AI Is Forcing Everyone To Become Their Own Economy

David Rice: 92 million jobs will be displaced. Nobody at the World Economic Forum argues about that number. The debate is about total scale. Is it 300 million jobs? Is it 600 million jobs? Ilana Golan is the founder and CEO of Leap Academy, and it's the real ramifications of this cliff that she wants to talk about.

It's not a gradual organizational transformation, a societal cliff that we're treating like a workforce issue because decision-makers are hesitant to frame it honestly. On today's show, Ilana and I will unpack what happens when your skills have a shelf life of one to two years. Thirty years ago, you learned a skill and retired with it.

Now, you need to reinvent yourself every few months. The corporate ladder is burning, and the gap between people who can adapt and people who can't is what makes this dangerous. CEOs at the World Economic Forum said something revealing. They admitted multiple times a day that they simply don't know. All of them wrestling with the same question of how to build an organization that can cope with the pace of change.

But there's another question worth asking: How do we build humans who can reinvent themselves at the pace that's needed? There's a lot that's missing from the reskilling conversation right now, part of which is people will need to become their own economy, create portfolio careers, learn to package and sell themselves.

And right now, placement firms and education systems aren't equipped for this moment. The good news is, it's never been easier to become your own economy. The bad news, organizations are already expecting you to 10X yourself. So today we're going to cover the shelf life of skills and why reinventing yourself every few months now is mandatory, portfolio careers and becoming your own economy, the five-five-five rule for overcoming decision paralysis, and why organizations expect 10X productivity, but won't tell you directly.

I'm David Rice. This is People Managing People. And if you've been thinking about this as a reskilling moment instead of a reinvention moment, this conversation is going to reframe that for you. So let's get into it.

Ilana, welcome to the show.

Ilana Golan: Ah, David, so great to be here and so great to be with all the listeners.

David Rice: Excellent, excellent. We're happy to have you. We spoke before this a little bit, and I wanted to start with you, you used the phrase cliff when describing what's coming with AI, right? And I think a lot of us are feeling that, where it does feel like we're approaching a moment where there's no going back, and you've got tens or even hundreds of millions of people that are gonna need to reinvent themselves as part of this.

That's a much bigger challenge than I think most people wanna frame it as a lot of it in some cases, but I'm curious, what are you seeing that makes you kinda certain that's the direction that we're heading in?

Ilana Golan: Yeah, I mean, such a great question. First of all, there is no going back, right? AI is here, it's here to stay.

Now the only question is how do we adapt as fast as humanly possible? And I just came back from Washington, D.C. There was the World Economic Forum and the World Bank at the IMF meetings, and one of the numbers that nobody argues about is that roughly ninety-two million jobs will be displaced, so there is no argument about that.

I think the only argument that I saw is whether three hundred million after that or six hundred million after that. So I think the magnitude is very clear. I think the only question is how do we adapt, how do we bring everybody with us to close the gap as fast as possible? S- Because the gaps are what makes it very dangerous for people.

If they're not adapting it becomes really dangerous. And I'm also here in Silicon Valley. I see the tech, I see the layoffs, I see, you know, right behind my, you know, this fence behind me is the garage of, you know, s- like where Apple was built. So I think I'm surrounded with everything that is happening here in Silicon Valley, and it's amazing to see.

It's very clear we're in front of this mega cliff, and I think the only question is what are we gonna do about it? And that's my passion. I wanna help as many people as we can to spread the word and make sure they have the tools to build on top of it and to launch from it, not just suffocate or try to survive.

David Rice: Yeah, it feels like we often get sucked into the sort of organizational transformation conversation, which is, you know... I mean, certainly in the context of this podcast makes a lot of sense. But I even, you know, when we go to events or when we talk about it, like as a society we tend to think of it as this organizational shift, and that sort of implies gradual change.

