An early April batch of links
Since the most recent batch of links went out, paying subscribers received an interview with someone who chose a path of sobriety, then a meditation on what changes between Years 2 and 3 working at the same company. This coming weekend, they will enjoy a recommendation for what to look for while making your first departmental hire.
Below, you’ll find a batch of links centered on what this newsletter covers: career development, community building, and self care.
How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation.
Though he’d originally figured he’d go to college, the route began to feel less appealing during the pandemic, when he watched his parents—both tech workers—gaze at their computers all day and realized he didn’t like the idea of spending his life seated before a screen.
The AI takeover is already here, you’ve just not been paying attention.
This Is One Of The Rudest Email Habits. Are You Guilty Of It? Yes, the points made in this piece are correct. People should get double opt-in. But the severity of and the frequency of this infraction may be overstated here. If it bothers you a lot that people do this, you probably are taking too many introductions. I take a lot of introductions, and I see this happen from time to time, and it really doesn’t bug me. People who don’t make enough introductions simply don’t know. That’s the shameful part, if anything, I’d say. Make more. Do it the right way.
As companies drop CMO titles, marketers may want to consider the COO role.
Why Chanel CEO Leena Nair Is Leading With Compassion. Love this part: “Remember people, their names, their stories, the trivia, what's going on with them. I do believe if you put people at the heart of the business, they will care about the business.” This is confused for smalltalk often. It matters what people do with their weekends - and you should pay attention to it.
Economy be damned: Your workers still expect a hefty raise this year.
The problem with work is… People are still positioning a debate over control over who or what employees work on, pinning it as a grudge match between executives and employees, and I’m really tired of all of it. If you elect to get a paycheck from someone else, you can agree to their terms. Or you can elect to take your career in a different direction elsewhere. It’s not that they’re being mean to you. It’s that you have to figure out what you want and to go find it.
Worker Confidence Falls As More Layoffs Blame Overhiring.
"The backlash is real": Behind DEI’s rise and fall. I don’t agree that this is the fair conclusion here: “Companies that never cared much about DEI, or that fear lawsuits over programs, are using the moment to back away. Others are sticking with these efforts but doing it quietly.” I think that it’s hard to justify during tougher economic times as a priority, but not that it was insincere from the get-go.
Americans Now Say They Need $1.5 Million to Retire.
AI won't replace managers — but it can make the job better.
It’s been four years since Covid-19 brought the world to a halt, but the reality is that many parents are still trying to repair the serious psychological damage those early years of the pandemic had on their children. And there have been some extreme reverberations.
How the pandemic changed parents’ relationships with their kids and jobs.
How to take a working vacation that won’t burn you out. This feels impossible to me to plan for at locations you don’t know well already: “Before embarking on a workcation it’s important to identify exactly where and when you’ll get work done. That typically means ensuring sufficient Wi-Fi, comfortable seating, proper work equipment, and an appropriate noise level for the kind of work you’ll be doing.”
Tired of late messages from your boss? A new bill aims to make it illegal.
Why it’s not too early for GenZ to get the entrepreneurial bug. I met someone the other night who fits closely in this category, who out of school decided to go her own way, start her own thing, take a career break afterward, and only find herself in corporate later on. She says she’s better off for going how she did, and I suspect that many of the younger workforce would say the same about themselves.