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Well, 2025 is just about in the rear view mirror and what a long strange trip it's been
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We started the year with the usual predictions of gloom and doom that have become de regur whenever there is a changing of the garden DC and
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2025 also brought us a real mixed bag of craziness, including
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Tesla burning parties and interstellar visitors and breathless coverage of federal workers losing their jobs and
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Total crickets about the thousands of tech workers who are also can this year
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We had execs canutling a cold play concerts. We had Sydney Swini who reminded us that she does in fact have very very good genes
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And who the hell knows what cracker barrel was thinking
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You take it all together roll it in a big ball and it has been
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Well, it's been interesting
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Yet here we are the sun continued to rise the seasons continued to pass and the world kept right unspinning
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But for the US worker things are probably going to continue feeling at least a little bit off-kilter far a little while longer
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But I do see some points of light on the horizon
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So like any consultant slash business owner slash content creator worth his salt in this crazy world work
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I am dusting off the crystal ball and we're going to give you a peek at my top five predictions for 2026
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Number five's a biggie
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So go grab some popcorn grab your favorite drink and come back and settle in
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You this will probably piss a few people off, but I bet you'll have a bit of fun, too
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My first prediction for 2026 is this is the year when we're all going to hit peak AI hangover
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Now for the past few years the media has been reporting on all the ways AI was going to redefine humanity
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disease
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history
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science
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philosophy every idea man has ever had about the universe up for grabs
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Bio-digital jazz, man others have seen AI in slightly more pessimistic or maybe more realistic terms a
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Singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines
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But the truth as with most things in life lies somewhere in between
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But even as we staggered into the back half of 2025 it feels like the blush was already starting to come off the rose
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Reports of an AI bubble started swirling around some of the more reputable financial publications
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Michael burry. Yes, that Michael burry whose predictions of the busting 2008 housing bubble were so damn compelling
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They turned into a movie is actually bringing the same warning bell about AI
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Coca-Cola's Christmas ad for this season, which was 100% AI generated
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Received more reactions of WTF than OMG
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And how even Marion Webster chose Slop as their word of the year
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A nod to the growing frustration surrounding AI Slop or content that's
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blatantly LLM created that has empowered millions of people to sound exactly alike
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Exactly alike
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Now no matter where you sit on the AI spectrum
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There's a pretty good chance you've hit some level of un
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Enough already vibe and I think that's only going to intensify in 2026
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Now to be clear, I'm a wholehearted believer in AI and I think it's going to continue to be a disruptive force
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particularly in the workplace
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And there are some places where AI can be a really positive game changer at work like
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Creating schedules that ensure the safety of workers and takes into account their preferences
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And follows all the regulations and policies
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And makes the workplace more efficient
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I mean getting stuff like that right hitting that balance
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Really is a bit of a delicate act and AI can make it all work better and easier
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Far the employer and the employee alike
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But smart employers and the HR pros who support them
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Are going to quickly figure out that using AI to replace tasks that require a touch of humanity
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Might look good on paper, but it will backfire spectacularly in practice
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And we're already seeing this in pockets
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Any job seeker can tell you that the resume and application process is hopelessly broken
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And AI has only made things worse
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Employers love how AI helps them blow through large numbers of resumes and such of that perfect candidate
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But they also love bitching about how awful it is for job seekers to use AI for resume bombing every open role
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Or having chat GPT help them keyword optimize cover letters
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So ticks every box in the job description
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It just doesn't make sense
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They'll also prattle on about how really smart chatbots are going to create workplace in urvana
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By better supporting employees and anticipating their every need
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Or how AI is going to revolutionize training and on and on and on
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But if you're a worker who's going through some rough spots
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Or you have some concerns about the trajectory of your career
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Or you need some help balancing your personal and professional responsibilities
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The last thing you want or need is an algorithm
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Aping human behavior pretending to care
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Yet that's what some HR pros or even worse that HR pundits are evangelizing
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Now we'll dig more into the liminal space known as HR in a few minutes
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But for now suffice it to say that workers are more tuned into the shenanigans than employers think
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And they're tied so very
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Very tired of it all hey speaking of fatigue that leads us to prediction number two
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Outrage fatigue
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Now I debated calling this one the the death of istes and isms
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But ended up going with the broader umbrella term about rage fatigue instead because I think it covers more ground
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Both at work and outside of work
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So let's start with the less controversial stuff the social stuff
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Now society in general in social media and specific is become a wasteland of extreme views shared in extreme ways
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Every platform is just dripping with anger and offense and outrage
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And views are often expressed in the most base in classic terms
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And what was once an outlier has now become the norm
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We've been creating this world where
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Nasciness is rewarded and rational positions are muted
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And everyone seems like they're just looking for the next reason to pick a fight
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No political persuasion or socioeconomic group is immune to this and everyone from politicians to reporters from activists to algorithms
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Have found ways to weaponize this for their own personal gain
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And you just can't seem to get away from it
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I mean not even at work
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In the workplace for the past five or six years when people encountered even the tiniest examples
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Of misaligned worldviews or or inconveniences
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The knee jerk reaction was to trot out the most extreme slurs
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To quiet opposing voices or to simply believe people into submission
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You didn't black out your company's logo or your social media profile in February
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Well, you must be a racist
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Didn't attend your company's pride month event
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Well, you must be a homophobic no pronouns in your email signature
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Transphobic motive for Trump or drive a Tesla
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Well, that must mean you're a Nazi and on and on and on and on and I'm willing to give people who took these
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Stances the benefit of the doubt and assume that their original motivation was coming from a place
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Where they honestly felt like they were in the right and calling the sort of stuff out was in some twisted way a good thing
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But it morphed into something much more sinister and much more destructive
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And for many that meant the workplace became a pretty hostile environment
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It became a place where some people were conditioned to believe that any memo or email or conversation that was less than perfectly worded
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Was a microaggression
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While others were told in no uncertain terms that you either embrace
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Performative acts of ally ship or else
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Did it make the workplace more inclusive? Did it help everyone to join arms and sing kumbaya?
