BECU

BECU, also known as Boeing Employee Credit Union, is the 4th largest credit union in the United States, and the largest community-based credit union in the country.
I conduct foundational research helping to inform and provide strategy and direction for major product initiatives like credit card, digital support strategy, business online banking, access limits for ATM and debit cards and in-person collaboration work experience. 
Leader in defining design thinking practice for the entire organization including best practices, workshop definition and templates, cohort builder and facilitation educator.

Invented the Scenario Alignment Canvas (SAC). The SAC is part kickoff workshop, part exposing assumptions and gaps in knowledge, part data collection from the team, and part creation of a research plan. The Scenario Alignment Canvas is a quick starting point to get the team aligned around a user’s scenario or goal, and determining any gaps in team knowledge and finally, determining the need to build out a full persona. 

Skills
 • Mentoring and coaching designers and researchers
 • Defining research strategy, roadmaps and plans
 • Template and process definition and creation
 • Upskilling UX team  
 • Establishing best practices
 • Using AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools for secondary research, to expedite tasks and workflow
 • Internal public speaker on user experience, research methods, career development, agile and more

Tools
Microsoft apps • Usertesting • Mural • Survey Monkey • Figma • AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Firefly

Principal UX Researcher

BlatzChatz

Jen Blatz Chatz about user experience, professional tips and tricks, UX research and strategy to help seasoned and aspiring folks up their UX game. 

BlatzChatz is where people chat about the world of user experience (UX) research, and sprinkle in a bit of prof tips and tricks. 
Jen shares her perspectives and experiences in working in user experience and navigating the sometimes rough waters and challenges of the profession. 
Jen also talks to top-notch UX pros who know their stuff and have great insights to share.

Skills
Interviewing • Presentations • Content creation • Video editing • Thumbnail design • Event coordination • Presentation • Writing

Tools 
Descript • YouTube • Figma • Google Suite • GoDaddy

Channel host and founder

UX Research and Strategy Group

UX Research and Strategy is a registered 501c3 organization devoted to teaching and exploring topics related to User Experience Research and Strategy. UXRS was created by three very talented ladies, who saw the need to address the gap in these topics in the local UX community. The hope for this group is to enrich and complement the UX design community through knowledge sharing, networking and community. Started in Dallas Texas, UXRS exploded with a global reach within a few years. The group continues to expand its UXRS community reach in countries around the world. 

Skills
Determined there was a need in the UX community to create a space for meetups and education around UX research and strategy. 
Created social media assets and campaigns from planning to writing to designing the posts.
My leadership role (as president and co-founder) of this non-profit organization consisted of organizing monthly events, creating a social media strategy and implantations plan, and leading the group's vision, growth and strategy.

Tools
Zoom • Figma • Google Suite • Trello • Mural • Mailchimp • YouTube Studio • Eclincher • Adobe tools like Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator

Outcomes
Expanded the board of directors and committee members from 3 to 12 people.
Grew the group to over 87,000 followers on LinkedIn in just over 5 years. (That's more than many companies!)
Grew all social media channels from zero to thousands of followers in just over 5 years.
Planned and led high-quality events and speakers, every month, for hundreds of attendees around the world.
Iterated on the group's mission, vision and strategy as the group grew from a local meetup to a global community, and from hundreds to tens of thousands of community members and followers.

Co-founder for one of the largest UX groups in the world

Planned events that appeal to a global audience with world-famous UX professional speakers from around the world.
Provided quality content to the UX community on a number of topics including research impact, jobs to be done and AI, career development, mixed method UX research and more.
Selected topics and speakers that are relevant to the UX research profession and for those aspiring to become UX pros.

Events Director

I expanded the board of directors and committee members from 3 to 12 people. Volunteers in various roles included technology, social media and events directors, content strategists, community engagement and graphic designers.
Led the organization into financial stability through donations and paid events.

President

Design Leadership Forum

The Design Leadership Forum's mission is to advance the practice of design leadership by fostering a community where the world’s best can learn from one another.

Member, Design Leadership Forum by InVision

Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)

Provide guidance, advice and mentorship to students going through user experience research bootcamp and courses.

Education Mentor

Rocket Companies

Lead researcher for Rocket Mortgage, previously Quicken Loans through acquisition of Truebill. 
Conducting qualitative foundational user research to define strategy and inform product roadmaps.

