THE BARF: Mr. Beast Acquires Vouch, AI Bosses, Political Uprising = $900K per week in employee productivity and Dell Shits the Bed

[00:00:00] Deel has helped over 35,000 businesses simplify global hiring, onboarding, payroll and compliance. Visit Deel.com to learn more. That's D-E-E-L.com.

[00:00:15] Hey, what's going on everyone? Ryan Leary here from Work Defined. You know, if there was one thing that I could change about recruiting, it would probably be the amazingly awful candidate experience that job seekers have to endure.

[00:00:31] At one of the most stressful times in their life, hiring teams, it is time to step up.

[00:00:38] You've got to create an experience that is memorable, fast and efficient. And you can do that with Indeed Smart Sourcing. Check them out online at Indeed.com or just Google Indeed Smart Sourcing.

[00:01:02] What is going on everybody? Ryan Leary here with William Tinkup. You're already laughing at me. I don't know why, but you're laughing at me.

[00:01:10] Hey, what's going on? With you, not at you. Always with you.

[00:01:15] Yeah, this is the BARF. This is the look that the week that was, so you could be prepared for the week that is.

[00:01:21] William, what's going on, brother?

[00:01:23] It's been a fantastic weekend, Ryan.

[00:01:25] Yeah?

[00:01:26] We were empty nesters for the weekend.

[00:01:29] So, Van was off doing something, Henry was off doing something, and Michael and I got to sit around and watch college football.

[00:01:36] So, it was fantastic.

[00:01:37] Question is, did you talk to each other?

[00:01:40] Periodically, we check in with each other. Mostly around someone getting up to go to the kitchen.

[00:01:45] Yeah. Hey, grab me a slice of pizza there.

[00:01:49] That's usually the discussion. Hey, while you're up, if you can get up. All right, cool.

[00:01:54] Yeah, when we get those moments, we don't really talk. We're just kind of like, yeah, let's just not talk to each other.

[00:02:01] No.

[00:02:02] It's all good. But Eagles won today, so that's...

[00:02:06] Congratulations.

[00:02:07] Oh, man. I feel like we need a cheering sound effect or something.

[00:02:11] Oh, 100%.

[00:02:11] Because I never know what these guys anymore.

[00:02:13] So, you know, somebody asked me, do we actually record the show on Sunday or we just say, hey, it's a beautiful Sunday morning?

[00:02:20] No, it's Sunday.

[00:02:20] No, we record the Eagles won.

[00:02:22] Now...

[00:02:23] The Cowboys haven't played, so I'm not completely disappointed.

[00:02:26] We could be recording this on Friday and just filming different beginnings.

[00:02:34] 100%.

[00:02:35] That would take a lot of work.

[00:02:36] I'm not sure that we would do that.

[00:02:38] I feel like I need a newspaper to hold up.

[00:02:40] Right. How many shows are we up to on Work to Fun?

[00:02:44] Oh, we are at 18.

[00:02:47] Okay.

[00:02:47] Right? 18 now?

[00:02:49] Maybe by the end of...

[00:02:50] Maybe by the next week we'll be at 20?

[00:02:52] We will be.

[00:02:53] We should be if we're not, that we didn't do our job.

[00:02:56] That's right.

[00:02:57] It's exciting because, yeah, the network is expanding, which is awesome.

[00:03:01] And, yeah, we've got 18 shows.

[00:03:03] I mean, we don't have to run through all the shows now, but we've got some really amazing hosts on here now.

[00:03:10] We've got a couple of really good hosts that we're really excited to have join us this week.

[00:03:15] So we will definitely make announcements and show some love.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:19] At one point we'll tell people what we're doing.

[00:03:21] At one point.

[00:03:22] At one point.

[00:03:23] Eh.

[00:03:23] Maybe.

[00:03:25] So, all right, man.

[00:03:26] You want to kick us off and get this thing started?

[00:03:29] Let's do the B.

[00:03:30] That's the breaking news part.

[00:03:32] So let me tell you a story about Dell versus Spotify.

[00:03:36] Are you familiar with these two brands?

[00:03:39] I am.

[00:03:40] Yes, I am.

[00:03:40] Okay, good.

[00:03:41] Yeah.

[00:03:42] We'd end the call if you weren't.

[00:03:44] No, I have no idea.

[00:03:45] What is a Dell?

[00:03:46] Never.

[00:03:47] Okay.

[00:03:47] Never.

[00:03:48] And we're out.

[00:03:49] Yeah.

[00:03:49] So this is an RTO story.

[00:03:54] But in the same day, I saw two stories that were polar opposites.

[00:03:59] So it made me head spin, right?

[00:04:01] We've been talking about RTO for quite a while.

[00:04:03] But Dell's sudden five-day return to office order leaves parents scrambling to find child care.

[00:04:13] That was the headline.

[00:04:15] And that was on MSN.

[00:04:17] And, okay, so just reading that, I'm like, what?

[00:04:20] So they need to dig into it.

[00:04:21] At one point, they didn't have a full RTO.

[00:04:24] It was more flex.

[00:04:25] Now it is a full RTO strategy.

[00:04:30] Five days.

[00:04:30] Okay.

[00:04:31] Got to be there.

[00:04:32] And, oh, by the way, that starts next week.

[00:04:34] So that story.

[00:04:36] Okay.

[00:04:37] So, you know, okay, that's shocking.

[00:04:39] And I've got people.

[00:04:40] That story brought to you by anxious parents who don't know what to do now.

[00:04:43] Oh, 100%.

[00:04:44] 100%.

[00:04:44] What are we going to do with the kids?

[00:04:45] I don't know.

[00:04:46] Good luck.

[00:04:48] So I read that story, and I'm like, that impacts people that I know, actually.

[00:04:53] I know people because it's in Round Rock, right above north of Austin.

[00:04:58] I know people that work there.

[00:04:59] Like, I know people that work at Dell.

[00:05:02] And so that's going to impact some people that I know personally because I don't think that they'll stay.

[00:05:09] And I don't think they'll go back to the office.

[00:05:12] So I'm going to kind of – we'll put a little sticky note on that.

[00:05:15] The next story – I mean, it's probably an hour later.

[00:05:18] The next story I read is Spotify's HR chief says remote staff aren't children as company reaffirms work from anywhere policy.

[00:05:32] Oh, nice.

[00:05:32] I didn't know where that was going.

[00:05:34] Aren't children.

[00:05:35] They aren't children.

[00:05:37] In fact, in that article, which is on Fortune.com, in that article, they actually go and say, we trust our employees.

[00:05:44] Why are we talking about this?

[00:05:45] Like, it was so matter of fact.

[00:05:48] It's like, why are we – we already did this bit.

[00:05:51] Why am I doing a presser on this?

[00:05:53] Like, what's the point?

[00:05:54] Yeah, but because – and this is from the HR chief, right?

[00:05:57] So you can kind of think of it as, okay, well, Spotify is, you know, from the Nordics, right?

[00:06:04] And a lot of these RTO things are happening in the States.

[00:06:07] So you kind of say, is this U.S. versus Europe kind of the way you look at work?

[00:06:10] Is it command and control versus common sense or, you know, letting your employees kind of do what they want?

[00:06:17] But what it got me to really think about is, as long as there's the Spotify's of the world, our forced RTO is going to be harder.

[00:06:26] And it actually makes them look ridiculous.

[00:06:28] Like, when I just tell you, okay, five days, if you – let's say you're an engineer and you could work for Dell or Spotify.

[00:06:40] I'm on the Spotify anyway.

[00:06:43] Yeah, 100%.

[00:06:44] 100%.

[00:06:44] But you got five days you have to be in the office.

[00:06:50] Or you could work from, you know, Lisbon.

[00:06:53] Yeah.

[00:06:54] As long as the work gets done.

[00:06:55] We don't care.

[00:06:56] You're not children.

[00:06:57] Right.

[00:06:57] So, you know, I think reading those on the same day, I just like, good God, whiplash on both of them.

[00:07:03] Well, the Dell story came out and then the PR firm for Spotify said, yo, get out there.

[00:07:08] Got you, fam.

[00:07:10] Do your thing.

[00:07:11] Do your thing.

[00:07:12] All right.

[00:07:13] I've got one, Vimeo.

[00:07:15] You've heard of Vimeo, right?

[00:07:16] I want to play that game.

[00:07:17] You heard of Vimeo before?

[00:07:17] I always want to say, yeah, Vimeo?

[00:07:20] Vimeo?

[00:07:20] How do you start to pronounce it?

[00:07:21] Like, instead of video, it's Vimeo.

[00:07:24] Oh.

[00:07:24] Yeah?

[00:07:25] No?

[00:07:25] Okay.

[00:07:25] That's how I always called it.

[00:07:27] Anyway.

[00:07:28] The fact that we're trying to discuss that.

[00:07:30] Yeah.

[00:07:30] Well, there you go.

[00:07:32] Yeah.

[00:07:32] There you go.

[00:07:33] So, first of all.

