How can leaders move forward when pressure is high and the way is not clear? Blind adventurer Hiro Iwamoto and his 'seeing eye Doug" guide Doug Smith sailed across the Pacific in 55 days, from San Diego to Fukushima. The two share key strategies for leaders in taking action despite uncertainty and what's needed to pick the right partners to make impossible projects a reality. Hiro also shares how he stays calm in moments of extreme adversity, like when whale sank his boat during an earlier attempt leaving him in a life raft for 11 hours amid five-metre waves.

Key takeaways:

• Courage means moving forward without waiting for 100% information.
• Find people who can solve problems, not just point them out
• How thinking in the present can prevent panic and enable decision-making

Hiro is an adventurer, keynote speaker and the first totally blind person to sail across the Pacific. Doug had no previous sailing experience but became Hiro's crewmate and navigator for that extraordinary trip. Their lessons on crisis leadership, teamwork, overcoming fear and innovation can motivate any leader during difficult moments.

Recorded January 2026 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

About this episode:
Hiro: https://hiros-choice.com/

Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/hiro-iwamoto-blind-sailor-lessons-fear-decision

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Entry-level jobs provide a special window into the wider changes we'll see to job design and skill development. In this episode of Meet the Leader, Peter Brown of PwC explains how entry-level roles are transforming and breaks down new research on what employers really want from entry-level workers now. He also shares how these roles can continue to serve as training grounds for career skills like collaboration, critical thinking, and relationship building and why a thoughtful redesign of these roles will be key to future leadership development. Top names from our Chief People Officer community also share the advice new grads need to know in a fast-changing job market.

Key takeaways:

• The most dire headlines about entry-level jobs are not yet backed up by data.
• Employers are increasingly prioritizing applied experience and skills over degrees alone.
• Employers are expecting more 'seniorized' skills earlier.
• New grads should focus on outcomes rather than tasks and look for ways to build human skills on purpose.

Peter Brown is PwC's global workforce leader and a co-author of the World Economic Forum report Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Entry-Level Work. Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, the future of work, and the biggest trends shaping business. This is the third episode in a 3-part series on AI and jobs.

About this episode:
PWC: Pwc.com

Report - PWC
AI 2026 Jobs Barometer
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/ai/ai-jobs-barometer.html

Hopes and fears
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/workforce/hopes-and-fears.html

Report - World Economic Forum
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Entry-Level Work: A Framework for Safeguarding and Reinventing Early Career Pathways: https://www.weforum.org/publications/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-entry-level-work-a-framework-for-safeguarding-and-reinventing-early-career-pathways/


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New research shows many labor markets face a skills mismatch, not a talent shortage. And in the 'messy middle' of the AI transformation, that mismatch will be harder for leaders, workers and hiring managers to ignore as they build future-ready teams. To compete, companies will need to focus on skills-based hiring to ensure worker capabilities reflect what rapidly evolving roles require. In this episode, Maria Flynn, CEO of non-profit Jobs for the Future, explains why skills, not degrees will be the currency of the future workplace, and why education and workforce systems built for the past are struggling to keep pace with AI-era job shifts. She shares changes needed in how workers are trained, assessed, tested and hired. Flynn also discusses the importance of designing quality jobs in all sectors and how worker voice and agency matters in both AI training and implementation and how this can reduce turnover, strengthen AI adoption, and close gender gaps.

Key takeaways:
• What is the skills mismatch - and what hiring managers need to understand to build their teams
• How skills-based hiring can expand across hiring, advancement and talent management
• Why successful AI adoption needs worker input, better job quality and inclusive workforce design

Part two of our three-part AI and Jobs series. Subscribe to Meet the Leader for more conversations on leadership, AI, skills and the future of work.

About this episode:
Jobs for the Future: https://www.jff.org/

Research - JFF:
JFF AI for Workers & Learners Survey: https://info.jff.org/ai-for-workers-learners-2026-survey
JFF American Job Quality Study: https://www.jff.org/idea/the-american-job-quality-study/

Research - World Economic Forum:
Report: 2026 Chief People Officer Outlook, World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/publications/chief-people-officers-outlook-may-2026/


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