Only 26% of employees say their senior leaders are both competent and trustworthy. So this week Jenni and Chuck look at who gets ahead at work, and why so few people trust the ones already in charge. Four stories: a Chipotle exec scouting future leaders over dinner, new data on how unevenly companies invest in different roles, a New York Times essay on Gen Z's shifting ambition, and Gartner's read on the leadership trust gap.
Chipotle's COO pulls three or four employees into a 90-minute dinner every week he's on the road, deciding promotions on teamwork, ownership, foresight and problem-solving. The company promoted 23,000 of its 135,000 employees in 2025 and filled most senior roles from inside, against a market at a five-year promotion low. Is that a smart way to spot talent, or does it just reward whoever shines over dinner with the boss?
Burning Glass Institute research, tracking 12 million workers across 1,750 employers, found an 81 percentile-point gap between the best and worst roles for promotion inside the same company. Some job families get treated as the strategic core, others as overhead. Jenni and Chuck on why that's a leadership issue first, and the ethical trap that opens once your "great place to work" message stops matching what employees can see.
A New York Times essay argues Gen Z hasn't lost ambition, just redirected it. Financial independence now outranks marriage and kids, with respondents saying they need close to $600,000 a year to feel successful. The conversation turns to what loving your work really means, how the people around us shaped that, and why a generation asking "what do I need to survive" should worry anyone still leaning on purpose and belonging.
Then Gartner: 26% of employees rate their leaders competent and trustworthy, and 79% report low trust in how AI change is handled. Gartner's fix runs against comms instinct, including scrapping the inspiring vision speech for blunt reality from whoever employees find credible.
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Chapters:
02:41 Chipotle's dinner promotions 10:03 Good company, wrong job 17:05 Gen Z falling out of love with work 25:04 The leadership trust gap
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Articles mentioned:
Chipotle's COO Takes Employees to Dinner Every Week to Spot His Next Leaders (Fortune) https://fortune.com/2026/07/13/chipotle-coo-jason-kidd-takes-employees-dinner-every-week-spot-next-leaders-4-traits-hes-seeking/
Good Company, Wrong Job: Why a Brand Is No Guarantee (Burning Glass Institute) https://www.burningglassinstitute.org/research/goodcompanywrongjob
Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don't Blame Them. (The New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/opinion/gen-z-ambition-millennials-career.html
Rethink Executive Communications to Bridge the Employee Trust Gap in AI Transformation (Gartner) https://www.gartner.com/en/communications/research/bridge-employee-trust-gap-ec1
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Find out more about Chuck's work and ICology membership: https://www.joinicology.com/ Learn from and work with Jenni: https://thejennifield.com/
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