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no
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Not even a little bit
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It it tanked morale it tanked engagement it tanked trust
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And now now employers are facing a bit of a crisis and they only have themselves to blame
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And the worst thing about it
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Is that so many workplaces have worked so hard to stifle debate
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That they've forgotten how to actually have productive conversations across differing viewpoints
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But I am starting to see some cracks in the foundation of clickbait rage and need your workplace reactions
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Now online I'm seeing more examples of people who are crossing
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Ideological lines than at any other time in recent memory
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Historically left-leaning personalities are starting to find some middle ground with conservatives on certain issues
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Like protecting women's spaces and right-leaning people are taking more center of stances to like calling out the president for some of the comments
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He made in the wake of Rob Reiner's murder
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Even once outspoken celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence
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Are admitting that all the posturing and grandstanding that Hollywood's been doing isn't really moving the needle socially
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And in fact, it's detracting from their art and she's making a conscious effort to tone it down going forward
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We're also seeing the benefits of having the social media platforms specifically acts
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That is relatively free from government interference and oversight
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Now as I record this episode
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Nick Shirley a citizen journalist has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota to the tunes of billions of dollars of taxpayer money
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With deep deep political implications and it's making people on both sides of the political aisle
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Sit up and take notice
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So maybe common ground isn't as elusive as we've been like to believe
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Now crossing those lines isn't easy for anyone because it usually means you'll catch a lot of flak for doing so
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But I applaud everyone who does it
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I mean hell if you read a sampling of the comments from this channel alone
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You'll see that I've been called both a conservative jackass and a loony lefty
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Usually within the comment section of the same video
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But you have to ignore all of that and continue speaking up
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When you take a stand on something not everyone is gonna like you and that's fine
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It's part of the game and I'm glad to see more people are playing
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And the workplace however, I believe that workers themselves will be the ones that are leading the positive change
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Employees are starting to recognize that they're more divided than ever before and no matter how well intentioned some of these policies have been
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They're kind of starting to do more harm than good
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Now for example a recent study from Pew Research indicated the number of employees who believe DEI is a good thing is on the decline
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And those who think it's a bad thing around the rise
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As are those who feel that too much attention is paid to DEI work in general
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Now if you step back and look at all this in a macro view
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There's a growing body of evidence that people are getting sick of the loudest voices being the only voices
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And left to their own devices without extreme interventions
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Workforces tend to find a way to harmonize
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There's also a growing body of research that shows that effective performance management programs
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Activities that help everyone in the workplace are far better at fostering actual diversity and unity
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Then heavy handed DEI programs
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Now check this out taken from the July and August issue of Harvard Business Review
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researchers Alexandra Caleb and Frank Dobbin wrote
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We've run statistical analyses of data from some 800 companies in a variety of industries
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Many of the techniques that companies use to improve performance have a better record of fostering inclusion
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Then do diversity trainings and grievance processes
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popular DEI measures that tend to be counterproductive
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Now all this should be good news right we're uncovering some information we're uncovering some insights
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That's actually going to make the workplace better and more inclusive and all the things that you've heard HR talking about for years
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I just wish HR would get the memo too
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Too many people in the HR world and more disturbingly too many of the pundits and consultants that influence them
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Still have an immediate and belligerent reaction to anyone daring to ask questions like
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Are we really improving things or maybe could there be a better way?
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It's ultimately self sabotaging behavior
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But I think it might be coming to a head and I think 2026 is the year
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When we're going to see all this stuff turn a corner and workers
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Not HR, not managers, not the C suite workers themselves
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Are going to get together and they're going to figure it out
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Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think it's going to happen
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Hey speaking of HR here's prediction number three and this one could be spicy for some of the folks specifically the ones that are watching this on LinkedIn
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But I think 2026 is going to be a year of reckoning for the human resources profession as a whole
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Now before I dig in here
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I just want to go on the record stating that I think there are a lot of HR pros
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Who have their hearts in head in the right place and genuinely want to make the world of work better for everyone
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In my day job I support several companies in the work tech space
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So I interact with HR pros on a pretty regular basis
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And I know for a fact it is a tough tough gig
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Now that said
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Oftentimes in this community the most opinionated and closed-minded folks tend to be the loudest and the most visible
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And they suck all the oxygen out of the room
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Like HR operates in this weird space that kind of exists between
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The company the government and the worker and they have to
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Work to keep everybody happy
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And that's a pretty thinkless gig sometimes and for decades they've been talking about getting
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Seated the table about being viewed as more of a strategic than a transactional role
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And then George Floyd's death hit then covid kicked in and the great return to office debate kicked off and it does another things
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We're suddenly thrown on their plate and now they didn't just have a seat at the table
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They were under a microscope
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And for a while that spotlight worked in HR's favor
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They were getting the budget they were getting the attention they were getting the influence they had long since asked for
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But it increasingly feels like HR has lost the script and it's due in part to the so-called experts that they're hiring
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To show them the way
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Too many of these pundits are clinging to broken playbooks or doubling down on flavor of the month initiatives
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Or chasing trends that are either out of step with business realities or in some areas actively undermining workforce trust
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And that's creating a lick
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The world of work is changing dramatically at far too many pundits influencers and thought leaders are acting like it's still 2020
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Now the same people who 12 months ago were shouting from the rooftops that employees should bring their whole authentic self to work
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Are now saying the exact opposite today
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Mostly because of socio-political wins have shifted in the direction they don't like
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And the folks who preach peace love and understanding on LinkedIn are the same ones
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Who openly wish for the death of their political opponents on X
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I wish that example is fabricated
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But it's not I I've seen it and it's ugly
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Now HR can't claim to be the champion of people if they're handing out pink slips
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Well, you can pay her out no well promoter what can you make a roll redundant?
