By Paula Pant
Will you still have a job in five years?
Zack Kass, a former OpenAI executive and 16-year AI veteran, joins us to unpack the question that keeps many knowledge workers awake at night. But instead of focusing on layoffs or wages, Zack reframes the conversation around something deeper and more unsettling: […]
By Paula Pant
What can M&Ms, McDonalds, Harry Potter, Aquafina, Taylor Swift, Jeopardy, and Bed Bath & Beyond teach us about landing a dream job or securing a promotion?
Plenty.
Imagine you’re at a job interview.
You’ve rehearsed your answers, polished your resume, and you’re feeling confident.
But what if the key to landing that job isn’t just about your skills and experience? What if it’s about how you make people feel?
How you make people feel is your brand, Zane says.
That’s what Leslie Zane, a Harvard Business School alum and prominent branding expert, talks about in this interview.
She says that whether you’re trying to get a new job, a promotion, or more customers for your small business, it all comes down to how you build your personal brand.
Zane breaks it down into three main ideas: be salient, be relevant, and be distinctive.
Being salient means making sure people remember you. It’s not just about doing your job well, but about connecting with people all over your company.
Zane gives an example of a dental hygienist who calls patients after their appointments to check on them and offer advice. This extra touch helps the hygienist stick in people’s minds.
Being relevant is about focusing on the good stuff. Zane says if you make a mistake at work, don’t dwell on it. Instead, do more good things to push out the bad memory.
She talks about how McDonald’s dealt with rumors about “pink slime” in their food. Instead of denying it over and over, they started showing how they make their food with fresh ingredients. This helped people forget about the pink slime and think about good things instead.
Being distinctive means standing out, but in a way that still feels familiar.
Zane tells a story about the game show Jeopardy. When the longtime host Alex Trebek died, the producers tried inviting different celebrities to host the show. But viewers didn’t like it. The ratings only rose when they chose Ken Jennings, a former champion contestant, as the new host. He was familiar enough that viewers felt comfortable with him.
Zane also talks about how these ideas can help small businesses. She says it’s important to reach out to new customers, not just focus on the ones you already have.
She suggests finding ways to connect your business to things that people already enjoy.
If you run an accounting firm in Kansas City, for example, you might talk about local sports teams or famous barbecue to help people feel a connection to your business.
Throughout the interview, Zane emphasizes that building a strong personal brand isn’t about bragging or being fake. It’s about creating genuine connections with people and consistently showing your best qualities. You’re creating buzz about yourself. The more positive connections you make, the stronger your brand becomes.
Zane’s advice goes against some common ideas about marketing and self-promotion. She says you don’t need to stick to just one thing or only target a specific group of people.
Instead, she encourages reaching out to as many people as possible and finding ways to connect your skills or business to things they already care about.
In the end, Zane’s message is that success in your career or business isn’t just about what you know or what you can do. It’s about how you make people feel and how well they remember you.
By focusing on being salient, relevant, and distinctive, you can build a personal brand that turns heads in meetings, gets your resume pulled from the stack, or has customers lining up at your store’s door.
Zane’s approach suggests that the right personal branding can make you the first choice, not just another option.
By Paula Pant
NYU Psychology Professor Dr. Tessa West has spent nearly two decades studying relationships, including those in the workplace. She talks about her research on why people feel disconnected from their jobs and what to do about it.
Dr. West breaks down five main ways people might feel unhappy at work:
Crisis of identity: This is when you’ve poured a lot into your career, but you’re starting to question if it’s really who you are anymore.
Drifting apart: This happens when your job changes, not you. Maybe your company’s gone through some big shifts, or your day-to-day tasks are different now. Or maybe your industry has totally changed.
Stretched too thin: We’ve all been there – too much to do and not enough time.
Runner up: Always close to that promotion or raise, but never quite getting there.
Underappreciated star: You’re doing great work, but no one seems to notice.
Dr. West digs into each of these, explaining what they look like and why they happen. She talks about how work relationships are a lot like romantic relationships — just as you might feel disconnected from a partner, you can feel the same way about your job.
She describes a matrix that shows how satisfied you are with your job versus how much you identify with it.
She also gets practical stuff, describing how to manage distractions at work and be more productive. There’s a neat concept called “working spheres” that might help you organize your tasks better.
