The Career Advice Nobody Tells Young Professionals Until It’s Too Late

I’m reprinting these collections of lessons learned from Talent Market’s May 2026 newsletter.

1. Liking Your Job Matters
One of my first jobs was working as a research assistant, which, in hindsight, was a deeply confusing career choice for an extreme extrovert who gets restless after four consecutive minutes of silence.

I cared about the mission. I worked hard. I wanted to do well. But the actual job mostly involved quietly reading long documents and organizing information in spreadsheets, which turns out is not ideal for a person who would be happier talking to a tree.

I learned that you can care deeply about a cause and still be completely wrong for a role. In the free-market movement especially, it’s easy to assume passion automatically translates into competence and enjoyment. It does not.

Realizing my comparative advantage was in working with people, building relationships, and connecting talent with opportunity was a game-changer for me. Some people are called to change the world. Some people are called to never touch Excel again.

2. Your Most-Important Job Is to Make Your Supervisor’s Life Easier
Early in my career, I assumed success came from doing what my job description told me to do. But that theory did not survive contact with the real world.

Over time, I realized a huge part of being valuable is making your supervisor’s day less chaotic. That means following up before they have to ask, preventing dumpster fires before they start, and communicating clearly enough that your boss doesn’t have to use a decoder ring to understand you.

Of course, actually being good at your job still matters. You can’t “circle back” your way out of incompetence. But the best employees don’t just create value themselves; they help their supervisors create more value too by removing friction, solving problems early, and generally lowering everyone’s blood pressure.

Nobody sat me down and formally taught me this. I learned it the old-fashioned way: Through experience, feedback, and the occasional “just checking on this again” email sent by an increasingly concerned boss.

3. Your Ideas Are Probably More Valuable Than You Think, So Say Them Out Loud
Starting a new job can make even confident people second-guess themselves. As a more introverted person, I assumed the smartest thing I could do was stay quiet, work hard, and wait until I had “earned” the right to contribute ideas.

Speaking up in meetings or offering suggestions to more senior or long-tenured coworkers felt somewhere between intimidating and deeply unnecessary. Surely the people with more experience had already thought of everything, right? Wrong.

Over time, I realized that even ideas that don’t ultimately get used can still spark productive conversations, or at the very least, a surprisingly spirited debate in a staff meeting. And occasionally, a thought I almost kept to myself ended up becoming something genuinely valuable.

Turns out, organizations don’t hire people just to silently complete tasks like highly educated woodland creatures. They hire them because of how they think.

So if you have an idea, share it. Worst-case scenario, nothing happens. Best-case scenario, your idea turns into something valuable and, if you’re anything like me, you get to experience the deeply unfamiliar feeling of being glad you spoke up.

4. Resourcefulness Is Your Magic Wand
When I was starting out, I spent an embarrassing amount of time feeling completely out of my depth. I’d get stuck trying to track down answers to my supervisor’s questions, spend days spinning my wheels on a project because I had no idea where to start, and stare helplessly at new databases and systems as if they were written in ancient runes.

Eventually, I realized the problem was not that I was wildly underqualified for my job. It was that I had not yet learned one of the most useful career skills there is: Resourcefulness.

Most answers were not hidden in a cave guarded by a wizard. They were in a help doc, a Google search, a coworker who’d dealt with it before, or 15 minutes of poking around before declaring defeat. Learning new skills is less about magically knowing things and more about being willing to investigate before darkening the bossman’s doorway to announce that you’re stuck.

Once I figured that out, everything got faster and easier (and I suspect my supervisor’s blood pressure dropped a few points, too).

5. Work Culture Matters
One of my first jobs out of college involved getting shoved into what I am fairly certain had previously been a janitor’s closet. No windows. Barely enough room for a desk. Flickering fluorescent lighting. And the only thing on the walls was one of those labor-law posters.

Coincidentally, the office culture matched the office perfectly. Stuffy and joyless. It was like working inside a tax document.

At first, I assumed this was just what office culture was like. And for the first time in my life, I considered the idea of “marrying rich” to save me from this fresh hell.

No one had ever told me that not all work cultures are the same, nor did they tell me how important it was to find a culture that fits you.

Thankfully, in the years since, I’ve experienced a variety of work cultures, and I’ve learned how critical culture is to day-to-day happiness and longer-term fulfillment.

The first step is understanding what works for you and what doesn’t. Highly structured, buttoned-up environments? Close-knit teams where you can hold hands and sing Kumbaya with coworkers? Fast-paced and borderline-chaotic? Methodical and predictable? Office politics and high drama? Boozy lunches and bad language? Wholesome and PG-13?