[00:07:34] We didn't do that with Spotify.

[00:07:35] Yeah.

[00:07:35] No, I know.

[00:07:36] I know it was Sputify.

[00:07:38] Something, right?

[00:07:38] No, Spotify.

[00:07:39] So, all right.

[00:07:40] So, Vimeo names a new CMO.

[00:07:44] We'll start there.

[00:07:45] So, we'll come back to that.

[00:07:47] That's huge.

[00:07:48] That is.

[00:07:49] It's a big thing, right?

[00:07:50] So, the question here, though, is what is Vimeo?

[00:07:55] And that's the whole premise of this hire.

[00:07:58] What is Vimeo?

[00:07:59] So, I don't think they've ever trusted any of their identities.

[00:08:04] They've been – they tried to compete with YouTube.

[00:08:08] They went into video sharing.

[00:08:10] They tried the shorts.

[00:08:11] They tried to do the funny videos like Vine.

[00:08:14] They did a whole bunch of stuff.

[00:08:16] Like, they just went the whole gamut.

[00:08:18] Okay.

[00:08:18] And they've survived.

[00:08:19] So, it's worked for them to get them to a point.

[00:08:23] But the market confusion on these guys is absurd.

[00:08:26] No one ever knows what they – we're in this space, right?

[00:08:31] And we don't use Vimeo.

[00:08:33] We've never – we don't even think about using Vimeo.

[00:08:36] Doesn't come up.

[00:08:37] Yeah.

[00:08:37] It doesn't even make sense.

[00:08:39] So, anyhow, they hired a new CMO, which is good, right?

[00:08:45] So, they've been in the space.

[00:08:46] They're coming into the work.

[00:08:48] That's the whole thing.

[00:08:49] They're coming into the workspace.

[00:08:52] But I want to read you a quote.

[00:08:55] This was from the CMO.

[00:08:57] Vimeo is like your cool cousin who went to L.A. and is thriving, making movies or something.

[00:09:04] But you hadn't heard of her in a while – heard from her in a while.

[00:09:08] This is the deal, right?

[00:09:09] So, Vimeo, they've done their thing.

[00:09:11] They've built their audience.

[00:09:12] They got a name.

[00:09:14] Just don't know what it is.

[00:09:15] Now it's time to change.

[00:09:16] Well, anyway, what they're doing is they're coming into the workspace.

[00:09:18] So, they're focusing now on business video, hosting for businesses and corporates.

[00:09:22] I thought they were doing already.

[00:09:24] I didn't realize this is something.

[00:09:26] So, it's an enterprise product.

[00:09:29] Yeah.

[00:09:29] Yeah.

[00:09:30] I thought they've been doing this thing forever.

[00:09:33] But anyway.

[00:09:34] Seeing them compete with YouTube was painful to watch.

[00:09:41] That was actually really, really, really – going up against them.

[00:09:44] It was like, they're just going to win.

[00:09:46] All right.

[00:09:46] Let me pitch this story to you.

[00:09:48] With college costs high, at least eight states now offer tax credits or deductions for employees that contribute to work – for employers that contribute to workers' 529 accounts.

[00:10:04] So, let's think about that in a different way.

[00:10:07] Your employer is now going to contribute, like, to your 401K.

[00:10:10] They'll now contribute to your 529 account.

[00:10:14] And that is a deduction of your pay, but it also is a tax credit.

[00:10:20] So, this is from the New York Times.

[00:10:22] So, this is – to me, it's a great recruiting and retention benefit for those who have kids.

[00:10:28] It's – like, if you're young in your career and you don't have kids, you know, that's not a benefit.

[00:10:33] No one cares.

[00:10:34] Right, right.

[00:10:34] But if you do have kids and you're thinking about your kids going to college, then it is a benefit.

[00:10:40] It would be a benefit that you'd use.

[00:10:41] Because, again, just like with your 401K, you take money out.

[00:10:45] Maybe they'd match or – each one of these states does it a little bit different.

[00:10:48] But it's the eight states that do it are Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

[00:10:54] Congratulations.

[00:10:55] Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, California, Nebraska, and Nevada.

[00:11:01] Have you ever been to a webinar where the topic was great, but there wasn't enough time to ask questions or have a dialogue to learn more?

[00:11:07] Well, welcome to HR and Payroll 2.0, the podcast where those post-webinar questions become episodes.

[00:11:12] We feature HR practitioners, leaders, and founders of HR, payroll, and workplace innovation and transformation sharing their insights and lessons learned from the trenches.

[00:11:21] We dig in to share the knowledge and tips that can help modern HR and payroll leaders navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.

[00:11:27] So join us for highly authentic, unscripted conversations, and let's learn together.

[00:11:33] So kind of a random mix of states.

[00:11:37] So not all of the East Coast, not all South, like truly weird mix of places.

[00:11:43] And they do it differently.

[00:11:44] So for the audience, they go about tax credits and deductions differently.

[00:11:49] But these are the eight states that actually do it.

[00:11:52] Right.

[00:11:52] Anything that helps you get money.

[00:11:54] 529, baby.

[00:11:55] Yeah.

[00:11:55] Yeah.

[00:11:56] Yeah.

[00:11:56] Yeah.

[00:11:56] I've never fully understood those, but I mean, whatever.

[00:11:59] I mean, it's tax.

[00:12:00] It's tax shelter.

[00:12:02] Yes, exactly.

[00:12:03] That's the big, I mean, you're basically putting money aside for your-

[00:12:07] Education.

[00:12:07] Kids' college, right?

[00:12:10] And what's cool about it is if one person, like you have three daughters, if one daughter doesn't use it, it just moves to the next two daughters.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:19] You can roll over without any penalties.

[00:12:20] Right.

[00:12:21] Right.

[00:12:21] So.

[00:12:22] So.

[00:12:23] There you go.

[00:12:23] There you go.

[00:12:25] Real quick.

[00:12:26] Before, I forgot to mention who the actual CMO was of Vimeo.

[00:12:32] I just said the CMO.

[00:12:33] So Charlie Unganshik?

[00:12:36] Unganshik?

[00:12:36] I'm going to get that wrong.

[00:12:37] Unganshik?

[00:12:38] Unganshik.

[00:12:39] Yeah.

[00:12:40] Anyhow, the reason why this is important for us is he was a CMO.

[00:12:45] The previous CMO were human.

[00:12:47] Yeah.

[00:12:48] And he's, so he's been around.

[00:12:50] He was at Applause.

[00:12:50] He was his advisor to Jim.

[00:12:52] So he's been around this space for a long time.

[00:12:56] Yeah.

[00:12:56] Yeah.

[00:12:57] He's bringing them into the learning area of-

[00:13:00] Interesting.

[00:13:01] Of, yeah.

[00:13:02] So I should probably have said that as I said it out of the way.

[00:13:06] Well, yeah, but the big thing is they're doing an enterprise product.

[00:13:10] They're coming into the enterprise.

[00:13:12] And that's the important thing because people think of them as a consumer brand.

[00:13:15] Right.

[00:13:16] In whatever way, whatever version that they think of, they think of them as a consumer brand.

[00:13:19] I know Charlie.

[00:13:22] It's the same guy I think of.

[00:13:24] He's in Chicago.

[00:13:26] Let's see.

[00:13:27] Charlie is, he is in, well, it says Boston now, but he could have been in Chicago.

[00:13:32] Okay.

[00:13:33] I'll look, I'll look that up.

[00:13:34] Yeah.

[00:13:34] We'll bring, try to get Charlie on here.

[00:13:37] Okay.

[00:13:38] So talking of CMOs, I have another CMO hire.

[00:13:42] We should get like a hire bell, like a ding, ding.

[00:13:45] Jodi Kaminsky, who has been in this space for a very, very long time.

[00:13:51] She is the brains behind what was once Ultimate Software, which is obviously now UK, UKG.

[00:13:57] Okay.

[00:13:59] So she has been in this space for a very, very long time.

[00:14:03] She is now going over to iSIMS.

[00:14:06] So she is now going to be the new CMO at iSIMS.

[00:14:11] And, you know, if you need any, and this is, I think this is pretty significant for iSIMS.

[00:14:15] It's going to be a good hire for them.

[00:14:17] If you have any doubt of who this woman is and what she has done, just go to LinkedIn.

[00:14:21] Look at her profile.

[00:14:23] It is just off the chains.

[00:14:25] Her announcement's got, I think it's over 300 now.

[00:14:27] Is that like 270 something earlier?

[00:14:29] Yep.

[00:14:30] Of just her ability to not just grow a company, but lead people and support her teams and grow marketing within an organization.

[00:14:41] So I think this is going to be a big win for iSIMS.

[00:14:44] I know they've struggled at some points.

[00:14:46] And this is, I think this is the hire that gets them to the next level.

[00:14:50] Oh, yeah.

[00:14:51] She's a professional marker.

[00:14:53] She is.

[00:14:54] Seen it all, done it all.

