• Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris oversees more than 2 million workers globally.
• She shared three green flags that make her lean in during a job interview.
• Morris said she likes to see a track record of grit in a candidate.

Donna Morris oversees over 2 million employees, so she knows a strong candidate when she sees one.

Walmart's chief people officer identified three green flags that make her lean in during a job interview — regardless of the role they're applying for. First, she told Business Insider that she looks for a genuine alignment with the company's purpose and values.

Second, she wants to see an ability to take on multiple responsibilities and make things work.

"They demonstrate a track record of grit," Morris said, defining those individuals as people who have overcome adversity.

In an ideal world, she said that means they've worked on the frontline, since so many of Walmart employees have customer-facing roles. She said the company looks for candidates with a focus on service.

Morris, who started working at 13 at a dry cleaner's and then worked at a drugstore for eight years, said that if a candidate has never experienced what it's like to be a frontline hourly worker, it may be challenging for them to lead. Morris said those jobs gave her purpose, and she found it hard to resign.

Now, when she interviews candidates, Morris said her go-to question is "If I was to ask people who've worked for you before, what will they tell me?" She said the open-ended question generates a genuine response and helps her gauge whether the person is focused on servant leadership, which is a "big green flag."

Asking this question allows her to hear more about a candidate's first job or a work experience. She said that while graduating from an Ivy League school is valuable, she's more focused on hearing about what they've learned from work experience.

"What was the grit they had to persevere through?" Morris asked.

The chief people officer, who worked at Adobe for more than 17 years before joining Walmart, said that her third green flag is candidates who are passionate about making a difference.

"That, to us, would be really, really key," Morris said.

• AI is changing how executives oversee their companies, Eric Schmidt said on the "In Good Company" podcast.
• Google's former CEO described several ways execs he knows use AI agents to manage staff.
• He described one company that uses AI assistants to ensure that staff are following its core values.

Eric Schmidt thinks the CEO of the future will have an AI assistant that can see across the entire company. For employees whose job is to keep a sprawling business coordinated, that could be bad news.

In an episode of the "In Good Company" podcast, the former Google chief executive described assistants that check whether company activity aligns with a leader's values, follow up on projects, and help identify ways to increase profits.

He argued that the technology could make businesses faster and flatter, with fewer people needed to plan, relay information, and move numbers around.

Schmidt sees little time for companies to adjust. He said competition in AI is fiercer than the PC-versus-Mac or Android-versus-iPhone battles: a model can take roughly six months to build, another two to test, and then be overtaken within five months of release.

"Time compresses every cycle," he said.

He also rejected the idea that AI is a bubble, pointing to Anthropic's rapid revenue growth. Schmidt said the company had grown faster than a record set during his time at Google, calling it "real money with real customers."

The changes he envisions are already visible in smaller experiments, he said. Schmidt gave the example of two founders he knows who ask an AI assistant every Friday to flag anything happening at their company that conflicts with their values.

Another executive created an AI version of himself that checks on an employee's progress, gives him instructions, and responds when he needs help, Schmidt said. That exchange sounded potentially abusive and worried him, he added, though he also saw how it sped up the executive's decisions.

Schmidt said his days as CEO were consumed by meetings, 12 hours a day, five days a week, as he listened to people explain projects and decisions. He thinks AI platforms can eliminate much of that "coordination tax": the effort of gathering updates, passing them upward, and keeping teams aligned.

For a company with 10,000 employees, Schmidt guessed AI could leave "a couple of thousand people who you don’t need."

He cited a friend whose fast-growing company cut 20% of its staff, including the "glue people" who handled planning and coordination. The friend later told Schmidt he had received death threats over the cuts.

Schmidt said companies would still need people who build products, make sales, speak with regulators, and lead teams. His advice to workers whose roles were disappearing was that executives should transition them "legally and humanely."

