Scaling a massive workforce culture often fails because the big-picture strategy never reaches the people on the front line. What is the real secret to consistent growth future-ready leaders should know to scale culture within a massive organization of 130,000 employees? In this episode, I sat down with Chipotle COO Jason Kidd to explore how culture actually scales through systems, standards, and leadership discipline. Jason breaks down the discipline of "mastering the mundane," a strategy that ensures every department—from the CHRO to marketing and finance—is perfectly aligned to support the front line. We discussed how Chipotle achieves an incredible 80–90% internal promotion rate for General Managers by identifying "happy people" with a competitive drive and utilising "Avacado," more often called "Ava," their AI-driven recruitment assistant, to remove friction from the hiring process. For executive leaders, Jason provides a masterclass in granular succession planning, revealing how they forecast leadership needs up to four years in advance to sustain rapid growth. This episode highlights that while technology like AI serves as a powerful "assist," the human touch and leadership intuition remain the essential ingredients for scaling a high-performance culture.

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Future-ready organizations are built, not hoped for. My latest book, -The 8 Laws of Employee Experience shows how. Preorder here: 8EXlaws.com

Most organizations aren't shaping the future of work, they're chasing it.

In this episode, I share what CHROs admit privately but rarely say out loud: HR has become reactive, stuck in firefighting mode, and focused on looking good instead of doing what actually drives results. Traditional HR metrics are backward-looking, accountability has eroded, and the pendulum has swung dangerously toward entitlement.

This isn't about blaming employees. It's about restoring honesty, balance, and courage in leadership. Because work is a value exchange—and when leaders are afraid to say that, both performance and culture suffer.

The future of work doesn't need more perks. It needs leaders willing to tell the truth.

January 8, 2026:

In today's episode of Future Ready Today, I break down the most important future-of-work stories shaping how work is actually changing right now. I look at new research showing workers rank AI as one of the top forces shaping their workplace — even as pay and work-life balance remain their biggest concerns. I examine why Amazon is tightening its performance review process and asking employees to clearly articulate what they accomplished, and what that says about accountability making a quiet comeback at work.

I also dig into new labor data showing more Americans are working multiple jobs than at any time since 1999, what LinkedIn's latest talent research reveals about a growing confidence gap in the workforce, and why falling job openings matter more than the headlines suggest. Taken together, these stories paint a picture of a labor market where expectations are rising, pressure is increasing, and work is becoming less forgiving — even as many workers feel less prepared to navigate what comes next.