Skills
Mentoring UX designers and researchers on methodologies, career opportunities and skills development.
Informing the mortgage business of user’s mental models on broad financial topics.
Connecting business units through insights to align on strategies.
Validating design concepts through concept and usability tests.
Conducting workshops to build empathy and understand each other across newly-formed teams.
One-one-interviews with professionals in B2B business-to-business space to understand their working environment, actions and pain points when interacting with our products.
Product-aligned research, ranging from discovery to generative to validation.

Tools
Microsoft apps • Usertesting • Slack • Lucid • Qualtrics • Airtable • Condens • Figma • Miro

Outcomes
Shared financially-focused discovery research that was used to inform strategy and road maps after the company acquired Truebill, a financial management app with a new user base.
Created a mental model diagram to help map an understanding of our professional user’s thoughts and actions through originating a loan.
Created a journey maps, service blue print style, outlining steps in our loan origination process, highlighting user pain points, employee interactions and opportunities to improve the process at every step. 
Visually summarized participant interviews, creating easy access for the designers to understand our users pain points, goals and expectations.
Participated in a pilot program to help cross-functional teams work together in a rapid format to produce results and designs in a 2-week sprint. This pilot is being rolled out to other teams for quick ideation and moving projects forward.  
Released a survey that had an astonishing 17% response rate, thus providing more data points to make product decisions.

Staff UX Researcher

Fidelity Investments

Led several research efforts to determine strategy and road map for company’s Digital Workplace strategy.

Principal User Experience Designer and Researcher

As a Lead UX Designer and Researcher, I worked on internal products spanning several business units. My focus was primarily internal websites and applications used by employees. 

I oversaw the strategy, research and interface design for Fidelity's "internal UX agency." My process included advising stakeholders through the complete design process of a project from defining the scope, strategy, research and UX design for websites and apps. I displayed a deep understanding of people using enterprise software and internal tools.

Skills
Conducted 40+ interviews, totally over 100 hours, to understand how employees use internal and enterprise tools for the Digital Workplace team.
Conducted research using a mixed methods approach to understand digital whiteboard use. This included contextual inquiry, one-on-one interviews, usability tests and a quantitative (Jobs to be done like) survey.
Shared my research on digital whiteboards with Microsoft’s team. This info helped inform their roadmap and whiteboard feature prioritization. 
Became the Jobs To Be Done in-house expert on research theory and practice. 
Conducted accessibility research with blind users to inform our team how our products are used by people who use screen readers and other assisted technology.
Researched and created the information architecture and taxonomy for websites and apps.
Led co-creation sessions with users to refine copy and design.
Mentored UX designers and taught them about several methods including card sorts, interviews, concept tests, survey design, competitive analysis, heuristic evaluation and usability tests. 
Worked with other departments like Security, Technology and Human Resources to research and design products, services and solutions. 
UX deliverables: task analysis, user stories, research analysis, personas, user flows, sketches, wireframes, design system, high-res mockups.

Tools
Microsoft apps • Zoom • Mural • Optimal Workshop • Figma  • Sketch • Invision • Jira • Qualtrics

Senior Experience Designer and Researcher

IxDA

Organized Meetups and events to bring the local interaction design community together to network, learn from each other and expand expertise.

IXDA Local Chapter Leader

Rackspace

As a Lead UX Designer, I worked with a cross-functional team of Product Managers, Researchers and UX Designers. I oversaw the strategy, experience design and functionality of User and Account Management (User Settings and Profile). This aspect of Rackspace's portal is used by thousands of customers and employees every day. 

• Led a team of designers, guiding them through and implementing a UX Process and helping them make strong design decisions
• Proposed UX strategies and developed a plan to execute steps in that strategy 
• Mentored junior UX designers and assisted them through their projects and career development
• Acted as the team's scrum coach through the agile process of software development and design 
• Proposed a UX Process to be implemented by the UX Designers, Researchers and Information Development writers. This high-profile UX Process was created in collaboration with other Researchers and UX Designers based on research, workshops, iterative feedback and design 
• Led workshops and meetings to keep remote team members aligned, engaged and designing to their full potential

UX deliverables: use cases, designed research-ready assets, user stories, design strategy, sketches, wireframes and high-resolution mockups with tools like Mural.ly, Sketch and Invision

Lead UX Designer

Capital One

At Capital One, I conducted research, analyzed information and provided context for key design recommendations. I used a variety of research methods to improve digital and non-digital channels for this major financial corporation. They products I focused on were Auto Navigator, and internal servicing tools used by employees for home and auto loans.

