CEO Daily Brief with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

In today’s episode: Government workers are struggling with the continuing government shutdown. Jessica and John have some advice. The promise of job stability for government work is gone. There are probably going to be a lo There are many roles in the private sector for employees who are capable of handling bureaucracy and paperwork. For those looking to pivot, there are other career fields--like...

In today's episode: A larger number of women are leaving the workforce in 2025, seemingly for good. It's likely related to return-to-office mandates. When a company has more than 50% of leadership roles filled by women, they have stronger revenue growth, culture, and employee engagement. This is a real problem for the bottom line. If women are leaving the workforce at these rates, it's a red flag...

In today’s episode: UKG is rolling out an app that integrates with Siri--making it easier for employees to proactively find available shifts in the region. A move like this is putting control into the hands of the hourly worker. It's a good example of technology working for both the employee and the for the company. CEO Daily Brief is a daily, five-minute podcast for CEOs where we dissect the week...

In today's episode: Jessica and Culture Partners CEO Joe Terry discuss the origins of ⁠⁠⁠Surrender to Lead⁠⁠⁠, the book they co-authored that's coming out next year. Accountability is not just about deadlines and punishment; that paradigm creates stress, pain, and fear. Accountability is about making a personal choice to focus on what you can control. That process-focused mindset actually allows u...

In today’s episode: Executive leaders are having a hard time differentiating between their customer and their buyer. A company's impact on the customer can be incredible and inspirational--but the buyer (like a CFO) cares about the business results. That's why Culture Partners tends to do well--it's a company that sells culture consulting, but highlights the results that a better culture produces....

In today's episode: Eventbrite's Julia Hartz explains how she saw other companies fail on a culture level, and her passion for creating a sustainable culture. Culture is a manifestation of the people who are present. Resilience is the resting state for a great leader. You have to take care of yourself in order to create longevity in the company. CEO Daily Brief is a daily, five-minute podcast for...

In today's episode: Major disruptions may actually be the moments that strengthen employee trust--when leaders handle it well. Employees place more trust in their direct managers than with the company; while trust in a manager often starts higher, it's a fragile thing. Mishandled crises can make that number plummet. When managers handle issues with fairness, empathy, and transparent communication,...

In today’s episode: President Trump has indicated that not all furloughed federal workers could receive backpay after the government shutdown. There are essential employees who are still working--like air traffic controllers. Not paying them would be a violation of state and federal labor laws. Government work used to have the perk of job security. Now, that's not so certain. Employees who are sic...

In today's episode: Jessica and Culture Partners CEO Joe Terry discuss the origins of ⁠⁠Surrender to Lead⁠⁠, the book they co-authored that's coming out next year. The world is still course-correcting after COVID, with a push and pull between employees and employers. Add AI uncertainty, and leaders are in a difficult position. It can easily feel like corporate objectives will come at the expense o...

In today's episode: Jessica recently interviewed the Co-CEOs of Alorica on the Culture Leaders podcast. There are many different models for Co-CEOs. With Alorica, they don't split the company. Both leaders share equal responsibility and complete decision-making power. The model has its strengths and weaknesses. The median tenure for co-CEOs is shorter than solo CEOs. There are some famous examples...

In today's episode: J.P. Morgan is making a bold push to being the world's first AI-powered megabank. Their vision involves fundamental changes to the structure and operations to leverage AI. Executives are expecting a 10% reduction in staff. They're also rethinking the traditional apprenticeship model for rising leaders. There's a lot of AI FOMO among leaders, even as the long-term model is prett...

In today’s episode: Workslop -- the results of ChatGPT and other AI being submitted without sufficient human review--is becoming a larger issue in the workplace. People are at risk of submitting workslop when they're made to move too quickly. AI can be used to generate ideas or fine-tune completed work, but it currently lacks the attention to detail and the point-of-view that makes humans valuable...

In today’s episode: The U.S. GDP has been revised up to 3.8%. The number looks good, but what's really going on? The math behind the GDP can be misleading. Tariffs are reducing imports, which makes the export numbers look relatively larger. When you add the bad labor numbers, it's clear none of this makes sense. Markets and the news aren't celebrating the numbers. Most of these metrics have become...