• Still dreaming of logging on in comfy clothes? Fully remote jobs are getting harder to land.
• Remote roles accounted for 9% of LinkedIn postings in September, yet drew 33% of applications.
• If you want a remote position, be prepared to show you can communicate well and thrive from afar.

When Andie Allan scans job listings, her dog, Luther, is never far from her mind — or her side.

The 92-pound German Shepherd has a spot on the couch in Allan's home office. Allan, a marketing manager who hasn't worked full-time in person in more than a dozen years, is looking for a job that lets her remain fully remote, in part so she can stay close to Luther.

More than six years after the pandemic ushered in a work-from-home revolution, many office workers have gotten used to skipping some commutes and having more flexibility outside their 9-to-5. Others have embraced a return to in-person collaboration.

Entirely remote work remains relatively uncommon: In September, 12.1% of US full-time workers were fully remote, according to Stanford data.

For some, these remote setups are a preference. For others, it can make holding down a job feasible alongside factors like caregiving responsibilities or disabilities.

The search for remote jobs can be tough, however, unless you have an especially in-demand or niche skill set. In the US, fully remote roles made up 9% of job postings on LinkedIn in September, yet drew 33% of applications, the company said.

Competition for those roles has also increased as many companies have returned to the office, at least part-time. The number of applicants per remote job rose 10% from a year earlier, according to LinkedIn.

Candidates seeking these roles might need to show employers they can succeed without regular office time — contrary to what some corporate leaders might prefer. Allan is using her track record of remote work as a selling point when applying. She points to the successful products she launched while working with global teams she rarely met in person.

Allan said she's happy being at home, even if it means forgoing opportunities. Commuting to an office from her home outside London could work, Allan said, "If I was 25 and had no ties and wasn't married to a German Shepherd."

More jobs require in-office time

Access to remote jobs also isn't evenly spread across industries. LinkedIn found that it was most common in technology, information, and media; financial services; and administrative and support services.

Winston Murdock, who's dialed in from home since 2010, works in one of the more remote-friendly corners of the job market as a software team lead. He and his wife bought their house outside Atlanta with an extra bedroom for his dedicated office.

Years ago, Murdock said, a recruiter approached him about a job that would have paid more but required a two-hour round-trip commute on weekdays. Murdock and his wife considered the added costs of childcare, gas, vehicle wear and tear, lunches, and work clothes fancier than a T-shirt.

"There's maybe a number that will get me to choose to be back in the office," Murdock said. "That number was not it."

Murdock said he loves his role at a Canadian software company and plans to stay, in part because of the remote arrangement. He would consider office work only if he lost his job.

How to find fully remote work

For workers looking for a new role, office time is increasingly part of the bargain. Robert Half, the staffing firm, said in a July report that a shift toward in-office work meant "more competition for fully remote roles and a near guarantee that new opportunities will come with at least some in-office time."

The relative scarcity of remote jobs makes a targeted search especially important, said Markos Korvesis, a career coach who helps people find such roles. He said job seekers often don't know how to tailor their résumés to show they are a good fit for logging on from outside an office.

Korvesis spends most of his time in Vietnam and has worked from more than three dozen countries over the last eight years. He recommends that job seekers highlight that they're up to date with AI tools and have solid experience using a variety of communication platforms, from Slack to Discord.

People should point to examples of how they've worked across offices, nations, and cultures, Korvesis said. It's important, he said, to be specific: If you've worked with teams in five time zones, say so.

Korvesis said those details can show that a candidate is prepared to thrive in a remote environment.

The challenges of WFH

Landing a remote job is only one of the difficulties. Chad Albert, who lives in South Florida and helps customize and sell software used in healthcare, said technology has made it easier to collaborate across distances, yet communicating through a screen can make it harder to connect with colleagues.

Albert said he makes an effort to pay attention when coworkers talk about their hobbies or what they did over the weekend.

The goal is to be a bit more outgoing and engage people in some side conversations, he said, adding that otherwise, "You wind up living on an island."

