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Elevate Your AIQ

Elevate Your AIQ

Written by: WRKdefined Podcast Network
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Bob Pulver is helping each of us navigate our respective journeys with artificial intelligence (AI) effectively and responsibly. Bob chats with AI and Future of Work experts, talent and transformation leaders, and practitioners who provide diverse perspectives on how AI is solving real-world challenges and driving responsible innovation.All rights reserved by WRKdefined Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Ep 139: Maturing Recruitment and Recognizing AI-Ready Talent with Gary Hanley

    Ep 139: Maturing Recruitment and Recognizing AI-Ready Talent with Gary Hanley
    Oct 9 2026
    Gary Hanley, Senior Vice President of US Talent Strategy and Recruiting at MCS Group USA, joins Bob to explore how AI is reshaping the recruiting profession and the talent market it serves. Drawing on a nonlinear career spanning Sun Microsystems, government, and global location strategy, plus his graduate teaching at Northeastern University, Gary explains why recruiters must move from filling requisitions to true talent advisory. Bob and Gary discuss hiring for roles that may change within 18 months, the erosion of the resume as AI-enhanced applications flood the market, and why assessments of curiosity and critical thinking matter more than ever. They also cover why early-career hiring remains essential, how global location strategy reduces talent risk, and why trust with candidates is built through community and repeated engagement. Keywords Gary Hanley, MCS Group, Northeastern University, talent strategy, recruiting, talent advisory, AI readiness, AI engineer, location strategy, skills-based hiring, assessments, AI-generated resumes, early-career talent, responsible AI, EU AI Act, talent pipeline, candidate trust, future of recruiting Takeaways AI is automating transactional recruiting tasks like sourcing and scheduling, pushing agencies and TA teams toward advisory work such as market mapping, compensation benchmarking, and role design. Organizations confident in their AI readiness take a multi-threaded approach, combining recruitment with internal and external training across every role. Hiring for roles that may look different in 18 to 24 months means prioritizing durable skills, learning mindset, and cultural fit over current job specs. AI-customized resumes are undermining the resume’s value, so employers are shifting focus to assessments and asking candidates how they use AI as a thought partner. Pausing early-career hiring is a mistake; graduates adopt AI tools quickly and remain essential to a sustainable talent pipeline. Concentrating AI hiring in a few competitive cities increases attrition and salary inflation risk, making global location strategy a risk-management tool. Trust with candidates is built over time through transparency, community events, and passive talent pipelines. Quotes “How do you hire for roles that you’re not sure if that role will be there in eighteen to twenty four months.” “You can use a term like AI engineer and it could mean three different things in three different organizations” “Many of the candidates we’re working with of course will have multiple offers at any point in time so they’re making a decision why this particular organization fits their career goals.” “It’s encouraging to hear it’s not…apocalyptic for early stage talent coming out into the market. They certainly have value.” “Trust comes from repeated engagements. All good things start with conversations” Chapters 00:02 Welcome and introductions 01:06 Gary’s nonlinear career and MCS Group 04:38 AI shifts recruiting from transactional to advisory 07:14 Assessing AI readiness and in-demand skills 10:37 Teaching consulting and hiring for evolving roles 15:24 Transferable skills and selling candidates on strategy 20:16 Role definitions, compensation, and talent data 25:13 Resumes in the age of AI 29:45 Responsible AI, regulation, and global hiring 36:42 Assessing durable skills beyond the resume 40:02 Why early-career talent still matters 44:46 Building trust and community with candidates 51:16 The future of the AI-augmented recruiter 58:47 Final thoughts Gary Hanley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-hanley MCS Group USA: https://mcsgroupusa.com For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries: Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠ Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠ Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
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    58 mins
  • Ep 138: Reframing Leadership and Accountability for the AI Era with Dr. Adrian Wolfberg