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Yes, with that employing someone in a place
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No, pay her out then turn around and take an Instagram selfie with the people first hashtag at an HR trade show
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It's just it just doesn't resonate
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Or if they knowingly post a job opening for a position that isn't real
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Or they completely throw the reins of resume review to AI
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Or if they treat candidates like garbage or any of the other dehumanizing behaviors that have gone on throughout 2025 and before that
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Now the disconnect between HR's public messaging and its behind-the-scenes actions
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Is starting to feel like parity and that's a real problem
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Workers are seeing straight through the BS and other members of the C suite are starting to lose faith in CHR rows as well
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In fact a recent report from HR dive highlighted that only 12% of respondents to a recent survey
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Identified CHR rows as integral to the decision-making process
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It check out this quote
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HR is often sidelined when it comes to workplace AI transformation
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HR data vendor beamery said in a report released Tuesday
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When asked to pick the two most influential decision-makers on AI
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Survey respondents picked the CEO at 81%
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Digital transformation lead at 50%
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And CIO at 36% among the top three
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CHR rows trailed at 12%
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Now for better or for worse AI is absolutely reframing the landscape of work in just about every industry
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Yet if you believe this data
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The HR department is being largely left out of the loop on these decisions
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Now HR has been the go-to function for major work disruptions over the past half decade
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But on this potentially the one that is going to be the grand added game changer of them all
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They're not
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And you got to wonder why that is
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Well other research from organizations like Gallup might hold the key
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Employee engagement is hovering around 30% while the best practice benchmark for employee engagement is 70%
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It's a 40% delta and when you combine this information with that of the the Caleb and Dobin research that we highlighted earlier in this video
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It paints a pretty bleak picture
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Something needs to change quickly to reverse the trend
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Now to be clear this isn't a call to burn HR down
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Not in the least. It's a call for HR to level up
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Now in 2026 the best HR teams will be the ones who shed the corporate platitudes
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Who stop trying to appease every internet loudmouth with the LinkedIn profile and get back to brass tax
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Build trust support performance
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Encourage hard conversations and help people to get ahead
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The worst teams are going to be the ones that continue to confuse virtue signaling the values
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That takes strategy advice from consultants who haven't worked inside of business and so bomb is first term
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And thinking they're in the activism business when what they really need to do is focus on what's happening
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Within the four walls of the business
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That's the reckoning that's coming
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HR should be strategic. It should be essential
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And it will be the engine of people centric progress, but only if it chooses to be
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To put up bluntly 2026 is going to be the shitter get off the pot year for HR
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You either are going to come in lockstep and understand the bigger picture
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or you're going to get left behind
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And HR should have a unique and distinctive advantage in the coming years because
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2026
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Is going to be above all else a year where humanity matters more than ever
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Okay, on to prediction number four and that's the prioritizing humanity and authenticity in all walks of life is going to win the day
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Now I'm not talking about rara empathy workshops or whatever some TEDx speakers pedaling this week
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I'm talking about something
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deeper and something real
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In a world where content is now easier to create than ever. It's also never been easier to ignore
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AIs made possible for anyone with a keyboard to crank out white papers and blog posts and emails and pitch decks and social content
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And even keynote speeches at lightning speed
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But here's the catch if everyone's doing the same thing using the same tools
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absolutely no one is standing out
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The internet is drowning in good enough content
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Well polished algorithm optimized buzzword heavy
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But ultimately utterly forgettable
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And while the machines are getting smarter they still can't replicate what actually resonates
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Your voice your values your weird little quirks and your heart and perspective
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In short your story
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In 2026 the people who win will be the ones brave enough to actually sound like themselves
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Not like competitors not like their compliance department not like whatever gardener said in a pdf
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Six months ago or highly sanitized the way their legal team tells them they need to behave
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But people that actually sound and communicate and relatable as themselves
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And that goes for whether you're in marketing or sales or HR or leadership or public speaking or it's simply just trying to make a point online
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The most powerful thing you can do right now the most memorable thing you can do right now
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Is show up as fully formed and fully human
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Warts and all
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Use your own words even if they're not the pitch perfect ones
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If something lights you up if something gets your fires going you say so
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If something doesn't sit right question it if you've learned a hard lesson share it
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Because in a world flooded with AI generated slop
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Genuine displays of humanity and creativity and honesty will stand head and shoulders above everything else
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Because ultimately people don't want more content. They want connection
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They want to trust that there's a real person on the other end of the message
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They they want you
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Now I know it's not as easy as it sounds for some people and I speak from personal experience when I tell you
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That authenticity often comes with the cost sometimes it can be pretty high
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But if you're more interested in human connection than vanity metrics
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It's a price you have to pay
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Let me give you an example
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Recently there's been a lot of chatter online about the LinkedIn algorithm that's systematically squelching the voices of women content creators
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People who are used to getting more views and engagement
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And they're ascribing the blame for their declining numbers to a gender bias to a to a ghost in the machine
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Now I don't know if this is reality or fiction