[00:14:55] Been through a huge merger, taking a company public.

[00:14:58] Like, okay.

[00:14:59] There's nothing that's going to be daunting for her.

[00:15:01] I would stop saying long, long, long time.

[00:15:06] That's a lot of experience.

[00:15:09] Yeah.

[00:15:09] Well, let's just stay there.

[00:15:11] Let's stay there.

[00:15:12] Great experience.

[00:15:13] Let's not talk about how old she is.

[00:15:17] Jody, I said nothing of the sorts.

[00:15:19] I didn't mention any of that.

[00:15:21] What does long, long, long, long, long, long time mean?

[00:15:25] Next story.

[00:15:26] Next story.

[00:15:28] Congratulations, Jody.

[00:15:30] Let me pitch you this story on Home Depot.

[00:15:33] So, from an internal memo from the Home Depot CEO, Ted Decker, starting in the fourth quarter, which would be now, of 2024, all corporate employees, including senior management and remote workers, will be required to complete an eight-hour shift at one of their company's retail stores every quarter.

[00:15:55] So, corporate employees.

[00:15:57] Corporate employees.

[00:15:58] Go into the store to see on the ground what's up.

[00:16:02] They got to work.

[00:16:02] Yeah, yeah.

[00:16:03] They got to put on an apron.

[00:16:04] They're going to learn what's going on.

[00:16:06] They're going to put on an apron.

[00:16:07] So, if you're a buyer for Home Depot and you're based in Atlanta, I think that's where their headquarters is, and you're a buyer for wood, whatever, you don't know anything about retail.

[00:16:19] Your job is to know buying and how to buy wood, right?

[00:16:23] Right.

[00:16:24] So, what Ted, you know, like I know the guy, what Ted's doing is basically saying we can't be so far away from retail that we don't understand what retail is.

[00:16:35] You got to go work a shift.

[00:16:36] It doesn't matter if you're a cashier or you're just going to be on the floor.

[00:16:39] Just work it.

[00:16:40] Actually, he doesn't care.

[00:16:41] Everybody lives by Home Depot.

[00:16:44] Go work at one of them.

[00:16:45] Check in.

[00:16:45] You got a badge?

[00:16:47] Check in.

[00:16:47] Do your bit.

[00:16:48] But every quarter, there is nothing about this story that I hate.

[00:16:53] Absolutely nothing.

[00:16:54] I know.

[00:16:55] I know.

[00:16:56] I kept reading it going, now are they just going to kind of check in and go to the break room?

[00:17:01] Yeah.

[00:17:02] No, they're going to work better because you know what?

[00:17:04] And let's use your wood story as an example.

[00:17:07] Yeah.

[00:17:07] Put those purchasing people or put somebody in the lumber department because the way they store their lumber is absolute shit.

[00:17:15] And you go to the store and you're spending $14 for a 2x4 that's like warped like a smile on your face.

[00:17:24] There are better ways to store this stuff.

[00:17:27] Like, it's a pain.

[00:17:29] I'm glad there's Lowe's and Home Depot next to each other all the time because I have to go back and forth.

[00:17:33] It is.

[00:17:34] So, yes, put people in the lumber department, please, and let them see the amount of money that you're losing.

[00:17:39] I think it's great.

[00:17:41] I mean, just I think you're right.

[00:17:43] I think the buyers of those fans or, you know, whatever the light bulbs or whatever the bit is.

[00:17:48] Yeah.

[00:17:49] They'll go and work their sections.

[00:17:51] And they'll just be like, this is not unmodular.

[00:17:54] What the hell?

[00:17:55] I didn't approve this.

[00:17:57] These things are all wrong.

[00:17:59] What are you doing?

[00:18:00] You know, it's so for obvious reasons.

[00:18:02] Yes.

[00:18:02] Learn the business.

[00:18:03] But I also think, and this could be me, but I also think this is going to instill pride in that person doing their job.

[00:18:12] A hundred percent?

[00:18:13] A hundred percent.

[00:18:14] Because they walk into a store.

[00:18:16] You know damn well the people in corporate from Home Depot, Lowe's, these big retail giants walking to say, yeah, I made that purchase.

[00:18:24] That's right.

[00:18:25] Buy stuff right there.

[00:18:26] Now they're going to work with it.

[00:18:27] I think that ultimately helps.

[00:18:30] I think it's genius.

[00:18:31] If you want to learn more about stories on Forbes, so Forbes.com.

[00:18:34] But I think every retailer, simply a large box retailer, should look at this policy and go, yes, we're going to go ahead and copy that.

[00:18:43] So good for them.

[00:18:45] I love it.

[00:18:46] All right.

[00:18:47] I've got one here that I think is amazing.

[00:18:51] So Mr. Beast, we talked about Mr. Beast.

[00:18:54] I know.

[00:18:54] A little bit ago, right?

[00:18:56] Yep.

[00:18:56] A couple weeks.

[00:18:57] He did a hiring guide.

[00:18:59] Well, I don't know.

[00:18:59] It was a leaked memo or letter.

[00:19:01] Yep.

[00:19:02] But you dubbed it.

[00:19:03] How to hire.

[00:19:03] How to hire Gen Z, right?

[00:19:05] And so, yeah, now his company has acquired a company called Vouch, which is a content creator job board.

[00:19:16] Oh, interesting.

[00:19:17] Genius.

[00:19:18] I think this is absolute genius.

[00:19:20] So I look at this and I think, you know, this is his world.

[00:19:26] He is the king of this world.

[00:19:28] Any content creator or creative talent that wants to be Mr. Beast, that just wants to get that much, half a percent of what he's built, is going to feel almost obligated to get onto...

[00:19:43] What do you want?

[00:19:43] Like 700 million?

[00:19:45] Something, 750 or something.

[00:19:47] It's a crazy number.

[00:19:49] An empire.

[00:19:49] Yeah.

[00:19:50] And so, these content creators, they're going to want to be here.

[00:19:55] Like, this is it.

[00:19:55] This is actual.

[00:19:56] This is a thing.

[00:19:57] I don't think this is something, oh, he acquired a job board for creatives.

[00:20:00] It's another...

[00:20:01] No.

[00:20:02] No.

[00:20:02] Just him acquiring this is going to drive tens of thousands of creatives.

[00:20:07] He's going to be on YouTube just talking about it.

[00:20:12] Just talking.

[00:20:12] I mean, the Gen Z thing that we reported on a couple weeks ago is a playbook on how to recruit and retain Gen Z.

[00:20:19] It all makes sense now.

[00:20:21] Now it does.

[00:20:23] He is going to be on the stage keynoting at HR Tech or Unleash or one of these shows very soon.

[00:20:30] It would be very smart of Transform or SHRM or anything like they said to get him to speak.

[00:20:36] I don't know if they could afford him, quite frankly.

[00:20:38] I would say this will be the first time a vendor gets paid to speak.

[00:20:42] Yes.

[00:20:43] Yeah.

[00:20:43] Because he's technically now a vendor.

[00:20:45] But they wouldn't think of him as a vendor.

[00:20:47] No.

[00:20:47] But it would be pretty funny.

[00:20:49] Oh, yeah.

[00:20:50] So, yeah.

[00:20:50] I think this is an amazing play.

[00:20:52] I think the...

[00:20:53] I like it.

[00:20:53] Yeah.

[00:20:54] This is one I want to watch.

[00:20:55] I think this changes hiring in the creative space once they get moving.

[00:21:01] Indeed should immediately purchase him.

[00:21:04] Oh.

[00:21:05] Welcome to the space, Mr. Beast.

[00:21:08] Welcome to the space.

[00:21:10] Didn't he have candy bars, too?

[00:21:12] He does.

[00:21:13] Yeah.

[00:21:13] What are they called?

[00:21:15] Oh my goodness.

[00:21:17] Bad touching, harassment, sex, violence, fraud, threats.

[00:21:23] All things that could have been avoided.

[00:21:28] If you had Fama.

[00:21:31] Stop hiring dangerous people.

[00:21:33] That's all.

[00:21:34] Farmer.

[00:21:35] Farmer.

[00:21:35] I.

[00:21:36] Oh.

[00:21:37] This complex financing talk is very exciting.

[00:21:41] Do I get my depot ever?

[00:21:43] But you already have a depot.

[00:21:45] No.

[00:21:45] Yes, you have the Vodafone Gigadepot.

[00:21:48] That's right.

[00:21:49] And I have myself in the hand, how big my depot is.

[00:21:51] Now with the Vodafone Gigadepot and the cost of data volume in the next month.

[00:21:56] Go on in the 5G-Netz of Vodafone.

[00:21:59] Vodafone. Together we can.

[00:22:03] Is it Mr. Beast? I don't know.

[00:22:05] I've seen him.

[00:22:06] I kind of feel like a lot of that stuff is gimmicky.

[00:22:09] Like let's just put it out and see.

[00:22:11] It's a money grab, right?

[00:22:12] It's a money grab.

[00:22:13] It's a bit.