With fewer remote openings and more applicants per posting, the job search can demand persistence.

From her home southwest of London, Allan has been looking for a full-time marketing role since May 2025. Last year, she said she was in a "blind panic, applying for everything," submitting more than 1,000 applications.

Now, Allan said, she is being more deliberate. Unless she fully fits the criteria, she doesn't apply, she said. Allan also remains upfront with prospective employers about Luther, who gets at least three walks a day, including one at lunchtime.

"If they get me, great," she said. "And if they don't, well, maybe it's not a great fit."

Do you have a story to share about your work setup? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• GoDaddy's CEO said Dara Khosrowshahi once gave him career advice that changed his leadership.
• Aman Bhutani said Khosrowshahi told him he'd never gain ad experience if he didn't start speaking up about it.
• The advice prompted Bhutani to push through the discomfort of learning new functions.

Getting a seat at the leadership table is a challenge in itself — but speaking up confidently once you get there is a different beast.

Aman Bhutani, CEO of the domain registrar and web-hosting company GoDaddy, said he received advice on navigating those moments from Uber's current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who at the time led Expedia and served as president of the brand. Bhutani was then the company's head of technology, and reported to Khosrowshahi.

Khosrowshahi gave him a chance to discuss advertising in a senior-level meeting they were both attending. While Bhutani was initially excited about the opportunity, he said that eagerness didn't come through.

"Sitting in this room of leaders, where there were people that had way more experience and expertise than I did, I didn't speak up," Bhutani told Business Insider.

Bhutani said he regularly spoke up in meetings about product, engineering, and other areas where he felt confident about. However, while advertising was a core interest, he hesitated to weigh in. After several meetings, Khosrowshahi pulled Bhutani aside and gave him feedback that the GoDaddy CEO said changed his career.

Khosrowshahi asked why Bhutani didn't share his perspective on functional marketing, since the topic was so critical for the business. Bhutani explained he didn't have "any actual experience" in marketing. Khosrowshahi's response, Bhutani said, was simple.

"'And if you don't talk about it, you never will,'" Bhutani said, recounting Khosrowshahi's reply. "'If you don't talk and make mistakes and say the wrong things and get beat up by the CMO, how are you going to learn?"

Khosrowshahi reminded Bhutani that Bhutani wasn't afraid to be wrong on the product-tech side. He told Bhutani that he should approach marketing the same way, even if he didn't have the same background.

That advice has since taken Bhutani far, he said. Bhutani later took over presidency of the Expedia brand from Khosrowshahi in July 2015, with marketing and advertising teams reporting to him.

Bhutani said that in his last job and current position as CEO of GoDaddy, he's had the chance to learn about every part of the business. That means he can speak with accountants, marketers, and auditors in their language. He said he has grown to enjoy learning about new functions, and seeks out people and situations where he's pushed to do that.

"I enjoy the stress and the discomfort of being in an uncomfortable space," said Bhutani, who has been GoDaddy's CEO for seven years now. "I enjoy the idea that I'm learning something new. It keeps me young. It keeps me happy. It keeps me engaged."

Bhutani learned that it's important to share his perspective, but said there's often a fine line between adding value and speaking just to prove you belong in the room.

Bhutani said another piece of feedback that stuck with him from his last job — positive this time — was from a board member who told him he has a good "tongue-to-ear ratio" and "brain-to-mouth ratio." In other words, he knows when to listen and think, rather than speak just to fill silence.

"I think if we all listened a bit more and thought a bit more, we would all do a bit better," Bhutani said.

• Walmart has more than 2 million workers — 500 of whom are promoted daily.
• Its chief people officer said she observes 2 qualities in those who move up the ladder quickly.
• First, they do the job they have well. They also show they can take more on.

Walmart promotes roughly 500 employees daily — so there's no shortage of opportunities to climb the ladder.

Workers who advance quickly tend to share two qualities, says Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris, who oversees the company's workforce of more than 2 million people worldwide.