In today's episode: Jessica and Culture Partners CEO Joe Terry discuss the origins of ⁠Surrender to Lead⁠, the book they co-authored that's coming out next year. Leaders are often familiar with the phrase "control the controllables" -- it's important to let go of the uncontrollables. Ego and fear lead us to over-focus on control, but great ideas often come from the moments of flow and relaxation....

In today’s episode: Jessica and John discuss Suzy Welch's op-ed, ⁠Is Gen Z Unemployable?⁠ Gen Z workers prefer self-care, authenticity, altruism, affluence, and beauty. Companies want them to value achievment, learning, and "an unbridled desire to work." These studies about generational stereotypes are, largely, nonsense. When asked directly, most people have pretty good kids with diverse traits w...

In today's episode: Alorica's Max Schwendner & Mike Clifton describe how they cooperate as Co-CEOs leading over 100,000 employees. One key value: decisiveness. When one makes a decision as CEO, that's the only CEO decision. They communicate constantly to make that work, and they know intuitively what the other is likely to say. They build goals for the company on a quarterly basis, getting the tea...

In today’s episode: Everyone is worried about risk, but what exactly does that mean? Look no further than Section 1A of every public company's 10-K filing with the SEC. We can learn what's concerning company leaders by seeing the risks they're worried about, laid out in the filing. Sales people: If you can identify a company's risks and offer a direct solution, you're in an excellent position to m...

In today’s episode: There was mass outrage following Jimmy Kimmel's show being pulled from the air--but not nearly as much for 800,000 jobs lost this year. Why is that? There was a clear theme with the Kimmel situation: justice versus injustice. When people have a story, they're motivated to take action that moves the needle. Leaders forget that stories are one of the most powerful tools in their...

In today's episode: Jessica and Culture Partners CEO Joe Terry sit down to discuss the origins of Surrender to Lead, the book they co-authored that's coming out next year. Despite coming at ideas from different places, tough conversations led to answers about leadership that they had to write about. Eventually, they hit upon the key idea of surrender--letting go of what we can't control--that turn...

In today’s episode: Companies haven't actually figured out how AI can transform their business to the point of replacing broad swaths of the organization. There's a narrative that the job market is stalling because of AI. That's true, but it's because companies are finding the budget to investigate the potential for AI--consulting and exploration, not direct replacements. Right now, AI is great at...

In today’s episode: 39% of Americans 30 and younger regularly get their news from TikTok. There's a lack of trust in government, politics, and instititions--many are aggressively removing themselves from political discourse. That's dangerous for democracy. We no longer have a Walter Kronkite, largely trusted by the public. Objective news doesn't sell, but partisan news gets exhausting. CEO Daily B...

In today’s episode: Conservative activist Robby Starbuck will be debating DEI with Van Jones in a conversation moderated by SHRM's CEO, Johnny C. Taylor. Taylor received a lot of criticism for SHRM's changing language from "DEI" to "I&D" -- something Jessica discussed with him in her interview last year. CEO Daily Brief is a daily, five-minute podcast for CEOs where we dissect the week's biggest n...

In today’s episode: Free speech can cost us friends and jobs; it doesn't mean freedom from consequences. There's a difference between condoning behaviors and inciting riots. You can say some pretty vile things legally--but inciting violence is against the law. On the employer side, though: there's plenty that's controversial that would be a bad idea to share. CEO Daily Brief is a daily, five-minut...

In today’s episode: The Fed governors all agree on one thing: the labor market is failing. They'll cut interest rates, but it's not going to change our labor economy. There's also the strange sitaution of pressure from the Trump administration--which is making it tougher for the Fed to to do what Trump wants them to do. CEO Daily Brief is a daily, five-minute podcast for CEOs where we dissect the...

In today's episode: Companies across the country are firing employees for some of their comments in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. For private companies, the best practice is to make employment decisions based on aligning employees with their culture and strategy. Despite public pressure to act quickly, the great leaders are pausing; they're considering the experie...