[00:22:13] I think they're called D's Nuts, actually.

[00:22:15] D's Nuts or something.

[00:22:16] Yeah, I mean, this guy knows what he's doing.

[00:22:19] He can get away with that shit.

[00:22:21] He can get away with that.

[00:22:21] All right, let me pitch you this story.

[00:22:24] According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness,

[00:22:27] the decline in productivity as a result of depression and anxiety in the workplace

[00:22:32] costs the global economy $1 trillion.

[00:22:37] And Americans won basically $200 billion.

[00:22:42] It's won 92.3, but like, you know, seriously.

[00:22:45] What's $17 billion?

[00:22:47] So in lost earnings a year, you can find this study.

[00:22:52] It's on NAMI, NationalAllianceOfMentalIllness.org.

[00:22:58] And it tells you all the mental health by the numbers.

[00:23:01] So it slices by industry, you know, by state.

[00:23:06] It does all kinds of cool.

[00:23:07] So you can see the industries where mental health is well.

[00:23:11] You can see where it's not right.

[00:23:14] Right.

[00:23:14] So if you're interested in mental illness and mental health,

[00:23:18] as I look through it and I was looking and reading the articles

[00:23:20] and looking at the study, it's pay me now or pay me later.

[00:23:24] So if you pay me now, essentially you put benefits in place

[00:23:28] that help with mental health.

[00:23:31] Okay, so that people are productive.

[00:23:34] So you don't lose as much productivity.

[00:23:38] Or you pay later in lost productivity.

[00:23:42] So as an employer, you're paying one way or another,

[00:23:46] whether or not you do something or you don't do something.

[00:23:49] This is where we've had so many conversations with people about this.

[00:23:54] And I think this is where we get into that kind of that split,

[00:24:00] that conversation where it's like, this is a business decision.

[00:24:05] Right?

[00:24:06] You don't have to care.

[00:24:07] You really don't have to care.

[00:24:09] You're a business.

[00:24:10] You're in it to make money.

[00:24:11] I get it.

[00:24:12] This is your decision, right?

[00:24:14] Like provide these benefits for people.

[00:24:16] One, they stay.

[00:24:17] Two, they're going to seek you out because people need these benefits.

[00:24:21] And three, you're going to make money off of it.

[00:24:23] Right?

[00:24:23] Like now that aside, a lot of companies feel like it's not really our place.

[00:24:30] Like we're going to offer, here's our benefits package that we have.

[00:24:33] Take it or leave it.

[00:24:34] It's not our space to pamper and to customize and to do this.

[00:24:39] Well, if-

[00:24:39] Those are going to lose.

[00:24:40] I get it.

[00:24:41] If the argument was, hey, you know what?

[00:24:44] We're not going to care necessarily about your mental health.

[00:24:50] What we're going to do is pay you more.

[00:24:52] And if that, if you want to invest money in mental health therapy, et cetera, then you

[00:24:59] make that decision.

[00:25:00] Now, that would be a very interesting argument and kind of a discussion of saying, you know

[00:25:05] what?

[00:25:06] We're not going to make the investment.

[00:25:08] We're going to make the investment in your salary and total comp.

[00:25:12] But no one, not many people are going to take it in a bet.

[00:25:14] They're just going to-

[00:25:16] They're going to blow it on TV.

[00:25:16] People are so far behind.

[00:25:18] They're going to blow it on TV.

[00:25:18] I mean, pay any electric bill too, right?

[00:25:20] I mean, like-

[00:25:21] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:25:21] They're so far behind.

[00:25:22] Like that, they should be paying more and providing, right?

[00:25:27] You know, but I get it.

[00:25:29] Can't always do that.

[00:25:31] But-

[00:25:32] Well, there you go.

[00:25:32] Yep.

[00:25:33] All right.

[00:25:35] So, Indeed sues ZipRecruiter.

[00:25:38] Okay.

[00:25:38] I saw this.

[00:25:40] I read it a little while back.

[00:25:42] Actually, there was conversation or articles about this back in like the fall timeframe

[00:25:48] last year.

[00:25:50] Right.

[00:25:50] So, anyway, so Indeed filed a lawsuit against ZipRecruiter, alleging that the company used

[00:25:56] advertising and marketing campaigns to poach their customers.

[00:26:01] And I want to get this right, so I'll read it here.

[00:26:04] So, Indeed made a change, essentially.

[00:26:08] With free job postings no longer being free.

[00:26:12] But that's not necessarily the case.

[00:26:13] There's a nuance to that.

[00:26:15] I'll get to that in a moment.

[00:26:17] But anyway, so they're saying that ZipRecruiter went and ran a campaign and said, hey, they got

[00:26:22] rid of their free job postings.

[00:26:23] Come over here.

[00:26:25] Okay.

[00:26:25] So, following this change, Indeed alleged that ZipRecruiter emailed Indeed's employer

[00:26:32] customers to inform them that Indeed, let me just get this here, Indeed would be ending

[00:26:37] its free job post and that all job posts would require a daily budget of at least $5 per post,

[00:26:44] among other things.

[00:26:46] Right?

[00:26:46] So, what the argument is, there was a change, but the change restricted double posting of

[00:26:54] free jobs.

[00:26:55] So, companies were double dipping.

[00:26:56] They were posting the free job here and also getting it through their feed.

[00:27:00] Right.

[00:27:01] So, they were coming to Indeed, posting the free job.

[00:27:04] Then they were getting through their ATS, another free posting.

[00:27:07] So, not just taking up inventory and space and all that other stuff that comes along with

[00:27:12] that.

[00:27:12] Actually, it just creates noise.

[00:27:13] It creates noise.

[00:27:14] It's confusing candidates and ultimately, Indeed, looks like the bad guy for having a bunch of

[00:27:19] junk positions where candidates aren't getting responses.

[00:27:23] And so, that is what the rule has changed.

[00:27:27] And so, they're saying that-

[00:27:28] They actually cleaned things up.

[00:27:30] Correct.

[00:27:30] There was not a negative to that.

[00:27:32] No, there's not a negative to that.

[00:27:33] Or, ZipRecruiter took advantage of the miscommunication.

[00:27:39] And so, they leveraged it.

[00:27:41] Right.

[00:27:41] It's real simple for me.

[00:27:43] Indeed's not going to go sue somebody if there's not something there there.

[00:27:47] Right.

[00:27:47] None of these companies are.

[00:27:49] None of these companies.

[00:27:50] I mean, they're not going to waste their money and their time.

[00:27:52] Now, with their, you know, some of the conversations back on, well, okay, well, Indeed maybe should

[00:27:57] focus on clarifying and actually making, creating a, you know, a campaign around, you

[00:28:03] know, or making sure it's very clear.

[00:28:05] But they did.

[00:28:07] They did.

[00:28:08] Right.

[00:28:08] I mean, we, I didn't confuse me.

[00:28:10] It's just you're getting two feeds.

[00:28:12] You can't double dip.

[00:28:13] Yeah.

[00:28:14] You shouldn't double dip.

[00:28:16] You shouldn't double dip.

[00:28:17] What I also thought was interesting in this is, and some of the postings are no longer

[00:28:21] there, but they're senior managers at ZipRecruiter.

[00:28:24] So higher level managers were posting on this to their public feeds and saying, Hey guys,

[00:28:30] look what happened.

[00:28:31] Come to us.

[00:28:32] And then their employees were retweeting and resharing and all of that stuff.

[00:28:37] And so this thing grew legs of its own.

[00:28:40] And indeed finally just said, quit it.

[00:28:42] Enough.

[00:28:42] Enough is enough with the lies.

[00:28:44] And now, so obviously it had an impact somewhere, but anyway, that's the lawsuit.

[00:28:49] So yeah.

[00:28:51] Ryan, let's move on to some acquisitions.

[00:28:53] You ready?

[00:28:55] I don't have a choice.

[00:28:56] Do I?

[00:28:56] We're there.

[00:28:57] We got to get there.

[00:28:58] So let's do it.

[00:28:59] There's a deep pause.

[00:29:01] All right.

[00:29:02] Cineron acquires Cumulex, expanding capabilities in the security and video surveillance solutions.

[00:29:10] Okay.

[00:29:10] So Cineron, think of workforce management, time and attendance, things like that.

[00:29:16] Cumulex, think of video surveillance.

[00:29:19] So this is on techpoint.org.

[00:29:22] So you want to go read this story.

[00:29:24] So for me, as I read this, I'm like, first of all, cool.

[00:29:27] Acquisitions are great.

[00:29:29] Consolidation of marketplace is great.

[00:29:31] But what could possibly go wrong when you have workforce management software now with video surveillance software?

[00:29:39] So what made me think of is facial recognition time clocks, which there's nothing wrong with that.

[00:29:47] No.

[00:29:47] It's just kind of a different way to think of workforce management.

[00:29:52] Yeah.

[00:29:53] So congratulations to both companies.

[00:29:55] Use your phone to open it up with your face.