• Performed qualitative research by conducting contextual and exploratory interviews, card sorts for taxonomy, usability testing and concept reviews
• Conducted usability testing in a variety of settings including in the lab, remotely and unmoderated 
• Researched, developed and designed personas for consumer arm of lending business.
• Affinitized and synthesized data to build deliverables like charts and reports to convey insights to business partners 
• Advised teams and fascilitated workshops for research methods including Service Design Blueprints

Research methods: contextual inquiry, card sorts for taxonomy, usability tests, ethnographic observation, concept testing and in-person interviews

Experience Design Researcher

Lead UX Researcher, whose talents span from leadership, strategy, research, sketches, wireframes, high-resolution mockups to design. My user-centered design approach starts with empathy, is built on a foundation of research, and helps teams define product strategy.

• UX Community leader, co-founding the UX Research and Strategy group.
• Speaker at international UX conferences and meetups across the country and universities.
• Host and founder of BlatzChatz on Youtube

Portfolio:
► www.jenniferblatzdesign.com
► https://dribbble.com/jnblatz 
► https://www.youtube.com/@BlatzChatz

My primary focus is the user – aligning business goals with user needs is just gravy.

I am honored to make this list ~ TWICE. 
Once as the host of interviews on BlatzChatz (Youtube). 
Once as a guest on UXtweak® 

Are you looking for guests on your podcast? Let me know. 
I might be a good fit for your audience too.

Jennifer Blatz 

Lead UX Researcher, whose talents span from leadership, strategy, research, sketches, wireframes, high-resolution mockups to design. My user-centered design approach starts with empathy, is built on a foundation of research, and helps teams define product strategy.

• UX Community leader, co-founding the UX Research and Strategy group.
• Speaker at international UX conferences and meetups across the country and universities.

Portfolio:
► www.jenniferblatzdesign.com
► https://dribbble.com/jnblatz 
► https://twitter.com/jnblatz

My primary focus is the user – aligning business goals with user needs is just gravy.

9 UXR Podcasts to Add to Your Playlist

Whether you’re commuting, cooking, or taking a walk, UX research podcasts make every moment an opportunity to learn! 🎧

These are some of our favorite podcasts and the recent episodes we’ve been enjoying.

*Most episodes are also available on Spotify and Apple.

🎥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐍/𝐠 𝐔𝐗 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: Designing for Millions of Users (feat. Jay Dutta, Global Head of UX, Deutsche Bank)
https://lnkd.in/gdCkjmEs
Hosted by: Therese Fessenden
Guest speaker: Jay Dutta

🎥 𝐀𝐰𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬: Prototyping AI in Live Research with Bold Insight & Panasonic Well
https://lnkd.in/gWvS8Kqb
Hosted by: Erin May 🎙️ and Ben Wiedmaier, Ph.D.
Guest speakers: Larry Becker, Gavin Lew & Katie Johnson

🎥 𝐔𝐗𝐑 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: The Lowdown on the State of UX Research ft. Dr Nick Fine
https://lnkd.in/gnNRg-WR
Hosted by: Dale Harvey H
Guest speaker: Dr Nick Fine

🎥 𝐔𝐗 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐆𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬: Why Do User Personas Fail? And What to Use Instead
https://lnkd.in/gnE5K47J
Hosted by: Tina Ličková
Guest speaker: ✨ Jennifer Blatz

🎥 𝐔𝐗 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧: Vanessa Wiegel, Motional
https://lnkd.in/ge-BH74g
Hosted by: Henrik Mattsson
Guest speaker: Vanessa Wiegel

🎥 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Off My Bookshelf: Joe Natoli (Part 1) & (Part 2)
Part 1: https://lnkd.in/gasNePcA
Part 2: https://lnkd.in/g7JgZrFm
Hosted by: Julian Della Mattia
Guest speaker: Joe Natoli

🎥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭: Lessons from the Only Researcher in the Room | Alaine Burns Laycock (Dext)
https://lnkd.in/gusXehZE
Hosted by: Nikki Anderson
Guest speaker: Alaine B. 

🎥 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐳𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐳: How Can You Bridge the Gaps in Your UX Knowledge?
https://lnkd.in/gvEFDpkJ
Hosted by: ✨ Jennifer Blatz
Guest speaker: Odette Jansen

🎥 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐔𝐗: Aryn Korpalski - Keeping Research Human
https://lnkd.in/gXz_Kx79
Hosted by: Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦
Guest speaker: Aryn Korpalski

Maybe you've been there.
AI gives you the perfect answer. 
A stat so good you want to high-five your computer screen.

That was me in a recent AI interaction. 
Claude told me Wells Fargo increased mobile adoption by 30% using a simple teller question. 
😮 WOW~ Now that is a stat.
I was ready to use it in my presentation.
Then I tried to verify it.
Guess what? Total bullshit. Made up. Fabricated. Not real.

Want to see more about this story?
I cover this and so much more on the next issue of the #BlatzChatz newsletter which drops on Nov 25.

Make sure you are signed up so you see more ranting, and not raving from me. ha ha

https://lnkd.in/gGbtP6MC

Picture: clearly I was not happy with the AI results.

Am I the only person NOT playing games on LinkedIn?
😦 
To me, this is supposed to be a professional platform.
Why would I come here to play games?
I have enough distractions in my life....
And LinkedIn is a big one.

I really wish companies would stop trying to "get more engagement" and focus on providing real value. 
Sigh....

👉🏼 What do you think?

🔥 My Hot take: 
You don’t need a team of direct reports to make a big impact in your UX career.

Somewhere along the way, “career growth” became synonymous with “people management.” 
And for a lot of us, especially those of us who’ve been in the field a while, that can feel discouraging. 
There are days I feel like younger UX pros zoom past me because they’re chasing (or handed) leadership titles.

But here’s the truth:
 👉 ICs are the engine of UX
 👉 ICs shape the craft
 👉 ICs influence decisions every day...
 👉 often more directly than managers

If you love: 
 • Solving problems
 • Mentoring informally
 • Driving strategy
 • Being the strong voice in the room… 

Congratulations!
You are a leader. 
You don’t need a manager title for that.
Success isn’t a ladder. 
It’s a journey through a garden. 
There is more than one path.

 💬 Question:
 What’s one advantage you’ve found in staying (or returning to) an IC role?
Let me know in a comment.

Raise your hand if you are sick of....
 • Black Friday deals
 • Cyber Monday deals
 • Pushes toward capitalism and spending money

Statistics are mixed, but a large percentage of Americans (anywhere from 24-60%) are living paycheck to paycheck. 

What this means is, the last thing we need to be doing is encouraging folks to:
SPEND MORE MONEY! 

Instead of buying a bunch of gifts for people that they probably do not really want, how can you invest time and effort into:
 • Building relationships
 • Living in the moment
 • Creating memorable experiences
 • Nurturing yourself
 • Supporting others
 • Developing skills for that next opportunity

???

Am I completely out of line here?
What do you think?

I once worked for a product owner who promised a feature.
I did some research and learned that users actually did NOT want that feature.
They were ANGRY at the idea. 

Stop launching things users actively told you not to build.

Have you ever seen a product launch that should not have been?

#RealDeal

Are you seeing more "UX/UI Designer" job postings lately?
You're not imagining it. The industry IS contracting. 📉

Jim Kalbach and I had a brutally honest conversation about what's happening to UX:
→ Companies want UI skills over strategy 
→ Teams skip exploration and jump to "the solution" 
→ Growth opportunities get missed in the name of velocity

But here's the thing: this shift might be costing companies MORE than they realize.
New BlatzChatz video dropped today:
😦 "Do We Really Need UX Designers?"
 
If you work in product, you need to watch this one:
https://lnkd.in/gPZi2sT7

I am so honored to be part of such a prestigious lineup.

The 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺 begins 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄! This is your chance to network and celebrate with the global DesignOps community all on one virtual platform - the perfect way to round off 2025! https://lnkd.in/ebyZ3K4f

This online event is a curated selection of standout sessions from our Design Operations in-person events, featuring leaders redefining how Strategy, Systems, and Scale come together to ensure design becomes a transformative business force. Your ticket also includes the co-located Festival of Creative Ops on the same day!

You'll hear from DesignOps Leader Jose Coronado, Briana Thomas, Kim Marchant (J.P. Morgan), Patrizia Bertini, Marcie Quintana (Instagram), Ryan Scott (Accelerate Design), Adam Fry-Pierce (Google), ✨ Jennifer Blatz (Boeing Employee Credit Union) and Nina Jurcic 🕊️ (Zalando).

The conference runs from 𝟭𝟬:𝟯𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝘁𝗼 𝟮:𝟯𝟬 𝗣𝗠 𝗘𝗦𝗧, and all registrants will have access to session recordings after the live event.

