Jeff's Daily Dose: The end of open seating

After 50+ years, Southwest Airlines has killed open seating. Starting today, every seat is assigned. No more sprint to check-in exactly 24 hours early. No more boarding-position lottery. No more "spinners" wandering the aisle looking for a spot.

This is a mega change for SWA: “You can sit anywhere you want, just like at church” was one of their early slogans.

Here's the thing: Your organization can't afford open seating either.

Building an AI Ready organization means you need the right person in every seat... and the skillset requirements have fundamentally changed.

For the first time in 20 years, I've updated my candidate interview scorecard (video here) Regardless of role, level, or industry, I'm now evaluating:

Adaptability velocity: How fast do they learn new tools?
Human-AI collaboration instinct: Do they see AI as a threat or a co-pilot?
Judgment under ambiguity: Can they know when to trust the machine and when to override it?

Here's 3 other things you need to do differently to get your seating chart right:

👍🏼 Upgrade your job descriptions. Most are still written for 2019. If the role will be transformed by AI in 18 months, say so.

👍🏼 Re-interview your current team. Not to fire anyone...to understand who's ready for the turbulence ahead.

👍🏼 Stop hiring for task execution. Start hiring for problem framing. AI handles tasks. Humans define which problems are worth solving.

Southwest resisted this change for decades. Don't make the same mistake with your talent strategy.

The boarding process for AI has already begun. The question is whether your people have the right seats... or they're still spinning in the aisle.

What's the 1 role on your team you'd hire completely differently today than you did 2 years ago?

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