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But I'm more than one occasion users have reported changing their profile gender from female to male in an effort to see if that will help and reclaim their rightful place in the
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LinkedIn pantheon of smarty pants
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Maybe it worked maybe it didn't but it's a flawed experiment at best because we've seen similar dynamics on ex the artist formerly known as Twitter
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I have poured my heart and soul into some posts on both platforms that
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Only received a couple of hundred impressions and then I've made
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Posts that were glib snippets of commentary that went quasi viral
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I mean some even broke the 1 million impression mark
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Despite only having roughly 14,000 followers combined on both platforms
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There's there's no rhyme or reason to it
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But I do know that if you're willing to compromise who you are in an effort to chase online clicks
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You're straighting from what really matters
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Because in 2026 the most dangerous person in the room is the one who still knows how to think for themselves
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And maybe more importantly isn't afraid to sound like it
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Now finally and most importantly here's the biggest and the most impactful trend that I think is going to shake things up in the world of work
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In 2026 and that's going to be that this year is the year of the disruption natives
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Now if the world of work feels unstable right now like like the rules keep changing and the ground won't stop shifting under your feet
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It's unsettling, but it's not new far from it
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Some of us built our entire careers inside instability and we didn't just survive it
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We learned how to thrive in it and how to lead through it
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And how to build things better and build better teams as we come through in the other side
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Let me think about it from a technology standpoint
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GenXers who've seen the birth of personal computers the explosive growth of the internet the building and bursting of the dot combo
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The Y2K panic enterprise tech shifting from on-prem to in the cloud the rise of mobile computing the ubiquity of smartphones and now finally the birth of AI
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We've lived through major world events like the fall of the Soviet Union the reunification of Germany the rise of China as a world
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Major power and the mass exodus of manufacturing and production jobs that followed
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Our careers were in full swing when the tragic events of 9-11 unfolded
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And we contended with the massive shifts in policy and regulations that came in its wake
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More recently we were leading teams through COVID and all the ripple effects that that caused much of which we're still dealing with today
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From an economic standpoint. We've lived through the stock market tanking in 1987
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1990 1997 2001 2008
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2020
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2022
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Lord knows it hasn't been exactly a smooth economy since then
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And we've also seen the hype around companies that we're going to change the world forever like when
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AOL bought time Warner or when we work was going to replace all the commercial landlords in the world or when
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Darinosa was going to put medical labs out of business
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I mean you get the gist we've seen all of this before but the point isn't the timeline
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It's the repetition
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disruption uncertainty existential threats everything that seems to be rattling the cage for the workforce today
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Is muscle memory for us
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Sure the cast of characters may have changed but the plot is largely the same
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And right now a lot of organizations are telling themselves a different kind of
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Comforting but misleading story
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That AI will more than carry the load
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That smaller teams can somehow do bigger jobs that if technology is just powerful enough
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The human side will just magically take care of itself
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But here's what's actually happening
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Workforces are more stressed they're more burned out and they're more disengaged and they have been in decades
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Managers are stretched thin teams are running hot and the people being asked to just adapt
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You're already doing the work of two or three roles
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Oh AI is a massive force multiplier
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But it's not a substitute for judgment or leadership
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It doesn't call a team that's in free fall
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It doesn't recognize when a strategy is going off the rails
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And it doesn't know when the right move is to slow down
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Instead of speeding up
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This moment doesn't call for fewer humans
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It calls for more experienced ones
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The organizations that are struggling most aren't the ones lacking innovation
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They're the ones that have hollowed out their institutional memory
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Because when waves of disruption stack up when technology shifts and market seas and regulations change and people are scared
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You don't need potential you need pattern recognition
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You need leaders who have already navigated collapse reset and rebuild and know how to keep teams moving
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When the safety nets of perceived certainty are gone
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That's what older workers that's what I call disruption natives
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Bring to the table
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They've seen the cycles they know when the hype is real and when it's theater and most importantly
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They can stay calm when others panic because they have lived through this and worse
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And
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Brought their teams right along through it with them
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And here's the part most companies are about to relearn the hard way
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Pushing experienced workers out simply because they're older or because they sit at the top of their payband
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Wasn't actually a sign of progress or or
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economic insight
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It was a strategic blind spot
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Now the good news as it's not too late
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The organizations that will win the next decade and more won't be the ones chasing the newest idea or the cheapest labor
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There'll be the ones smart enough to rebalance to to bring those disruption natives back to the center of the business
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So you can pair their experience with the innovations of today and anchor change with judgment
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Because when the next shock hits and you can bet your asset will
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The question won't be who has the best tools
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It'll be who's already proven that they can lead when everything gets shaken up
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And if you don't have those people in your business right now
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You better get them back
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fast
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All right, so that's my top five for this year
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What do you think leave your your notes in the comments below do you agree with these do you think I'm full of it
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Do you have some other trends that you think are gonna blow these out of the water?