We hope to see you (virtually!) tomorrow, December 4! Register now: https://lnkd.in/e6sAxJpg

#DesignOps #designoperations #foco #festivalofcreativeoperations #creativeops #festivalofcreativeops #DesignOpsSymposium #DesignOperationsSymposium

Nope.
Sorry LinkedIn.
I am not falling for this.

I do not care who is "excelling" at your reindeer games.
Instead of chasing vanity metrics, why don't you improve core features?
Just a thought....

👇🏼 
What feature to you wish LinkedIn would fix instead of pushing people to play their games?

Have you ever seen UX research ignored? 
Why does this happen???

Research showing users hate your new feature isn't 'interesting data to consider.' It's a red flag the size of Texas. 

And for those who don't know, Texas is BIG.

What can we do when research is ignored?

When it comes to product development...
you have a choice.

"We don't have time for proper handoffs" means you have time to build everything twice when developers guess wrong. 
Pick your timeline disaster.

You know the phrase: "Measure twice, cut once."
That exists for a reason.

Share your "hand-off disaster" in a comment. 

#RealDeal

Promotions
Job growth
Career projection

Do juniors really know what it takes to advance in their career? 

Junior designers asking, 'how do I get to senior level': Stop redesigning apps that work fine. Start fixing broken experiences that actually frustrate real users.

What do you think it the best way to advance in a UX career? 

#RealDeal

Don't get me started on personas.
Especially with catchy names.
Especially when they are completely fake.

👉🏼 You know if you are guilty of this.

Your user persona named 'Busy Bob' with a stock photo and three bullet points isn't research. It's guessing and role-playing. 

Change my mind:
Tell me that personas are valuable, even if they are proto personas. 

#RealDeal

Who has heard this?
🫠 
Image description: president Trump ignoring the chaos behind him. Trump's caption reads: "Leadership: Let's Add AI." The people tending to the man who has collapsed, which represents chaos and the serious issue, reads: "Product on fire."

👉 Your job is to reduce the emotional load of making the decision.

UX Leader @ JPMorgan Chase | UX Leadership Coach | Helping experienced UXers “unstuck” their careers | 7,800+ UX leaders-in-progress read my newsletter

Last week a senior UXer told me something that stuck.

She said, “I present my work, everyone nods… and then they go do something else.”

No disagreement.
No conflict.
Just… polite approval that leads nowhere.

👉 Polite approval is a bigger obstacle than pushback.

Pushback gives you something to work with.
Politeness hides the real tension-- 
people don’t see why your work changes THEIR reality.

Influence starts when you stop treating "agreement" as "alignment".

When I coach UXers through this, we zoom in on 1 thing:
how well they’ve named the PRESSURE the team is operating under.

Not the UX problem. The PRESSURE.

Capacity, deadlines, politics, risk tolerance, ownership confusion?

If you don’t name it, your work sits "on top" of the conversation instead of "inside" it.

That gap is where influence collapses.

This is the part I wish someone told me years ago:
your job isn’t to get people "excited" about your design.

👉 Your job is to reduce the emotional load of making the decision.

Once you do that, the room stops nodding and starts moving.

P.S. Have you noticed a version of "polite approval leading nowhere" in your own team? Comment it below.

I don't want to throw my developer friends under the bus.
But sometimes you have to be real.

'Technical limitations' is often code for 'our engineers don't want to do the hard work.' 

Have you ever encoutnered this?
Share with us! 

#RealDeal

Another powerful post from Marina. 
Let this sink in….

Nobody's keeping score FOR you.
Which means if you're not creating your own highlight reel, you won't have one.

UX Leader @ JPMorgan Chase | UX Leadership Coach | Helping experienced UXers break through career plateaus | 7,500+ newsletter readers

🤦🏻‍♀️ I just watched a Director explain why they didn't promote someone.

"They're great. Really great. But I can't point to anything that would break if they left."

Ouch.

Here's the thing:
Your manager isn't tracking your wins.
Your skip isn't either.
Nobody's keeping score FOR you.

They're all busy with their own metrics, their own problems, their own office politics.

Which means if you're not creating your own highlight reel, you won't have one.

And I don't mean the LinkedIn posts where you say "I shipped a feature."

I mean the internal list that shows ↴
- What almost broke that didn't (because of you)
- Which big decision got fixed (by your idea)
- What everyone does now (that you started)

The designers moving up to VP aren't always the best designers. They're the ones who made it EXPENSIVE TO IGNORE THEM.

And not by bragging.
By keeping PROOF.

When your Director is in a meeting about promotions and someone asks "are they ready?" → they'll need examples.

Real moments.
Specific saves.
Clear impact.

Without proof → You're "great, but..."
With proof → You're "obviously ready, we should've done this months ago."

The difference isn't your work but how you TRACK it.

Most designers keep a list of what they've made.
What you need is proof of what CHANGED because of it.

Because when promotion time comes, your Director isn't defending your skills.

They're defending THEIR budget decision.
They need to walk into a room and say ↴
"Here's what broke before they touched it.
Here's what works now.
Here's the money we saved.
Here's the crisis we avoided."

Without that → you're a "maybe".
With it → you're a no-brainer.

👉 That's exactly what my "Brag Sheet System" does (link in the comments)

It captures the changes, the saves, the money, the crises avoided.

So when promotion time comes, you hand your Director the defense they need for YOUR promotion.

#UXCareer #DesignLeadership #CareerGrowth

I really, really hate vanity metrics.
Don't you?
Even the design team can be guilty of crap metrics.

Your design team's quarterly OKRs about 'increasing design maturity' are meaningless vanity metrics.

I am looking at you, NPS.
What are you least favorite metrics?

#RealDeal

Do you know what I love about making videos for BlatzChatz (Youtube)?
❌ It's not that I want to be on camera – I hate it.
❌ It's not because I have some grand wisdom to share – you know better.

😎 It's because I use Descript for my video editing. And it makes it SO MUCH easier. 

I am a life long Adobe fan. I've been using it since I was like 2 years old – 85 years ago. 😝
But whew, their editing tools feel really clunky and complicated. 
As with any Adobe tool, you actually only need / use like 15% of it.
🙌

If you want to try out Descript for yourself, and give me a little kickback, feel free to use my affiliate link to check it out:

https://lnkd.in/gb3enEjh

🩵  The best part is you get 50% off the first couple of months.

PS. Clearly, from this picture, I need to do a bit more work in my video editing. 
 • Remove that second chin
 • Fix that wonky loop of hair
 • Shave off about 25 pounds
ha ha

Confucius also said:
 “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”

Talent Futurist + Transformation Leader + Experience Designer + Brand Builder + Keynote Speaker + TA / HR Tech Strategic Advisor

There is a moment no one warns you about. Not the job loss moment. The identity moment. The moment you watch AI do in seconds what you spent years becoming great at. The thing you practiced, refined, repeated, and tied your sense of worth to.

That is the death of mastery. And it is arriving everywhere.

Mastery has been the backbone of human identity for as long as we have recorded thought. Psychologists call it competence motivation. Neuroscientists point to the dopamine loops that fire when we solve something difficult. Surveys show more than eighty percent of workers say feeling capable is central to their self worth. And yet, AI now writes code with fewer bugs than human engineers in benchmark tests. It passes the bar exam in the top ten percent. It summarizes research faster than analysts. It spots early cancers in scans that human radiologists miss. These are not small things. These are identity level things.

This is not just automation. It is identity displacement.

Here is the truth people whisper but rarely say out loud. The deeper fear is not job loss. It is losing the piece of yourself built through struggle, repetition, and the long climb toward becoming “the one who knows.”

Ancient wisdom already understood this vulnerability. Buddhist teachers often remind us that attachment is the root of suffering. Confucius said, “The man who knows his limitations becomes strong.” Both point to the same idea. You are not your skill. You are the awareness behind it. That is the part AI cannot touch.

So if AI outperforms you at the task, what happens next? Humans will need a new definition of mastery. One that is not defined by speed, precision, or recall. Machines will always win there. McKinsey already predicts that up to seventy percent of tasks inside knowledge work have significant automation potential.

But tasks were never the real source of mastery. The real mastery is judgment. Imagination. Taste. Discernment. Emotional intelligence. Curiosity. The ability to direct AI, elevate its output, and choose which answers matter. The machine produces the work. The human gives it meaning. This is the shift from performer to architect. From executor to shaper. From knower to teacher.

Confucius also said, “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” That is not humility. That is the foundation of mastery in the AI era.
Because the question is no longer “Will AI be better than you at the thing you are good at.” It will.

The real question is: Who do you become when mastery shifts from what you do to how you think? That is where the next chapter begins.

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