they promised us less
Hiii,
We’ve officially entered Q2. Can you believe it’s here already??
And no this isn't an April Fools joke because I DONT LIKE THOSE!!!!
Honestly, not ideal to start a new quarter under the weather…but you can’t win em all! It can only go up from here, I guess. 🤷♀️
This week, we're getting into why the C-suite's AI optimism and your employees' lived reality are living on completely different planets, what 1 in 3 Americans planning to start a business means for your retention strategy, and a leadership conversation that left me thinking about self-awareness for days.
It's a full menu today. I hope you brought your appetite!
🗞️ Here’s the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied
Teams say they are being pushed to do more with less as AI increases their workload 😬
The TL;DR: Culture Amp tracked 1,800 organizations and found that while 96% of C-suite leaders expected AI to boost output, 77% of employees said it actually increased their workload. Companies that treated engagement and performance as an either-or choice left real money on the table, and "Peak Performance" firms that invested in both saw a 36% share price increase over two years. Leaders are out here treating culture like a luxury when it's literally the thing that makes everything else work.
My POV: The mindset of waiting to invest in people when times are good is exactly what gets companies into trouble, and this research puts hard numbers behind what I’ve been ranting about for a hot minute now. The AI piece especially stings, because leaders sold employees on AI as a workload solution and it's doing the OPPOSITE for most people.
Engagement is already at a five-year low per Gallup, and if the response to that is doubling down on performance metrics while deprioritizing culture, the share price data alone should be enough to stop that conversation in its tracks!
This is one of those reports worth printing out and leaving on your CHRO's desk.
🎙️ Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied
"Every seed bears its fruit. We have to ask ourselves, what seeds are we planting?"Copy anchor linkCopied
On the mic this week: Dr. Matt Poepsel is a leadership expert, author of Expand the Circle, and Vice President at The Predictive Index, where he helps orgs align people strategy with business success. As a US Marine Corps veteran, Ironman triathlete, and PhD psychologist, he brings a rare blend of real-world grit and deep human insight to everything he does.
Pin this:
- Self-awareness is built in three steps: make a preview, get past the me-view, and conduct a review. This should be done before, during, and after any significant leadership moment.
- The clearest sign you're losing your team is when conversations become transactional and surface-level.
- If a manager only has time to do one thing, it should be clarifying what winning looks like, and connected all the way up to the bigger mission.
- When it comes to vulnerability, you should feel slightly uncomfortable, and your team should feel completely at ease.
My H*ly Sh*t Moment: 95% of us believe we're self-aware, but when tested empirically, only 10-15% of us actually are! That gap should make every single person in a leadership role deeply uncomfortable, and then immediately go do something about it.
▶️ Press Play
📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied
Stat: 1 in 3 Americans plan to start a business in the next 12 months
My spiral: The fact that this many people are actively planning to leave traditional employment is a straight-up retention crisis…it may have been a story about entrepreneurship a decade ago.
That's a massive chunk of your employee population quietly sizing up their exit, weighing their current job against the idea of building something for themselves. And with Millennials feeling the most urgency to launch, you're looking at one of your most experienced, highest-output talent segments with one foot potentially out the door. The retention conversation just got a whole lot more complicated.
🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF
Think honestly about your week and the stuff that drains you.
How many tasks do you do that exist just to exist?
Probably a lot, which inspired the question for this week:
“What part of your role would you automate tomorrow if you could?”
🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:
We are so conditioned to be the fixers. Basically do it for the love of the game.
Someone brings us a problem and our brain is already three steps ahead drafting the solution before they've even finished the sentence.
That reflex, as well-intentioned as it is, can be the thing that gets in our own way, though!
This week, I want you to try something simple:
“Block 15 minutes to just sit with a problem before you jump to a solution.”
👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE
Love that leadership turned ChatGPT into HR, because who needs context or accountability anyway?
Read what members had to say here.
I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what you think and what other topics you'd love for me to cover. I'm allll ears.
Reminder: Take care of yourself and know that I support you.
