Stop Managing Yesterday's Workforce. Start Leading Tomorrow's.
Your workforce has changed. Five generations. No shared definition of what work means. AI reshaping how it happens. And most leaders are still running plays from a world that no longer exists.
Jeff Utecht works with business leaders, chambers, and conferences to name what's actually happening — and build the frameworks to lead through it. Whether you need a keynote, a full training day, or a virtual series, every engagement is built around one question: What does it take to lead the workforce in front of you, not the one you were trained for?
Trusted By
Organizations That Have Brought Jeff In
From energy companies to chamber events to healthcare conferences — serving teams across industries.
Every engagement — whether a keynote, a training day, or a virtual series — is built around the same core question: How do you lead the workforce in front of you, not the one you were trained for? Choose the format that fits your team, your event, and your timeline.
Keynote and Conferences
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Your workforce doesn't share a common definition of what work is — and that gap is showing up as a hiring problem, a retention problem, a performance problem, and a communication problem all at once. In this keynote, drawn directly from Jeff's new book The Next Turn: Work, AI, and Human Expectations, leaders discover why what worked stopped working — and what to do about it. You'll leave with a practical framework for leading across five generations who don't just communicate differently, but believe fundamentally different things about what work is for.
Audience: Executives, Business Leaders, HR Professionals, and Team Managers
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Jeff has teamed up with Joel Goldberg the announcer for the Kansas City Royals and Dan James a gold medal Paralympic wheel chair tennis coach to bring you The Trust Progression. A one day workshop or pre-conference day for your organization. Learn more at trust2progress.com
Training Days
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Most leaders are still treating AI as a productivity tool to delegate downward. That framing is too small — and it's creating a leadership blind spot. This full-day training, grounded in The Next Turn, reframes AI not as software your team uses, but as infrastructure that changes how work moves, where judgment happens, and what organizations can reasonably expect from a role. Leaders and middle managers will leave with a clear model for what decisions belong to humans, how to evaluate AI-assisted work, and how to set standards in a world where output is easier to create but harder to assess.
Audience: Executives, Department Heads, and Middle Managers navigating AI adoption
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Your team isn't just adjusting to remote or hybrid work — they're navigating two transitions at once. The definition of work is changing (driven by generational expectations), and the structure of work is changing (driven by AI). This training helps leadership teams name both transitions clearly, understand where they collide in day-to-day operations, and build practical frameworks for hiring, performance, retention, and communication that hold up inside the new reality — not the old one.
Audience: Leadership teams, HR directors, and operations managers in organizations managing distributed or multi-generational teams
Virtual Sessions
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Bespoke virtual sessions — from foundational to advanced — built around the core argument of The Next Turn: AI isn't a tool your team chooses to use, it's infrastructure reshaping the conditions of work itself. Sessions are customized for your organization's current level and focus on what leaders specifically need to understand: how AI shifts the meaning of effort and output, what judgment skills become more valuable (not less) in an AI-enabled workforce, and how to lead a team through that change with clarity and confidence.
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A bespoke virtual program — available as a single session or ongoing cohort — for organizations ready to lead what The Next Turn calls "the collision": the moment where a multi-generational workforce meets an AI-reshaped structure of work, and the old management playbook stops being legible. Sessions are tailored to your team's specific pressure points — whether that's hiring friction, retention, performance standards, or communication breakdown — and give leaders a shared language and framework to move forward together. One-on-one executive coaching also available.
Featured Keynote & Workshop
The Trust Progression: Building Teams That Thrive
A powerful, one-day seminar that transforms leadership and team dynamics through a three-step framework — and the only keynote Jeff delivers alongside two world-class co-presenters.
Three Speakers. One Unforgettable Day.
"It is an all-encompassing program that stimulates your thoughts about where YOU are at, what impact YOU can have, and the drive to immediately amend and improve YOUR process. The principles taught were very adaptable and applicable no matter what area of life you came from."
— Lead Manager, Local BankNow booking 2026 & 2027 — for your company, chamber, or conference.
Learn More & Book a WorkshopThis in-depth white paper, "Fractional Employment and Gen Z: Aligning an Emerging Work Trend with New Workforce Expectations," explores how small and mid-sized businesses — especially in manufacturing, maintenance, and industrial services — can leverage fractional employment models to solve workforce shortages, reduce turnover, and appeal to a generation that values flexibility, purpose, and growth. Packed with real-world examples and actionable insights, this is your practical guide to adapting your talent strategy for a new era of work. Download it now and start building a workforce that’s ready for tomorrow.
Struggling to attract and retain Gen Z talent?
Now Scheduling 2026–2028
Booking keynotes, training days & AI workshops for businesses, chambers, and professional organizations.
May 2026
- May 28: Washington Workforce Summit – Keynote
June 2026
- June 22: Washington Wine Institute
October 2026
- Oct. 29: Kansas City Area Healthcare Engineers Conference
November 2026
- Nov. 11: Associated General Contractors of Alaska Annual Conference
Podcast Guest
I'm available to join your podcast to discuss the forces reshaping leadership right now — five generations with no shared definition of work, AI as infrastructure (not just a tool), and the frameworks leaders need to navigate both at once. These are the core ideas behind my upcoming book, The Next Turn: Work, AI, and Human Expectations (July 15, 2025), and I bring the same practical, research-informed perspective to every conversation.
If your audience leads teams, manages organizations, or thinks about the future of work — I'd love to be part of the conversation.