It's not like a step change, boom, it's done, right? But in reality, that's not the only way that it's happening, right? And if you're right, the implications are way bigger than most organizations are planning for as well. And so it reframes this from a workforce issue into a societal one, which I think we all know deep down that's what it is.

But it's interesting how there's such a hesitancy from the people making decisions to talk about it that way.

Ilana Golan: I mean, I think anybody in the tech and economics is already admitting that this is the biggest society change we've ever seen, ever as humans. So this is happening right now. I think the only question is: how can we adapt as fast as humanly possible, and how do we help as many people with us to make sure that they are not falling behind?

So I think we know that it is a society change. And I mean, I think one of the things that struck me is when I was sitting in the World Economic Forum, is that the number of CEOs, there were about five hundred CEOs in big companies there. And one of the themes that came back again and again is like we really-- this is the first time we need to admit multiple times a day that we just simply don't know.

And the only question is: how do we build an organization that can cope with the pace of change? And I think it's all about that. It's how do you know, build the organization, but then how do we also build the humans that can reinvent themselves at a pace that is needed right now? Because we don't need to reinvent ourselves every few years now.

We need to inve-reinvent ourselves all the time, like every few months, and that's mind-blowing for a lot of people.

David Rice: Yeah. I-it's mind-blowing to try to keep pace with it, right? I mean, imagine that you didn't use Claude for three months, and then you turn it on. You'd be like, "It does what now?" You know?

Ilana Golan: I mean, David, I'm sure some of your listeners are still, you know, thinking that AI is a little bit of a prompt in ChatGPT.

That's what I'm saying the gap, it's so hard to keep up with the agent and the coding and the... I mean, there's just so much. It's crazy.

David Rice: Might've been The New Yorker or somebody put out this really cool graphic, though, and it was, like, the entire world, and it was, like, all these little boxes for every billion people or whatever.

I guess it would've been, like, a hundred million or something. This was big, and then you see the number of people that use AI, and you're like, "Well, it's actually still such a small number." We tend to think like it's everywhere, but it is coming, right? Is we keep having these re-skilling conversations, and we've been having them since ChatGPT...

Well, since before ChatGPT, right? It's been happening. But it really hit like a fever pitch almost as, when, as soon as it came out, we started hearing about it all the time. But it seems like you think maybe that framing is a bit too narrow. What's missing from the re-skilling, upskilling conversation in your opinion?

Ilana Golan: Since COVID. I mean, I think there was before, but COVID became, you know, a catapult for a lot of people to rethink their careers and rethink what's next, and that's definitely been an accelerator. And then, you know, the minute AI started, people are starting to think, "Okay, so I do need to reinvent myself.

What does it look like?" There's a few things, David, that I think are really interesting. First of all, if you look at a graph of the shelf life of skill. So if you look at your skills 30 years ago, your skills, if you had a skill, it served you for 30 years, 40 years. You can retire with a, you know, with a fancy watch and a party, right?

But if you look at what this looks like right now, it's actually fascinating. So your skills are worth about a year or two And in fact, the closer you are to knowledge-based skills, it's even less. And if you are more blue collar, you know, you have a little bit of time. You know, like the plumbers, the, you know, if you're like, I don't know, creating like cements in data centers, you have a little bit more time.

But depend on the skills, you right now are gonna reinvent yourself every few months. So you actually need to figure out how to do that. Now, on top of this, when we're looking at organizations, at the end of the day, yes, every person will be 10x more productive. At some point, you're gonna reach some kind of a ceiling.

So the corporate world is, or the typical ladder is burning, and I think what's fascinating is that people will start to become their own economy. On the other hand, it's never been easier to become your own economy. There's so many ways to make income these days, it's mind-blowing, but I do believe every single person will need to know how to package themselves, how to sell themselves, and it's a skill that we're not learning how to do, but people will become their own economy, create some kind of portfolio career.

So I think careers of the future will look very different than the careers now.

David Rice: Yeah. Don't worry about polishing your resume and LinkedIn profile. There's gonna be a lot more to it than that.

