 |
|
|
|||||
In 2013, at the age of 22, I found myself in what many in my field would consider a dream position: working in New York City as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. The position offered everything young professionals are typically told to value: competitive compensation, a prestigious brand name, world-class offices in Manhattan, comprehensive benefits, and a clear career trajectory. I was at the epitome of certaintyor so it seemed. Beneath this veneer of security, doubt was brewing. I recognized that my long-term skill development would become increasingly specialized, which would limit my options for the future. Specialization promised stability, but it also trapped me on a single track. And in hindsight, Im glad I stepped off it. THE SPECIALIZATION TRAP In 2025,150 companies have laid off 72,808 tech workers. Many of them had developed expertise in highly specialized roles that did not easily transfer to new industries or functions. The World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, 70% of skills used in most jobs will have changed. This means that the skills that make you indispensable right now may become obsolete in five years. However, David Epsteins research in his book Range shows that generalists outperform specialists in complex, unpredictable environments. This is because they can connect insights across disciplines, adapt to new contexts, and transfer skills from one domain to another. A CAREER BUILT ON RANGE In 2014, my friend Taylor (not his real name) told me he was confused about his career. After earning an English degree, he joined Teach for Americas prestigious program, and started teaching in an underserved community. Great on paper. However, he wondered if this was where he could make the best impact. He pivoted into coding and before long, he was landing tech roles with increasing responsibility, including working as an agile scrum master for Nike. As Taylor climbed the corporate ladder at Nike, his coding skills that got him in the door became less and less relevant.What really mattered were the skills hed been building outside his technical expertise, like the ability to read a room, manage diverse personalities, and find creative solutions to complex problems. His English major background, teaching experience, and coding career had each contributed uniquely to his toolkit. THE GENERALIST SKILLS YOU SHOULD NURTURE In my work with thousands of young professionals for Venture for Canada, I have found that while specialization holds a lot of value, the best skill in an uncertain environment is the ability to adapt, learn, and make connections across different domains.You can build these skills by focusing on:1) Communicating effectively: The ability to articulate thoughts clearly, listen deeply, and navigate complex interpersonal dynamics becomes particularly crucial for those embarking on their professional journeys. I have observed how young people who prioritize developing their communication skills often find themselves better equipped to weather uncertainties. 2) Building genuine connections: In the early days of fundraising for Venture for Canada, rejection letters piled up fast. But things started to turn around when I stopped trying to present a perfect facade. Instead of just running through polished pitches, I started sharing the real storythe sleepless nights, the moments of doubt, and the deep belief that kept me going despite it all. Rather than weakening my position, this honesty strengthened it. 3) Collaborating effectively: In any collaborative effort, especially in uncertain or fast-moving environments, two things are essential: being reliable and managing conflict head on. 4) Mastering your time and focus: In his book How Will You Measure Your Life?, Clayton Christensen provides valuable insights into effective time management. He emphasizes the importance of purposeful resource allocation. This means being intentional about where you spend your time, ensuring that activities contribute meaningfully to your goals.5) Staying curious: Curiosity allows you to reframe uncertainty not as something to fear, but as an opportunity to explore. Instead of seeing the unknown as a barrier, you start to view it as a space for possibility. Every challenge becomes a puzzle, a series of what ifs and why nots waiting to be solved. THE GEN Z ADVANTAGE The interesting paradox is that while the career landscape is more uncertain than it arguably has ever been before, you are also better equipped to adapt than any generation before you. Older generations did not grow up teaching themselves how to code or learning other skills through YouTube tutorials. While the landscape is more challenging in many ways, your competitive advantage is that you have grown up with unprecedented access to knowledge, tools, and global communities. You can teach yourself a skill for free online that once required months of formal training. You can connect directly with peers and experts around the world, share your work publicly, and receive feedback in real time.If you combine your built-in adaptability with the deliberate cultivation of generalist skills, you can capitalize on the current volatility to create opportunities.