No workplace is perfect. But finding a culture that aligns reasonably well with your personality makes an enormous difference. Work is hard enough already. You should not also feel like you are serving a low-security prison sentence in a windowless supply closet.

6. There Are No Shortcuts
Quite often when I am wrapping up a career talk to young professionals, someone in the back pipes up with this gem of a question: “Yeah, yeah... thanks for all of the advice. But how can I get ahead now without doing all of this other stuff?”

Initially, this question was a bee in my bonnet. But then I remembered I felt the same way when I was a young professional. No one took the time to tell me that there are no shortcuts.

If you want to get ahead, you have to create value. A lot of it. And you have to do it consistently and without driving your boss and coworkers to drink. You have to be proactive, use good judgment, solve problems before someone asks you to, and stop acting like your job ends the second the clock hits 5:00.

If you’re frustrated that you haven't been promoted, but your boss still spends significant time reviewing your work, or you need both hands to count the number of mistakes you’ve made in the last month, slow your roll.

You need to transform yourself into a low-maintenance, self-sufficient, value-creating machine.

It’s not a shortcut, but it works.

How to Tell Someone They’re Wrong Without Sounding Like a Jerk

Most people recoil when you point out they made a mistake. Here’s an example: A relative of mine is writing a screenplay. It’s her passion project. From time to time, she shares excerpts with me. One time, I saw a simple typo and I called her attention to it.

Yet rather than thank me, she snapped. “Do you want to read it, or do you want to criticize it?”

What’s the point? Nobody really welcomes criticism. In fact, if we’re being brutally honest, nobody wants to be told their work is anything less than perfect.

I’m different. I want to know if I have spinach in my teeth or my zipper is down or I cite the same study twice in the syllabus for my business-writing course (true story!). As a wise man once said, “Feedback is a gift.”

Here’s another embarrassing example: For years, I thought the phrase “two cents” was spelled “two sense.” That’s mortifying for an English professor, and I’m grateful that someone set me straight.

But here’s the thing: There’s a way to correct someone without being either aggressive or arrogant. Let me explain by way of two comments I once received from a student.

Comment #1
On the one hand, you can tell your professor, “You’re a hypocrite!” Such name calling is not only gratuitous; it also hardens an individual’s defenses.

On the other hand, you can say, “Is it fair to expect typo-free work from us when your own syllabus has a typo?” This revision makes the same point without making the questioner appear to be a jerk. On the contrary, the friendly tone makes me inclined to agree.

Comment #2
Similarly, consider another declaration — that two of my classroom policies are “unreasonable.” Let’s posit that this person is 100% correct and I’m 100% wrong; does anyone really think that being called “unreasonable” will change my mind?

Of course not. If you want to persuade someone, don’t start by insulting them. Approach your argument gently. Ask questions rather than issuing declarations. Use words like “seems” — or, better yet, “seems to me.” And, above all, be respectful. After all, we’re not talking about murder or theft or Donald Trump; we’re talkin’ ‘bout a syllabus.

In Turning Away a Prospective Client, Which Is Better: Straight Talk, or Softening the Blow?

Q: What’s the best way to turn down a project (in this case, a book) which ideologically I don’t agree with at all? While I can say I don’t have the time do the project justice, or I don’t think I can make a meaningful contribution, I’d prefer to be honest. What words would you use to decline the project?

A: Most people would (understandably) sugarcoat things: “I’m not sure I’d be the best advocate for this project.” Or: “To be honest, I have some differences with the content of this book, so being its public face would be doing us both a disservice. I couldn’t put my heart behind it.”

On the other hand, since you strongly disagree with this person’s beliefs, why not come out and say that? For example: “Given our ideological differences, I can’t responsibly take on this project.” Why beat around the bush? Isn’t plain language better than euphemism?

Why Wikipedia Editors Want Media Outlets to Employ Editors

“In an age of tweets and TikToks and Substack posts and chatty podcasts, a vanishingly small percentage of the crushingly vast amount that is published on any given day has been edited, by anyone. A whole lot of people are wandering around in hospital gowns with their butts out, patootie to the wind.”

—Jill Lepore

Why Wikipedia Editors Think Q&A Interviews Are Basically Press Releases

“Podcasting alarms me, sometimes. I don’t currently do a podcast, because I worry that I will say something that I would have, as a writer, checked and been careful about. And when you are talking, you’re much more likely to make a mistake.”

—Tina Brown

Why I Charge for Calls

Whenever a prospective Wikipedia client contacts me, I offer them a consultation for free. By contrast, some of my competitors charge for this service.

What’s the catch? My consults must be done by email.

The process is straightforward: I ask an intake question[1], then I provide an honest assessment about the project’s feasibility, along with a price. Then, if they want to chat, I’m more than happy to.

However, when someone wants to get on the phone instead of providing info via email, I turn on the meter. Here’s why:

1️⃣I’ve invested significant time in a white paper and a slide deck, both of which are free and public — no email address required. I’ve worked hard to make these resources comprehensive and clear, and I update them regularly. In other words: When someone wants to do a call first, they typically haven’t read this material.

2️⃣The emails I send to prospects are detailed and personalized. In the vast majority of cases, these messages answer a prospect’s questions. In other words: The call could easily be an email.

(Unfun fact: Almost everyone who wants to “hop on a quick Zoom” upfront wants to ask about price. That’s a topic I address on my website, in a section called... “cost.”)

3️⃣In responding to an email, I’m able to demonstrate my expertise. Wikipedia work is esoteric and thus expensive, so the consult lets me show how a seemingly simple request can be in fact be quite complex. In other words: Even if you don’t hire me, you’ll leave the consult feeling informed and empowered.

4️⃣A call necessitates a different level of time and commitment than an email. Even a purportedly 15-minute call — what with scheduling, explaining that I prefer nonvideo calls, accommodating someone who shows up late or asks to reschedule, preparing, and following up — invariably ends up taking an hour. In other words: Email is more efficient.

5️⃣More than half of those who contact me don’t meet Wikipedia’s stringent criteria. As a result, with an unpaid call, I end up giving away advice that clients usually pay me for. In other words: Want to pick my brain? Then I want to pick your wallet.😉

6️⃣After I have the info I need, I send back a proposal. The last section always includes the following line: “At your convenience, I’d welcome your thoughts, whether via email or a phone call.” In other words: Let me give you a price before we put an appointment on our calendars.

Of course, not everyone appreciates this process. For one thing, sometimes it’s quicker to give someone a ring. For another thing, some people prefer to talk than to write. (Just ask my Italian wife.)

Fair enough.

At the same time, after 20 years of Wikipedia work, I’ve found that it’s most productive — for both the prospect and me — to chat after I’ve had a chance to review their requests. That way, we can both bring specifics to the conversation, rather than rehashing generalities I’ve written about.

My approach isn’t flawless. Yet if you’ve read this far, I hope you can understand my logic. And I hope you’ll give me a chance to give you a free consult. I really do love helping folks navigate the world’s most-popular encyclopedia.

[1] My one question? If you want to create a new page, it’s, “What news articles demonstrate your ‘notability’?” If you want to improve an existing page, it’s, “What specific edits do you want to make?”

This Is One of the Trickiest Situations to Deal With in Business

Here’s a question that someone posted in a group I’m a member of:

I signed a new client, and my contract stipulates that they need to partially pay me upfront before I begin work. Two weeks ago, they requested an invoice, but they haven’t paid it yet.

I nudged them yesterday because payment is due today. No response from the owner or marketing manager.

If I don’t get started soon, I won’t meet our agreed-upon deadlines. Also, I met these folks through another client of mine, so I want to do right by everyone involved.

Here’s my two-part answer:

1️⃣My projects begin with a kick-off call, and I’m clear from the get go that I’ll be in touch to schedule that call as soon as I receive payment. The sooner they pay, the sooner I start.

This approach turns your contact into your ally; she now *wants* to bug the accounting department to get you paid, so the project can proceed.

2️⃣If you need language right now, here’s what I might say:

“As you may remember from our contract, I require payment before beginning. That payment is due today. I’m eager to begin; in fact, I’ve already done a little work. But I can’t continue to do so unless I receive payment soon. Can I impose on you to make sure that happens, so we don’t miss our deadlines? For now, I’m pausing work. Thanks for your help, Susan.”

The 4 Biggest Biases on Wikipedia

CONFIRMATION BIAS
Confirmation bias is one of the known problems of Wikipedia. (In an ideal world, Wikipedia would be bias-free. Instead, we live in this world. ;) Put simply: Editors sometimes favor info that confirms their preexisting ideas. This leads them to give more weight to sources that support those ideas and downplay evidence that says otherwise.

SELECTION BIAS
Selection bias is one of the known problems of Wikipedia. (In an ideal world, Wikipedia would be bias-free. Instead, we live in this world. ;) Put simply: Editors sometimes select sources or topics that interest them.

NEGATIVITY BIAS
Negativity bias is one of the known problems of Wikipedia. (In an ideal world, Wikipedia would be bias-free. Instead, we live in this world. ;) Put simply: Editors sometimes give more weight to negative info, including failures and criticism.

RECENCY BIAS
Recency bias is one of the known problems of Wikipedia. (In an ideal world, Wikipedia would be bias-free. Instead, we live in this world. ;) Put simply: Editors sometimes give more weight to recent events.

Notes From How to Succeed in MrBeast Production

Note: I’ve cleaned up the copy, which is riddled with errors.

1. Use Incentives
If you read this book and pass a quiz, I’ll give you $1,000.

2. YouTube First, Second, and Third
Your goal here is to make the best *YouTube* videos possible. That’s the number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best-produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best-looking videos. Not the highest-quality videos. It’s to make the best *YouTube* videos possible ... YouTube is the future, and I believe with every fiber of my body it’s going to keep growing year over year. In five years, YouTube will be bigger than anyone will have ever imagined, and I want this channel to be at the top.

3. YouTube Is Not Hollywood
We are not Hollywood. 99% of movies or T.V. shows would flop on YouTube. On top of that, they’d be wildly unprofitable, have no flexibility, and have long lead times that can’t adapt to trends. We aren’t here to make a small movie once or twice a year; I want to make one a week.

4. First, Listen
You need to produce content *our* way, not the way you were taught. If you want the highest probability of success, then I beg you to learn why we do what we do at a deep level before you try to “fix” anything. We’ve done countless videos and invested hundreds of thousands of hours collectively building how we do things. I know it’s not perfect, but we have a reason for how we do most stuff and it’s probably a decent one.

5. Are You an A Player?
I only want A players ... A players are obsessive, they learn from mistakes, they’re coachable and intelligent, they don’t make excuses, they believe in YouTube, they see the value of this company, and they’re the best in the goddamn world at their job.

6. Know the Lingo
The 3 metrics you guys need to care about are click-through rate (C.T.R.), average view duration (A.V.D.), and average view percentage (A.V.P.). Make sure you know those abbreviations because that’s how most people will refer to them.

7. Hyperbolize Your Headlines
“I Spent 50 Hours In My Front Yard” is lame and you wouldn’t click it. But you would click, “I Spent 50 Hours In Ketchup.” Both are relatively similar in time/effort, but the ketchup one is easily 100 times more viral …

Even better: “I Survived” instead of “I Spent”; that would add more intrigue and make it feel more extreme.

In general, the more extreme, the better. “I Don’t Like Bananas” won’t perform the same as “Bananas Are The Worst Food On Earth.”

8. Obsess Over the 1st Minute
As with almost every video on YouTube, the first minute has the most loss (look at the data). This is why we freak out so much about the first minute and go so above and beyond to make it the best we freakin can ... The first minute of each video is the most-important minute of each video.

9. Know Your Minute
You’ll hear us ask what minute mark in the video you’re working on. Whether you’re in production, creative, or editing, you must always know the minute mark of the content you’re working on.

10. Do Your Homework
Whether it be production, creative, camera, or editing, I want you to be obsessed with YouTube. Get rid of Netflix and Hulu and watch tons of YouTube; it will without a doubt in my mind make you more successful here. The more invested you are in our world on YouTube, the more you’ll understand trends, how we can stand out and be more original, what we could do better, etc.

11. “You’re the Bottleneck”
Let’s say you’re in production and a video you’re assigned to is 45 days out. A lot of things need to happen before you can start working on it. For example, you someone to produce a thumbnail sketch. Do *not* just go to them and say, “I need a thumbnail. Let me know when it’s done.” This is what most people do, and it’s one of the reasons why we fail so much.

I want you to look them in the eyes and tell them the following: “Tyler, you are my bottleneck. I have 45 days to make this video happen, and I can’t begin to work on it until I know what the contents of the video is. I need you to confirm that you understand this is important, and we need to set a date when the thumbnail will be done.”

As a result, this person, who also has tons of shit going on, is aware of how important this discussion is, and you guys can prioritize it accordingly.

12. Leave No Room for Error
Let’s say you and Tyler agree on a due date of 5 days from now. *You don’t get to set a reminder for 5 days and not talk to him until day 5*. Every single day, you must check in on Tyler and make sure he is still on track. I want fewer excuses in this company. Take ownership, and don’t give your project a chance to fail. Dumping your bottleneck on someone and then just walking away until it’s done is lazy, and it creates room for error. I want you to have a mindset that God himself couldn’t stop you from making this video on time. Check. In. Daily. Leave. No. Room. For. Error.