Ilana Golan: You can do that, but there's additional things that you need to do.

David Rice: I like what you were saying there, though, because re-skilling assumes that there's a stable destination that you can aim for, and I think we- we're seeing right now that's... it's more continuous motion.

Ilana Golan: And we're not learning that in school. Yeah.

David Rice: Exactly. You don't learn a new skill once. Yeah. The ability to adapt and keep reinventing is really gonna be, like, the number one skill. We talk on here about is it possible to teach that and you know, how do we go about that?

But it's definitely a big mindset shift, and if you're over a certain age, it's like I can see how it becomes very,

Ilana Golan: Yeah, it's scary.

David Rice: Yeah.

Ilana Golan: But the good news is it is a muscle, and it is a learnable skill. So if anybody... You know, I don't want it to feel scary to people. There is a shift. It does need, you know, a little bit of a learning and unlearning and relearning, right?

But in the general sense, if you think adaptability, it's basically learning as fast as possible, experimenting as fast as possible, making decisions, repeat, right? You just do that. The problem is that if you think about the education system, it never really teaches us to experiment, right? You either get an A or you get a B, C, whatever, F, right?

But in the general, if you think of experimentation, you should actually want to get an F as many time as possible, right? In the education system, you almost never wanna see an F because that's a bad thing, right? There's like almost like never get to that. But in fact, in experimentation, it's the opposite, right?

It's try as many things as possible, fail as many as possible, and then you're gonna make it. So I think there's almost like a unlearning that needs to happen for people to learn how to adapt.

David Rice: I would agree with that. And the other part of this too is from an organizational level, right, we still put people into buckets, like roles, functions, job families, and so you get kinda comfortable with that, and I think that sorta lures us into believing this job grouping is safe, you know, so these skills are age better.

And we can be lulled into a sense of comfort around that, even as the skills inside those roles change constantly, right? So do you see that model breaking down really quickly? Is that part of how we go over the cliff? Is that just all kinda goes out the window?

Ilana Golan: Well, you're absolutely right.

So it's true. We all put people into buckets, and you put even yourself a little bit into a bucket, right? And you're either the salesperson or the product person or the whatever, admin, or whatever that person is, but you put yourself in the bucket, and people put you in a bucket. And basically, in order to reinvent yourself, you almost need to change the bucket That's something that usually we don't know how to do because if you're just gonna...

You said LinkedIn, right? If you just change the title on LinkedIn or you change the banner on LinkedIn, people don't suddenly see you in a new light. They just see you with a different banner, right? You're still in the same template.

David Rice: Cool, new job. Congratulations.

Ilana Golan: Right? I mean, but the interesting thing is actually what we found, and I've been...

Again, we've been working with Leap Academy, we've been working with thousands of people, and what we found is actually really profound. So in order to get out of a bucket that you've been put in, right? And I was, like, the engineer, I was the technical sales, or I was a VP product you're always put in a certain bucket.

But the interesting thing is, you know how, David, if you see a kid and you see them every single day, you don't notice the difference, but if you see them suddenly after a year, you're like, "Whoa, what just happened?" And what we need to create is the whoa effect, and in order to create that, we need to create a pattern interrupt in people's head about how they perceive you, how they see you.

So the interesting thing is that when you wanna get out of the bucket that you've been put in, so for example, if you've been, I don't know, whatever, product, and you wanna move to sales, or sales, you wanna move to marketing, or marketing, you wanna move to entrepreneurship, or you wanna be known as a coach or consultant or whatever, right?

Private equity, whatever it is, right? In order to do that, what you need to do is a big shift and a change that is really fast because people don't know how to create that pattern interrupt Suddenly when they see that really quick change, they're like, "Whoa, what just happened? I didn't realize they can do X," and suddenly they start bringing you opportunities for X.

So in order to do that's a big one that we teach, is like how do you create this pattern interrupt, and then how do you build a muscle so that you can do it again and get more opportunities? But a pattern interrupt is really profound. And I think especially right now, David, it's so hard to rise above the noise.

If you think of AI, everybody's average. And by the way, if they don't even use AI, they're not even average, so they don't really don't have a shot, right? But if everybody's average, how do you rise above the noise? How do you get known and seen? And it is gonna be a really hard problem for individuals and for companies right now.

The noise in the system is incredible, but the only way is to learn how to really package yourself is this like category one, nobody else is there. You know, like you're different than anybody else, and that creates that differentiation. But once you're able to do that, and you learn how to open doors and you build that kind of authority, suddenly you can reinvent yourself and leap again and create that adaptation, if that makes sense.

David Rice: I love this idea of the pattern interrupt. I'm thinking about, though, like from an organizational standpoint, 'cause I think part of the problem why people sometimes struggle to create those moments or even think about it in that way, 'cause this is a big mindset shift that we're talking about, is the structure itself that they find themselves in, right?

Like many of us are still in these systems that were built for stability. The world's becoming more fluid and disrupted now And so those systems don't necessarily adapt or see the things that are possible. So I guess my next kind of question to you would be like, how do you create that moment? And what is, what's s- some of the kind of advice you'd give to somebody who wants to show off something new that they've developed an ability to do?

Ilana Golan: Yeah. I mean, it really depends on what the goal is, but the way I look at it, it's always easier to leap when you don't have to. So that's first of all, you know, a lesson, right? So if you're gonna start... And unfortunately, David, I learned it the hard way. I found myself with no job, no startup, trying to figure out who on earth is Ilana.

I lost my identity. I never really thought of being strategic with my brand or with my identity or with anything. So when I lost it, I lost myself. I lost my hope. I lost everything. So one of the things that I'll say to people is, first of all, just start getting really relentless and very intentional and strategic about being leap ready, even if you're not going anywhere.

Just being leap ready, even if it's inside an organization, you just wanna climb up the ladder, even if you just wanna create a little bit of advisory board seat speaking, whatever, on the side, even if you just wanna create some side gig, like coaching, consulting, whatever. There's just so many options these days.

So the first thing is just even just be aware of what it is that you wanna do. How are you telling that story? How do you start crafting the right network To start building those opportunities for you or to start opening those doors and make sure your brand is not entirely dependent on only this one title, one company, because that is not safe anymore.

So I would say this is the main thing, just be leap ready, like really get intentional, strategic. And one of the things that we hear the most from people is, "I was sleeping through life, and suddenly I woke up because of you." Right? So one of the things that I would say to people, and I wish I said that to myself, is wake up, right?

I thought that I was awake. I thought that I was moving. But the truth is, I was working hard, in the motion, never being really intentional, never being really strategic, never really thinking about what's next. I was just kind waiting for opportunities to fall in my lap, and that's not the right state of mind anymore.

David Rice: I like that you said you know, you gotta kinda get in that being like multidimensional. You know? You can't be just this job title and associated with X company. You're gonna have to build a multidimensional brand is really what it is, and really find different ways to showcase your wins than you ever have before.

The cool thing about the technology is that it opens the door to what's possible on that front. There's a million different ways that you can showcase whatever type of work you do. So I think it's like we've... You know, again, mindset shift, right? It's an opportunity One of the things I think you said earlier that I think is really interesting is this idea of people s- thinking of themselves as their own economy.

That's a really big shift from how most of us were taught to think about work, right? So what does that look like in practice? What is the I'm my own economy mindset built on?

Ilana Golan: Right. And again I would say to people, I'm not one of those advocates that think everybody should be an entrepreneur.

I think entrepreneurship in the general sense, it's a lot harder than somebody that... You know, if you have a job, somebody pays your bills, let me tell you, you know, you have it 95% easier than anybody else. So first of all, like again, I know people have life, and I'm not comparing anybody. But I'm just saying knowing that your finances are relatively stable, even if you're underpaid or unappreciated or whatever it is that is happening, trust me, it's better than being your own entrepreneur and dealing with all the crap that can come with it.

