If companies have stopped hiring and stopped firing, how does anyone new get in the door?

Host Mike Palmer takes a 4:50 AM train to Washington, D.C. for Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration. He comes back with two ideas that stuck: Sal Khan’s “learning velocity” and Bain & Company CEO Christophe De Vusser’s “human exceptionalism.” Both land in a labor market economists are calling the Great Stay: fewer layoffs, fewer new hires, and more reason than ever to invest in the people you already have.

Mike then sits down with Dane Linn, Senior Vice President at Business Roundtable, who leads the organization’s workforce initiatives for a membership of CEOs from companies like Cisco, Walmart, UPS, General Motors, and Lowe’s. Dane started out as a teacher and elementary school principal, then spent 17 years at the National Governors Association before joining BRT. He explains how BRT CEOs think about expanding access to careers, building skills, and helping workers advance, and he makes the case for evidence over “best practices.” His words: best practices are for amateurs.