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I'd love to hear what you think and as always if you like what you saw
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Click the thumbs up click subscribe ring the bell do all the things that help us keep growing
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You know we've taken a bit of a hiatus lately my day jobs been really busy
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But we are aiming towards getting back to more regular posting in
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2026 and your support and your feedback
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Is just appreciated more than you know possibly imagine so with all of that
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Thanks for tuning in. I hope you have a wonderful blast productive fantastic
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2026 and we will see you on the next one. Thanks folks
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You
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Well, 2025 is just about in the rear view mirror and what a long strange trip it's been
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We started the year with the usual predictions of gloom and doom that have become de regur whenever there is a changing of the garden DC and
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2025 also brought us a real mixed bag of craziness, including
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Tesla burning parties and interstellar visitors and breathless coverage of federal workers losing their jobs and
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Total crickets about the thousands of tech workers who are also can this year
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We had execs canutling a cold play concerts. We had Sydney Swini who reminded us that she does in fact have very very good genes
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And who the hell knows what cracker barrel was thinking
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You take it all together roll it in a big ball and it has been
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Well, it's been interesting
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Yet here we are the sun continued to rise the seasons continued to pass and the world kept right unspinning
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But for the US worker things are probably going to continue feeling at least a little bit off-kilter far a little while longer
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But I do see some points of light on the horizon
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So like any consultant slash business owner slash content creator worth his salt in this crazy world work
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I am dusting off the crystal ball and we're going to give you a peek at my top five predictions for 2026
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Number five's a biggie
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So go grab some popcorn grab your favorite drink and come back and settle in
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You this will probably piss a few people off, but I bet you'll have a bit of fun, too
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My first prediction for 2026 is this is the year when we're all going to hit peak AI hangover
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Now for the past few years the media has been reporting on all the ways AI was going to redefine humanity
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disease
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history
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science
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philosophy every idea man has ever had about the universe up for grabs
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Bio-digital jazz, man others have seen AI in slightly more pessimistic or maybe more realistic terms a
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Singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines
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But the truth as with most things in life lies somewhere in between
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But even as we staggered into the back half of 2025 it feels like the blush was already starting to come off the rose
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Reports of an AI bubble started swirling around some of the more reputable financial publications
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Michael burry. Yes, that Michael burry whose predictions of the busting 2008 housing bubble were so damn compelling
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They turned into a movie is actually bringing the same warning bell about AI
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Coca-Cola's Christmas ad for this season, which was 100% AI generated
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Received more reactions of WTF than OMG
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And how even Marion Webster chose Slop as their word of the year
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A nod to the growing frustration surrounding AI Slop or content that's
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blatantly LLM created that has empowered millions of people to sound exactly alike
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Exactly alike
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Now no matter where you sit on the AI spectrum
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There's a pretty good chance you've hit some level of un
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Enough already vibe and I think that's only going to intensify in 2026
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Now to be clear, I'm a wholehearted believer in AI and I think it's going to continue to be a disruptive force
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particularly in the workplace
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And there are some places where AI can be a really positive game changer at work like
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Creating schedules that ensure the safety of workers and takes into account their preferences
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And follows all the regulations and policies
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And makes the workplace more efficient
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I mean getting stuff like that right hitting that balance
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Really is a bit of a delicate act and AI can make it all work better and easier
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Far the employer and the employee alike
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But smart employers and the HR pros who support them
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Are going to quickly figure out that using AI to replace tasks that require a touch of humanity
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Might look good on paper, but it will backfire spectacularly in practice
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And we're already seeing this in pockets
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Any job seeker can tell you that the resume and application process is hopelessly broken
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And AI has only made things worse
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Employers love how AI helps them blow through large numbers of resumes and such of that perfect candidate
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But they also love bitching about how awful it is for job seekers to use AI for resume bombing every open role
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Or having chat GPT help them keyword optimize cover letters
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So ticks every box in the job description
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It just doesn't make sense
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They'll also prattle on about how really smart chatbots are going to create workplace in urvana
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By better supporting employees and anticipating their every need
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Or how AI is going to revolutionize training and on and on and on
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But if you're a worker who's going through some rough spots
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Or you have some concerns about the trajectory of your career
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Or you need some help balancing your personal and professional responsibilities
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The last thing you want or need is an algorithm
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Aping human behavior pretending to care
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Yet that's what some HR pros or even worse that HR pundits are evangelizing
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Now we'll dig more into the liminal space known as HR in a few minutes
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But for now suffice it to say that workers are more tuned into the shenanigans than employers think
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And they're tied so very
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Very tired of it all hey speaking of fatigue that leads us to prediction number two
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Outrage fatigue
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Now I debated calling this one the the death of istes and isms
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But ended up going with the broader umbrella term about rage fatigue instead because I think it covers more ground
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Both at work and outside of work
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So let's start with the less controversial stuff the social stuff
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Now society in general in social media and specific is become a wasteland of extreme views shared in extreme ways
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Every platform is just dripping with anger and offense and outrage
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And views are often expressed in the most base in classic terms
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And what was once an outlier has now become the norm
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We've been creating this world where
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Nasciness is rewarded and rational positions are muted
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And everyone seems like they're just looking for the next reason to pick a fight
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No political persuasion or socioeconomic group is immune to this and everyone from politicians to reporters from activists to algorithms
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Have found ways to weaponize this for their own personal gain
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And you just can't seem to get away from it
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I mean not even at work
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In the workplace for the past five or six years when people encountered even the tiniest examples
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Of misaligned worldviews or or inconveniences
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The knee jerk reaction was to trot out the most extreme slurs
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To quiet opposing voices or to simply believe people into submission
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You didn't black out your company's logo or your social media profile in February
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Well, you must be a racist
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Didn't attend your company's pride month event
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Well, you must be a homophobic no pronouns in your email signature
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Transphobic motive for Trump or drive a Tesla
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Well, that must mean you're a Nazi and on and on and on and on and I'm willing to give people who took these
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Stances the benefit of the doubt and assume that their original motivation was coming from a place
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Where they honestly felt like they were in the right and calling the sort of stuff out was in some twisted way a good thing
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But it morphed into something much more sinister and much more destructive
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And for many that meant the workplace became a pretty hostile environment
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It became a place where some people were conditioned to believe that any memo or email or conversation that was less than perfectly worded
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Was a microaggression
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While others were told in no uncertain terms that you either embrace
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Performative acts of ally ship or else
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Did it make the workplace more inclusive? Did it help everyone to join arms and sing kumbaya?