However, I do believe that in the time that, you know, the career ladder is not safe anymore, every single person needs to at least know that they can stand on their own feet if they need to. And the way I would look at that is, again, every single one of us has ability to package your expertise, your skills, your connections, like everything you have to offer the world, and package it so well so that you can market it and sell it in whatever capacity that is.

And it could be as a fractional something. It could be as a consultant. It could be as a coach. It could be as a speaker. It could be advisory. It could be board. There's so many ways, but you're gonna need to learn how to package yourself and how to sell yourself, and that's not easy. So it is, speaking of a mindset shift, it's a lot harder to sell yourself than to sell somebody else's product.

And some people don't even like to sell somebody else's products, right? Yeah. So they have even a harder time. But the truth is we all gonna need to learn how to do that because you don't wanna be only dependent on someone paying your bills, and I do believe this is something that every single one should start really thinking about because- You know, when it catches you too late and it catches you when you have to, that's a really hard time to be.

That's where you're in compromise mode, and it's really hard. If you can do it when you're safe and somebody pays your bills and you can start creating a little bit of that portfolio on the side, that's so much easier because they're essential. Your work is your investors in the second part of your life, even if you stay there forever.

But you now know that you can always bring another five-figure, six-figure, whatever it is that you want on the side just by building the right portfolio. And to me, that's something that I wish more people taught. I think it's malpractice not to teach and not to build this kind of muscle.

David Rice: Yeah. I mean, what we're talking about is teaching you how to design your own value.

Ilana Golan: Right. Oh, that's powerful.

David Rice: Yeah. And I think for a lot of people, that's both empowering and terrifying. But I think that's you used the right analogy there. It's because you don't have to necessarily be an entrepreneur, right? You could be like a contractor. You could be doing different types of things that aren't necessarily you running like a full-fledged business.

There's different ways to approach it, but it is an entrepreneurial mindset In that, you know, you are gonna create more agency for yourself. Yes, you'll remove your safety net a little bit, but maybe you can even recreate it a little bit.

Ilana Golan: But it is freedom, David. So I think if you're gonna learn to love it, it is freedom.

I think more than anything, it's freedom of choice because you get to choose if you wanna work harder, you wanna take a break, you wanna bring employees, you don't wanna bring employees. It's actually freeing, but I'm not saying... I'm not gonna be the person that sells you four-hour workweek. I don't believe that's true.

I think you're gonna work harder than you've ever worked before.

David Rice: Yeah. Well, all my experience with it was that's the hardest job I ever had.

Ilana Golan: Yeah.

David Rice: Just making it like that.

Ilana Golan: You're usually gonna be the worst boss you've ever had.

David Rice: Yeah. Well, and you know, you gotta remember you're accountable to yourself, so you gotta get up and do it. There's nobody that's gonna look over your shoulder.

Ilana Golan: Nobody's saving you.

David Rice: Yeah. And the thing that you don't like to do, well, tough. You're gonna have to do it, 'cause that's just the way that it is, you know? That is a challenge with it. You know, one of the things that stood out when we were chatting before this was how people get stuck trying to make the right career decision for the next 10, 20 years.

Ilana Golan: Oh, yeah.

David Rice: Obviously I don't think many of us feel like... I mean, we don't know what we're gonna do in a year or two, you know? But for anybody out there that's still thinking in those big time blocks where, you know, "This is my vision for 5 to 10 years," would you say that mindset's get- is a little bit dangerous right now?

Ilana Golan: Oh, yeah. So first of all, I think it's been a long time that it's not... It hasn't been that, you know, you couldn't really... You didn't need to make a decision for 20 years, right? I think people reinvented themselves, even a few years ago, a lot more often than that. But right now, you don't even need to think that, that far because nobody knows what is even around the corner.

