for slowing down,...
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AI, Coaching, and the Surprising Human Upside
Welcome to Workquake Weekly. Each week we take a short pause to make sense of the wild, ever-changing world of work, without the doom and gloom. Think of this as your weekly coffee break for fresh ideas, practical experiments, and maybe a laugh when work feels like it is spinning out of control.…
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The Talent You Need Might Not Look the Part (Yet)
This week on Workquake Weekly, we’re heading to the gridiron—not for football tips, but for leadership gold. Steve Cadigan takes inspiration from Bill Belichick’s new book The Art of Winning—specifically Chapter 5, a masterclass in talent evaluation—and breaks down how the Patriots’ legendary…
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The Real AI Gap? We Don’t Know What We’ve Got.
Most companies aren’t falling behind in AI because they lack the tools… they’re falling behind because they don’t know what they’ve already got. In this week’s episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve unpacks two powerful articles—one from Sally Thornton at Forshay, and another by David Michels in...
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Does working from home really kill company culture?
In this week’s episode, Steve tackles a question that just won’t go away: Does working from home damage company culture? Inspired by a recent article in The Economist — “Does working from home kill company culture?” — Steve unpacks why this debate is still alive years after the pandemic...
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Is It Time to Rethink the College-to-Career Playbook?
In this episode, we’re diving into a question that touches just about everyone—students, parents, leaders, and anyone thinking about the future of work: Is the traditional college-to-career pipeline still working? Steve breaks down two recent articles from The Atlantic by Rose Horowitch that…
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AI Is Making Great Leaders More Human — Here’s the Proof
AI isn’t the end of leadership. It might just be the beginning of better leadership. In this episode, I dig into two recent Fortune articles that finally move the AI-leadership conversation from theory to reality. We explore how Chris O’Neill, CEO of GrowthLoop, is using AI to become more…
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A Inspiring New Benchmark for the Future of Work
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan takes you inside a recent trip that left him more hopeful than ever about the future of work. Invited to speak at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), Steve didn’t just deliver a talk—he discovered a living, breathing ecosystem that’s actively...
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The Entry-Level Crisis Isn’t About Jobs, It’s About Fit
🎓 This week on Workquake Weekly, we’re diving into the crisis that’s quietly reshaping the early career landscape: the disappearance of entry-level work. With headlines flooding in from The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, and more, it’s clear—this isn’t just a bad year…
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Forecast: Foggy. What Ford’s Pause Means for Every Leader
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve unpacks a jarring headline: Ford just pulled its financial forecast for the year. With profits plunging and EV policy swinging wildly, one of America’s most iconic companies hit pause on long-term planning. But this isn’t just Ford’s problem. It’s a signal…
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AI and YOU — What Makes Us Valuable Now
Hello everyone — welcome back to Workquake Weekly! I’m Steve Cadigan, and in this episode we’re getting personal… with AI. That’s right. We’re not talking about AI in the abstract. We’re talking about AI and YOU. And me. And how it’s reshaping not just our workflows, but how we think about value,...
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Why Gen Z Is Skipping the Career Ladder — and What Small Teams Can Teach Us All
Hey friends, Steve Cadigan here! This week on Workquake Weekly, we’re diving into two trends that might seem totally separate — but together, they’re telling a powerful story about where the future of work is headed. First up: Gen Z is not waiting around for corporate ladders to offer stability.…
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Ghost Jobs, Micro-Retirements, and the Talent Strategy Wake-Up Call
This week on Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan dives into two rising trends that are shaking up how we think about work: ghost jobs and micro-retirements. On the surface, they couldn’t be more different — one’s frustrating job seekers, the other’s helping employees reset. But together, they reveal…
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AI, Empathy, and the Future of Leadership: Lessons from Moderna and Klarna
In this debut episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan explores how two companies—Moderna and Klarna—are making bold, contrasting moves in the age of AI. One is merging tech and HR leadership to build a more integrated future. The other is learning what happens when efficiency trumps empathy....
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Most leaders are asking the wrong question about AI. Workquake Weekly is where we find the right one. Each week, Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's founding CHRO and author of Workquake, breaks down what's actually happening at the intersection of AI, talent, and organizational transformation. Not hype. Not fear. The patterns that separate companies building lasting competitive advantage from those chasing a mirage. Ten minutes. One insight. Every week.For more on Steve visit stevecadigan.com
HOSTED BY
Steve Cadigan
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How many episodes does Workquake Weekly have?
Workquake Weekly currently has 46 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Workquake Weekly about?
Most leaders are asking the wrong question about AI. Workquake Weekly is where we find the right one. Each week, Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's founding CHRO and author of Workquake, breaks down what's actually happening at the intersection of AI, talent, and organizational transformation. Not hype. Not...
How often does Workquake Weekly release new episodes?
Workquake Weekly has 46 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Workquake Weekly on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Workquake Weekly?
Workquake Weekly is created and hosted by Steve Cadigan.
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