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no
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Not even a little bit
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It it tanked morale it tanked engagement it tanked trust
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And now now employers are facing a bit of a crisis and they only have themselves to blame
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And the worst thing about it
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Is that so many workplaces have worked so hard to stifle debate
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That they've forgotten how to actually have productive conversations across differing viewpoints
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But I am starting to see some cracks in the foundation of clickbait rage and need your workplace reactions
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Now online I'm seeing more examples of people who are crossing
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Ideological lines than at any other time in recent memory
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Historically left-leaning personalities are starting to find some middle ground with conservatives on certain issues
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Like protecting women's spaces and right-leaning people are taking more center of stances to like calling out the president for some of the comments
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He made in the wake of Rob Reiner's murder
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Even once outspoken celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence
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Are admitting that all the posturing and grandstanding that Hollywood's been doing isn't really moving the needle socially
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And in fact, it's detracting from their art and she's making a conscious effort to tone it down going forward
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We're also seeing the benefits of having the social media platforms specifically acts
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That is relatively free from government interference and oversight
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Now as I record this episode
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Nick Shirley a citizen journalist has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota to the tunes of billions of dollars of taxpayer money
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With deep deep political implications and it's making people on both sides of the political aisle
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Sit up and take notice
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So maybe common ground isn't as elusive as we've been like to believe
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Now crossing those lines isn't easy for anyone because it usually means you'll catch a lot of flak for doing so
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But I applaud everyone who does it
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I mean hell if you read a sampling of the comments from this channel alone
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You'll see that I've been called both a conservative jackass and a loony lefty
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Usually within the comment section of the same video
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But you have to ignore all of that and continue speaking up
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When you take a stand on something not everyone is gonna like you and that's fine
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It's part of the game and I'm glad to see more people are playing
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And the workplace however, I believe that workers themselves will be the ones that are leading the positive change
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Employees are starting to recognize that they're more divided than ever before and no matter how well intentioned some of these policies have been
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They're kind of starting to do more harm than good
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Now for example a recent study from Pew Research indicated the number of employees who believe DEI is a good thing is on the decline
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And those who think it's a bad thing around the rise
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As are those who feel that too much attention is paid to DEI work in general
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Now if you step back and look at all this in a macro view
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There's a growing body of evidence that people are getting sick of the loudest voices being the only voices
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And left to their own devices without extreme interventions
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Workforces tend to find a way to harmonize
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There's also a growing body of research that shows that effective performance management programs
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Activities that help everyone in the workplace are far better at fostering actual diversity and unity
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Then heavy handed DEI programs
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Now check this out taken from the July and August issue of Harvard Business Review
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researchers Alexandra Caleb and Frank Dobbin wrote
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We've run statistical analyses of data from some 800 companies in a variety of industries
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Many of the techniques that companies use to improve performance have a better record of fostering inclusion
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Then do diversity trainings and grievance processes
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popular DEI measures that tend to be counterproductive
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Now all this should be good news right we're uncovering some information we're uncovering some insights
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That's actually going to make the workplace better and more inclusive and all the things that you've heard HR talking about for years
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I just wish HR would get the memo too
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Too many people in the HR world and more disturbingly too many of the pundits and consultants that influence them
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Still have an immediate and belligerent reaction to anyone daring to ask questions like
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Are we really improving things or maybe could there be a better way?
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It's ultimately self sabotaging behavior
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But I think it might be coming to a head and I think 2026 is the year
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When we're going to see all this stuff turn a corner and workers
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Not HR, not managers, not the C suite workers themselves
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Are going to get together and they're going to figure it out
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Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think it's going to happen
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Hey speaking of HR here's prediction number three and this one could be spicy for some of the folks specifically the ones that are watching this on LinkedIn
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But I think 2026 is going to be a year of reckoning for the human resources profession as a whole
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Now before I dig in here
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I just want to go on the record stating that I think there are a lot of HR pros
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Who have their hearts in head in the right place and genuinely want to make the world of work better for everyone
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In my day job I support several companies in the work tech space
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So I interact with HR pros on a pretty regular basis
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And I know for a fact it is a tough tough gig
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Now that said
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Oftentimes in this community the most opinionated and closed-minded folks tend to be the loudest and the most visible
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And they suck all the oxygen out of the room
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Like HR operates in this weird space that kind of exists between
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The company the government and the worker and they have to
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Work to keep everybody happy
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And that's a pretty thinkless gig sometimes and for decades they've been talking about getting
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Seated the table about being viewed as more of a strategic than a transactional role
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And then George Floyd's death hit then covid kicked in and the great return to office debate kicked off and it does another things
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We're suddenly thrown on their plate and now they didn't just have a seat at the table
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They were under a microscope
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And for a while that spotlight worked in HR's favor
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They were getting the budget they were getting the attention they were getting the influence they had long since asked for
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But it increasingly feels like HR has lost the script and it's due in part to the so-called experts that they're hiring
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To show them the way
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Too many of these pundits are clinging to broken playbooks or doubling down on flavor of the month initiatives
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Or chasing trends that are either out of step with business realities or in some areas actively undermining workforce trust
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And that's creating a lick
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The world of work is changing dramatically at far too many pundits influencers and thought leaders are acting like it's still 2020
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Now the same people who 12 months ago were shouting from the rooftops that employees should bring their whole authentic self to work
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Are now saying the exact opposite today
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Mostly because of socio-political wins have shifted in the direction they don't like
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And the folks who preach peace love and understanding on LinkedIn are the same ones
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Who openly wish for the death of their political opponents on X
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I wish that example is fabricated
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But it's not I I've seen it and it's ugly
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Now HR can't claim to be the champion of people if they're handing out pink slips
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Well, you can pay her out no well promoter what can you make a roll redundant?
