What happens when organizations say upskilling is a priority—yet fail to deliver beyond day one?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Leslie Kelley, Chief Growth Officer at Absorb Software, to explore why traditional upskilling isn’t cutting it—and what smarter, business-aligned learning looks like. Drawing on findings from Absorb’s new State of Upskilling 2025 report, Leslie explains why only 44% of companies offer training at onboarding, fewer than 10% continue when business needs shift, and why ownership of learning remains so fragmented.

Together, Nirit and Leslie unpack how AI can eliminate the “boring parts” of jobs while personalizing skill pathways, why the half-life of skills is shrinking fast, and how Gen Z is redefining career growth around learning velocity—not promotions. They also highlight why mentorship, coaching, and people-based learning remain the human edge in a digital-first workplace.

If you’ve ever wondered how to close the gap between intent and action in L&D—and how to build learning cultures that actually drive performance—this conversation offers both a reality check and a roadmap for what’s next.

https://youtu.be/oEqT6EyER-4

Guest Information:

Leslie Kelley is the Chief Growth Officer at Absorb Software, where she spearheads innovative growth strategies across product, sales, marketing, customer success, and account management.
With a proven track record in driving revenue and customer satisfaction from Seed through Series E, Leslie excels in aligning complex platforms with customer value. Her expertise spans revenue generation, business strategy, and cross-functional team leadership.
Prior to joining Absorb, Leslie held pivotal roles at 360Learning, SmartRecruiters, and ThirdChannel, where she consistently delivered exceptional results in sales and customer success. Leslie is passionate about challenging the status quo and building bold strategies that deliver unparalleled value to customers.

Upskilling report: https://www.absorblms.com/white-papers/state-of-upskilling-report/

Chapters:

00:00 – Why Is Upskilling Failing Beyond Onboarding?
01:30 – How Can AI Personalize Learning and Skills?
03:40 – Why Doesn’t Upskilling Stick in Organizations?
05:07 – Who Really Owns Employee Upskilling?
06:40 – Why Don’t Leaders Prioritize Learning Time?
08:43 – How Can Upskilling Align with Business Outcomes?
10:24 – What Role Does Culture Play in Learning with AI?
12:27 – Why Is People-Based Learning Still Essential?
14:06 – How Can L&D Drive Business Strategy?
16:14 – What Makes Strategic Learning Collaboration Work?
18:03 – How Can Companies Balance Oversight and Agility in Training?
19:53 – What Does Always-On Upskilling Look Like?
20:56 – How Can Leaders Tie Learning Directly to Business Outcomes?
22:59 – Should Companies Train Customers and Partners Too?
24:16 – What Will Learning Look Like in the Next Few Years?
26:33 – Why Human Connection Matters in Future Learning
28:15 – What Question Should We Ask About the Future of Work?
29:56 – How Is Gen Z Changing Expectations Around Learning?

What if pressure—not power—is what derails managers? And what if the key to great leadership isn’t more tools or authority, but a willingness to change yourself before trying to change others?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Sabina Nawaz, global executive coach and author of You're the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need), to explore the invisible forces that make or break managers.

Drawing on over 12,000 pages of 360° feedback from executives at Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and more, Sabina reveals why promotions are often the most dangerous moments in a manager’s career—and how the very traits that
got you the role can backfire if left unchecked. Together, they unpack the pressure-pitfalls and power-gaps that derail even the most well-meaning leaders, and the simple, evidence-based strategies that can help you avoid them.

You’ll learn about the Time Portfolio, the Yes List, the 10-Second Pause, and other practical tools to lead with clarity, trust, and intention. Sabina shares how to communicate your leadership “operating system,” how to delegate without disaster, and how to stop reacting and start reflecting—even if it’s just for 10 seconds a day.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the demands of leadership, unsure how to manage in an AI-disrupted world, or worried that being helpful might make you a micromanager—this conversation is for you.

https://youtu.be/_Ab8DggaFUA

Guest Information:
Sabina Nawaz is the author of YOU’RE THE BOSS: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need) and an elite executive coach who advises C-level executives and teams at
Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions around the world. During her fourteen-year tenure at Microsoft, she went from managing software development teams to leading the company’s
executive development and succession planning efforts for over 11,000 managers and nearly a thousand executives, advising Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer directly. She has written for and been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, NBC, Nasdaq, and MarketWatch.