[00:29:57] Why not time clocks?

[00:30:00] 100%.

[00:30:00] Why not?

[00:30:01] Whatever.

[00:30:02] That stuff doesn't bother me.

[00:30:04] I don't know.

[00:30:05] I never understood the...

[00:30:06] I mean, as long as the government's not surveilling me.

[00:30:08] I mean, look, if you're stealing shit and you're a murderer.

[00:30:11] Yeah.

[00:30:12] Okay.

[00:30:13] You just...

[00:30:13] Fair.

[00:30:14] You deserve what you get.

[00:30:16] Yeah.

[00:30:17] So Guild.

[00:30:18] Remember Guild?

[00:30:19] I do.

[00:30:19] You obviously not remember them.

[00:30:20] I mean, like, they're a force, right, in the business here.

[00:30:24] So they acquired a company called Nomadic Learning.

[00:30:27] And they're launching what they're calling a talent.

[00:30:30] And they're calling it the Talent Advantage.

[00:30:32] So for those that don't know, Guild's been in the industry for, well, not really a long time.

[00:30:39] 2015, right?

[00:30:40] So that's nine years, I guess.

[00:30:42] That's, you know, long enough.

[00:30:44] But they're, if not the most, they are right there, neck and neck, as being one of the most dominant players in this space.

[00:30:53] Now, Nomadic has been around since 2012.

[00:30:57] So a little longer.

[00:30:58] But what's interesting here is I wasn't able to find any funding on them or anything like that.

[00:31:04] So I kind of feel like maybe it's a bootstrap company all the way through.

[00:31:07] So anyhow, Guild has raised over $600 million over the years.

[00:31:13] And they've crushed it.

[00:31:15] They've just dominated.

[00:31:16] So anyhow, I like this one.

[00:31:20] Learning's critical.

[00:31:21] I want to take a break real quick just to let you know about a new show we've just added to the network.

[00:31:27] Up Next at Work, hosted by Gene and Kata Keel of The Devin Group.

[00:31:33] Fantastic show.

[00:31:35] If you're looking for something that pushes the norm, pushes the boundaries, has some really spirited conversations, Google Up Next at Work, Gene and Kata Keel from The Devin Group.

[00:31:50] And, I mean, look, most companies are just targeting skills or just learning.

[00:31:55] So this allows them to get into the capabilities game.

[00:31:58] And this is something I think is really nice.

[00:32:01] I think anybody that cares about skills, you've got to figure out how to deploy skills.

[00:32:07] So getting people to learn, assessing where they are, all that stuff.

[00:32:12] Okay, all that makes sense.

[00:32:14] But at one point, you've got to deploy learning and skilling.

[00:32:18] And so I think it's a great acquisition for both companies.

[00:32:21] So congratulations.

[00:32:22] All righty.

[00:32:23] AI company TransPerfect, awkward name, acquires Paybooks Technologies.

[00:32:30] The acquisition lets Paybooks expand its global presence and benefit from extensive R&D resources.

[00:32:38] This was built in nyc.com.

[00:32:40] Great resource, by the way.

[00:32:43] This is a strategic acquisition.

[00:32:44] So an AI company purchases a core HR platform with the goal of going global.

[00:32:52] So this is one of those situations where instead of the payroll platform buying an AI company, it's just the other way around.

[00:33:02] Right.

[00:33:03] Same goal.

[00:33:04] And that's to go global with payroll.

[00:33:08] Which payroll and being global?

[00:33:11] Not a bad thing.

[00:33:13] Yeah.

[00:33:13] So, okay.

[00:33:14] So I've got one here.

[00:33:16] This is the company called The Best Answer, which is actually a really cool domain.

[00:33:21] It's thebestanswer.com.

[00:33:23] Yeah.

[00:33:23] Kind of like that.

[00:33:24] That's pretty nice.

[00:33:25] Yeah.

[00:33:26] So The Best Answer acquires a company called Luna.

[00:33:29] And so first off, both companies are based in Philadelphia.

[00:33:34] So shout out to those two.

[00:33:37] The Best Answer is in AI.

[00:33:40] I didn't know either of these companies, which kind of par for the course.

[00:33:44] I feel like I know nothing in my area and everything outside of my area.

[00:33:47] Yeah.

[00:33:48] That's typical.

[00:33:50] Yeah.

[00:33:50] So the best answer is an AI-powered culture success platform.

[00:33:56] So the press release, kind of like what that sounds like, stuff with a lot of buzzword bingo.

[00:34:02] Like I couldn't get through the press release.

[00:34:03] So I just had to go off the press release and go find these companies.

[00:34:07] It was a really poorly written press release in my opinion.

[00:34:10] Anyhow, so one, not knowing either of the companies, one, congratulations to them.

[00:34:16] But Luna adds the ability to these guys here now for personal – they do a couple things.

[00:34:24] So they'll add the ability for personal manuals, user manuals for the employee, and smart dashboards for hybrid teams.

[00:34:32] So I love this.

[00:34:33] I think this is a smart play really for any company that does this.

[00:34:38] This gets them deeper into the organizations, and I think it's definitely something that's well needed.

[00:34:44] Congratulations.

[00:34:45] Love the best answer.com.

[00:34:48] Best answer.

[00:34:48] That's just an awesome company name.

[00:34:50] Yeah.

[00:34:50] So good job on that too.

[00:34:53] Ryan, we talked about HR Path a couple months ago.

[00:34:56] I think it was in July.

[00:34:58] We did, yeah.

[00:34:58] It's an HR consulting firm.

[00:35:00] They have acquired IN-RGY.

[00:35:07] Energy.

[00:35:08] N-R-G.

[00:35:10] Yeah, energy.

[00:35:11] An HR consulting firm.

[00:35:11] He had to read that to get that right there.

[00:35:14] Well, I don't understand the dash.

[00:35:18] It's cute.

[00:35:19] I don't know.

[00:35:19] It's cute.

[00:35:20] But I saw in real time you capturing that.

[00:35:24] That was cool.

[00:35:25] Yeah.

[00:35:25] IN-RGY.

[00:35:28] I'm sure people spelt it out like that for him as well.

[00:35:31] So, Energy is an HR consulting firm that specializes in digital transformation.

[00:35:38] So, you can go find them on IN-RGY.com.

[00:35:43] And they've got a whole announcement about the acquisition.

[00:35:47] But basically, digital transformation in HR, it'll be massive.

[00:35:52] It's been massive for a long time.

[00:35:54] But it'll be even more massive as we inject AI and Gen AI into the function.

[00:36:00] So, HR Path, they took on, I think it's $500 million in July.

[00:36:04] Okay.

[00:36:05] In funding.

[00:36:06] They're well positioned to take advantage of all that.

[00:36:08] Yeah.

[00:36:09] So, they probably used some of that money to acquire energy.

[00:36:12] Right.

[00:36:14] But great acquisition.

[00:36:16] Good for them.

[00:36:17] Nice.

[00:36:17] I think they need to send you a t-shirt now.

[00:36:19] Energy?

[00:36:20] This is energy.

[00:36:23] I-RGY.

[00:36:24] I think I heard a Niner in there.

[00:36:27] All right.

[00:36:28] Let's talk some research, man.

[00:36:31] Let's get learning.

[00:36:34] All right.

[00:36:36] So, the centered organization with Bettered Up.

[00:36:39] Okay.

[00:36:40] This is what the, the centered organization is what this, is what this report is called.

[00:36:44] So, with, with Better Up.

[00:36:46] So, if you, I know you've heard of them, but if you haven't, check them out, guys.

[00:36:49] It's pretty cool.

[00:36:50] So, this is actually really cool.

[00:36:53] So, you can get this at betterup.com slash the centered organization.

[00:36:58] And the centered organization just has dashes between the words.

[00:37:01] Just go to Better Up.

[00:37:02] You'll find it.

[00:37:02] Um, this is really cool.

[00:37:05] So, Better Up updates a dashboard bi-weekly on their site, which they call the employee pulse.

[00:37:12] So, they're pulsing, right?

[00:37:14] They're pulsing about 800 employees, maybe a little more, more than 800 employees, and

[00:37:19] updating the dashboard bi-weekly to help companies better understand how political polarization

[00:37:25] impacts workplace productivity, performance, and culture.

[00:37:31] This is really neat.

[00:37:33] And when you go to the site, beautifully laid out, by the way.

[00:37:35] So, whoever laid it out, kudos to you.

[00:37:37] Very nice.

[00:37:38] Hold on.

[00:37:38] Um, we should get them on the, to talk through this because this is, it is actually really

[00:37:43] interesting.

[00:37:43] So, the goal here is to define and quantify the state of political tension in the workforce

[00:37:49] and then outline leadership approaches that help the employees feel supported and productive

[00:37:56] in times of what they label as one of the things, uncertainty.

[00:38:00] So, one quick stat here.

[00:38:03] And then you guys just have to go to the website to check it out because it's really difficult

[00:38:06] to explain the whole thing.