So one of the things that I do with our clients, it's called the 555 rule, and I'm happy to talk about it, but it's more of a way of looking at your career as an experiment, and the more you can take that- Anxiety of making a decision that is, you know, needing to be perfect for 10, 20, you know, years, you actually freeing yourself to experiment, to try, to explore different things, and you actually create not just the paycheck, but the life that you want with the paycheck.

And that usually means a much happier, much more fulfilling, much more true to yourself life than you ever had. So I think it comes with a big perk of actually creating a life that you really always wanted. So it's beautiful.

David Rice: Yeah, in a way, right? So much of our historically, like, how we're taught to think about making big life decisions, it's always careful long-term decisions, you know.

You think about find the right partner, buy the right house, car, whatever it is. Everything is always presented to you like it's a huge decision and responsibility. And in this environment, the caution might actually work against you, which I think is interesting. You know, it's less about being right in some cases, and it's about being able to move with whatever comes.

Ilana Golan: I mean, right now, not making a decision is a decision. It's a decision to stay stuck or to lose relevance. Right now it is dangerous. So if you're not making... I mean, in fact, I heard something really interesting, David, is in the era of AI when executing just became so much easier, right? Because AI can just create things so much faster, we are the bottleneck.

Our ability to make decisions is actually the bottleneck in this entire system. So if you know how to make faster decisions, you actually are becoming a lot more effective. And part of that is definitely starting to decide what's next a lot faster, and to really think about it as an experiment versus a decision that has this massive ripple effect.

And if you think about it as an experiment, it's actually it's pretty easy to decide. It's pretty cool.

David Rice: Well, speaking of the movement, you've developed this five-five-five rule, as you mentioned, as a way to help people move faster. You know, I'm curious, can you kinda take us through it? But also kinda as you're doing that, talk a little bit about, you know, why speed is so important in this moment and how we know we're going fast enough.

Ilana Golan: Well, I don't know if we'll know if we're going fast enough, but I will say the speed is important because I'll say a few things. So first of all, as leaders, again, if we're becoming our own economy to some extent, right? As leaders, one of the most profound changes that leaders need to go through is that the way we grow up is if then else.

If I achieve this, then I will do this. If I learn well, I will get an A. This is how we're wired. The problem is, as leaders, you don't have this benefit, right? That you're actually gonna need to make decisions based on hope and dreams, and you're gonna see returns later. So for example, you're gonna hire and you're gonna see returns later.

You're gonna invest in ads, you're gonna see returns later. Like you almost need to flip the way you're making decisions and you start making it based- You're never gonna have all the data you need. You're never gonna have all the certainty you need. You're gonna need to create the momentum and the movement, and the momentum is actually what gets clarity.

And so one of the things that I saw, David, and you know, to go back to the five by five rule Is one of the most profound changes that I've seen. I've actually worked with a lot of startup accelerators, like Google, and Singularity University, and Carnegie Mellon, and a bunch of others. And what's interesting in startup accelerators is that it's actually the most incredible change that you're gonna see in humans.

So the people that come into a startup accelerator are wannabe founders, if you will, right? And within a few weeks, they make them into these potentially a CEO of a multimillion-dollar company. That's the most profound change I've ever seen in people, and I was like, "This is so interesting. I wonder why nobody brought this to the world of careers."

So I actually brought the whole concept of startup accelerators into the world of careers, either when they wanna find a job or they wanna start a revenue-generating business. So we brought these accelerators. And what's interesting about these accelerators, they just create that pattern interrupt really fast, right?

So but one of the things that we applied, the 555 rule is just one of the examples. So the 555 rule is basically just a way to make decisions. So it's five hours, five days, five weeks. So the way this works, David, is if somebody's contemplating a bunch of options, right? A bunch of titles, a bunch of industries, maybe a consulting, coaching, whatever, right?

They have a few options. So you try to dumb it down to, let's say, five options, and then you look and you pick only one that is either the fastest or one that gives you the most energy, et cetera. And we also have some engineered way to choose that zone of genius and must-haves, et cetera.