Chapters:
00:00 – Why managers fail under pressure
01:40 – The question that predicts leadership success
03:00 – Why promotions are the most dangerous moment
05:30 – When strengths turn into weaknesses
08:45 – How to stop being misunderstood as a leader
10:30 – Power isolates you from your impact
11:40 – Can AI make management harder?
13:10 – Why busyness is a trap, not a badge
13:55 – The Blank Space technique for overwhelmed managers
17:20 – Micro habits that actually work
18:45 – The “Yes List” and how to use it
19:55 – What is a Time Portfolio?
21:45 – Are you spending time on the right things?
22:45 – One habit that separates great managers
24:20 – 10 seconds that can change your day
25:00 – From positional leadership to co-creation
26:00 – The sole provider trap
27:00 – How to delegate without disaster
28:45 – A five-step delegation dial
29:30 – The question every manager should ask themselves

What happens when the tools we use to work stop being background apps—and start becoming the very space where work lives?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Sanchan S. Saxena, Head of Product for Atlassian’s Teamwork Collection (including Jira, Confluence, and Loom), to explore how the digital workplace is evolving into the new office—and what that means for collaboration, leadership, and productivity.

Sanchan shares a vision where the browser becomes a central workspace, agents work alongside humans, and asynchronous communication replaces endless meetings. He explains why video has become his most powerful leadership tool, how Atlassian saved 5,000 hours of meeting time in two weeks, and how AI is moving from assistant to co-creator—freeing people up to do more meaningful work.

Together, they explore what it takes to build trust and transparency in distributed teams, how success is being redefined in the age of AI, and why the future of work won’t be fully human—or fully machine—but powered by both.

If you’ve ever wondered what a great workplace looks like when the “place” is entirely digital, this episode offers both a playbook and a glimpse of what’s next.

https://youtu.be/bLhfJ4HXZsY

Guest Information:

Sanchan Saxena is Head of Product for Atlassian's Teamwork Collection, which includes Jira, Confluence, and Loom. Prior to joining Atlassian, Sanchan led product strategy at Coinbase, Airbnb, Instagram, and Microsoft.

How Atlassian Teams Saved 5,000 Hours of Meeting Time in Two Weeks

https://www.atlassian.com/blog/loom/atlassian-meeting-research

Chapters:

00:00 — What Makes a Digital Workplace Truly Work?
01:26 — Can Remote Collaboration Be Just as Effective?
03:17 — Should We Be Replicating Physical Workspaces Online?
05:22 — What New Workflows Does Digital Enable?
07:31 — How AI Agents Are Replacing Meeting Attendance
09:24 — What Work Should AI Take Off Our Plate?
10:53 — Is AI Changing How Leaders Define Success?
13:01 — Can Humans and AI Work as Teammates?
15:01 — How to Stay Connected Across Time Zones
16:49 — How to Replace Meetings with Asynchronous Video
19:29 — What Happens When You Cancel 5,000 Meetings?
21:46 — How AI Links Conversations to Action
23:23 — What Distributed Leadership Looks Like in Practice
25:30 — How to Align Teams Without Physical Presence
27:24 — Can Video Build Trust Across Cultures?
29:27 — Why Video is Easier Than You Think
30:48 — How Gen Z is Reshaping Workplace Communication
32:30 — Will AI Agents Become Our Teammates?
34:43 — Closing Thoughts: Why Humans Still Matter Most

What if the future of work isn’t about hiring more people—but about building smarter systems that scale on demand? What happens when cloud-based teams replace org charts, and companies optimize for outcomes instead of headcount? Can companies using on-demand teams instead of employees?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Krishna Vardhan Reddy, founder and CEO of AiDOOS, to explore the seismic shift away from traditional employment toward distributed, project-based execution. Together, they dive into how organizations can unbundle work from jobs, rebuild delivery models in the cloud, and rethink the very structure
of the enterprise.

Krishna introduces the concept of the Virtual Delivery Center (VDC), a model that connects global talent to enterprise projects through AI-enabled, cloud-native workflows. You’ll hear how companies can shrink to their strategic core, orchestrate work through on-demand teams, and deploy AI as a productivity amplifier—not a replacement for people. From startup agility to
enterprise transformation, Krishna shares his vision of a borderless, outcome-driven world of work.

If you’ve ever wondered how to scale without hiring, what comes after the job description, or how AI and humans might truly collaborate in the next generation of work—this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

https://youtu.be/eIh44FpE8u4

Guest Information:
Krishna Vardhan Reddy is the founder & CEO of AiDOOS, the world’s first Virtual Delivery Center (VDC) platform that enables enterprises to execute projects via distributed, cloud-based expert teams. A technologist and futurist at heart, Krishna is on a mission to redefine how work gets done in the age of AI and agility. With over two decades in enterprise delivery, Krishna now builds models that collapse organizational complexity and drive outcome-focused execution.