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Yes, with that employing someone in a place
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No, pay her out then turn around and take an Instagram selfie with the people first hashtag at an HR trade show
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It's just it just doesn't resonate
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Or if they knowingly post a job opening for a position that isn't real
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Or they completely throw the reins of resume review to AI
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Or if they treat candidates like garbage or any of the other dehumanizing behaviors that have gone on throughout 2025 and before that
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Now the disconnect between HR's public messaging and its behind-the-scenes actions
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Is starting to feel like parity and that's a real problem
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Workers are seeing straight through the BS and other members of the C suite are starting to lose faith in CHR rows as well
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In fact a recent report from HR dive highlighted that only 12% of respondents to a recent survey
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Identified CHR rows as integral to the decision-making process
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It check out this quote
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HR is often sidelined when it comes to workplace AI transformation
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HR data vendor beamery said in a report released Tuesday
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When asked to pick the two most influential decision-makers on AI
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Survey respondents picked the CEO at 81%
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Digital transformation lead at 50%
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And CIO at 36% among the top three
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CHR rows trailed at 12%
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Now for better or for worse AI is absolutely reframing the landscape of work in just about every industry
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Yet if you believe this data
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The HR department is being largely left out of the loop on these decisions
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Now HR has been the go-to function for major work disruptions over the past half decade
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But on this potentially the one that is going to be the grand added game changer of them all
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They're not
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And you got to wonder why that is
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Well other research from organizations like Gallup might hold the key
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Employee engagement is hovering around 30% while the best practice benchmark for employee engagement is 70%
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It's a 40% delta and when you combine this information with that of the the Caleb and Dobin research that we highlighted earlier in this video
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It paints a pretty bleak picture
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Something needs to change quickly to reverse the trend
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Now to be clear this isn't a call to burn HR down
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Not in the least. It's a call for HR to level up
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Now in 2026 the best HR teams will be the ones who shed the corporate platitudes
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Who stop trying to appease every internet loudmouth with the LinkedIn profile and get back to brass tax
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Build trust support performance
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Encourage hard conversations and help people to get ahead
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The worst teams are going to be the ones that continue to confuse virtue signaling the values
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That takes strategy advice from consultants who haven't worked inside of business and so bomb is first term
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And thinking they're in the activism business when what they really need to do is focus on what's happening
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Within the four walls of the business
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That's the reckoning that's coming
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HR should be strategic. It should be essential
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And it will be the engine of people centric progress, but only if it chooses to be
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To put up bluntly 2026 is going to be the shitter get off the pot year for HR
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You either are going to come in lockstep and understand the bigger picture
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or you're going to get left behind
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And HR should have a unique and distinctive advantage in the coming years because
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2026
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Is going to be above all else a year where humanity matters more than ever
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Okay, on to prediction number four and that's the prioritizing humanity and authenticity in all walks of life is going to win the day
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Now I'm not talking about rara empathy workshops or whatever some TEDx speakers pedaling this week
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I'm talking about something
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deeper and something real
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In a world where content is now easier to create than ever. It's also never been easier to ignore
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AIs made possible for anyone with a keyboard to crank out white papers and blog posts and emails and pitch decks and social content
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And even keynote speeches at lightning speed
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But here's the catch if everyone's doing the same thing using the same tools
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absolutely no one is standing out
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The internet is drowning in good enough content
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Well polished algorithm optimized buzzword heavy
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But ultimately utterly forgettable
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And while the machines are getting smarter they still can't replicate what actually resonates
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Your voice your values your weird little quirks and your heart and perspective
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In short your story
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In 2026 the people who win will be the ones brave enough to actually sound like themselves
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Not like competitors not like their compliance department not like whatever gardener said in a pdf
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Six months ago or highly sanitized the way their legal team tells them they need to behave
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But people that actually sound and communicate and relatable as themselves
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And that goes for whether you're in marketing or sales or HR or leadership or public speaking or it's simply just trying to make a point online
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The most powerful thing you can do right now the most memorable thing you can do right now
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Is show up as fully formed and fully human
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Warts and all
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Use your own words even if they're not the pitch perfect ones
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If something lights you up if something gets your fires going you say so
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If something doesn't sit right question it if you've learned a hard lesson share it
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Because in a world flooded with AI generated slop
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Genuine displays of humanity and creativity and honesty will stand head and shoulders above everything else
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Because ultimately people don't want more content. They want connection
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They want to trust that there's a real person on the other end of the message
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They they want you
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Now I know it's not as easy as it sounds for some people and I speak from personal experience when I tell you
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That authenticity often comes with the cost sometimes it can be pretty high
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But if you're more interested in human connection than vanity metrics
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It's a price you have to pay
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Let me give you an example
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Recently there's been a lot of chatter online about the LinkedIn algorithm that's systematically squelching the voices of women content creators
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People who are used to getting more views and engagement
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And they're ascribing the blame for their declining numbers to a gender bias to a to a ghost in the machine
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Now I don't know if this is reality or fiction
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But I'm more than one occasion users have reported changing their profile gender from female to male in an effort to see if that will help and reclaim their rightful place in the
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LinkedIn pantheon of smarty pants
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Maybe it worked maybe it didn't but it's a flawed experiment at best because we've seen similar dynamics on ex the artist formerly known as Twitter