If you’re thinking about leaving your job, Dr. West suggests doing some self-reflection and networking to learn about other industries or companies. She warns that there’s often a lot of “hidden” stuff about jobs that you won’t find in the job description, so it’s essential to dig deeper.
At the end, she talks about how to figure out if a new job will actually be better. Her main tip? Ask tough questions in interviews. Don’t be afraid to dig into the not-so-great parts of the job or company.
Dr. West doesn’t sugarcoat the tough parts of work life, but she offers practical advice for dealing with them. Whether you’re happy in your job or thinking about a change, you’ll find something useful here.
By Paula Pant
We sit down with financial educator Brian Feroldi to dive into the often-overlooked world of stock-based compensation. This form of compensation is becoming more common, especially in large companies, but many employees don’t fully understand how to make the most of it. Brian helps break down the basics, explaining what stock-based compensation is and why companies use it to attract and retain employees.
We start by discussing why companies offer stock options or restricted stock units (RSUs) instead of just higher salaries or bonuses. Brian explains that stock-based compensation is a way for companies to align your interests with the success of the business. When you own a piece of the company, you’re more likely to care about its performance, which can drive you to work harder and stay longer. This also allows companies to conserve cash while still offering competitive compensation packages.
Brian also highlights the importance of understanding the different types of stock-based compensation. He breaks down stock options, where you have the right to buy company stock at a set price, and RSUs, where you’re given shares of stock that vest over time. Each has its pros and cons, and understanding these differences can help you make better decisions about your compensation.
One of the key takeaways from our discussion is the importance of negotiation. Brian emphasizes that the best time to negotiate stock-based compensation is when you’re first hired. Companies often have more flexibility with stock options than with salary, so it’s crucial to ask for more stock or a shorter vesting period upfront. This can make a big difference in your long-term financial gains, especially if the company’s stock value increases over time.
We also touch on the tax implications of stock-based compensation. Brian explains that different types of stock options are taxed differently, and understanding these tax rules can help you minimize your tax bill. For instance, holding onto stock after exercising options can lead to lower taxes if the stock price rises and you qualify for long-term capital gains.
Throughout the interview, Brian shares practical tips for you, such as targeting companies in industries like technology and healthcare that are known for generous stock-based compensation packages. He advises you to educate yourself on your company’s specific policies and to be proactive in managing your stock options to avoid leaving money on the table.
By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clearer understanding of stock-based compensation and how to leverage it to build wealth. Brian’s insights are particularly valuable if you’re switching jobs and want to maximize your compensation package.
By Paula Pant
International best-selling author and leadership speaker, Julie Winkle Giulioni, talks through a multidimensional career framework that features eight dimensions of career development.
She spells out how to apply the dimensions of contribution, competence, connection, confidence, challenge, contentment, choice and climb to different parts of your professional life, whether that’s assessing your current job, navigating a conversation with your superior or setting yourself up for the next progression.
By Paula Pant
We live in a society that values career specialization.
You’re not a “doctor” — you’re a pediatrician, an anesthesiologist, an oncologist.
You’re not a “lawyer” — you practice family law, or bankruptcy, or criminal law.You’re not an “engineer” — you’re an electrical engineer who specializes in solar technologies, or a civil engineer who specializes in the application of artificial intelligence in highway traffic design.
Specialization is beneficial and necessary, but specializing too early in life or too narrowly can also have drawbacks. According to today’s podcast guest, New York Times bestselling author David Epstein, overspecialization can stifle innovation if we’re all digging in parallel trenches. Sampling a broad range of subjects prior to specializing (e.g. at the undergraduate level, or as a hobby) allows people to make connections between far-flung domains and ideas.
By Paula Pant
How will artificial intelligence, AI, impact jobs?
Former Harvard president and leading economist Larry Summers predicts that one-third of men will be out of work by 2050. Finance guru Suze Orman says not to be surprised if we see 25 percent unemployment by 2030. And major research institutions predict anywhere from 14 percent to 50 percent unemployment.
Even if we take the most optimistic prediction, that’s huge. Fourteen percent job loss would have massive ramifications on the economy, the stock market, the housing market, and every facet of our lives. Heck, even half of the most optimistic prediction would be an enormous game-changer.