Category:
E-Commerce
The invention of television disrupted the entertainment industry, although not everyone saw the potential right away. Darryl F. Zanuck, co-founder of 20th Century Fox, famously quipped in 1946: [Television] wont be able to hold onto any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.Well, Zanucks prediction certainly didnt come true, and that will be evident as Hollywood celebrates all things television at the 77th Emmy Awards tonight (Sunday, September 14). This glamorous award show will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Lets take a look at the nominations, whos hosting and presenting, and more before we dive into how to tune in. Notable 2025 Emmy nominees The science fiction thriller Severance from Apple TV+ is going into the night as the front-runner with 27 nominations, including for outstanding drama series. HBOs Batman offering, The Penguin, came in second place, receiving 24 nominations. The two studios tied for third, with both The White Lotus and The Studio receiving 23 nominations. For the full list, click here. The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award The public already knows who one award is going to even before the broadcast. Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen will be formally presented with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for their many years of activism and advocacy. Danson helped create the American Oceans Campaign in 1987 to educate the world about the dangers of ocean pollution due to oil spills, sewage, and more. Steenburgen, meanwhile, has worked tirelessly with organizations such as Artists for a Free South Africa, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Heifer International, and No Kid Hungry. Together, the lovebirds co-founded the nonprofit Angels at Risk to help educate families about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. This will be the first time a married couple has received the award together. Who is hosting the 2025 Emmy Awards? Its up to first-time host Nate Bargatze to guide the audience through the evening. His experience in stand-up comedy and hosting Saturday Night Live twice is sure to come in handy. In addition, his clean comedic style is sure to make the Emmys a family-friendly event. Who is presenting at the 2025 Emmy Awards? Helping Bargatze out are a slew of Hollywood heavyweights. Gilmore Girls fans will be delighted to see Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel back together to celebrate 25 years of the beloved series. Mariska Hargitay’s and Christopher Melonis presence will bring joy to Law & Order enthusiasts. Wednesday buffs can look forward to seeing Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jenna Ortega. Stephen Colbert, Sydney Sweeney, Evan Peters, Colman Domingo, and Eric Dane are also scheduled to appear. Additionally, the casts from The White Lotus, Paradise, and The Studio will help keep the show entertaining. What about the pre-show? If you dont want to miss a minute of the red-carpet fashion action, you have options. Live From E!: Countdown to the 2025 Emmyshosted by Bresha Webb, Melissa Peterman, Christian Siriano, and Zanna Roberts Rassibegins at 5 p.m. ET. This is followed by Live From E!: 2025 Emmys, hosted by Zuri Hall and Heather McMahan, at 6 p.m. ET. Entertainment Tonights pre-show, hosted by Kevin Frazierand Nischelle Turner, starts at 6 p.m. ET. You can catch this on CBS or Paramount+. How can I stream the Emmy Awards live? To watch the Emmy Awards telecast, tune into CBS at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The ceremony will last around three hours, unless those acceptance speeches go long. If you’ve cut the cord, you can livestream the event on Paramount+ if you have a Premium plan. Those with just the Essential level wont be able to watch the event until the next day. If Paramount+ isnt in your streaming arsenal, consider a live-TV streaming service that offers CBS. Those include: Hulu + Live TV YouTube TV DirecTV Stream Just be sure to double-check regional differences before committing to another subscription. And remember, you can always watch CBS over the air for free if you have an antenna and good reception.