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I have poured my heart and soul into some posts on both platforms that
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Only received a couple of hundred impressions and then I've made
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Posts that were glib snippets of commentary that went quasi viral
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I mean some even broke the 1 million impression mark
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Despite only having roughly 14,000 followers combined on both platforms
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There's there's no rhyme or reason to it
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But I do know that if you're willing to compromise who you are in an effort to chase online clicks
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You're straighting from what really matters
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Because in 2026 the most dangerous person in the room is the one who still knows how to think for themselves
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And maybe more importantly isn't afraid to sound like it
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Now finally and most importantly here's the biggest and the most impactful trend that I think is going to shake things up in the world of work
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In 2026 and that's going to be that this year is the year of the disruption natives
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Now if the world of work feels unstable right now like like the rules keep changing and the ground won't stop shifting under your feet
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It's unsettling, but it's not new far from it
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Some of us built our entire careers inside instability and we didn't just survive it
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We learned how to thrive in it and how to lead through it
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And how to build things better and build better teams as we come through in the other side
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Let me think about it from a technology standpoint
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GenXers who've seen the birth of personal computers the explosive growth of the internet the building and bursting of the dot combo
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The Y2K panic enterprise tech shifting from on-prem to in the cloud the rise of mobile computing the ubiquity of smartphones and now finally the birth of AI
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We've lived through major world events like the fall of the Soviet Union the reunification of Germany the rise of China as a world
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Major power and the mass exodus of manufacturing and production jobs that followed
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Our careers were in full swing when the tragic events of 9-11 unfolded
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And we contended with the massive shifts in policy and regulations that came in its wake
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More recently we were leading teams through COVID and all the ripple effects that that caused much of which we're still dealing with today
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From an economic standpoint. We've lived through the stock market tanking in 1987
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1990 1997 2001 2008
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2020
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2022
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Lord knows it hasn't been exactly a smooth economy since then
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And we've also seen the hype around companies that we're going to change the world forever like when
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AOL bought time Warner or when we work was going to replace all the commercial landlords in the world or when
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Darinosa was going to put medical labs out of business
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I mean you get the gist we've seen all of this before but the point isn't the timeline
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It's the repetition
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disruption uncertainty existential threats everything that seems to be rattling the cage for the workforce today
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Is muscle memory for us
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Sure the cast of characters may have changed but the plot is largely the same
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And right now a lot of organizations are telling themselves a different kind of
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Comforting but misleading story
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That AI will more than carry the load
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That smaller teams can somehow do bigger jobs that if technology is just powerful enough
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The human side will just magically take care of itself
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But here's what's actually happening
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Workforces are more stressed they're more burned out and they're more disengaged and they have been in decades
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Managers are stretched thin teams are running hot and the people being asked to just adapt
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You're already doing the work of two or three roles
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Oh AI is a massive force multiplier
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But it's not a substitute for judgment or leadership
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It doesn't call a team that's in free fall
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It doesn't recognize when a strategy is going off the rails
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And it doesn't know when the right move is to slow down
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Instead of speeding up
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This moment doesn't call for fewer humans
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It calls for more experienced ones
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The organizations that are struggling most aren't the ones lacking innovation
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They're the ones that have hollowed out their institutional memory
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Because when waves of disruption stack up when technology shifts and market seas and regulations change and people are scared
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You don't need potential you need pattern recognition
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You need leaders who have already navigated collapse reset and rebuild and know how to keep teams moving
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When the safety nets of perceived certainty are gone
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That's what older workers that's what I call disruption natives
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Bring to the table
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They've seen the cycles they know when the hype is real and when it's theater and most importantly
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They can stay calm when others panic because they have lived through this and worse
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And
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Brought their teams right along through it with them
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And here's the part most companies are about to relearn the hard way
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Pushing experienced workers out simply because they're older or because they sit at the top of their payband
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Wasn't actually a sign of progress or or
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economic insight
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It was a strategic blind spot
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Now the good news as it's not too late
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The organizations that will win the next decade and more won't be the ones chasing the newest idea or the cheapest labor
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There'll be the ones smart enough to rebalance to to bring those disruption natives back to the center of the business
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So you can pair their experience with the innovations of today and anchor change with judgment
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Because when the next shock hits and you can bet your asset will
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The question won't be who has the best tools
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It'll be who's already proven that they can lead when everything gets shaken up
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And if you don't have those people in your business right now
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You better get them back
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fast
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All right, so that's my top five for this year
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What do you think leave your your notes in the comments below do you agree with these do you think I'm full of it
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Do you have some other trends that you think are gonna blow these out of the water?
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I'd love to hear what you think and as always if you like what you saw
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Click the thumbs up click subscribe ring the bell do all the things that help us keep growing
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You know we've taken a bit of a hiatus lately my day jobs been really busy
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But we are aiming towards getting back to more regular posting in
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2026 and your support and your feedback
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Is just appreciated more than you know possibly imagine so with all of that
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Thanks for tuning in. I hope you have a wonderful blast productive fantastic
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2026 and we will see you on the next one. Thanks folks
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You