The first is staying focused on the job in front of you, she said. Morris said the employees who stand out are motivated to make a difference and excel in their current roles.

"They are focused as much, if not more, on being exceptional at what they're doing today," Morris told Business Insider.

Once you nail the actual job you were given, the next step might be proving you can take on responsibilities for the role above you — before you get the title.

"Be the type of person that takes on over and above what's being expected of you," Morris said. "Be the person that asks or provides volunteerism for new ideas or new initiatives."

That also includes coming up with new ideas or volunteering to help with new initiatives. Morris said those actions show you can take on more responsibility.

In general, when hiring, Morris said she looks for evidence of the "grit that they had to persevere through." At Walmart, where most of its 2.1 million employees begin in frontline roles, she also likes to see that candidates have had some frontline experience. The chief people officer said it doesn't need to be in retail necessarily; it could be babysitting or helping out with a family business.

"If somebody has never really had to identify with what it's like to be a frontline hourly worker, it's going to be very hard for them to lead," said Morris, who started working at 13 at a dry cleaner's before taking a job at a drugstore two years later.

• CEOs are excited about AI, but increasingly worried about cybersecurity, KPMG US CEO Tim Walsh said.
• “The cyber risks have just elevated to places that we’ve never seen before," he told Business Insider.
• KPMG is creating a cyber-defense business built around AI.

Corporate leaders tend to be enthusiastic about AI's potential — and increasingly concerned about the cybersecurity challenges the technology brings.

Tim Walsh, CEO and chair of KPMG US, said the worries come up in nearly every meeting he has with fellow leaders, as AI gives bad actors new ways to try to breach corporate defenses.

"The cyber risks have just elevated to places that we've never seen them before," he told Business Insider.

Walsh pointed to the Hugging Face incident this past summer, in which OpenAI said an AI agent bypassed controls during an internal cybersecurity evaluation and accessed parts of the open-source AI platform's systems.

There isn't currently a defensive wall, he said, that's capable of rebuffing every cyber threat. He said KPMG is working with the frontier AI model developers and others on further protections.

The goal is to help the Big Four firm protect its business, and its clients' businesses, Walsh said, adding that he sees it as a potential opportunity worth more than $1 billion.

'Cyber insecurity' fears

Unease about AI and cyber threats showed up in a recent KPMG US survey of 400 CEOs at major US companies. While leaders reported confidence in AI's potential, cybersecurity was the concern they identified most often.

Eighty-five percent said cybercrime and "cyber insecurity" could affect their company's prosperity over the next three years — more than said the same about inflation, geopolitical tensions, the pace of technological change, or other risks.

Cybersecurity was also the most commonly cited challenge to implementing AI. It topped ethical questions, data readiness, cost management, and translating AI spending into measurable returns.

Leaders said they were particularly concerned about identity theft and data privacy, vulnerability to cyberattacks, and fraud detection and prevention. Nearly half said they planned to increase cybersecurity investment over the next three years, citing threats including AI-powered social engineering, AI-assisted phishing or malware, and data and privacy risks tied to AI agents.

A growing need to defend and check AI

The concern is shaping the kinds of work the firm wants to do for clients.

Walsh said KPMG is building what he described as a managed cyber-defense business centered on AI, meant to serve as a "shield and defense mechanism" for companies. KPMG already has a cybersecurity business, he said, though this would be a different offering built around AI.

The company also sees a growing need to check whether the AI systems organizations deploy are doing what they are supposed to do. KPMG already helps clients assess AI-related controls and governance. Walsh said the firm is developing additional services to verify that AI agents are operating as intended and give investors and others confidence that companies can control them.

"Trust around AI is a real thing," he said.

• Anthropic published new surveys comparing its staffers' sentiments to those of US workers.
• The AI startup's employees expect the tech to change work and the economy far more dramatically.
• Most Anthropic employees guessed that unemployment would top 12% in 2030.

