Thought-provoking Things Worth Sharing - Issue #196
What does the foundation of your network look like?
I know the job search world sucks out loud right now. So, I wanted to share this post because I think, in the current situation, having a solid network is the only way to go:
The Networking Strategy: Building Your Foundation
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. Each issue covers 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.
Hannah gives you some simple steps to consider in terms of who to connect with, how to do it, and how to target places you might want to work.
What I want to do is talk about the importance of your network, because the shortest route from where you are now to your next career move is lined by the people you know.
I’ve written before about how I wound up boomerang-ing back to a firm I left 12 years prior after getting laid off, all because people there knew me. Those ties weren’t my closest friends, but people I had stayed in contact with online who’d seen me talk about my work for years.
That matters. In a crowded job market, there’s an obvious leg up if you’re someone whose work is a known quantity. But being humble and not sharing what you know won’t get you there.
Share what you know, online, through volunteer efforts, wherever you get the opportunity, and stay in touch, even if it’s just briefly, with the people you’ve come in contact with. If you’re someone who might be able to help, make yourself available too. You never know when you’ll be the one reaching out for help.
Speaking of connecting - I’m going to be speaking at ILTACON in August. If you’re going to be there, let me know. Happy to meet up for a quick hello during the week.
Careers and the Workplace
I think we all know this: Why Being Good at Your Job Can Hurt Your Career
The more reliable you are, the more likely you will be rewarded with more work.
Worth Reading - It’s Not Just the Tech: The Hidden Cognitive Load of the Physical Workplace
That’s an extreme example, but this article makes the more obvious one: working in an office comes with its own cognitive load, especially if it’s an open floor plan, because you are forced to navigate noise and other people all day long. I’ve been trying to tell people for years that when I do visit one of our offices as a remote worker, those days are exhausting for me, because it’s the extra cognitive load of getting there, navigating the space and the other people, the noise, etc.
It adds up, and it can contribute to burnout.
This too…
Artificial Intelligence
Speaking of cognitive load - AI Security: A Human In The Loop Is Essential. It’s Not Enough.
Cognitive Overload. In practice, users of AI systems are rarely in a position to conduct careful, line-by-line verification of every output. They are busy professionals, often operating under time pressure. When AI tools are integrated into workflows that generate frequent outputs, the review process can degrade into a form of triage: approve unless something obviously looks wrong.
How much do your agents cost? Users can’t tell.
We can publicly measure the cost of someone using AI against the output of their work. If the user can't tell the total cost of their AI work, we can create a dashboard of costs and let the workforce judge themselves openly. Since users can't tell themselves how much compute they're using, we make it public and make them prove the value.
Worth Reading - The AI Productivity Illusion
The core question in the post above is pretty simple. Generative AI has helped people finish tasks more quickly and probably completed more tasks, at least when their time is not taken up with cleaning up the slop from poorly generated work, but there haven’t been any widespread economic productivity gains.
What if we’re completing more tasks, but they have no value?
This is an important skill - How to spot AI images: A fact-checker’s guide
OpenAI as Copilot Subprocessor
That seems significant. As someone who works in the legal industry, this is concerning. Some of our clients will not look kindly on us using any third-party tool that can't provide SOC reports, and I know anyone working with the federal government is looking at that first bullet point about FedRAMP and wondering if they should make sure this isn't enabled in their environment.
Training and Development
This shouldn’t be surprising, but I bet it is to some of you - Self-paced doesn’t mean lower effort: the cognitive load of online learning
Mental Health in the Workplace
Worth Reading - Corporate America spends billions on mental health services. 97% never use it.
The combination of the stigma of calling in the first place, along with a program that doesn’t meet the needs, means 97% of people won’t bother with it. We should be looking at alternatives, for sure.
This is also something important to remember about the people you manage: how mental exhaustion changes the choices you make. Those folks putting in the long hours might be making some really bad decisions.
Sometimes, but how can you tell the good sources from the bad ones? Can You Trust the Mental Health Advice You’re Reading?
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Are protective orders that only apply to enterprise AI tools fair? - The AI Protective Order Double Standard
The numbers are bleak - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026
As if social media is not enough of a mess - Music influencers are getting paid to promote songs— and they’re not telling you
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.