13. You’re Responsible for Your Team
If there’s one thing I’d love to impose on you from all this writing, it’s that you can’t just dump and forget your projects. I can’t stand when people dump and forget their project on a contractor and then the day before the shoot, blame them when it’s not ready. That’s on *you*, not them.

14. How to Ask Your Boss a Question
Wrong:
“In an upcoming video, we’re giving away a car. What do you think of this Lexus? It’s only $10,000.”

Right:
“We have an upcoming video. During the 6-9 minute mark, we’ll be giving away a car. We are still on budget, and the budget for this car is $10,000. The P.M. says we could go up another $5K if you want. I searched all of North Carolina for cool-ass cars around that price point, and here are 5 that creative approved. I also have 5 backup options that are less cool-looking and more average if you’re going for that. Here’s a picture of all 10, with their mileage and other info. Which of these do you think is best, or should I get other options?”

15. Shelter Your Work
Treat your work like your baby ... Protect it at all costs. Check in on it 10 times a day. Obsess over it. Make a backup. If it requires shipping, pay someone to pick it up and drive it; don’t trust standard shipping.

16. Don’t Let a Problem Fester
Speak up the second anything goes wrong. The literal second.

17. Creativity Saves Money
Which sounds cooler to you as a prize for a gaming video: $20,000, or a year’s supply of Doritos? To me, Doritos is so much funnier, and I think our audience would find it fucking hilarious. So let’s say we define a year’s supply of Doritos by 5 packs of Doritos a day for 365 days. That’s 1,825 packs of Doritos. A quick Google search shows you can buy a pack of Doritos for less than a dollar. But we can round up and just say a dollar. Our prize for the video just went from $20,000 to $1,825 because we didn’t just throw money at the problem. Instead, we used creativity ...

Whether it be finding a crane for a video, deciding prizes, picking locations, finding critical components, or doing the most-miniscule thing, use creativity to save money. Because every dollar we save allows me to give you guys more stability and hire more people to make your life easier. If you want to succeed here, say this 10 times in your head: Creativity saves money.

18. If It Sounds Too Good to Be True...
Don’t take anything at face value; always dig. This is particularly important when dealing with people outside the MrBeast Production team ... For example, if you need 10,000 pillows by next week and you’ve called 10 pillow companies and none has more than a few hundred in stock, but then the 11th company magically has 10,000 pillows, investigate. Are they drop shipping? Are the pillows shitty? “Why does no one want your pillows?” Push and get answers. People think their job is done after they’ve found the 10,000 pillows — but when the pillows arrive, there may be problems, and now it’s too late to fix it … Problems from a contractor you hired are your fault.

19. Lower vs. Higher Forms of Communication
The worst thing you could ever do when you need something for your critical component is email someone at the company. Talk to them in real life. It’s very important you know when to call people for stuff, grab them in real life, and when to text them. The lower the form of Communication, the more miscommunication you will face. As I’m typing this, you have no idea if I’m laughing, smiling, happy, mad, or sad. You can’t read my body language or my face, and because of that, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll understand what I’m conveying.

Need more toilet paper in the bathroom? A text is probably fine. One week out from a video and the thing you are working out just went south? Minimum, a multiway call with the heads of the video. Ideally, grab them in real life. The more complex the message, the higher the form of the communication you should use. Call first, then text if they don’t answer.

20. Own Your Mistakes
I hate excuses and I despise with my entire soul when people try to save face instead of learning from how they messed up. Mistakes are okay! Genuinely they are, and I expect you to make a lot. That’s perfectly fine. Every veteran here has cost me a million dollars at one point or another, and you can ask them if I ever held it over their heads. The reason I’m okay with fuck ups is because I know that’s how you learn ... I just beg you that you learn from every mistake and try not to repeat it ... I’ve never ever fired someone on the spot for messing up; you have nothing to be afraid of. Own shit so we can address how to fix it, and then move on.

Peter Thiel Would Appreciate Hollywood’s Take on College

1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
“You dropped 150 grand on a fucking education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.”

2. Tulsa King (2022)
“Do you think anyone really gives a shit about what your major is? English literature, biology, whatever. The whole point of a college degree is to show a potential employer that you showed up someplace, four years in a row, completed a series of tasks reasonably well, and on time. So if he hires you, there’s a semi-decent chance that you’ll show up there every day and not fuck his business up.”

Why Do Swimmers Do That? 7 Questions You’ve Always Wondered About But Were Too Embarrassed to Ask

From caps to cold splashes.

Even for die-hard fans, the sport of swimming can present paradoxes. Here are seven that stump us.

SHOW PIC OF REGAN SMITH
1. Earrings
You shave every centimeter of hair on your body to reduce drag. You spend half an hour pinching and pulling a skintight tech suit over your body. Why, then, do you leave your earrings on?

Possible answers: Superstition and/or aesthetics.

SHOW PIC OF AARON SHACKELL
2. Goggle Straps
Ditto for your goggle straps that flutter in your wake, as if they were another kind of kick. Why not tuck the excess underneath your cap — or at least trim the rubber’s length?

Possible answers: No. Earthly. Idea.

SHOW PIC OF RYAN LOCHTE
3. Exposed Napes
And don’t get us started on the hair that men leave exposed on the back of their neck. (This is a particularly sensitive subject for one of us, who’s been balding, without quite being bald, for the past 10 years.) If you’re going to stretch two caps over your head, lest the slightest strand of hair touch the water, why doesn’t the cap cover your nape?

Possible answers: Laziness.

SHOW PIC OF RYAN HELD
4. Winter Clothes
Here’s a similar paradox: Every swimmer wraps himself in heavy clothes while awaiting his race. Some even wear a parka and mittens. Why, then, after warming your body as if it’s a toaster oven, do you then furiously splash cold water all over your shaved skin as you step to the blocks?

Possible answers: To stimulate your senses.

SHOW PIC OF MICHAEL PHELPS
5. Exiting
After a practice, most swimmers exit the pool near where they came in: By pulling themselves up and out of the water where they finished. Yet after a race, most swimmers forgo this easy egress. Instead, they prefer the farther side of the pool, which they reach by slithering like a snake over the unforgiving lane lines.

Possible answers: Exhaustion and/or to prolong your presence in the pool.

SHOW PIC OF GRETCHAN WALSH
6. Semifinals
In big meets, swimmers don’t just swim their race once. No, to get to the finals, they must first swim a “preliminary” heat, and then, for shorter races, a “semifinal” one. The thing is, only your final time counts when awarding medals. Why, then, do some swimmers go faster in the semis than they do in the finals?

Possible answers: Eagerness and excitement, and/or fear of not qualifying for the next round.

SHOW PIC OF KIERAN SMITH 
7. Goggles
Ask any swimmer for his biggest complaint about his goggles, and invariably “fog” will top the responses. Why? Because, despite the marketing, there’s really no such thing as “anti-fog.”

What’s worse, the surefire way to make your goggles even foggier is by wearing them on land. Why, then, when walking from the ready room to the blocks — well before their race — do swimmers clasp their goggles firmly over their eyes, as if preparing to plunge into the water mid-stride?

Possible answers: Focus.

What other chlorinated contradictions have caught your goggle? Nose clips for nonbackstroke? Semifinals for short events but not for long events? Eating — or not eating — before a big race? Let us know!

Jonathan Rick is a ghostwriter, and Daria Piacentino is a pharmaceutical executive, in Washington, D.C. They swim with Arlington Masters in Arlington, Virginia.

Why Does Wikipedia Consider N.P.R. and C.N.N. to Be “Reliable”?

Because N.P.R. has the Backstop, a group of six senior editors who review all of N.P.R.’s journalism before it’s released.

And C.N.N. has a system called the Triad, a three-pronged internal review that includes close legal scrutiny.

—New Editing Layer Adds Angst Inside N.P.R.

AI, From A to Z

If you work in the field of professional services, then sometimes it seems as though you can’t swing a keyboard without hearing about artificial intelligence (AI). The promise! The perils! The profits!

And yet, if we’re honest with one another, doesn’t it feel as though AI is a little bit like a classic book — something everyone talks about, but no one has actually read/used first-hand?

To help clear things up, I’m in the process of creating an A-to-Z guide on everything you wanted to know, but were too embarrassed to ask, about this game-changing branch of computer science.

Which Headline Is Best?

The Secret to Landing a Job and Lifting 300 Pounds

The article below was written by Katelynn Barbosa, the director of talent engagement at Talent Market. I’m reprinting it with her permission.

When I was 27, I started powerlifting for the first time (too lazy for cardio) and quickly became besotted with the idea of deadlifting 300 pounds. So, I eagerly approached my coach and asked, “What’s the secret to lifting 300 pounds?”

“The secret?”

“Yeah, I have seen women lift 300 pounds and it looks awesome! I would love to be able to do that. What do they do? Is it those gummy bears they eat in the middle of a training session?”

“What?”

“Oh, I know. I bet they visualize themselves successfully completing the lift... I have heard visualization really works!”

After recovering from laughing, my coach replied, “There is no secret to lifting 300 pounds.”

“So they’re just genetically gifted?”

“No. No one just comes in and lifts 300 pounds. Any woman who can do that has lifted consistently day in and day out every single week for years. It’s just about consistency, repetition, failure, and putting the work in. In fact, pretty much all of life works like that. There is no secret to anything.”

Oh man, I had really hoped it was the gummy bears.

So I took my coach’s advice and never missed a training session. And about four years later, I stood up holding 300 pounds in my hands.

It was a proud moment for this decidedly mediocre athlete but the bigger takeaway was my wise coach’s greater message, which I have found transcends well beyond lifting weights: “There is no secret to anything.”

Because this is a Talent Market article: What is the getting a job equivalent to my coach’s amazing advice? Here are my four takeaways:

1. Show Up
I showed up to the gym consistently three times a week for four years, even and especially when I didn’t feel like it, before I was able to reach my 300-pound goal.

For the job search, showing up means crafting a great application and officially applying.

The desire to find a shortcut instead of putting forth the effort to craft a strong application is real. I understand why. (Oh, if only the gummy bears did the trick!) Tailoring your résumé and writing a strong cover letter takes time. It’s much easier to just reach out to someone you know at the organization to circumvent the application process and get an interview or submit the same generic application that you submitted to five other jobs in the last month. Resist the pull of those shortcuts and put all of that effort into crafting the best application materials you can.

2. If You Know Something Is Off, Address It
About 20% of the time, a lifting session feels terrible for no reason. The moment I pick up the barbell, it’s clear that I just have nothing in the tank. But, more often than not, there is a reason and I know exactly what it is. I slept five hours the night before, I have opted for pizza over healthy protein a little too frequently lately, or I slammed Old Fashioneds last night like I was single-handedly trying to keep the whiskey industry afloat.

I always feel embarrassed when I lift poorly because of my own bad decisions and a big part of me wants to hide it from my coach. But I never do because I know the only way she can help me train appropriately is if I am honest upfront.

This is also true in the job search! If you ever decline to mention something in your cover letter because you worry it will make you look bad or raise questions, that probably means you desperately need to address the elephant in the room head-on!

What are some examples of elephants in the room that need addressing?

If you are applying for a job that is on the surface unrelated to your current line of work. For instance, if you have never fundraised a day in your life but you are applying for a fundraising job, you better say why! I once had a candidate apply for a fundraising job who didn’t have a lick of development experience. His cover letter didn’t even mention the large, gray pachyderm we all saw. The hiring manager was very confused, and even though she was open to hiring someone without direct experience, the lack of an explanation for such a transition left her uneasy.

Well, it turns out the candidate had been extremely thoughtful about the transition, reading every fundraising book under the sun and talking to tons of fundraisers to get their advice and expertise. But for some reason he didn’t put any of this in his cover letter! The same goes for any big career transition. Address it upfront!

If you were only with your previous employer for a short period, the hiring manager is going to wonder why. If you address the reason in your cover letter, you are putting that question to rest immediately. There are tons of perfectly benign reasons why jobs don’t work out. Maybe you liked the work but it wasn’t a good culture fit. Or maybe the employer went through a round of layoffs. If you state the reason upfront, the hiring manager won’t be left to worry that you got canned for insubordination or binge-watching Netflix during working hours.

3. Do Exactly What Is Asked of You
Sometimes a lifting session feels unnaturally great for no reason. On these days, there is a strong temptation to ignore what my coach told me to do and try to max out. Why lift 250 pounds when I know I can hit 275, baby? Because, odds are, the next day isn’t going to be a superman day and I will feel fatigued and ruin my training for the week.

My coach is an expert and she told me exactly what to lift. So I just stick to that.

With job searching, just do what the employer tells you to do. If they want a résumé and cover letter, submit a résumé and cover letter. Don’t send writing samples, letters of recommendation, the article you got published in the Wall Street Journal, a headshot, or a screenshot proving that you actually scored Taylor Swift tickets.

An employer knows what they want to see from candidates and they do not hide it. So just give them what they want!

4. Expect to Fail
In lifting and in job searching, failure happens frequently. In fact, if I go months without failing a lift, then it is a fact that I am simply not training hard enough. Failure is a prerequisite for success.

Most of the time, when you apply for a job, you will not get it. Even if you have every single qualification listed in the job description, are close friends with tons of people who work there, and love freedom so much that fireworks spontaneously burst forth from your fingertips every Fourth of July, there are a million reasons why you might not land the job. Don’t let it get you down.

Pick up that barbell… er job application… and keep trying.

What Winston Churchill and Warren Buffet Can Teach Us About Public Speaking

Ask anyone to name the greatest orators of all time, and Winston Churchill will be on every list, if not at the top. We think of Britain’s Prime Minister leading his fellow Englishmen through the darkest days of World War II, rallying them with calls to “fight on the beaches” and to offer their “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” to defeat the enemy. We think of him standing before the House of Commons, praising the Royal Air Force’s “finest hour” and declaring, in that gravelly British voice, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Churchill’s talent for public speaking seems extraordinary. And yet, his place in the pantheon of presenters was far from fated. As a boy, young Winston stuttered and stammered. In fact, he spoke with a lisp.

Even as he entered politics, Churchill continued to struggle. According to one prophet, “Mr. Churchill and oratory are not neighbors yet. Nor do I think it likely they ever will be.”

Never in the field of human evaluation was such a declaration proved to be so dumb.

While we may not be asked to address parliament, we’ll all face speaking opportunities throughout our lives. Whether it’s summarizing a report to colleagues, standing up at a city-council meeting, or delivering a eulogy, the ability to present makes you more persuasive and more powerful. As the great man himself put it, “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king. He is an independent force in the world.”

Equally famous, yet largely unknown for any public-speaking prowess, is Warren Buffet, widely considered to be the best investor in history. Up until the age of 20, Buffet lived in fear of public speaking. “Just the thought of it made me physically ill,” he says. “I would literally throw up.”

Indeed, as a college student, the future chairman of Berkshire Hathaway selected courses based largely on one criterion: He avoided those that required him to talk. He orchestrated his life so that he’d never have to address a crowd.

After college, Buffet enrolled in business school. It was here that he saw an ad in the newspaper for a public-speaking course. So he made his way to Midtown Manhattan, wrote a check, and signed-up.

On the way home, however, fear crippled his enthusiasm, and he stopped payment. “I just couldn’t do it,” he recalled. “I was that terrified.”

A few years later, Buffet saw the ad again. This time, he not only signed-up; he also plunked down 100 bucks in cash, so as to thwart a repeat second-guessing.

Buffet says the skills he learned changed his life: “It’s incalculable how much value I got from that hundred dollars.” Indeed, 70 years later, hanging in his office is not a traditional diploma, but a certificate for public speaking. (It’s next to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.)

So why does public speaking matter? Because this skill is not optional — not if you want to thrive in business. Whether you’re speaking with a client at a conference table or roaming the room while keynoting a confab, you’ll find that addressing an audience is one of the most profitable talents you can hone.

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How Much Should You Give Away in a Proposal?

Q: In writing a proposal for a prospective client, where do I draw the line between giving away my ideas and protecting my intellectual property?

A: I always err on the side of giving away.

1. When you’re competing against others, demonstrating your expertise is a surefire way to stand out. Understanding the problem and outlining your credentials are table stakes; to win the work, you usually need to strut your stuff.

2. Knowledge is different from execution; just because you know how to do something does not in any way guarantee that you’ll be able to do it. Indeed, no matter how many times I watch YouTube videos about repairing appliances around my house, I’ll never be handy enough to fix a running toilet. Nor do I want to be; I’d prefer to hire a plumber.

A Company You’re Interviewing With Stole Your Ideas. Now What?

Q: As part of the interview process for a job, you deliver an unpaid assignment. You don’t get hired, and to make matters worse, you later learn that the employer stole your ideas. Thoughts?

A: Short answer: There’s no solution. And as a friend reminds me, if there’s no solution, there’s no problem.

Long answer: If a potential employer steals your ideas without hiring or paying you, you really no have recourse. Sure, you can inform your network. You can write about your experience on Glassdoor and/or LinkedIn. You can even notify the company’s C.E.O. or head of H.R.

But, ultimately, there’s no way (which I know of) for a potential employee to safeguard his intellectual property when interviewing. Instead, you have to know, going into the interview, how widely you’re willing to open your kimono.

Addendum (11/5/2022): It turns out there is a solution! As columnist Allison Green points out, “If you’re concerned about how an employer might use the work you’re doing, you can ask, ‘Can you tell me how you’ll use the work I produce? Is it for evaluation purposes only?’”

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