[00:38:07] The impact on a 10,000 person company in the run up to November in an election year and

[00:38:15] potentially beyond that, of course, is estimated to be $900,000 a week.

[00:38:22] A week.

[00:38:24] A lot of people on Slack.

[00:38:26] Yes.

[00:38:26] In productivity loss.

[00:38:27] This is, this is people calling out because they don't feel well.

[00:38:31] They can't deal with the anxiety.

[00:38:33] This is people arguing at work or water cooler talking at work.

[00:38:37] And now, you know, Slack, like you said, there's a lot of stats in this thing and it updates

[00:38:42] all the time, which is cool because they're asking people, how do you feel this week?

[00:38:46] What are you doing?

[00:38:47] And it's, it's updating those numbers every week.

[00:38:50] I'm going to follow this thing now.

[00:38:51] I don't know how I didn't see it before, but I'm going to follow it all the way through

[00:38:54] the election.

[00:38:56] January 20th and see how this thing pans out.

[00:38:59] Do we vote in 20, uh, I mean, it's three weeks.

[00:39:02] Yeah, I know.

[00:39:03] It's crazy.

[00:39:04] So, it's crazy.

[00:39:05] I'm around the corner.

[00:39:06] Yeah, it's crazy.

[00:39:07] Crazy.

[00:39:07] But check it out.

[00:39:09] Check it out because this is actually pretty cool and I'm going to work to see if we can

[00:39:11] get these guys on here.

[00:39:12] All right.

[00:39:14] Ryan, let me tell you about a study that is fascinating.

[00:39:18] What Americans would want in an AI boss by the Full Stack Academy?

[00:39:24] This is found at FullStackAcademy.com.

[00:39:29] So, the question was...

[00:39:31] Before you...

[00:39:31] I haven't seen the research.

[00:39:33] Yeah?

[00:39:34] I would be terrified to have an AI boss.

[00:39:38] I don't know.

[00:39:39] Like, I can get around things with a human boss.

[00:39:42] Like, I can sneak and do shit.

[00:39:44] The AI boss is going to know I'm on a kayak somewhere.

[00:39:48] Yeah.

[00:39:49] Yeah.

[00:39:49] Because they'd have your location.

[00:39:52] Yeah.

[00:39:52] They'd know it.

[00:39:53] Then they'd be able to search through Instagram and see you posting pictures about pitch when

[00:39:58] you should be at home.

[00:39:59] That photo was high.

[00:40:00] Keystrokes and all that stuff.

[00:40:02] Exactly.

[00:40:02] No, they're going to know shit that humans clearly don't know.

[00:40:05] You were...

[00:40:06] Your keyboard was going crazy.

[00:40:08] Your mouse was moving, but you posted a photo.

[00:40:09] So, let me see if I can get this straight.

[00:40:11] While you pulled that bass, your keystrokes were going...

[00:40:15] Yeah.

[00:40:16] Never post.

[00:40:16] Okay.

[00:40:16] Never post.

[00:40:17] Let's talk a little bit about that.

[00:40:19] All right.

[00:40:19] So, well, there goes favoritism.

[00:40:22] Here's some nuggets from the research.

[00:40:24] 78% of workers feel that working for an AI manager is guaranteed to enhance their professional

[00:40:31] performance.

[00:40:32] Hmm.

[00:40:33] Let that sing in.

[00:40:35] Next stat.

[00:40:36] 63% of workers believe that promotions and raises by human bosses can be unfair and biased.

[00:40:45] Huh.

[00:40:47] 60% would accept an AI boss tracking everything, but only if it resulted in an average of 34%

[00:40:58] increase in income.

[00:41:00] So, if you pay more...

[00:41:03] 34%?

[00:41:04] Yeah.

[00:41:05] Yeah.

[00:41:05] A third.

[00:41:06] So, if you pay me more...

[00:41:08] Oh, you can look at AI.

[00:41:09] You're good.

[00:41:10] You want to look at it like we were talking about tracking?

[00:41:12] Oh.

[00:41:12] You can track everything.

[00:41:13] No give a...

[00:41:14] But just pay me more for that.

[00:41:16] Yeah.

[00:41:16] Which is fascinating in and of itself.

[00:41:18] What's really interesting here...

[00:41:20] God, I want to dig into it.

[00:41:21] Just two really...

[00:41:22] It's a great study, man.

[00:41:23] Yeah.

[00:41:24] What really is neat here is 78% of the workers, you said, wouldn't feel that working for an

[00:41:32] AI manager would guarantee to enhance performance.

[00:41:36] Because they're not biased.

[00:41:38] They're not biased.

[00:41:39] They would just care about, hey, you could get better if you did this.

[00:41:41] I'd say that didn't register.

[00:41:43] I immediately went to...

[00:41:44] Oh, that's scary.

[00:41:45] We went to a dark place.

[00:41:47] We went to a dark place.

[00:41:48] Yeah.

[00:41:48] Yeah.

[00:41:49] But that's actually...

[00:41:50] That's actually really something.

[00:41:52] Like, now actual goals become goals.

[00:41:55] The bot just wants you to get better.

[00:41:57] Get shit done.

[00:41:58] Hey, Ryan, just get better.

[00:41:59] Just do this.

[00:42:00] Do this this way.

[00:42:01] But it'll tell me how to...

[00:42:02] Have you thought about doing it this way?

[00:42:03] Yeah.

[00:42:03] It'll tell me how to get better, right?

[00:42:05] Like...

[00:42:05] I don't have to worry about Bob or Cindy or some other random person.

[00:42:11] See, this is where...

[00:42:11] Occasionally giving some advice.

[00:42:13] Like, now the bot's going to be giving me advice all the time.

[00:42:16] Yeah.

[00:42:16] No, I like this.

[00:42:17] I like this, yeah.

[00:42:19] Fullstackacademy.com.

[00:42:21] Oh, wow.

[00:42:21] So go there.

[00:42:22] And it's...

[00:42:23] The title is What Americans Would Want in an AI Boss.

[00:42:26] Yeah.

[00:42:27] I just pulled three stats out.

[00:42:29] There's a bunch.

[00:42:30] I have to go check.

[00:42:31] See, this is like...

[00:42:32] I can see this is where a company like Whisk, for example, comes into play.

[00:42:35] Like, you have your AI boss.

[00:42:37] The AI boss has access to Whisk who's going to train you.

[00:42:42] Like, just makes...

[00:42:43] Go coach you up.

[00:42:44] Oh, man.

[00:42:45] Yeah.

[00:42:45] I want an AI boss now.

[00:42:47] You see?

[00:42:48] That would be...

[00:42:48] And not to...

[00:42:49] You just slipped.

[00:42:50] Just not to be...

[00:42:50] That quick.

[00:42:51] I'm easy.

[00:42:52] I'm easy.

[00:42:53] Yeah.

[00:42:53] And I don't have to talk...

[00:42:54] But the 60% of...

[00:42:56] You can track everything.

[00:42:58] If you pay me more, that's also interesting.

[00:43:01] Separated from the other things we've talked about.

[00:43:04] Hey, I'll give up privacy.

[00:43:06] I mean, you know, if you need privacy so that you can do better tracking, so you can feed me better data.

[00:43:12] Okay, you know what?

[00:43:13] I'll give that up.

[00:43:14] Just pay me more.

[00:43:16] Yeah.

[00:43:16] Yeah.

[00:43:17] So there's an acknowledgement there of, like, privacy should cost something.

[00:43:20] Yeah.

[00:43:21] Well, it should.

[00:43:22] And then there's less humans in the mix, so money's got to go somewhere, right?

[00:43:25] Right.

[00:43:26] And so...

[00:43:26] No, I like that.

[00:43:28] Take a look.

[00:43:30] That is interesting.

[00:43:31] I want to get in...

[00:43:32] I wonder if we can get an AI boss for us.

[00:43:36] Just to...

[00:43:37] I bet you...

[00:43:38] Oh, man.

[00:43:39] Could you imagine building an AI boss and just sticking it in a company?

[00:43:43] Like this.

[00:43:44] Small company.

[00:43:44] Yeah.

[00:43:45] Just sticking it in.

[00:43:46] Yeah.

[00:43:47] Ryan, you didn't get your shit done today.

[00:43:49] Yeah.

[00:43:50] Here's the things, three things you missed.

[00:43:51] Or here's three things that would make you faster or better.

[00:43:56] Oh, man.

[00:43:57] So if it's based on work life, if it's calibrated for work life, it's like, hey, listen, you

[00:44:02] don't need to work seven hours today.

[00:44:04] Oh, man.

[00:44:04] You can get these tasks.

[00:44:06] You can get into this and do it this way and it'll be done by four.

[00:44:11] Huh.

[00:44:11] Like...

[00:44:11] I'm going to look around.

[00:44:12] If anyone has an AI boss that's out there, a platform, send it.

[00:44:16] I want to check this thing out.

[00:44:21] That's two good ones.

