Meet The Leader

Top leaders from NVIDIA, Walmart International, TIAA, Goldman Sachs and NYU share career advice, leadership lessons and practical ways to stay resilient through uncertainty in an AI age. This an inspiring collection of advice and personal anecdotes shared at this spring's commencement addresses can help anyone from new grads to veteran professionals navigate coming AI shifts and other big career pivots.
In this episode: 
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang on AI and maximizing your potential

TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett on the advice she gives her team

Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt's 3 tips on how to have an amazing life

Former Walmart CEO Kathryn McLay's advice on the early career moment that helped her keep perspective

Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO David Solomon on why he still DJs - and the importance of cultivating passions outside of work

About this episode:


Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Carnegie Mellon Commencement address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZh_0uRgrg4
Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, NYU Commencement address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvoyGjK8vTA
TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, Florida A&M Commencement address:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taN6-b7bqAk
Former Walmart CEO Kathryn McLay, High Point University Commencement address:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpja7ih1VI
Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO David Solomon, Wharton MBA Commencement address: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSop6XzzY9w
Related Episodes:
The Attention Crisis: How leaders can fix focus and happiness in an AI Era - psychologist Jonathan Haidt 
Read here - transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yc45ccc3

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3zyur7s5

Watch here - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bXp43TMMAI

Adam Grant: Future leaders won't succeed without this key trait 
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/fbym95jy

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ys2dtftj

Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVVIpttzUA

Nick Thompson, The Atlantic: Why one CEO sets 'non -goals' - and what ultramarathons taught him about focus and mental toughness
Watch here - YouTube: https://youtu.be/Xh9PLsyptgA

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/bdbrspj7

Read here - Listen: https://tinyurl.com/mtdhe37w

Workslop – low-quality work produced through poor human-AI collaboration – is wasting time, slowing teams down and limiting the productivity gains leaders expect from AI. But the problem isn't always the technology – it's often a signal to leaders that teams need more support. Workslop often reflects unclear standards, weak direction and poor feedback. In this episode, BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux explains why AI can amplify both good and bad leadership standards, and why leaders need to define what excellent work looks like before AI scales a team's output. He also shares how AI coaching can help managers find ways to hone hard-to-improve soft skills, practicing difficult conversations, tricky performance reviews and tough feedback, all in a safe space before those moments happen with real teams.

Key takeaways in this episode:


AI amplifies clarity or confusion. Set clear standards before AI scales your team's work.

Workslop is a leadership warning sign. Poor AI output can reveal unclear direction and weak feedback. It can be a sign teams need more guidance or support. 

Managers need practice. AI coaching can help leaders sharpen direction and rehearse how they give feedback or tackle difficult conversations.

Rethink how you invest in people. AI investment is overwhelming planning conversations. But are you putting that diligence into how you develop your talent?



About this guest:
Website: https://www.betterup.com/

Research: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Busy Work: https://www.betterup.com/workslop

Article: Workslop: Why AI performance depends on how we think, talk and lead: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/why-ai-performance-depends-on-how-we-think-talk-and-lead/

About this episode: 
Read here - Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/alexi-robichaux-ai-workslop-leadership-coaching

Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTAbIqqAf4Y

Related episodes:
How to Lead People Through AI Change: Questions to Ask from a Transformation Expert
Read here - transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ykk9r7hb

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yc2azrwv

Watch here - Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/yyv24pvd

The Attention Crisis: How leaders can fix focus and happiness in an AI Era - psychologist Jonathan Haidt 
Read here - transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yc45ccc3

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3zyur7s5

Watch here - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bXp43TMMAI

Adam Grant: Future leaders won't succeed without this key trait 
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/fbym95jy

Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ys2dtftj

Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVVIpttzUA

Are you building game-changing AI solutions? Or just automating low-stakes work that makes the "irrelevant efficient"?

Nigel Vaz, Publicis Sapient's CEO and a digital transformation expert, talked to Meet The Leader to explain why many AI strategies fall short and what's needed to lead teams through technological change. In this episode, Vaz shares the questions that can refine your strategic discussions on AI and help close the gap between AI expectations and results. He also shares why the hardest part of AI transformation isn't the tech but getting the people part right -- and what helps teams transition.

Key Takeaways:
The questions teams you're not asking nearly enough. Vaz explains how to refine your thinking to ensure your solutions aren't locked into yesterday's way of working
The hidden gap that can derail your AI transformation: What separates promising AI experiments from work that actually changes how a business performs? He breaks down the blindspots that hold real innovation back. 
Get the people part right. Incentives, expectations and old measures of success can slow AI adoption more than the technology itself. Vaz shares what leaders often underestimate when asking teams to work in a fundamentally new way.
How to learn and unlearn. Your value as a leader will depend on your capacity to learn. He shares how to deploy existing experience for new solutions.
Vaz shares key examples of how to put this thinking to work, including including a legacy modernization project that cut a 10-year timeline to under three and Publicis Sapient's own transition from a people-led services model to a people-and-product enterprise AI company. Learn more about this - including the innovative CEO GPT tool Publicis Sapient built that helps teams scale internal knowledge and context.