Anthropic employees believe that AI will make their labor obsolete. Most US workers don't see their jobs that way at all.

The AI company published research on Friday that compares surveys with US adults against an internal poll of 1,334 Anthropic employees. Most of the Anthropic staffers said AI will handle at least 80% of their jobs by 2030, while only about 5% of the US workers felt the same.

The research, titled "The AI expectations gap," shows the chasm between how the employees at the AI startup feel and how other American adults feel. Anthropic workers are far more optimistic about the progress of AI capabilities, how much it's already saving time, and how fast the economy will grow.

The median Anthropic employee said that by the end of 2030, they expect AI to handle 95% of the work of building a new AI model.

Peter McCrory, Anthropic's chief economist, wrote on X that the views might help outsiders prepare for more capable AI systems.

"We're publishing this research because Anthropic runs roughly a year and a half ahead of the economy on AI adoption, so what happens at Anthropic could be a leading indicator for the broader world," he said.

Anthropic workers expect higher unemployment and extreme GDP growth

Anthropic's surveys examined how workers already use AI and how they think it will change.

"US adults and Anthropic staff largely agree about what AI can do today," the researchers wrote. "However, they disagree about how quickly it will improve, how widely it will be used, and how large the productivity gains measured by time saved will be."

There are a few possible explanations for the discrepancies. Anthropic employees have larger budgets for the tools and often get access to unreleased models. US workers, on average, are more likely to work with their hands or in a service industry.

The researchers found that workers in manual trades, production, and transport thought AI would handle the least of their work by 2030, compared with Anthropic staffers, tech workers, and respondents in business and finance.

Most Anthropic employees surveyed said that they expect the unemployment rate to top 12% in 2030. The majority of the US workers thought it would hover around or under 8%. It's currently 4.2%.

So far, researchers have found mixed evidence on AI disrupting the job market — a Yale team recently found it had mainly changed jobs, and had "no connection" to changes in unemployment.

The Anthropic researchers also compiled survey responses to estimate predictions on economic growth. Based on their answers, the median US adult's guess for GDP growth in 2030 was 5.4%, compared with 17.1% among Anthropic employees. The country's GDP grew by 2.2% last year.

Anthropic's staffers are following their leader

Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, has become one of the industry's most closely watched voices on labor upheaval. In March of 2025, he said he expected AI to write 90% of code within 6 months, and "essentially all of the code" within the year. He made more headlines that May, telling Axios that AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years and lift unemployment to 10% or 20%.

Amodei expanded on that claim in a later essay, writing that he expects AI to be different from prior technological changes. He wrote that he expects an "unprecedented" short-term shock to labor, and that the economy will grow dramatically.

"AI isn't a substitute for specific human jobs but rather a general labor substitute for humans," he wrote.

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• Questions about now-former press secretary Katie Zacharia's legal credentials put résumé claims in the spotlight.
• Recruiters share how they've caught candidates inventing jobs, faking degrees, or exaggerating their past.
• Nearly 4 out of 10 Americans admit to putting inaccurate information on their résumés, a survey found.

For corporate recruiters like Martha Heller, asking questions about a job candidate's credentials — like the kind that swirled around now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia this week — is par for the course.

When a background check failed to verify an executive candidate's college degree a few years ago, Heller inquired about the discrepancy. The candidate, who was being considered for a job at a California insurance company, claimed a flood at his school had destroyed the records from the year he graduated. Skeptical, Heller called the college and learned that no such event had occurred.

"It was like detective work," she said, adding that the problem wasn't whether the candidate had a college degree. It was that he misrepresented his education and then doubled down when questioned, she said.

White House controversy

Zacharia's self-described legal career has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent days following her appointment as White House press secretary. When asked by a reporter what state she passed the bar exam in, she responded, "When I moved to China."

Business Insider reviewed records for all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found no evidence that Zacharia had been admitted to any state bar in the US after she graduated with a law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011.

