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  <title>OutRival Presents: The New Normal</title>

  <lastBuildDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:53:50 -0400</lastBuildDate>
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  <copyright>© 2026 OutRival Presents: The New Normal</copyright>
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  <description><![CDATA[<p>The New Normal goes inside the organizations rebuilding their operations around AI. The companies winning the next decade will be the ones who show up for customers at every moment that matters. They shifted from reactive support to proactive relationship-building across the entire customer lifecycle. For our guests, this is already how things work. For everyone else, it's a glimpse into the future, early. We sit down with leaders in higher ed, insurance, travel, and beyond. They didn't catch up to AI. They used it to set a new standard for the people they serve. Welcome to the New Normal.</p>]]></description>
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    <itunes:title>OutRival Presents: The New Normal Ep. 1 - Penn Foster CEO Kermit Cook</itunes:title>
    <title>OutRival Presents: The New Normal Ep. 1 - Penn Foster CEO Kermit Cook</title>
    <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Rubén Harris and Timur Meyster chatted with our friend Kermit Cook, CEO of Penn Foster, about reinventing a 135-year-old distance learning company for the AI era. Penn Foster was founded in 1890 to teach coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Today it graduates 93,000+ learners a year and is on a path to graduate 150,000 by 2029. We get into deploying Digital Workers (AI Agents) to support working adults at $1,500 high school tuition, why Penn Foster is the third-largest "school district" in ...]]></itunes:summary>
    <description><![CDATA[<p>Rubén Harris and Timur Meyster chatted with our friend Kermit Cook, CEO of Penn Foster, about reinventing a 135-year-old distance learning company for the AI era. Penn Foster was founded in 1890 to teach coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Today it graduates 93,000+ learners a year and is on a path to graduate 150,000 by 2029.</p><p>We get into deploying Digital Workers (AI Agents) to support working adults at $1,500 high school tuition, why Penn Foster is the third-largest &quot;school district&quot; in the country, the unusual journey from Dartmouth engineering to KKR to Penn Foster CEO, how to stop treating AI as a tech project and start driving real outcomes on enrollment, retention, and ROI, and what it actually takes to modernize an institution that has served learners through every major technological shift since the telegraph.</p><p>Learn more about Penn Foster here:<a href='https://www.pennfoster.edu/'> https://www.pennfoster.edu/</a></p><p><b>𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒</b></p><ul><li><b>Listen on Apple Podcasts: </b><a href='https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outrival-presents-the-new-normal-ep-1-penn-foster-ceo/id6783387190?i=1000773897953'>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outrival-presents-the-new-normal-ep-1-penn-foster-ceo/id6783387190?i=1000773897953</a></li><li><b>Listen on  Spotify: </b><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/3n1cTJ4mExmCeMd8teulVc?si=ZPNFgZfyQIe9M83ZaHcptw'>https://open.spotify.com/episode/3n1cTJ4mExmCeMd8teulVc?si=ZPNFgZfyQIe9M83ZaHcptw</a></li><li><b>Listen on Soundcloud: </b><a href='https://soundcloud.com/newnormalpodcast/episode-1'>https://soundcloud.com/newnormalpodcast/episode-1</a></li><li><b>Subscribe to our Substack:</b> <a href='https://outrivalpresentsthenewnormal.substack.com/'>https://outrivalpresentsthenewnormal.substack.com/</a></li><li><b>Follow us on Twitter:</b> <a href='http://twitter.com/outrivalAI'>twitter.com/outrivalAI</a></li><li><b>Follow us on Instagram:</b> <a href='http://instagram.com/outrivalAI'>instagram.com/outrivalAI</a></li><li><b>Follow Kermit Cook on LinkedIn:</b><a href='https://www.linkedin.com/in/kermitjcook/'> https://www.linkedin.com/in/kermitjcook/</a></li></ul><p><br/></p>]]></description>
    <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Rubén Harris and Timur Meyster chatted with our friend Kermit Cook, CEO of Penn Foster, about reinventing a 135-year-old distance learning company for the AI era. Penn Foster was founded in 1890 to teach coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Today it graduates 93,000+ learners a year and is on a path to graduate 150,000 by 2029.</p><p>We get into deploying Digital Workers (AI Agents) to support working adults at $1,500 high school tuition, why Penn Foster is the third-largest &quot;school district&quot; in the country, the unusual journey from Dartmouth engineering to KKR to Penn Foster CEO, how to stop treating AI as a tech project and start driving real outcomes on enrollment, retention, and ROI, and what it actually takes to modernize an institution that has served learners through every major technological shift since the telegraph.</p><p>Learn more about Penn Foster here:<a href='https://www.pennfoster.edu/'> https://www.pennfoster.edu/</a></p><p><b>𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒</b></p><ul><li><b>Listen on Apple Podcasts: </b><a href='https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outrival-presents-the-new-normal-ep-1-penn-foster-ceo/id6783387190?i=1000773897953'>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outrival-presents-the-new-normal-ep-1-penn-foster-ceo/id6783387190?i=1000773897953</a></li><li><b>Listen on  Spotify: </b><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/3n1cTJ4mExmCeMd8teulVc?si=ZPNFgZfyQIe9M83ZaHcptw'>https://open.spotify.com/episode/3n1cTJ4mExmCeMd8teulVc?si=ZPNFgZfyQIe9M83ZaHcptw</a></li><li><b>Listen on Soundcloud: </b><a href='https://soundcloud.com/newnormalpodcast/episode-1'>https://soundcloud.com/newnormalpodcast/episode-1</a></li><li><b>Subscribe to our Substack:</b> <a href='https://outrivalpresentsthenewnormal.substack.com/'>https://outrivalpresentsthenewnormal.substack.com/</a></li><li><b>Follow us on Twitter:</b> <a href='http://twitter.com/outrivalAI'>twitter.com/outrivalAI</a></li><li><b>Follow us on Instagram:</b> <a href='http://instagram.com/outrivalAI'>instagram.com/outrivalAI</a></li><li><b>Follow Kermit Cook on LinkedIn:</b><a href='https://www.linkedin.com/in/kermitjcook/'> https://www.linkedin.com/in/kermitjcook/</a></li></ul><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded>
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    <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
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