Eighty percent of manufacturing leaders say they are behind their peers on AI. The math says that is impossible. So why does almost every CEO walk into a room believing the rest of the industry has already figured this out?

Bryce Carpenter, COO at Conexus Indiana, sits on top of the data that explains it. Conexus runs the Advanced Industries Council, the state's primary convening body for the 9,700 manufacturing and logistics companies that produce 37 percent of Indiana's GDP. Bryce founded the AIC in 2019 and has watched 120-plus member companies move through the AI experimentation phase in real time.

In this conversation with Harrison Painter, Bryce walks through what he is actually seeing. Why Indiana's $29 billion in 2024 manufacturing investment paired with a 1 percent drop in employment is a retirement story, not an AI displacement story. Why the average tenure inside Indiana manufacturing collapsed from 30 years to 3. How a 52-person Northeast Indiana shop grew to 106 after a single equipment investment. Why the 9,700 companies running their own boutique soft-skill development programs is the most expensive inefficiency in the state. And why he gives Indiana an A-minus on AI progress when most operators inside the state would say B at best.

If you run a 100-to-5,000-person company and you are trying to figure out where your team actually is on AI, start with the free 7 Levels of AI Proficiency assessment at assess.launchready.ai. It takes under ten minutes and tells you exactly which level your team operates at today.

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Further. Faster.

Harrison Painter

Jay Samit has held senior roles at Sony, Universal Studios, EMI, LinkedIn, and Deloitte Digital. He has raised hundreds of millions for startups and been called on by the Pope and the President. His book "Disrupt You!" has been published in 14 languages across 140 countries.

His new book, "The Second Act Advantage," comes out May 5th. In this episode, Jay explains why entrepreneurs over 50 are three times more likely to succeed, how AI is eliminating entry-level jobs faster than anyone expected, and why purpose is the single biggest predictor of a long and healthy life.

Jay also introduces Digital J, a free AI companion that ships with the book. The first book to come with its own AI mentor.

This was a personal conversation. Jay mentioned me in "Disrupt You!" and wrote the foreword to my first book.

The Second Act Advantage is available for pre-order now https://jaysamit.com/

Take the free AI Proficiency Assessment: https://assess.launchready.aiLearn more: https://launchready.ai

AI Ready Podcast with Harrison Painter.

Further. Faster.

For the first time ever, AI skills are the hardest to find globally — beating engineering, IT, and everything else. ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey of 39,063 employers across 41 countries just made it official.

In this episode, Harrison breaks down what the data actually says, what most coverage missed, and what leaders need to do right now.

What we cover:

• Why 72% of employers worldwide can't fill roles
• AI literacy vs. AI engineering — and why both are scarce
• What Germany (83%), France (74%), and the US (69%) tell us about the global gap
• The stat almost no headline covered: human skills still top the list
• 3 lessons leaders need to act on today

Sources:

• ManpowerGroup 2026 Talent Shortage Survey
• ManpowerGroup Press Release, Feb 26 2026
• HR Dive, March 2 2026

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