Category:
E-Commerce
For pregnant women, the future is herejust in time for an urgent healthcare crisis. In the U.S., maternity care deserts are growing, often leaving communities completely without options. And despite the numerous warnings, nationwide maternal mortality data still paints a dire picture for pregnant women (especially rural women and women of color) who face preventable risks. Its a hard reality, but one where technology can be up to the task, helping humans improve outcomes and increase access in innovative ways. That means more remote tools and apps that help women monitor their vital signs, get information, and advocate for themselves. Also data-rich systems that allow health data to be shared securely with doctors, allowing for easier monitoring in-between visits. And now, AI-powered doulas that offer 24/7 support at a time when doctors visits are rushed and sometimes even nonexistent. If youre skeptical of AI, youre definitely not alone. Across sectors, the rise of AI has come with plenty of promises, many of which have fallen short. But as someone who had her own pregnancy scare, which led me to develop a pregnancy app and AI doula with a human-centered approach, I’ve come to understand that maternal health is a challenge that AI may be uniquely suited to face. Not as a replacement for real doctors and doulas, but rather as a way to empower them and the people they servelowering costs, increasing their reach and effectiveness, and helping bridge a growing healthcare gap. But first, the companies building these AI assistants have to do more than move fast and break thingsthey must earn trust. A helping hand Obviously, AI doulas are not a cure-all when it comes to the complex issues pregnant women face as a result of our imperfect system. After all, AI still does not have the nuance to automatically navigate unwieldy situations where details matter. To see what I mean, try experimenting with AI image generation tools and enter in pregnant mother cradling her belly. The moment you specify an ethnicity, youll notice a difference in image qualityAfrican American and Native American images have the wrong number of fingers, mismatched eyes, or any number of other deficiencies in comparison to white and Asian ones. This suggests an error in the training data and an insufficiency across certain groups. If this is happening with basic image generation tools, imagine the impacts in clinical decision support tools. That said, Ive seen firsthand that AI is really good at culling through medical imaging, such as ultrasounds and MRIs, to make conclusions about the presence or absence of certain criteria or conditions. It is also really good at communicating confusing medical results in a way that everyone can understand. Thats what makes AI doulasaided by and leveraged alongside real doulas and medical professionalsa perfect application of the technology. They can remove many of the barriers of communication, information, and cost that currently plague the maternal health system. Curbing costs, in particular, cant be underestimated. Despite the very important historical and cultural role that they fill, especially in BIPOC and rural communities, real doulas are still a sizable investment on behalf of an expecting family and are not consistently covered by insurance. AI can stand in for doulas after hours without increasing costs or acting as a replacement for the real thing. Then there are the instances when women have questions that might be uncomfortable or make them feel too awkward to ask a friend, member of their care team, or their partner. Or, since pregnancy can be lonely, people might not have a trusted person in their network to ask questions. Other times, distrust between women and their doctorsespecially when it comes to disclosing mental health issuesresults in important warning signs falling through the cracks. In these circumstances, the comfort of an AI doula can calm anxieties, give women control, and provide useful answers to help them advocate for the care they need. Combating skepticism But if AI doulas are to have a positive impact on womens lives (not just on health tech companies bottom lines), we must learn to trust it. That means its crucial that theyre developed in ways that strengthen whats already working rather than promising to disrupt everything completely. Disruption may seem like an exciting blueprint for innovation, but its an ineffective philosophy for building trust. So instead, conceptualize the technology as a support tool, not a substitute for doctors or the human connection and cultural wisdom doulas bring. Do the important work of giving women a sense of ownership in every AI feature, embodying a deep understanding of how the tech impacts not just pregnant women but the communities around them. This is true for all women, but especially those from minority communities facing mistrust born from longstanding maternal mortality inequities. Its not an easy task. For our personal virtual doula, Aria, we talked to hundreds of doulas over the course of a long development, involving birth and community members directly in the design, testing, and rollout so we were confident it reflected lived realities and priorities. We are also transparent about how any data on our app is used, stored, and protected and this helps to allay concerns, especially in communities with a legacy of medical mistrust. Above all, AI must enhance the human qualities that make doulas and healthcare providers invaluable parts of the pregnancy journey. Care and comfort must not be sacrificed for efficiencyfor pregnant women and their doulas, too. After all, being a doula is more than an occupation to be disrupted. Its a calling that must be nurtured if they are to continue to play a crucial role in improving maternal health. With the right approach and eventual trust, families can leverage AI to navigate an evolving maternal health landscape with more confidence and continuity.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||