Sometimes, when my blog “this year in history” type of things pop up, I’m caught by surprise. Most of the time, it’s a blog post from a year ago that feels like I wrote it just a couple of months ago, because time flies.
This week, it was the opposite. I was reminded of this post:
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. For each issue, I will share information on careers and workplace culture, workplace mental health, talent development, and key insights into privacy, security, and legal technology.
You can learn more about me here: Mike McBride Online.
That was three years ago. When I was let go by a tech consulting company. My conclusion in the post, of course, was that being laid off by a tech company doesn’t really say anything about your performance. Those days are long gone.
Obviously, that’s more true now. But it also struck me that it was three years ago, and it feels so much longer. That was an entirely different lifetime ago in many ways professionally. This all reminds me of two universal truths in the business world.
Time moves fast. It’s easy to put things off, and before you know it, a year has gone by.
Things change fast. In April 2023, I was unemployed. Three years later, I’m in my second role at my new firm, which didn't exist when I started, and I have gone through a merger, managing a team that didn’t exist then, either.
It’s no wonder that it seems like it's been much more than three years.
Worth Reading - When You’re Stuck on “Help Wanted”
I feel like we learned this in Econ 101, right? It’s a simple supply-and-demand curve. If you can’t buy the supply at the price you are offering, you need to raise it. Yet, the article goes on to talk about all the reasons why this isn’t happening, and they aren’t what you’d expect. It’s not just small shops that lack the resources to conduct salary research; it’s also very large, growing companies that either don’t want to adjust the salaries of currently underpaid employees or are hesitant to commit to higher salaries long term.
In the end, though, those concerns are your problem, not the candidates.
We have to talk about it:
Also from the same place - The New Rules of Applying for Jobs (That No One Told You)
This is an excellent question:
What kind of business is the AI business?
Also, there’s this - There’s yet another study about how bad AI is for our brains
Worth Reading - Employment data shows the early signs of AI job disruption are already here
While there may be growth opportunities in blue-collar industries, you don’t suddenly become a plumber or electrician. It’s a long learning process that doesn’t scale well for that many unemployed people. This is reskilling at a massive, rapid scale, but we have to admit that whatever reskilling we’ve done in the past hasn’t been that good.
Do we expect what we’ve done before to ever match current and future needs? I don’t think it will, and that’s a problem that should be addressed. We need different, serious ideas, but I don’t see many of them out there.
Worth Reading - Why Your People Managers Are the Weakest Link in Learning and Development
There are many organizations that claim to have a learning culture, but the reality is very different. The real culture is that people are rewarded and promoted based on hourly billable or other targets, leaving no time for learning.
That’s your culture.
It’s still not safe to be honest
I wrote about uncertainty in the last issue - read this, too:
Sleep is important. Pay attention to how much disruption your people carry into their lives after work hours, especially tech companies and law firms - Why Employee Sleep Health Must Be on HR’s Radar and What Organizations Can Do
A Perfect Storm of Ignored M365 Security Options
How many organizations have a tenant and have simply left a lot of the default settings from when they bought their first licenses? What would that look like now?
Current events have always impacted the risks for businesses, but things seem to be escalating quickly, for different reasons: - Iran Conflict Adds New Motivations to Cyber Threats
This is going to create a mess, and we know it’s going to create a mess, but no one wants to be seen as not “doing something to protect the children.” - 438 Experts Said Age Verification Is Dangerous. Legislators Are Moving Forward With It Anyway.
Social media doesn’t have to be as bad as your current experience - Stop Begging Big Tech To Fix Your Social Media Experience. You Can Do It Yourself.
That’s all, folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put into sharing this with you each week.
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