Zacharia later defended calling herself a lawyer, saying that after failing the bar exam the first time, she did not take it a second time. On Friday, a White House official confirmed that she is "transitioning out" of the role.

Vetting résumés

One of a recruiter's jobs is to vet a candidate's background. Research suggests it's not uncommon for candidates to exaggerate their credentials.

Some 37% of Americans said they've put inaccurate information on their résumés, according to a June report from Novorésumé, an online résumé-building service. Nearly 7% said they'd claimed a degree, certification, or other credential they didn't possess, while 6.1% said they'd listed a job that didn't exist or was substantially fabricated. The findings are based on a May survey of 2,000 US adults.

Brian Fink, a managing partner at tech recruiting firm The ReWork Group, can relate. Last year, a candidate for a senior marketing job at a cybersecurity company was on the verge of being hired when a background check failed to confirm that he'd worked for a company listed as a past employer on his résumé and LinkedIn profile.

Fink said he gave the candidate an opportunity to provide evidence supporting his claim, but the man refused.

"I had no choice but to rescind the offer," said Fink. "If you're willing to lie about your education, what else are you willing to lie about?"

Background checks

Recruiters typically wait until a job candidate is a finalist to conduct a background check because the task is time-consuming and costly. They also tend to hold off contacting references early on to avoid tipping off the person's current employer that they're job hunting. Early in the process, though, some recruiters will look for potential red flags by probing inconsistencies or gaps in candidates' work histories.

Doug Johnson, CEO of executive search firm Valor Partners, said he asks candidates at the end of an interview if there's anything embarrassing or potentially damaging in their past that might come up during a background or reference check. He tells them that disclosing it now gives them a chance to address the issue with a prospective employer, while discovering it later could cost them the job.

Most candidates say there's nothing to be concerned about, said Johnson. But some subsequently fall off the radar, and others suddenly report receiving a raise or finding a better opportunity elsewhere.

"It worries people who have a conscience," he said.

Update: October 16, 2026 — This article has been updated to reflect Friday's news that Zacharia is out of the role.

• "The world of generalists is long gone," said IBM's chief talent, leadership, and culture officer.
• Aparna Nair said IBM's clients aren't expecting general advice; they're looking for deep expertise.
• She said even if workers wear many hats, they still need extensive knowledge about their specialty.

It's a hotly debated question: Is it better to be an expert or a generalist in the AI era?

For Aparna Nair, IBM's chief talent, leadership, and culture officer, there's no debate. She said she doesn't think generalists alone "will cut it" in the workforce in the AI era.

"The world of generalists is long gone," Nair said.

Nair said that generalists may be able to rely on AI to learn a lot, but at IBM, for example, the company's clients aren't expecting general advice from its workforce. IBM is hired for its deep technological expertise, she said.

Nair said the same is true for entry-level hires. IBM, which has committed to doubling down on junior talent, expects new workers to arrive with the skills — and domain expertise — to take on more complex work earlier in their careers, Nair said.

She said workers should identify an area that aligns with their employer's needs, become an expert in it, and "go deep."

That expectation remains even as engineering roles are starting to blur with AI. In the past, a software engineer might have spent 20% of their time coding and another 20% testing, Nair said. Now, AI can handle much of the coding work, and engineers need the critical-thinking and judgment skills to evaluate what the technology produces, Nair said.

They also have more opportunities to work across the business, such as speaking with clients and marketing teams and bringing what they learn back into the products they're building.

While today's engineers may wear many hats and work closely with different teams, they still need deep expertise in their field — and an understanding of how their work shapes the experience of clients and colleagues.

Without that added knowledge, Nair said, it would be difficult for them "to do anything meaningful."

While domain expertise may be valuable, workers should also remain flexible. Nair said that there's "nothing more powerful" than when workers combine deep expertise with the right behaviors, and also use AI to their advantage.

"That's a lethal combination," Nair said.