Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

I talk with Gary Schick, SVP and Chief Human Resource Officer at Jabil, about how a 60 year old manufacturing company is navigating massive change as they scale from circuit boards to data centers, AI agents, and advanced manufacturing. We get into why Jabil targeted gamers to fill debugger roles when traditional hiring failed, how visual inspection jobs are being automated with AI cameras, what happens when you move from manual work to managing AI agents, and why skills based hiring is replacing degree requirements. Gary shares how Jabil is building its own university model in partnership with local institutions, why manufacturing jobs are no longer a dirty word, and how leaders need to balance managing both humans and agents while pulling out human judgment that AI can't replicate.
Chapters

00:00:00 Meet Gary Schick and inside Jabil's 140,000-employee manufacturing empire
00:03:46 Why data centers are exploding and the myths around energy, water, and community impact
00:07:47 AI transformation at Jabil: from Copilot experiments to AI agents on the factory floor
00:11:02 Visual inspection, supply chain automation, and where AI is replacing repetitive work
00:12:58 What happens to displaced workers: upskilling, redeployment, and the Jabil University approach
00:20:51 Skills beat degrees: how gamers solved Jabil's hiring crisis and the debugger story
00:24:01 Building Jabil University: partnering with local schools to create custom curriculum
00:25:15 Manufacturing's comeback, the trades shortage, and why college might not be the answer
00:36:32 Will HR disappear? Managing AI agents, human prompting, and the future of leadership
00:39:44 AI agents as personal assistants: the Muse story and negotiating bills while you sleep
00:43:33 Agent-to-agent customer service and what happens when humans leave the loop
00:47:42 Fake candidates, perfect resumes, and the new hiring challenges in an AI world

October 2, 2026: I unpack two revealing 2% numbers that tell us where AI actually stands today. Only 2% of American households pay for any AI service, and only 2% of the S&P 500 track hard metrics showing what AI does for their business. Yet tech produced 76% of all earnings growth this year, and the most valuable companies on earth are riding on a technology almost nobody pays for and nobody measures. I explore why AI is creating real value off the books, why the business model hasn't been figured out yet, and who's going to win when someone finally captures the moment where a decision turns into a transaction. Then I get into The Atlantic's argument that next year's high school graduates should consider becoming bricklayers, why the college wage premium has dropped 10% since ChatGPT launched, and the third path nobody's talking about that sits between trades and traditional degrees. Finally, I break down The New Yorker's piece on the 90-10 production function, why AI gets you to 90% great in minutes but leaves you stuck short of excellence, and why the last 10% is where your career is about to be decided.
Chapters

00:00:00 AI's invisible value problem: why only 2% of households pay for AI
00:02:30 A16Z's State of Markets: tech becomes the everything cycle
00:11:17 Who will own the tollbooth when AI decisions become transactions
00:13:35 The Atlantic says become a bricklayer: why trades are booming
00:20:04 The entrepreneurship revolution: curiosity and imagination over credentials
00:23:26 The New Yorker's 90-10 problem: AI gets you 90% there in minutes
00:26:46 When every deliverable looks amazing, how do you spot talent?
00:31:06 The apprenticeship solution: why white-collar work needs structured mentorship

September 30, 2026: I unpack my experience using Muse, Meta's new AI assistant that actually negotiated my phone bill, lowered my internet costs, and found me discounts without me writing a single prompt. This feels fundamentally different from ChatGPT and Claude because it acts like a true personal assistant, not just a research tool. I explore what happens when every employee inside your organization gets one of these capable agentic assistants, why everyone is about to become a manager whether they have the title or not, and the coming fight over what managing AI agents is actually worth in compensation. Then I get into the leaked Anthropic IPO numbers showing a path to $2 trillion valuation on $100 billion in revenue, and why their prospectus warns investors about existential risk while asking for that valuation. Finally, I break down Anthropic's new research claiming robots can perform 74% of physical work, why that number is misleading, and why breaking jobs into task lists completely misses how work actually happens.

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.

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 between employers and candidates.