A late June batch of links
Since the most recent batch of links went out, paying subscribers received a meditation on how to save a life, then a suggestion for how and when to speak up. This coming weekend, they’ll enjoy a very long correspondence I had with someone who could have been kinder to me 25 years ago - and what I learned about him and from him as I looked to move past that period.
Below, you’ll find a batch of links that cover the themes of this newsletter: career development, community building, and self care.
LinkedIn’s makeover lacks one thing: humour. While this statement is definitely true - “Then, during the pandemic, things got peculiar as the division between home and work blurred and LinkedIn moved from strictly business to personal.” - I’d also add that it’s been a good thing for those of us who use that platform because it’s a place on the internet when people are polite and not cynical, which is usually what makes them unfunny.
Still Trying to Sound Smart About AI? The Boss Is, Too. I helped place this executive in the story. Glad to see her make it in, speaking candidly. “Winterfield, the Tandem CEO, says she has embarked on a similar crash course in AI. In addition to her own research, she spoke with other founders and investors and studied with Tandem engineers how other fintech companies were implementing AI into business operations.”
The Problem With ‘In Demand’ Jobs.
Should employers monitor more than mouse clicks of remote staff? Of all the ongoing narratives about the future of work, this one is by far the most irritating. No, this shouldn’t be something people do. No, companies shouldn’t put them in a position to be monitored. No, this isn’t what anyone intended. It’s culture gone bad, and nobody should be watching this closely what their employees are doing. It’s derailing the important aspects of the discourse in the direction of absolute nonsense.
WTF is hey-hanging? (and why is it stressing everyone out).
As retirees rethink the future, many are heading back to work. It’s really the final piece mentioned in this story that shines, about how this demographic seeks flexibility. More companies are making flexibility a core component of what they do, which caters best to this population that may have always wanted it, but only in recent years were they able to find it.
Employers can shift the dialogue around men's mental health.
The ‘Quiet Vacationing’ Kerfuffle, How HR Can Embrace AI And More.
I was recently with a group of ten other CHROs at big companies—some with frontline, some not—and I didn't hear them talking about layoffs necessarily. But I do think there is—not a struggle, but they're trying to figure out how do they take workers and move from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow.
Most Gen Zers are in debt: Analysis.
Can AI really do creative work? This is obviously the right way to look at it, to supplement and to level up from the most basic creative work. The people who resist this style of work, and these methods, will prove to be labeled as stubborn and will be left behind.
How to make friends as an adult.
The loneliness epidemic is undying among remote workers.
“Companionship accelerates onboarding and helps reduce the likelihood of attrition with associates with one year or less tenure,” said Hutto. “This gives the new associate access to conversations that might otherwise take weeks or months to occur.”
What if quitting your terrible job would help the economy?
AI Work Assistants Need a Lot of Handholding.
Users might not understand how much context they actually need to give Copilot to get the right answer, he said, but he added that Copilot itself could also get better at asking for more context when it needs it.