HBS Managing the Future of Work

Latest Episodes:

ETS’s Amit Sevak makes the case for continuous assessment Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

The flagship firm is pushing the boundaries of testing, from K-12 through career. What are the implications for the workforce and society? And how does AI change the future of benchmarking?

Vanguard's skills strategy for tech transformation Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

Can the shareholder-owned discount brokerage giant parlay its investments in enterprise and cloud infrastructure into an AI-enabled expansion into new markets while improving productivity and service delivery? CIO Nitin Tandon explains the global workforce strategy underpinning the effort.

Shake Shack’s test kitchen: Developing a good jobs and automation combo May 21, 2025

Show notes

Shake Shack Chief Growth Officer Steph So and HBS professor Chris Stanton join Bill Kerr to discuss the fast-casual chain’s digital strategy and how technology is changing the dining experience and restaurant work, from frontline to back office.

Upwork’s Hayden Brown on bridging volatility with contingency May 08, 2025

Show notes

"Freelance by choice" can sound like a rationalization—or putting on a brave face—but has the contract labor market improved for white-collar workers, as more, particularly younger professionals, opt in? A look at the benefits for both sides of the bargain and how AI changes the calculus.

ManpowerGroup’s Jonas Prising on the new global talent equation Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

The staffing giant’s chairman and CEO lays out the opportunities and risks in the fast-changing and fragmented labor market. Riding the genAI wave, addressing workers’ career development needs, RTO and flex-work, international talent flows, and the up-skilling imperative in the face growing polarization.

Redrawing the map to tech careers: Per Scholas CEO Plinio Ayala on skills, mobility, and AI Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

After decades preparing workers from underserved communities for well-paid tech jobs, the workforce nonprofit is expanding its training, footprint, and funding strategy for its tuition-free programs. As AI redefines positions across the org chart, can bootcamps plus training top-ups, and a mix of hard and soft skills future-proof the Per Scholas formula?

Erik Brynjolfsson on how AI is rewriting the rules of the economy Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

The Stanford economist unpacks AI’s impact on work and productivity, its limitations, and wider implications. He also lays out what organizations can do to get more out of the technology as they invest in the transformation. And he updates his longstanding research into augmenting traditional GDP metrics to capture the value of digital goods and services.

Cal Newport on slow productivity and next-wave AI Mar 12, 2025

Show notes

Joe Fuller welcomes back the Georgetown computer scientist and leading observer of knowledge work, who reprises his argument against busyness as the default mode. Also, cracking the productivity code, parsing AI's potential, and better work-life balance.

David Deming on workforce shifts and the future of college Feb 26, 2025

Show notes

AI's early impact on the labor market: Are claims of revolutionary change overblown? The Harvard economist presents the long view on technological disruption and updates the post-secondary picture.

Ed Glaeser on Cities, Work, and Why America Struggles to Build Feb 12, 2025

Show notes

The Harvard urban economist assesses the post-Covid health of cities, rural development, zoning and the stagnation of the U.S. housing industry, the impact of AI, and more.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

HBS Managing the Future of Work

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected