AI Jobs, Erika Kirk Quits Event, Saudi LIV Golf Meltdown

Ultimize. If you think meetings are a waste of time, you may be training your own replacement. According to recent reporting in The Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review, companies that went all in on Slack, email, and asynchronous communication are now reversing course. They're finding that while routine updates can happen without meetings, real decision-making, collaboration, and alignment still require people talking to each other in real time. In other words, the experiment is over. You can't run a business on group text. You can try. You can have a 47-message Slack thread, 3 follow-up emails, and a shared document that nobody actually reads. But eventually someone has to step in and say, here's what we're doing. And at that moment, almost always happens in a meeting. That's where it happens. Now, let me translate what's really going on here, because this is not a story about meetings. This is a story about power. What actually happens in a meeting. People talk, people present, people persuade, people decide. Yeah, sometimes people get bored. I get it. But the person who does those things best wins. Not necessarily the smartest person in the room, not the person with the most data, not the person who worked the longest hours. The person who can stand up or sit down speak clearly and move people in a direction. That person controls the outcome. Now here's where this becomes incredibly relevant in the age of AI. Yeah, AI can write code. AI can analyze data. AI can generate reports. Wow, really quickly. And it looks impressive. But AI still can't walk into a room full of humans and do what really matters. It can't read tension between two executives. Not yet anyway. It can't sense when people are confused but afraid to say something. It can't decide the exact right moment to interrupt and redirect a conversation. It can't combine emotion, logic, and timing to persuade a group of people to agree on something and start working together on a common goal. That's not a technical skill, that's a human skill, at least as of right now. And it's becoming more valuable, not less. Now, I know there's a whole culture out there that loves to mock meetings. You could have just emailed that. Sometimes that's fair. This meeting is pointless. Meetings are a waste of time. Really? Let's think about that. If you have 10 people working on a complex project, all with different incentives, different priorities, different personalities, do you think they're all going to magically agree? Without ever talking, without debate, without someone stepping in and saying, 'Let's focus here. Let's make a decision.' Getting consensus among a group of humans is one of the hardest things in the world. It requires clarity, confidence, emotional intelligence. It requires communication skill. These are not so-called soft skills. These are survival skills. Because if your job involves other people, and almost every job does, then your success depends on how well you communicate with those people. And the number one place where that happens is in meetings. So let me be blunt. If you're bad at speaking in meetings, you're putting your career at risk, not because someone is going to fire you tomorrow, but because the person who communicates better will slowly, steadily move ahead of you. They'll get their ideas approved. They'll get buy-in. They'll they'll be seen as a leader, and you'll be seen as someone who is just there. Now, here's the mistake most people make. They show up to meetings and just start talking. They think out loud, they ramble, they hope something smart comes out. That's not a strategy. That's an improvisation under pressure, and it rarely works. If you want to be effective, you have to prepare. Before every important meeting, you need 2 or 3 clear messages. Not 10 ideas, not a big brain dump, but 2 or 3 points that you can say clearly, confidently, and repeatedly. You also need to practice speaking out loud. And I don't mean thinking about speaking, I mean actually speaking. Record yourself on a video, watch it, improve it. I don't mean some big 40-minute PowerPoint presentation, but if you've got one important point that you know you want to make in that meeting, maybe just practice it out loud. To your cell phone for 30 seconds and look at it. That's the fastest way to get better. You also need to learn how to frame conversations. Instead of talking more, talk smarter. Say things like, here's what I'm hearing. Say, let's focus on the key decision. Say, the real issue is this. That's quite often leadership, or at least what people think of as leadership. And yes, you need to get comfortable occasionally interrupting politely, professionally, but decisively, because meetings are not passive experiences. If you sit there waiting your turn, you may never get one. And finally, understand this: facts alone don't move people. Emotion matters. Clarity matters. Confidence matters. The ability to connect matters. Now, let me zoom out for one final point. AI is going to automate tasks. It's going to replace certain functions. It already has. It may even replace entire categories of jobs. But it is not right now replacing the ability to walk into a room, look people in the eye, and get them to agree with you. That skill is becoming more valuable every single day. So the next time someone tells you that meetings are a waste of time, Don't argue. Just remember what they're really saying. They're telling you they haven't figured out how the world actually works, and this is your opportunity. Quick thought before we move on. If you're like most people, you don't need another idea. You need something that actually sticks, because the real game isn't learning once. It's seeing the same useful message enough times that it finally becomes automatic. That's exactly why I created Ultimize. So if this show is giving you even a little value, go to ultimize.com and grab a free course. There's one on communication skills, one on building better habits. Just pick one and start. It takes about a minute to sign up. It's free, and it's actually designed to stay with you. ultimize.com. If you want to understand what's actually dangerous in America right now, you have to start by separating two things. What people say is dangerous and what actually is dangerous. Because right now, these two things are living in completely different zip codes. According to multiple reports, Erica Kirk canceled a public appearance with Vice President J.D. Vance after receiving serious threats. Not someone was mean on the internet. Not I didn't like the comment section. Actual threats to her personhood, the kind where security people stop joking and start earning their paycheck. That's real. That's not a campus discussion. That's not a book club argument that got a little heated over chardonnay. That's a person saying, maybe I shouldn't go on stage because someone might try something to, you know. Now, at the exact same time, we've got another national emergency. A professor posts a quote. You remember this last year? That's it, a quote, and suddenly the outrage machine spins up like it's Black Friday at Best Buy. What do they say? Who said it? Can we get them fired before lunch? And the quote— this is terrifying— the terrifying civilization-ending quote is from Charlie Kirk. Here it is: In a free society, there's going to be gun violence. There's going to be deaths. That is the price of freedom. That's the quote that got a lot of people fired last year. That's what we're dealing with. Now, again, you can agree with that. You can disagree with that. You could think it's profound. You could think it's the kind of thing you say right before someone slowly backs away from you at a dinner party. But it's an argument. And here's the key point. Thousands of people have posted that exact quote. Especially after the unfortunate assassination of Charlie Kirk last year. It's basically the live, laugh, love of political Twitter. But when a professor, especially an adjunct professor making $12,000 a year teaching sociology at some obscure community college, posts that, we're supposed to think that's really dangerous. We're supposed to think it's inciting violence. Now we've got to launch a full investigation like it's the Zapruder film. So let's just calmly line this up. On one side, a widely circulated political quote posted online by people discussing ideas and factually quoting conservatives. On the other side, a real person receiving threats serious enough to cancel a public appearance, and we're told the tweet is the bigger problem. That's like saying, yes, there's a shark in the pool, but can we address the aggressive tone of the lifeguard first? That's insane. It's just wrong. It's backwards too, because for years now we've been told the biggest threat in America is the woke left. We're told to be terrified of college professors. Campus lectures, people saying things that make conservatives uncomfortable, which is amazing because the last time I checked, the average sociology professor is not exactly leading a militia. Their most powerful and dangerous weapon is a PowerPoint slide with too many bullet points. Meanwhile, in the real world, threats are being made against actual human beings. So let's talk about patterns, not vibes. Not what your cousin shared on Facebook, but patterns. When you look at where threats, intimidation, and violence are coming from, it's not coming from professors posting quotes. It's not coming from adjunct faculty making $10,000 a year and praying their students read the syllabus. It is overwhelmingly tied to people steeped in a specific mindset. A mindset that says, I don't like something, it's not just wrong, it's evil. If it's evil, it must be stopped. And if it must be stopped, well, We've got options. That's not debate, that's not democracy, that's the plot of every bad action movie ever made. And here's where it gets almost impressive in a dark, twisted way. You've got an entire industry of people whose full-time job is to monitor campus speech. These people wake up every morning, let's see what a professor said today so we can get them. They're basically Yelp reviewers for outrage. 2 stars, not enough controversy, would cancel again. And what do they say? This is dangerous. This could incite violence. This must be stopped. Meanwhile, an actual person is getting death threats, and suddenly everyone's on a coffee break because now the problem isn't a professor. Now the problem is coming from inside the house, the conservative MAGA house. Let's be specific. And that's awkward. It's a lot easier to go after a professor with no security, no platform, and no protection than it is to say, hmm, maybe people in our own movement need to calm down. That's a tougher meeting. That's the meeting where nobody wants to raise their hand. So instead, we get this bizarre national performance. We obsess over a tweet while ignoring actual literal death threats. We panic over a quote while shrugging at intimidation. We act like words are the danger while actual danger is sending RSVP regrets because Let's be candid here. That's what Erica Kirk is getting. That's why she can't speak in public. Here's the bigger issue. This isn't just hypocrisy. It's a complete breakdown in what this country is supposed to stand for. Because the basic deal in America is very simple. You can say what you want, you can argue, you could disagree, but you do not threaten people and their lives. You don't turn every agreement into a showdown. You don't act like the Second Amendment is a debate strategy. That's the line. And more and more people are not just crossing it, they're pole vaulting over it. So the next time someone tells you the biggest threat to America is some woke professor posting a quote, in a free society there will be gun violence, that's just the price of freedom, just pause, take a breath, maybe even laugh a little, because somewhere a real person And it's typically not 100% of the time, but about 99% of the time according to my calculations, someone steeped in MAGA conservative culture is canceling a real event because someone might actually try to hurt them. And if you can't tell the difference between those two things, and the problem isn't what's being said, it's what you've decided to ignore. So folks, again, I condemn all violence. I condemn the killer of Charlie Kirk. I condemn the people who are now threatening the life of Erica Kirk. But let's be very clear about who they are. It's not some left-wing woke college professor. It's not AOC. It's coming from right-wing crazies. They have, believe it or not, convinced themselves that Charlie Kirk was assassinated by someone on the inside. And all complete nonsense. And that Erica Kirk somehow knew. Again, complete nonsense. But the Candace Owens of the world, these crazy people of the world, have bought into this. And it's not from progressives, it's not from Democrats, it's not from liberals, it's not from the the loony left or the sane left. It's from people on the far right. They are the real danger in America today. They are the ones ruining Erika Kirk's life. And if people care about Erika Kirk, they need to stand up for this and point out the real culprits. Okay, so who am I? Who is this TJ character? Why are you listening to me or watching me? I spent 40 years coaching executives, people just like you, but also presidents of countries, prime ministers, Nobel Peace Prize winners on how to have better communication skills and personal development habits. And now you can get the same training, but here's the catch. There is no catch. You can get a free course today. All you have to do is go to ultimize.com. That's ultimize.com. and you can download your free online communication skills course or your free good habits building course. Go ahead and do that right now, or at least right after the show. Saudi Arabia is now reportedly pulling back from LIV Golf after pouring billions into the league, signing some of the biggest names in the sport, and basically saying to the PGA Tour, nice little monopoly you've got here. Be a shame if someone showed up with unlimited money Now, apparently they're rethinking it. According to reporting from The New York Times, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is under financial pressure and reassessing priorities. Here's the translation: even a trillion-dollar fund eventually looks at the credit card bill and says, hmm, do we really need another $200 million golfer who still can't putt? So that's the news. LIV Golf may be scaling back. But here's what's interesting. The reaction, because from the moment Saudi Arabia got involved in golf, there's been outrage, especially from the left. Sportswashing. This is immoral. This is an attempt to clean up their image. And look, that's not wrong. Of course it is. You don't spend billions on golf tournaments because you suddenly love the back nine. You do it because it makes you look better. That's called public relations. And America largely invented this. But here's where I'm going to take a slightly different view. If Saudi Arabia has billions of dollars to burn, I would much rather they burn it on golf courses than on bombs, tanks, and, well, bone salts. I mean, if there are the options, if those are just the options, I'm going with 18 holes and a clubhouse. Call me crazy, but because think about what we're actually comparing here. On one hand, you got authoritarian governments spending money on weapons. On the other hand, authoritarian government spending money on Bill Nicholson. That's not a tough call. Now let's talk about golf for a second, because golf is not exactly known as a progressive utopia. Golf has historically been the most conservative country club closed-door culture imaginable. This was the world of no Blacks allowed, no Jews allowed, no women allowed. It wasn't a sport, it was a gated community with a dress code. And not that long ago, this isn't ancient history, Augusta National, where the Masters is played, didn't even allow women as full members. Well, that's changed. Why? Because even the most exclusive conservative institutions eventually get dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world, usually Because of exposure. Because when you mix money, global attention, and outside pressure, things change. Not overnight, not perfectly, but they change. And that's the part people miss about international sports. When you bring in global audiences, global players, global sponsors, you're forcing interaction, you're forcing exposure, you're forcing people who would normally stay in their own bubble to deal with other cultures, other expectations, other norms. It's not a revolution. It's not democracy overnight, but it's movement. And I'll take movement over isolation any day. Because what's the alternative? The alternative is saying, no, no, Saudi Arabia, you stay over there. Don't engage, don't interact. That's not it. More in just a moment on this important issue. Realistically, you're probably not going to remember most of what you hear today. Not because it's not useful, just because that's how the brain works. Unless something shows up again and again and again, it disappears. So instead of hoping you'll remember this later, just give yourself a system that keeps it in front of you. That's why I've built Ultimize. If you're getting any value from this program, go to ultimize.com, that's U-L-T-A-M-I-Z-E.com, and grab the free course. There's one on communication skills, habit building. It's designed to reinforce the right ideas that actually stick. It's free, takes just a minute. Ultimize.com. Here's something I've learned after years of doing this: the people who actually improve don't necessarily hear better advice. They just stay around it longer. They keep exposing themselves to the same useful ideas until it finally clicks. Most people don't do that. So, if you want to be in the small group that actually follows through, go to ultimize.com. That is ultimize.com and get the free course. There is one on communication, one on building better habits. Nothing fancy, just something you can keep coming back to. If you are already there, you are doing the hard part. Just go to ultimize.com and build on it. Okay, this Saudi Arabia thing. Again, I, I'm a little bit out of the mainstream among those left of center, and I'm here as a sane, sensible centrist. By the way, if you're new to Filtered, thank you so much for joining me. This is the show where we look at the top news stories of the day and then filter them through the lens of personal development skills and communication skills, all with the desire of helping you live a more effective life. So back to this issue of Saudi Arabia. No one's naive. If anything, it keeps Saudi Arabia in the spotlight and their crimes. I'm not forgetting the fact that they took a bone saw and cut up a journalist and killed him. Now, you hear about Saudi Arabia more because of these events, not less. I think that's a good thing. You hear about the controversies, the criticisms. The human rights issues. The idea that hosting a golf tournament is going to erase all that, that's giving golf way too much power. Golf can't even fix slow play. It's not going to fix geopolitics. So the choice isn't between a perfectly moral system and a corrupt one. The choice is between engagement and isolation, between influence and irrelevance, between spending money on sports or spending money on things that are often a lot worse. So Yeah, I'm fine with Saudi Arabia funding golf. I'm fine with them funding soccer. I'm fine with them hosting events. Because if you're going to have a trillion-dollar fund and a desire to shape your image, I'd rather see you building stadiums than stockpiling missiles. And if along the way, if you hold conservative institutions like golf clubs get dragged a little further into the modern world, that's not a loss. That's progress. Slow, imperfect, slightly ridiculous progress, but progress nonetheless. I'm TJ Walker. I want to thank you for joining me today. If you're new to the program, and I can see from our stats we do have a number of people here today, I typically come to you live every day, Monday through Friday. You can also watch on demand on any social media platform and on podcasting platforms you can listen. We look at the top 3, sometimes 4 or more stories of the day, dissect those from a sane, sensible, centrist position, and then give you analysis through the lens. It's filtered through the lens of personal development and communication skills because that's my background. That's what I do. I've personally worked with presidents, prime ministers, Nobel Peace Prize winners all over the world, billionaire business people, helping them on personal development skills and communication skills. I try to do the same for you right here every day. Thanks so much for joining. By the way, we are sponsored by Ultimize. And if you want a free on— which is my company. If you want a free online course on how to be a better communicator or how to have better habits, all you have to do is go to ultimize.com. And at absolutely no charge, you don't have to give a credit card or anything like that. You can get a free course right now and start improving your own skills. Thanks so much. I'll see you tomorrow.