Now to Next: The Signal

Jason Averbook
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A place to sit down with trailblazers, truth-tellers, and builders who are actively reshaping our world. 

  1. Jul 15

    EP28: Giants Will Fall: Rewiring the Enterprise to Become AI-Native with Melissa Reeve

    Most organizations are treating AI like a technology rollout. Buy the tool, train the team, check the box. Melissa Reeve has spent 25 years watching that exact playbook fail, from digital transformation to agile to cloud, and she wrote a book about why this time the stakes are even higher. In this episode, Jason and Melissa dig into why AI represents the largest management challenge in the last century and why giant brands will fall if they keep running on 100-year-old management thinking while AI-native startups are eating their lunch. Melissa breaks down the Hyperadaptive Model from her new book, a five-stage framework for rewiring how organizations actually operate, not just how they deploy technology.

    EP28: Giants Will Fall: Rewiring the Enterprise to Become AI-Native with Melissa Reeve

  2. Jun 15

    EP27: Adaptability, Trust, and the Human Skills AI Can't Replace with Lara Albert

    What happens when AI can do more of the work we've traditionally assigned to people? For many organizations, the conversation quickly turns to automation, efficiency, and workforce disruption. But according to Lara Albert, the more important conversation is about adaptability. As AI continues to reshape how work gets done, leaders face a critical challenge: helping people develop the skills, judgment, and confidence needed to thrive alongside increasingly intelligent technology. The future will not belong to organizations that simply deploy AI. It will belong to organizations that help people evolve with it. In this episode of Now to Next, Lara Albert joins me to explore the realities behind AI transformation, workforce readiness, leadership responsibility, and the human capabilities that will matter most in the years ahead.

    EP27: Adaptability, Trust, and the Human Skills AI Can't Replace with Lara Albert

  3. Jun 5

    EP26: The Human Side of AI: Trust, Fear, and Why Change Management Must Change with Dr. Xenia Wade

    What happens when employees walk into AI training already convinced the technology might replace them? Most organizations are treating AI adoption as a technology challenge. Dr. Xenia Wade believes that is exactly where leaders are getting it wrong. Drawing from her research background, enterprise transformation work, and recent move from Germany to Japan, Xenia explains why AI creates a level of fear and vulnerability that previous technology transformations never did. Employees are not just learning a new tool. Many are questioning their future, their identity, and the value of skills they spent years developing. In this conversation, we explore why psychological safety has become a prerequisite for AI adoption, why traditional change management is no longer enough, and why trust may be the most important capability leaders need to build right now.

    EP26: The Human Side of AI: Trust, Fear, and Why Change Management Must Change with Dr. Xenia Wade

  4. May 29

    EP25: The Trust Collapse: Why Your Workforce Has Stopped Believing Your AI Strategy

    BCG dropped two studies that should be taped to the wall of every CHRO's office. One shows that adding AI "employees" to org charts is making human workers sloppier and more likely to blame the bot when things go wrong. The other — "AI brain fry" — shows that cognitive overload from managing AI tool sprawl is driving errors, burnout, and intent to quit. Meanwhile, 48% of Q1 tech layoffs were attributed to AI, Gen Z workers are listing AI skills they don't have on their résumés, and boards are demanding governance answers most executives cannot give yet. But the story underneath all of that — the one you won't find in any headline today — is a trust collapse. Workers don't believe what leaders are telling them about AI anymore. And that gap is now a credibility crisis. This episode is about all of it.

    EP25: The Trust Collapse: Why Your Workforce Has Stopped Believing Your AI Strategy

  5. Apr 23

    EP24: The Function Nobody Owned: HR, IT, and AI Finally in One Room with Tracey Franklin

    What does it really take to integrate people, culture, and technology in a way that drives transformation, not just change? As organizations race to adopt AI and digital platforms, many are still treating technology and people as separate strategies. But what happens when those two become one system? In this conversation, I sat down with Tracey Franklin, Chief People and Digital Technology Officer at Moderna, to explore what it actually looks like to connect people and technology in practice, not just in theory.

    EP24: The Function Nobody Owned: HR, IT, and AI Finally in One Room with Tracey Franklin

  6. Apr 10

    EP23: The Agent Illusion: Why Most “AI Agents” Aren’t What You Think

    What if the “AI agents” your organization is investing in aren’t actually agents at all? I woke up one morning, checked my phone, and saw yet another company announcing they are now an “AI agent company.” I have seen it over and over again. Different vendors. Same claim. No clear definition. I walk through in this episode what actually separates a workflow, a copilot, and a true agent, and why that distinction matters more than ever. I also share real examples of where organizations are getting this wrong, and what happens when you layer AI on top of broken processes. This is not about chasing the next buzzword. It is about knowing what you are actually deploying, what you can trust it with, and whether your foundation is ready for it. Because putting AI on top of broken processes does not create transformation. It hides the problem until it shows up at scale. If we cannot define what we are deploying, we cannot govern it, trust it, or scale it.

    EP23: The Agent Illusion: Why Most “AI Agents” Aren’t What You Think

  7. Mar 6

    EP22: The Embodiment Gap: Why AI Adoption Was Never the Goal

    What if the reason AI investments are not delivering value has nothing to do with the technology itself? Across industries, organizations are pouring billions into AI tools, rolling out enterprise copilots, and tracking usage metrics that suggest adoption is rising. But the outcomes are not changing. Productivity is not shifting in meaningful ways. Decision making is not improving. And leaders are starting to ask why.

    EP22: The Embodiment Gap: Why AI Adoption Was Never the Goal

  8. Feb 27

    EP21: The Entry Level Collapse and the Rise of 22nd Century Leadership with Heather Jerrehian

    What if by automating entry level work, we are quietly eliminating the future leaders we will need in five years? As AI accelerates productivity across enterprises, I see a silent fracture forming beneath the surface. Entry level roles are disappearing. Internships are evaporating. And Gen Z unemployment and underemployment are rising at rates that far too few leaders are openly discussing. In this urgent and deeply personal conversation, I sat down with Heather Jerrehian, Founder and CEO of H22 AI, to unpack what she calls an existential workforce crisis. From her vantage point in Silicon Valley, she has watched AI reshape workflows, hiring patterns, and corporate incentives in real time. What struck me most was this: the real danger is not automation itself, but redesigning work without redesigning pathways.

    EP21: The Entry Level Collapse and the Rise of 22nd Century Leadership with Heather Jerrehian
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About

A place to sit down with trailblazers, truth-tellers, and builders who are actively reshaping our world. 

Information

  • Creator
    Jason Averbook
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Now to Next: The Signal
  • Show Website
    Now to Next: The Signal

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