    Ep 138: Reframing Leadership and Accountability for the AI Era with Dr. Adrian Wolfberg
    Oct 2 2026
    Dr. Adrian Wolfberg spent four decades in national security, from flying Navy reconnaissance missions to thirty years at the Defense Intelligence Agency, while researching how people and organizations make decisions. He sits down with Bob Pulver to explain why silos and mismatched language have always undermined shared understanding, and why AI raises the stakes. Rather than reaching for the tool first, Adrian argues leaders must invest time up front to understand the problem, then match the right mix of human and AI to it and keep adjusting as reality changes. They also explore the uniquely human strengths worth protecting, from framing and empathy to accountability and critical thinking, and why reading may be key to developing them. Keywords Adrian Wolfberg, Who Leads When AI Thinks, Organizational Insight Consulting, decision making, leadership, national security, defense intelligence, silos, cognitive diversity, problem framing, human-AI balance, complexity, wicked problems, novelty, responsible by design, empathy, accountability, critical thinking, creativity, reading, judgment, decisions, collective intelligence Takeaways Where you sit determines what you see, and different organizational languages make shared understanding hard even before AI enters the room. Unlike past tools, AI lacks transparent inputs, processes, and outputs, so leaders can no longer default to "just get me the tool." Time spent framing a problem up front prevents costly rework and helps match the right degree of human and AI involvement. Problems that are novel, complex, and value-laden demand far more human involvement than closed, well-understood systems. The leader's role shifts from knowing the answer to setting conditions so everyone can spot change and help reframe. Accountability must stay with humans, no matter how sophisticated the AI becomes. Reading and mathematics build the creative and critical thinking we can least afford to offload. Quotes "Do the words mean the same thing from different organizations? And do we even care about the same things?" "We can't compete with these aspects of AI and nor do we want to default everything to these aspects of AI." "The leader's responsibility is not anymore, I know the answer, here's the solution, go forth, implement it via the resources that we have available to us." "We don't want to just default accountability to AI. I don't think humans will allow that to happen." "Reading offers the mind an opportunity to wander as one is thinking about these things." "Preserving critical and creative thinking, that would be the worst thing to give to a machine and offload..." Chapters 00:01 Welcome and introductions 00:47 From Navy reconnaissance to decades in defense intelligence 05:17 Silos, language, and the struggle for shared understanding 10:59 Why AI is unlike any tool before it 13:21 Leaders making time to understand the problem 15:18 Matching the right mix of human and AI 19:14 Cognitive diversity, bias, and choosing the right AI 23:41 Sizing up problems by novelty, complexity, and values 29:22 Unknown unknowns and being responsible by design 33:20 The risk of handing too much over to AI 35:31 Framing and reframing as uniquely human strengths 39:42 Empathy, setting conditions, and accountability 45:39 Protecting critical and creative thinking 46:42 Preparing the next generation and managing agents 51:03 Reading, smartphones, and AI in schools 57:12 Where to find Adrian and final thoughts on valuing time Dr. Adrian Wolfberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianwolfberg Organizational Insight Consulting: https://www.oicllc.org/ “Who Leads When AI Thinks”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/3032197163 For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries: Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠ Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠ Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
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    58 mins
  • Ep 137: Trading AI Hype for Evidence and Education in Talent Tech with Hayley Skivington

    Ep 137: Trading AI Hype for Evidence and Education in Talent Tech with Hayley Skivington
    Sep 25 2026
    Hayley Skivington began her career in recruitment and has come full circle as Head of Product at Oleeo, where she sits at the intersection of product vision, commercial strategy, and the realities recruiters face every day. In this conversation with Bob, she explains why her role has expanded well beyond building features: with fear of job loss, litigation, and getting it wrong still widespread, vendors now have to hold customers' hands as educators and trusted advisors. The two dig into what responsible AI looks like in practice for a company serving government, policing, and financial services, and how Oleeo competes in a crowded market where ERPs, HCM suites, and AI startups all want a piece of recruiting. Hayley also offers an inside look at how Oleeo builds AI fluency across its own workforce, and Bob draws parallels to the early days of corporate social media bans. They close by looking ahead at how recruiters' work and skills will change as their tools become more connected. Keywords Hayley Skivington, Oleeo, responsible AI, explainability, talent acquisition, applicant tracking systems, AI literacy, candidate experience, EU AI Act, ISO 42001, vendor evaluation, shadow AI, Police Scotland, interoperability, cultural alignment, recruiter upskilling Takeaways Surfacing the evidence behind AI screening decisions gives recruiters confidence and gives candidates feedback to improve future applications. Buyers adding AI features increasingly need sign-off from security and IT compliance, so vendors should equip them with ready-made documentation. Integrating with existing systems like Oracle can deliver AI value without the cost and upheaval of replacing an ATS. Police Scotland went from treating any AI use as cheating to cutting email inquiries by roughly 30% within weeks, freeing time for candidates navigating medicals and vetting. Lunch hackathons and peer-led sessions spread practical AI know-how faster than formal training alone. Hayley expects recruiting tools to converge with collaboration and analytics platforms, pulling HR, talent management, and talent acquisition closer together. Recruiters should build skills in managing knowledge bases, evaluating compliance risk, and handling candidate appeals. Quotes Whenever anybody comes to us with anything, we always say, what's the problem? What are we trying to fix? You don't need to rip everything out. We can complement your technology stack, but help you solve that problem that you've got that your current technology can't do. We run a thing called the AI Forum and that's all about education. I'm not going there to talk about my latest product or why you all need to buy it from me. Those simple tools... can be the light bulb moments in organizations that are really risk averse because a chat bot feels quite friendly, right? People become strangely fond of whichever tool they're using the most. My advice to recruiters is to be AI literate. Think about how you leverage AI within your role and really start to upskill yourself. Chapters 00:01 Welcome and introductions 00:51 Hayley's path from recruitment to head of product 05:23 Building AI on strong foundations, not band-aids 09:06 Showing recruiters and candidates the evidence behind AI 13:29 Leveling the playing field and learning AI at home 18:43 Regulations, vendor evaluation, and shared responsibility 25:55 Competing in a crowded talent tech market 33:10 AI literacy inside Oleeo and the AI Forum 42:33 Police Scotland's journey from AI ban to adoption 45:20 Why banning AI leads to shadow AI 53:06 The evolving role of the recruiter Hayley Skivington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-skivington-63217531/ Oleeo: https://www.oleeo.com/ For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries: Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠ Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠ Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
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    59 mins
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