[00:44:22] I don't think I can get better than that.

[00:44:24] But, all right.

[00:44:24] So I got one more here.

[00:44:26] All right.

[00:44:26] AI skills at work.

[00:44:27] This comes from Indeed Hiring Lab.

[00:44:29] This is the second Indeed thing today.

[00:44:31] Cool.

[00:44:32] Indeed Hiring Lab.

[00:44:33] So AI skills at work.

[00:44:34] So this research was by Indeed Hiring Labs, obviously.

[00:44:39] But it looks at the potential for Gen AI to replace human skills across 2,800 job-related

[00:44:48] abilities.

[00:44:49] So if everyone says, ah, it's another survey, you know, another research on that, we know

[00:44:54] we're going to get replaced.

[00:44:55] Not this.

[00:44:55] That's not that.

[00:44:56] Right.

[00:44:57] So this is based on current state.

[00:44:59] And it doesn't say when...

[00:45:01] It doesn't say when the statements of outdated skills and abilities are going to be moved

[00:45:07] over to automation.

[00:45:09] They didn't do that.

[00:45:10] That's my best guess.

[00:45:12] 2035.

[00:45:13] I think we need 10 years to really kind of hone in on this.

[00:45:17] But here's a short list that it finds that while AI...

[00:45:22] Here's a...

[00:45:22] It finds as AI excels at providing theoretical knowledge.

[00:45:29] I think you probably used that term with me once.

[00:45:31] It's very theoretical.

[00:45:33] It struggles with problem solving on a hands-on basis.

[00:45:36] Right.

[00:45:36] We know this, right?

[00:45:38] That's why I'm giving it 10 years.

[00:45:40] Anyhow, three metrics.

[00:45:42] 68.7% of skills were rated as unlikely or very unlikely to replace...

[00:45:48] Be replaced by AI.

[00:45:51] Okay.

[00:45:52] Okay.

[00:45:52] So I read that as 70% of the job force and workforce is going to be okay.

[00:45:58] 28.5% to 28.5% could potentially be replaced in the future with AI.

[00:46:05] And physical tasks are a major barrier with 54% of skills that need hands-on execution.

[00:46:12] Not ready for that.

[00:46:14] Plumber's still going to run the snake.

[00:46:16] Yeah.

[00:46:16] Plumber's got to run the snake.

[00:46:17] They're going to have to...

[00:46:18] Now, I could see a plumber bringing in a little thingy to go in and cut the pipe and solder the pipe and all of that stuff.

[00:46:28] I don't even solder most of these guys anymore.

[00:46:29] But yeah.

[00:46:31] No, absolutely.

[00:46:32] And it was really interesting.

[00:46:34] But it got me...

[00:46:35] Well, with AI, I could know the data from your location and know clay pots, steel pots, steel pipes, etc.

[00:46:44] Right.

[00:46:45] What do you have?

[00:46:46] And then be able to triage faster.

[00:46:48] Right.

[00:46:48] So that same plumber...

[00:46:51] Yeah, they still got to run the snake.

[00:46:52] It's faster.

[00:46:54] But now they're doing it with some intelligence.

[00:46:56] Right.

[00:46:56] You don't have to call 811 to dig anymore.

[00:46:58] That's right.

[00:46:59] It's going to have it.

[00:47:01] Oh, no.

[00:47:01] Oh, you can't.

[00:47:02] You got wires 13 inches down.

[00:47:03] Don't go.

[00:47:04] So, you know, things like that.

[00:47:06] Yeah.

[00:47:06] So anyhow, that was it.

[00:47:07] Nothing crazy.

[00:47:09] All right.

[00:47:10] This is the last one for research.

[00:47:12] 2024 State of Workplace Empathy by Business Solvers Report on Belonging and Connectedness.

[00:47:20] Plummet.

[00:47:22] Despise Employees Citing Greater Awareness of Corporate DEIB Initiatives.

[00:47:30] This is at BusinessSolver.com.

[00:47:32] This is their report.

[00:47:35] So we've talked, you know, through the last 20 weeks or so about, okay, this looks bad.

[00:47:42] Tractor Supply and Harley-Davidson.

[00:47:44] Okay.

[00:47:44] Oh, everybody's kind of cutting back.

[00:47:46] Okay.

[00:47:46] This is not going to be bad.

[00:47:47] So we kind of knew this was bad.

[00:47:49] This report actually tells us how bad it is.

[00:47:53] Oh.

[00:47:53] So I need you to close your eyes for a moment.

[00:47:56] You ready?

[00:47:56] Closed.

[00:47:57] That's you, Ryan.

[00:47:58] Not the audience.

[00:47:59] Oh.

[00:48:00] Good.

[00:48:00] Well, my eyes were closed.

[00:48:01] All right.

[00:48:02] You just made me open them now because I haven't responded.

[00:48:04] Don't open them.

[00:48:05] Closed.

[00:48:05] I'm closed.

[00:48:15] First.

[00:48:17] Check.

[00:48:17] Check.

[00:48:18] Second one.

[00:48:19] 83% of CEOs say an equitable and inclusive culture is harder to maintain in a hybrid or remote workplace.

[00:48:29] So open your eyes.

[00:48:31] So I was falling asleep for a moment.

[00:48:32] As you should.

[00:48:33] So HR is saying, hey, it's easier if we have remote and flex and hybrid and in office and all that stuff.

[00:48:41] It's almost 90% easier to do if we have these things.

[00:48:45] And you have almost the same amount of CEOs say, yet it's harder to build an equitable and inclusive culture.

[00:48:53] It's harder to maintain by having those different types of workplaces.

[00:48:59] Is that a product of, and serious question, is it a product of the CEOs being so far disconnected from the workforce that they don't understand the workforce?

[00:49:13] 100%.

[00:49:14] Yeah.

[00:49:15] And I get it.

[00:49:16] Their job is to make money.

[00:49:18] Get that.

[00:49:19] I understand.

[00:49:20] But also, is this also a product of it's time to pass the baton, right?

[00:49:28] With that.

[00:49:29] But also, pass the baton.

[00:49:31] I think our CEOs in a lot of these companies have aged out.

[00:49:35] And I know that's not the right way to present that.

[00:49:37] But it's true.

[00:49:38] No, it's not necessarily their age.

[00:49:43] It's their attitude.

[00:49:44] Inability to adapt and their attitude.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:47] Yeah.

[00:49:47] It's more, it's not, you know, someone could be 65, but they could be really progressive.

[00:49:53] Right.

[00:49:53] And the fact that we went through, again, if we didn't go through COVID, everything would be completely slower in the sense of, hey, you know, this remote workforce.

[00:50:05] We'd still be, we'd still be in the office.

[00:50:07] 20 years from now, this might be a thing.

[00:50:09] Okay.

[00:50:09] Well, for three years of our life, we did that bit.

[00:50:13] Like, come on.

[00:50:14] Getting back to the Spotify thing at the very beginning.

[00:50:17] Yeah.

[00:50:18] We trust our employees.

[00:50:19] They're not children.

[00:50:21] Yeah.

[00:50:22] But it's just the juxtaposition.

[00:50:23] This report for the audience, you want to be depressed?

[00:50:28] Read the report.

[00:50:29] Go read that report because the stats are overwhelmingly depressing.

[00:50:35] Oh, interesting.

[00:50:36] I'm going to, maybe not, maybe I won't look at that.

[00:50:40] I am going to go read the AI boss one.

[00:50:42] Oh yeah.

[00:50:43] Are we going to funding?

[00:50:44] We're going to go to funding.

[00:50:45] I'm still, I want to, I know none of these companies that I've put in here have funding to build an AI boss.

[00:50:52] So I really want that.

[00:50:54] That's coming next week.

[00:50:55] I think next week.

[00:50:56] Even Up, Even Up raises 135 million in a series D.

[00:51:01] So first off, this brings the company total funding to about 235 million.

[00:51:08] The funds are going to be used to expand operations and its AI workflow.

[00:51:13] So this is a claims intelligence company, claims intelligence platform, which is trained on hundreds of thousands of injury cases,

[00:51:22] millions of medical records and medical visits to offices, and then internal legal expertise.

[00:51:31] This is a really interesting one for me because it's taking something that I think it's a great example of company taking something that's extremely difficult.

[00:51:42] It historically required 90 years of schooling, right?

[00:51:45] And practice to really understand exaggerating, but maybe not.

[00:51:49] But here's how it's being used.

[00:51:51] So case managers and attorneys, case preparation and negotiation preparation.

[00:51:58] Firms are using it for executive analytics and attorneys are using it as a settlement repository.

[00:52:05] So I love it.

[00:52:07] Congratulations to these guys.

[00:52:08] And I love tools like this.

[00:52:10] I think it's going to change that industry dramatically.

[00:52:13] So what's – you're driving – let's say you go from where you are right now and you go to Pittsburgh.

[00:52:20] Yeah.

[00:52:21] Don't ask me what direction, please.

[00:52:23] No, no, it doesn't matter.