About this guest: 
https://www.nigelvaz.com/about
https://www.publicissapient.com/
About this episode:
Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/ai-transformation-leadership-future-of-work/

Related episodes:
How to upskill for an AI Age: Workera CEO Kian Katanforoosh
Read here - transcript: https://tinyurl.com/7rbsu62e
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/2p9zfazz
Watch here - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOxIFpQcBCs

Adam Grant: Future leaders won't succeed without this key trait Watch here:
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/fbym95jy
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ys2dtftj
Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVVIpttzUA

The Attention Crisis: How leaders can fix focus and happiness in an AI Era -psychologist Jonathan Haidt
Read here - transcript:: https://tinyurl.com/yc45ccc3
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3zyur7s5
Watch here - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bXp43TMMAI

How can we strengthen leadership pipelines? One overlooked answer: Invest in women's sports. Data shows that investment in women's sports creates a powerful yet under-appreciated talent pipeline, building future leaders, closing the gender gap and driving high-performing teams. Deloitte US Chair Lara Abrash shares insights from the firm's research on women's sports – both the billion-dollar economic opportunity it represents and the unsung way sports strengthens the leadership talent pipeline. 
Abrash, active in a range of sports since her youth, will also break down the leadership skills, mindsets, and team dynamics sports uniquely cultivates. She'll share the personal experiences that shaped how she leads and the way she approaches talent and capability. Her personal lessons learned can help anyone understand what's needed to develop future leaders, improve team performance and build talent pipelines that last. 

Key Insights: 
Women's sports is growing rapidly - but remains an untapped sector and opportunity for economies and communities.
Sports teaches girls how to team - but a range of factors make them more likely to drop out of sports than boys.
Great leaders are great coaches. Abrash reminds us that "Managers manage outcomes while leaders lead people."
Practice makes progress: Sports can build leaders who learn quickly from mistakes and adapt faster -- skills key for a fast-paced AI era.
Sidestep the 'superwoman' myth: Sports shows we often accomplish more in groups. Women who admit they are less effective alone take the first step to building great teams and avoiding burnout.
About this episode:
Transcript - read here: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/womens-sports-leadership-skills-gender-gap

Related report:
Deloitte Research - Game-Changers: Unlocking the Potential of Women's Sports: https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/Industries/tmt/perspectives/game-changers-unlocking-potential-women-sports.html
World Economic Forum - Sports for People and Planet:  https://www.weforum.org/publications/sports-for-people-and-planet/

Related episodes:
What Astronauts Know About High-Performing Teams (That Many Don't Understand)
Read here: https://tinyurl.com/3h2xkyv9
Listen here: https://tinyurl.com/mrmtwnb4
Watch here: https://youtu.be/AI_7QcZy5A8

Why Smart Ideas Don't Always Land — and How to Build Creative, Curious Teams
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/33b99j2u
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/5n8427nw

How to close gender gaps in tech - and the one skill AI can't learn
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/s2ppr7s2
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/5xkkhd5w

As tech and AI transform productivity and free us from rote work, will humanity finally crack happiness? Maybe not, warns Jonathan Haidt. This social psychologist, NYU professor and bestselling author of The Anxious Generation has spent years studying the links between happiness, technology, and societal change. Unless key steps are taken, he says, the technologies transforming work and communication could pull humans further from a sense of meaning, connection and purpose, taking happiness even further from our grasps. 
To progress on any big challenge ahead will depend on restoring focus, trust, and purpose. Haidt warns that AI and social media may be weakening all three—making intentional leadership more critical than ever. He shares research-backed insights that can help us better understand a fragmented, distracted world and the urgent challenge this brings to leaders running teams in a changing AI era.
Key Takeaways:
Where happiness really comes from - and what people often misunderstand

Understanding the attention crisis and what's contributing to it

How AI and digital habits fragment attention and decision-making and undermine trust

Simple practices and approaches to reclaim focus, connect with others and lead meaningful change more effectively

This interview was recorded in January 2026 at the Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.


About this episode:
Read here - Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/jonathan-haidt-happiness-focus-habits-ai
Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bXp43TMMAI


About this guest:
https://jonathanhaidt.com/
Books and initiatives referenced in this episode:
The Anxious Generation https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/
The Righteous Mind https://righteousmind.com/
The Happiness Hypothesis https://www.happinesshypothesis.com/
The Constructive Dialogue Institute www. constructivedialogue.org


Related episodes:
Nick Thompson, The Atlantic: Why one CEO sets 'non -goals' - and what ultramarathons taught him about focus and mental toughness
Watch here - YouTube: https://youtu.be/Xh9PLsyptgA
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/bdbrspj7
Read here - Listen: https://tinyurl.com/mtdhe37w

IRC's David Miliband: How leaders can meet the moment in an increasingly disordered world
Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABadygYvsZ0&t=16s
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/42hzpvvm
Read here - Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3vk4723b

What most people get wrong about progress: Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker
Watch here - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2IJjZs4E7A
Listen here - Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4r69a5pr
Read here - Transcript:: https://tinyurl.com/3smrwev9

Radio Davos - The Anxious Generation: how phone-free schools can reverse a mental health pandemic
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8s6Rw9rAqs&t=7s