Chapters:
00:00 – What If Employment No Longer Made Sense?
03:12 – Are We Returning to a World of Micro-Entrepreneurs?
05:15 – Can Companies Rely on On-Demand Teams for Core Work?
07:15 – How Do You Ensure Quality and Control Without Employees?
09:26 – Can One Person Build a Unicorn with Cloud-Based Teams?
11:24 – How Do You Maintain Culture Without Traditional Structures?
13:14 – What Makes This Different from Freelance Platforms?
14:13 – Can Dashboards Replace Direct Supervision?
15:28 – Will Outcome-Based Compensation Replace Salaries?
17:45 – How Does the AiDOOS Unit-Based Pay System Work?
19:32 – Which Types of Work Fit the Virtual Delivery Model?
20:09 – Can AI Agents Replace Human Teams?
21:34 – Why Would Companies Use a Platform Instead of Building Their Own AI Stack?
23:40 – Are We Entering Life 4.0?
25:11 – What Is the Future of Talent Clouds?
26:40 – What Happens to Culture in Borderless Organizations?
27:16 – What Should We Ask About the Future of Work?

What if nearly half your team felt misunderstood—and you didn’t even know it?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Dr. Matt Poepsel, behavioral scientist, leadership expert, and VP at The Predictive Index, to unpack one of the most overlooked cracks in today’s workplace: the growing gap between what leaders think their people need—and what people actually experience at work.

With fresh data showing that nearly 50% of employees don’t feel understood by their manager, Matt and Nirit explore the consequences of this misalignment on trust, energy, and performance—and why it’s not just a communication problem, but a design problem. They dive into the hidden ways organizations are still structured around systems of control, even as work demands flexibility, focus, and recovery.

The conversation tackles tough questions: Can AI help leaders become better coaches instead of better monitors? What does it take to build leadership models that match how people actually function? And how can we rethink productivity to align with purpose, not just output? From rehumanizing leadership to using AI as a mirror for self-awareness, Matt offers a roadmap for evolving management—not just for efficiency, but for impact.

If you’ve ever wondered how to lead in a world where performance systems and human behavior are out of sync, this episode is your starting point.

https://youtu.be/I6e7N7to2Fo

Guest Information:
Matt Poepsel , PhD is the author of Expand the Circle: Enlightened Leadership for Our New World of Work and host of the Lead the People podcast. He serves as Vice President & Godfather of Talent Optimization at The Predictive Index and is a graduate professor at Boston College, where he teaches leadership, human resources, and business spirituality. Matt holds a PhD in Psychology, an MBA, and a Harvard Business School Certificate of Management Excellence, and brings more than 25 years of leadership experience as a software executive and consultant.

2024 Workplace Perception Gap Data

The Predictive Index's joint report with Raconteur

Chapters:
00:00 — Why Half of Employees Feel Misunderstood at Work
01:40 — What Causes the Manager-Employee Disconnect?
03:10 — How Employee Expectations Changed After the Pandemic
04:20 — The Three Systems Every Manager Must Balance
05:50 — Why Feeling Seen at Work Drives Performance
06:45 — Are Engagement Surveys Still Useful?
08:35 — Is Work Structured Against Human Behavior?
10:10 — Are AI Tools Making Work More Human or More Robotic?
12:00 — Productivity vs. People: What's the Real AI Strategy?
13:50 — The Power of Trust in High-Performance Cultures
15:00 — Why Managers Fear AI and Empathy-Based Leadership
16:20 — How Incentives Undermine the Manager's New Role
17:35 — Can You Have Productivity and Purpose?
18:50 — Where Should Managers Start? Self-Awareness
19:40 — How to Free Up Time for People Leadership
20:45 — Using AI as a Coach for Leadership Development
21:55 — The First Five Minutes: A Habit for Human Connection
23:30 — Motivation at Work Isn’t Always About Money
24:45 — Closing the Perception Gap with Strength-Based Coaching
26:40 — Real Examples of Using AI for Self-Coaching
28:30 — The One Question Every Leader Should Ask About the Future of Work

Resumes aren’t dead. But they’re no longer what they used to be.

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Volen Volkov, co-founder of Enhancv, to explore how AI is transforming self-presentation in a hiring market that’s more automated, competitive, and algorithm-driven than ever.

With over 45% of resumes now AI-generated, and tailoring down by 27%, job seekers are caught between speed and substance—while employers rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) that may never even surface their applications. Volen and Nirit unpack what’s happening on both sides of the job search: why resume formats are evolving beyond one-page rules, how visual design and micro-details impact parsing, and what the shift to AI screening means for authenticity, personalization, and bias.

Together, they demystify what today’s job seekers need to know about bots, keywords, and digital presence—while reaffirming what hasn’t changed: that your story still matters.