[00:52:23] So the – you've got a couple stops along the way.

[00:52:26] What's the first billboard you see in every town?

[00:52:29] Oh, injury claim.

[00:52:31] Personal injury.

[00:52:32] Personal injury, car accident, sue your employer, all that stuff, 100%.

[00:52:37] In every town in America, it's the first billboard.

[00:52:40] Yeah.

[00:52:40] That's what you see.

[00:52:41] Doesn't matter what town you're in.

[00:52:43] Personal injury attorney.

[00:52:44] If something's going to make that better, this AI workflow is going to make that better.

[00:52:49] And people that do suffer in car accidents or workplace accidents, et cetera, and it makes that more refined because it is just – it's a crapshoot.

[00:52:59] Yeah.

[00:52:59] You get a great lawyer and they have great relationships with the other attorneys that you're opposing.

[00:53:06] The settlement can be really good.

[00:53:07] Yeah.

[00:53:08] You get a crappy attorney and they don't have those relationships.

[00:53:12] Yeah.

[00:53:12] You get peanuts.

[00:53:14] So like anything that can bring efficiencies.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:17] Love it.

[00:53:17] It's welcome.

[00:53:18] You know what?

[00:53:18] My recommendation, and this is not legal advice, pick the dirtiest, slimiest looking son of a gun on the billboard and you should be good.

[00:53:28] The Texas hammer.

[00:53:29] We have one.

[00:53:30] It's a thing.

[00:53:31] I've seen it.

[00:53:31] All right.

[00:53:32] What else we got?

[00:53:33] I don't know how to pronounce this name.

[00:53:35] Vism?

[00:53:35] Vism?

[00:53:36] V-S-I-M.

[00:53:38] So they took $21.5 million to revolutionize robotics training.

[00:53:46] So this is a UK-based robotics company.

[00:53:49] It's a robotics simulation company.

[00:53:53] And here's why we need to know about this company.

[00:53:56] So because this enables companies to adopt automation quickly.

[00:54:03] And it's not training humans.

[00:54:10] Right.

[00:54:11] It's training the robots.

[00:54:12] It's training the robots.

[00:54:14] Right.

[00:54:14] So this is training the robot.

[00:54:15] Think of automation in a warehouse, for example.

[00:54:17] So Amazon uses robots.

[00:54:19] Ford uses robots to pick and pack or to build cars.

[00:54:23] The companies can simulate various real-world scenarios, enabling the robot to learn quickly and then to follow up on that situation, make decisions on that situation in a real-time environment.

[00:54:38] So whereas today the robot says, oh, there's an error.

[00:54:44] Stop.

[00:54:46] Notify somebody.

[00:54:47] And then that somebody comes over and they have to then fix the issue.

[00:54:51] The robot will be able to make the decision.

[00:54:54] Oh, we're out of stock.

[00:54:55] Order.

[00:54:56] Here's a replacement part.

[00:54:58] I'll see.

[00:54:58] Get it.

[00:54:59] Replacement.

[00:55:00] Because it's an upgrade or whatever.

[00:55:02] And then it goes on and then notifies the person.

[00:55:05] There's so many things that can be done here.

[00:55:07] But that's just obviously one example.

[00:55:09] But this is something where I think in the hiring world, we saw this with car manufacturers and things like this.

[00:55:18] This is going to be the next generation, I think, for a lot of companies that we all know and love.

[00:55:25] They're now going to be training their robots to work with the human as well as the human to work with the robot.

[00:55:30] So it's going to be an interesting play.

[00:55:31] If the robot is a human, then training that robot, well, you've got to invest in training the robot.

[00:55:38] Yeah.

[00:55:38] Just like we invest in training employees.

[00:55:40] Yeah.

[00:55:41] Yeah.

[00:55:42] I love it.

[00:55:42] Get used to it.

[00:55:43] Get used to it.

[00:55:44] All right.

[00:55:45] Building Radar.

[00:55:46] The next generation software platform that automates construction industry sales workflow has raised seven points.

[00:55:54] So let me, okay, techfundingnews.com.

[00:55:58] You can learn more about building radar.

[00:56:00] It's fascinating.

[00:56:01] But let me read this to you.

[00:56:03] The platform's revenue engineering capabilities have helped over 150 companies across the construction industry,

[00:56:11] boosting sales conversion rates and driving over $2.6 billion in sales pipeline.

[00:56:18] Over 5,000 new sales opportunities are detected for its clients daily and almost 700 assessed, customized, and deployed sales processes.

[00:56:31] Wow.

[00:56:32] So mind-blowing because this is AI.

[00:56:37] This is a company that's basically using AI to help find prospects and then tailor your sales efforts to those prospects.

[00:56:47] They're doing it in the construction industry, but come on now.

[00:56:51] This can be used anywhere, yeah.

[00:56:53] It can be used anywhere.

[00:56:54] So this is like finding bidding opportunities or government contracts, local government contracts that you generally wouldn't hear about, demolition projects and putting people in cement.

[00:57:04] And they're already doing it.

[00:57:06] And it's running when you're asleep.

[00:57:08] It's finding those opportunities for you.

[00:57:11] Yeah.

[00:57:11] And, oh, by the way, it's even getting to the point where it's deploying the RFP.

[00:57:17] It's deploying the reach out.

[00:57:20] Yeah.

[00:57:20] I wonder if they have to – if they're deploying an RFP, this was generated by AI, something like that.

[00:57:27] Because that would be kind of scary, you know.

[00:57:30] Yeah.

[00:57:30] It does the whole thing.

[00:57:31] Yeah.

[00:57:31] It does the whole thing.

[00:57:32] And it's maybe not the right answer.

[00:57:34] Maybe, maybe not.

[00:57:35] But I like the idea because a lot of these – construction specifically.

[00:57:40] Yeah.

[00:57:41] I know a few people who have construction companies.

[00:57:43] And they're not – they're small, but they're still 50 to 100 employees, right?

[00:57:48] Yeah.

[00:57:49] And it's a lot of who you know.

[00:57:50] It's a lot of who you know.

[00:57:52] Exactly.

[00:57:53] You don't get a township contract, which can be very profitable.

[00:57:56] You don't get the contract unless you know the person.

[00:58:00] So, yeah.

[00:58:01] Awesome.

[00:58:02] Love it.

[00:58:03] All right.

[00:58:03] I've got one more.

[00:58:05] This is Maven Clinic.

[00:58:07] So, Maven Clinic raised $125 million in a Series F realm.

[00:58:14] So, Maven Clinic is – Maven Clinic is a company where they work on programs for – care programs across fertility, pregnancy, family health services, obviously mainly for women.

[00:58:30] But here's the bottom line.

[00:58:33] The investment aligns with HR focus on employee-centric healthcare strategies.

[00:58:37] It is incredibly important for this type of benefit inside of the workplace, historically not put at the top of the list.

[00:58:48] And so, this company is on a mission to get there.

[00:58:51] And they've done a lot of great things in the industry.

[00:58:53] If you go and read about them, they do a lot in the industry.

[00:58:57] This isn't just a business.

[00:58:58] Well, it is.

[00:58:59] But it's not just a business for them.

[00:59:02] So, it's really interesting.

[00:59:03] Congratulations to everybody.

[00:59:04] Great.

[00:59:05] Great.

[00:59:06] I mean, a great benefit.

[00:59:08] Yeah.

[00:59:08] Just a side note.

[00:59:10] Fertility, for those that are listening, fertility is not a male or female issue.

[00:59:15] It's –

[00:59:15] Right.

[00:59:15] It's a couple's issue.

[00:59:17] So, I've had in my past – I've had a lot of guys – I'll just pick on men because it's easy – that will basically say, well, she can't conceive.

[00:59:28] It's like, actually?

[00:59:30] Yeah.

[00:59:31] You might want to, A, not say that ever again publicly.

[00:59:35] Yeah.

[00:59:35] It's more of a team thing.

[00:59:37] So, when you get to fertility, that's not just a benefit for women.

[00:59:41] That's a benefit for a couple.

[00:59:43] For a couple, right.

[00:59:44] Absolutely.

[00:59:45] So, that's all we have today.

[00:59:48] So –

[00:59:48] Ryan, are we done with the barfing?

[00:59:50] We are.

[00:59:50] Have we barfed?

[00:59:51] We are.

[00:59:52] We are done.

[00:59:53] We are done.

[00:59:54] We are done.

[00:59:54] That's insane.

[00:59:55] Did the Cowboys win yet?

[00:59:56] Are they playing yet?

[00:59:57] No.

[00:59:57] No, no.

[00:59:58] Let's not look.

[00:59:59] I'll be depressed.

[01:00:00] Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:01] All right, man.

[01:00:01] This has been fantastic.

[01:00:03] So, if you're still listening, watching, please like, subscribe.

[01:00:06] Give us a rating.

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[01:00:13] I'm good.

[01:00:14] Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:14] Yeah.

[01:00:15] Anyhow, until next time.