But let's assume you choose one, and all you need to ask yourself, it's not, "Is this what I wanna do for the rest of my life?" But all you need to say, "Is this worth five hours of my time?" That's it, five hours of your time. Because if you try to think of multiple things at the same time, your brain can't fathom it, and it the grass always looks greener on the other side, and you just go in circles, and that's where you see indecision.

So all you need to do is choose one and just, you know, is this worth five hours of my time? In those five hours, all you're gonna do is learn as much as you can about this option, about people doing this role, about, you know, how they're progressing. What are they talking about? What are they writing about?

What are they posting about? All the things that you can find And here's the beautiful thing. All you need to do is make a decision. Is this worth five days? That's it. It's not for the rest of my life. Is this worth five days? Guess what? If it's not worth five days, thank God you found it after a few hours and then not after, you know, months and months, right?

But the beautiful thing is it just makes this really quick decision. So let's assume that it's worth five days. So you literally try it out a little bit. Okay, can my story make sense? Can I package myself well for this opportunity? If I try it with just two people that I like, you know, does this make sense?

And it's not gonna be the top CEOs of the world, but it's can I try it? You know, can I try it on a little bit? Does it make sense? What would I write about? What would I s- right? And so you try it out a little bit, and all you need to do is make a decision. Is this worth five weeks of my time? And in those five weeks, you're literally gonna start branding yourself, you're gonna try to explore it a little more, et cetera.

So when you look at it this way, it just creates this feeling like I can move back in any given moment, and that momentum creates the clarity. That momentum actually creates results, and it's incredible to see. So that's how we get some of these decisions a lot faster because, again, the most dangerous thing right now is indecision because that indecision is actually what gets people stuck.

David Rice: One other thing I like about it, too, is it does something that a lot of people need right now, which is it lowers the stakes a little bit. Because you're taking it in that approach of well, let's see if it's worth five days, you're just testing a direction, but in the right sort of incremental amounts.

Whereas, you know, if you do still have your job, this is a good time to take on something like this, and you can maybe unlock a little momentum, and if the worst does happen, you already are moving. So I think it's good because it doesn't feel like I've gotta do everything now. So many people are feeling this sense of urgency that's crippling.

Like you said they enter in a state of paralysis almost. And I mean, I can understand it. If you're fearing for your livelihood, it's gonna create that sensation, so you need something to bring the stakes down a bit.

Ilana Golan: Right. And again, David, I think the reason why I like the 555 is two, you know, a few things, is first of all, yes, the worst part is actually not a bad career.

The bad career is screaming at you, get out," you know, "Change." But it's actually the good career that isn't yours, and you can stay stuck there, miserable for so long, it's actually obnoxious. So I think this is one, but you talked about critical decision and high stakes, and the place where I got the 555, which I think is interesting, is actually from the venture capital world.

So in the venture capital world, if you think about it, you're gonna have, I don't know thousands of people going to the same venture capital to try to get money, right? And you're gonna have this one admin. They can't decide if this is worth investing millions of dollars or not, right? It's just, it's overwhelming.

So all they need to do is decide, is this worth a phone call? That's it, right? And in the phone call, all they're gonna look at, is this worth bringing them into the office to waste some of the time for a few people to meet them, right? You just make this one step, and that makes it a lot easier to start making those decisions and start moving the needle.

So I think you're absolutely right. I think when you can create an environment with a very... a- again, my approach is very engineering because that's my, how my head works, right? It's A, do this, B, do that, right? But when you can create an environment where the stakes are not as high, I think people will create a lot more movement, and that's great. Yeah.

David Rice: Yeah. When you mentioned the startup incubator, right, the first thing that came to my mind was, like, it really highlights... 'Cause you said you wanted to bring in something like this for careers, and was sitting there thinking to myself it is kinda weird that doesn't exist, right?

That's a failure of career infrastructure, so to speak. And you know, the bridge is collapsing on all of us. Not to make it too grim.

