About Seriously, What Could They Be Thinking? Podcast
Welcome to the podcast that unpacks the wildest, weirdest, and most fascinating business decisions through the lens of leadership and finance.
whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com (https://whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Please Regulate Us: Why AI's Biggest Rivals Just Asked for a Referee
We’re back after a fun-filled summer of activities. We have so many questions!!!
On September 12, three men who agree on almost nothing (Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk) all said the same thing within hours: the AI industry should slow down. Even Rahm Emanuel said he’d never seen an industry ask to be regulated. So did these guys discover a conscience, or a moat?
Jaime and Cindy do the homework before the outrage. They walk through the OpenAI incident that set this off, in which about 1,200 test agents built their own secret message board and 700 of them went on to attack Hugging Face. They explain why “the agents cheated” is really a story about the goals we set. And Jaime makes the case that “please regulate us” might have as much to do with the balance sheet as with safety.
Then they bring it back to your team, with three takeaways:
* Ask your vendors for the transparency the labs are now offering strangers.
* Your agents will hit whatever goal you set, one way or another.
* Congress has gone home, so you’re the regulator of your own shop.
Plus a four-item checklist you can start this quarter, and a mystery: one of these three men asked the world to pause AI once before, and then started an AI company. Keep your guess in your back pocket.
Keep your spreadsheets handy and your coffee strong.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com (https://whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
9 Jun 2026
Houston, We Have a Loophole
The largest IPO in history is about to launch and Jaime and Cindy aren't strapping in quietly. SpaceX hits the Nasdaq on June 12 at a $1.75 trillion valuation, except the "space company" is now really three companies in a trench coat: rockets and Starlink, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and a cash-incinerating AI unit. The twist isn't the size; it's the quiet rewrite of the index rules that can fast-track SpaceX into the funds inside your retirement account in as little as five trading days; no seasoning, no profits required. Jaime Peters (https://substack.com/profile/348724692-jaime-peters) breaks down how passive investing became forced buying, why the S&P 500 alone refused to play along, and who actually pockets the upside before retail ever gets a share. Cindy Goodwin-Sak (https://substack.com/profile/286060070-cindy-goodwin-sak) pulls the management lesson out of the chaos: when someone changes the rules underneath you, which anchors do you refuse to move? Seriously, what could they be thinking?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com (https://whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
18 May 2026
Sole Searching
What do you get when a $4 billion wool sneaker brand sells its entire identity for $39 million and reinvents itself as an AI GPU rental company…in 16 days? Finance expert Jaime Peters (https://substack.com/profile/348724692-jaime-peters) and leadership researcher Cindy Goodwin-Sak (https://substack.com/profile/286060070-cindy-goodwin-sak) untangle the wild, woolly tale of Allbirds' transformation into NewBird AI, asking the uncomfortable question every manager should face: when a publicly traded company completely abandons its original mission, who exactly authorized that flight path? And, does it even matter if the stock surges 700%?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com (https://whatcouldtheybethinking.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
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Questions about Seriously, What Could They Be Thinking? Podcast
Who hosts Seriously, What Could They Be Thinking? Podcast?
Cindy Goodwin-Sak and Jaime Peters and JAMIE host the show. Published by Cindy Goodwin-Sak & Jaime Peters.
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The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
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