If you’ve ever struggled to write a resume, wondered how it’s being read, or feared that AI is gaming the job market, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

https://youtu.be/XXWrpIpjE5o

Guest Information:

Volen Vulkov is a resume expert and the co-founder of Enhancv. He has written more than 500 resume guides and deep-dive articles on how to create your resume and cover letter, that inspire job applicants to make a resume to be proud of. His work has been featured in Forbes, Zendesk, HubSpot, and Business Insider, and cited by top universities and educational institutions, like Thunderbird School of Management, Rochester University, University of Miami, and Udemy. Volen applies his deep knowledge and practical experience to write about career changes, development, and how to stand out in the job application process.

https://enhancv.com/blog/resume-statistics/

Chapters:

00:00 – How AI Is Changing Resumes
01:18 – Why Focus on Resumes?
02:36 – Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid
03:33 – Should You Let AI Write Your Resume?
05:59 – Why AI Tools Still Require Human Input
07:17 – Can Recruiters Spot AI-Generated Applications?
10:14 – Why Tailored Resumes Are Declining
11:47 – Are Job Seekers Spamming Applications?
13:50 – When AI Applies and AI Hires
14:57 – How Applicant Tracking Systems Really Work
16:09 – What Resume Keywords Actually Do
17:02 – What Is a Resume Parser?
17:46 – Why Creative Resume Formats Can Backfire
19:23 – Do Visual Resumes Hurt ATS Compatibility?
20:10 – What’s Changing in Resume Screening?
21:39 – Focus on Content, Not Just Format
23:05 – Everyone’s Resume Sounds the Same—Now What?
23:30 – How Does AI Select Candidates?
23:58 – Why Online Presence Matters More Than Ever
24:51 – The Rise of Automated Screening Tools
25:31 – Be Ready to Defend Your Resume with Evidence
27:41 – AI Is Looking for Fit, Not Just Keywords
28:43 – Generational Differences in Resume Language
29:34 – Will Resumes Disappear in the Future?
30:49 – What Comes After the Digital Resume?
32:37 – How to Tell Your Career Story with Impact

What happens when AI takes over the tasks—but connection, trust, and leadership are still what hold teams together? What if the biggest differentiator in the future of work isn’t technical skills or automation—but the people leading other people?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Jennifer Dulski, CEO of Rising Team and longtime tech leader at Google, Meta, and Change.org, to explore what leadership looks like when the work itself is changing.

From the rise of soft skills to the risk of outsourcing our own thinking to AI, Jennifer unpacks the new manager playbook—one built on coaching, connection, and the kinds of human capabilities machines can’t replicate.

Together, they explore how to build trust in distributed teams, why small moments of belonging drive big performance gains, and what it really means to equip managers to lead in an AI-first world.

If you’ve ever wondered how to prepare your leaders for the future, why emotional intelligence is the new competitive edge, or how to build culture in a world where no one shares an office—this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

https://youtu.be/s7Qqb30vKy8

Guest Information:
Jennifer Dulski – Formerly of Meta and Google, professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and CEO of Rising
Team. Jennifer has 25+ years of executive experience leading large, globally distributed teams at top companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Change.org. She is founder and CEO of Rising Team, a team performance platform that helps companies increase employee engagement and retention,
build trust and connection, and improve manager and team effectiveness. The platform combines software that equips managers to lead deeply connective team workshops with a personalized AI leadership coach.
Jennifer is also a faculty member at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she teaches one of the most popular courses, “Managing Growing Enterprises,” about people leadership. She also writes about leadership and the future of work for Fast Company and LinkedIn Influencers. Her first book, Purposeful, is about how each of us can be movement starters, and is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.

Chapters:
00:00 — Why Leadership Must Change in the Age of AI
01:44 — What’s Driving the Shift in How We Lead
03:40 — Why Managers Are Underprepared
05:29 — From Executive Coaching to AI-Powered Managers
07:10 — What Actually Makes Teams High Performing
09:28 — What Humans Still Do Better Than AI
11:17 — Are We Automating the Heart Out of Work?
13:16 — How Rising Team Builds Human-Centered Managers
15:36 — Will AI Replace Human Connection in Management?
17:39 — The Line Between What AI Can and Can’t Do
18:46 — One Question That Predicts Great Managers
20:28 — Why Time With Your Team Still Matters Most
21:59 — Rethinking How We Teach Managers to Lead
23:08 — Building Trust at Scale With Software
24:38 — What Happens When AI Agents Join the Team?
26:00 — How to Manage AI Agents vs. Humans
28:06 — The Most Important Leadership Skill of the Future
30:05 — What Will We Regret Not Doing at Work?
32:16 — The Future of Less Work That Matters