Ilana Golan: Well, then it's time, right?

David Rice: But yeah. I mean, but when we think about placement firms or parts of the education system not being equipped for what's going on, are there systems that are gonna help people catch up?

Or at least not what fills the gap for those things that has traditionally helped us find our way?

Ilana Golan: I mean, the good news is that, I mean, I think Leap Academy is one of them, right? For sure. But I think any AI tool really is going to help you a lot more than most of placement companies right now.

Let's be really honest, right? Right now, if a company is laying off a lot of people, there's a good chance that this entire World of work of that specific role is being eliminated in a lot of other companies. So if you just change your resume a little bit, that's not helping you. I'm sorry to say that.

But on the other hand, there's a lot of transferable skills that you have, and if you learn to package yourself and move it to something else, it could be that this is where your gold to other environments. And I think right now, I don't even know if job placements really do this. As far as I know, they really they're trying probably to disrupt themselves as well, but in the general sense, any AI tool will help you more than that. Now, on top of this, I would urge you, please don't bet all your eggs on one basket. I think right now it's very dangerous, and if you're not starting to be intentional about creating some kind of portfolio career, it's gonna hurt you.

So if you know, we would love to help you land that job and then start creating that portfolio for yourself because I do believe it's... otherwise, it's a tricky situation right now, David. But you're right. I think there's gonna be a lot more systems that will need to come in place to help out because we're looking at hundreds of millions of people.

There's needs to be a lot of systems that will come to help out. It can't be Leap Academy and AI. Like it has- ... it needs to be a little more than that.

David Rice: No, I agree. And I think I would even encourage people like you mentioned there that there's the tools themselves, and one of the things that it can help you do is, okay, maybe you're not ready to take on the challenge of, well, how am I gonna build a business for myself or have a side thing that's generating income?

Maybe it's helping you reimagine your current role and where it adds value and what you can build the value out of so that it has more longevity, and it buys you a little more time. Now, it w- that's not to say that longevity will last forever, but it will buy you time so that you can be ready when the time to leap comes.

Ilana Golan: Yeah. And I think, David, this is really important to say. People don't need another... You know, they're expecting you to find a way to 10x yourself right now. So even if they're not telling you this, they're expecting this. So, and AI is the way, right? And you figure out how much you can learn and how fast you can learn, and whether you wanna write some code or you wanna do some agents or you wanna play around, but let me tell you, it's not just, you know, a little bit of prompt in, in ChatGPT.

There's gonna be more to that, and the faster you can learn, the better it is. And I also gonna say, you know, there's a lot of, now information is free everywhere, so nobody's coming anywhere for information. They're coming from transformation. You want an AI tool that will help you with resume, reach out to us.

We gonna give it to you for free. You know what I'm saying? These things are so simple right now because all you need to do is put your job description that you want and the resume that you have or leftovers of it and LinkedIn, and it's just gonna create that for you. Double-check it, but in general, it's super simple.

Everything is automated right now, so people don't need help for information. They need help for transformation. So definitely try to figure out, how can I be 10x more efficient? How can I show up differently? How can I build more executive presence? How can I build more authority? How can I be in the hidden market so more opportunities come my way?

You know, whether it's for the job or to bring business development or to bring partnership or whatever it is, so you gonna need to start really moving the needle for the organization in order for them to really feel like you need to be there. So be intentional and strategic with it. Even if it's not coming directly from them, they are expecting it.

So I think that's a really important message.

David Rice: Excellent. Well, Ilana, thank you for coming on the show today. This has been a great chat.

Ilana Golan: Thank you so much, David. It was so fun.

David Rice: All right. Well, listeners, before I go, I always like to remind you that if you haven't signed up for the newsletter, head on over to peoplemanagingpeople.com/subscribe. Get signed up. You'll get all the latest podcasts and content that we develop to help you through your career and your latest challenges with people management right to your inbox.

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