Episode Details

For white-collar workers, the recent headlines about AI are more than a little bit fear-inducing. AI could automate millions of white-collar jobs within 18 months. College graduates are booing commencement speakers who bring it up. And women — whose jobs are three times more likely to be automated — are falling behind on AI adoption. So what do you actually do?

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor has answers. Her new book, How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work, grew out of a question her Columbia University students asked her that she couldn't shake: how, in this environment, are we supposed to find our life's work? The answer, it turns out, applies just as much to a woman reinventing herself at 52 as it does to a 22-year-old just starting out.

In this episode, Jean and Jodi get into:

• The two things every successful, happy person has: craft and need
• Why your messy, nonlinear résumé might be your biggest asset right now
• How to get a real human being to respond to your job outreach in the age of AI screening
• Jodi's three tips for cold outreach that actually work

And if you're thinking about what your financial future looks like through all of this change, pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck — your guide to building income that lasts as long as you do.

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