What's Your Work Fit?

Dan Smolen
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One Career Doesn't Fit All.

  1. 4d ago

    Who Needs College Anymore? With Kathleen deLaski

    Is a college degree still the ticket to a successful career—or are we preparing young people for a world of work that no longer exists? For generations, the message was simple: Go to college, earn your degree, get a good job, and build a successful life. But that bargain is changing. College costs have soared, employers are questioning traditional credentials, and AI is transforming the skills people need to succeed. So, who really needs college anymore? On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, host Dan Smolen welcomes Kathleen deLaski, education futurist, social entrepreneur, and author of Who Needs College Anymore? Imagining a Future Where Degrees Don’t Matter. Together, they challenge some deeply held assumptions about education, hiring, and career success. In this provocative conversation, Dan and Kathleen explore: The great skills-based hiring contradiction: Why employers say skills matter more than degrees but continue using academic credentials to screen job candidates. The rise of the “Bot Boss”: Why managing AI agents, exercising judgment, and thinking critically may become essential career skills. Experience as the new degree: How apprenticeships, cooperative education, certifications, and hands-on learning can prepare people for meaningful careers. The end of college for all? Why career and technical education is gaining momentum as students seek alternatives to expensive four-year degrees. The overlooked opportunity in skilled trades: How careers in construction, healthcare, and other technical fields can offer financial independence and advancement without traditional college pathways. Reinventing higher education: Why colleges must rethink how they deliver value to students and employers. Kathleen also shares a powerful insight for anyone navigating today’s uncertain job market: “Watch what employers do, not what they say.” And when Dan asks Kathleen his signature question—What’s Your Work Fit?—her answer reveals why the freedom to create meaningful things matters more than any professional title. This isn’t a conversation about abandoning college. It’s about expanding opportunity, recognizing talent wherever it develops, and helping people find pathways to work that fits their abilities, aspirations, and lives. Because the future of work shouldn’t be defined by the degree you hold, but by what you’re capable of doing—and who you want to become. Listen now, and consider: If you were starting your career today, would you still choose the same educational path? What’s Your Work Fit? explores the forces reshaping work, workplaces, careers, and personal agency—helping you make work a wonderful part of your day, not the all-consuming time-suck of it. Subscribe to the audio podcast, follow What’s Your Work Fit? on LinkedIn, and watch our conversations on YouTube. For more insights and commentary, visit our Substack. Kathleen deLaski on LinkedIn Book Page

  2. Oct 23

    Can AI Be a Launchpad for Better Work?

    What if AI’s greatest promise isn’t helping us do more work, but helping us create better work? On this milestone 300th episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen welcomes three innovators challenging conventional thinking about AI and the workplace: Emelie Hagander and Carl Hagander, co-founders of Axiom HQ and developers of AI-powered workplace solutions. Doug Gregory, work futurist focused on helping human and artificial intelligence work together to create better organizations. Together, they explore a provocative question: Can AI be a launchpad for better work? Their answer goes far beyond productivity. Doug challenges organizations to stop bolting new technologies onto outdated workplace models and start reinventing work from the ground up. Carl raises a fascinating question about employee agency: If you build an AI agent at work, should you be able to take its capabilities with you when you change jobs? Emelie explains why effective AI needs more than information. It needs context, managed memory, and the ability to recognize when yesterday’s assumptions no longer apply. The conversation also explores the dangers of AI-generated information overload, the importance of protecting proprietary data, and how intelligent systems can help people focus on what matters instead of managing endless tasks. The central takeaway? AI shouldn’t simply make broken work faster. It should help us make work better. Listen in to this conversation with Dan, Emelie, Carl, and Doug for a lively, thought-provoking exploration of Agentic AI, employee agency, and the future of meaningful work. What’s Your Work Fit? explores how career professionals can make work a wonderful part of their day while doing other wonderful things. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work. Our best days lie ahead.

  3. Oct 16

    How Can We Make Work Work? | BCG’s Deborah Lovich

    What if the biggest obstacle to workplace success isn’t technology, talent, or productivity—but how employers treat their people? On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, Boston Consulting Group’s Deborah Lovich, author of Make Work Work: The 5 Daily Practices of the Employee-Centric Leader, challenges some of the most deeply entrenched assumptions about modern work. And she doesn’t pull punches. “Nothing says I don’t trust an employee like a return-to-office mandate.” From rigid RTO policies and employee surveillance to the rush toward Agentic AI, Deborah argues that too many organizations are managing people as costs rather than valuing them as essential stakeholders. The consequences? Disengagement, distrust, and missed opportunities for innovation. In this provocative conversation, we explore: Why AI initiatives focused solely on productivity may be dead on arrival. Why employee-centric organizations are seven times as likely to be AI-mature. How return-to-office mandates can undermine employee trust. Why managers were never adequately prepared to make hybrid work successful. Why measuring hours and badge swipes misses what really drives performance. Why workplace perks can’t compensate for bad leadership. How making work better for employees can deliver measurable business results. Deborah shares research indicating that employees who enjoy their work can sell 25% more per hour—a compelling reminder that employee experience isn’t simply a feel-good initiative. It’s a business imperative. Joining the discussion are What’s Your Work Fit? executive producer and host Dan Smolen and co-hosts Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, and Fran Saele, Managing Principal of MorteVita. The big takeaway: Making work work isn’t about getting more out of people. It’s about creating the conditions that allow people to do their best work. Listen now and consider: Is your organization truly employee-centric—or does it just claim to be? What’s Your Work Fit? explores how career professionals can make work a wonderful part of their day while doing other wonderful things. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work. Our best days lie ahead. LinkedIn Book Page

  4. Oct 9

    Who Am I If My Title Goes Away?

    Professional identity has been closely tied to job titles. But what happens when the title changes—or disappears altogether? On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, returning guest Sarabeth Berk Bickerton, Ph.D., joins host Dan Smolen for a provocative conversation about professional identity, career belonging, and why the traditional career ladder may no longer make sense. Sarabeth argues that we are not our job titles—and never have been. A layoff, career pivot, reorganization, or changing workplace may take away a role, but it doesn’t erase the skills, experiences, perspectives, and value that make up our professional identity. The conversation explores: Why professional identity goes far beyond a job title What we lose psychologically when a job disappears Why the career ladder is giving way to a “constellation of activities and experiences” The difference between career fit and career belonging Why being seen, known, and valued may matter more than asking, “Where is my career going?” How AI and hiring systems struggle to recognize unconventional professional identities Why career reinvention is increasingly “a feature, not a bug” What work humans should continue to uniquely own in an AI-powered workplace Sarabeth leaves us with a different way to think about career development. Instead of defining ourselves by the next title or rung on the ladder, perhaps the better question is: What am I being seen, known, and valued for? And if your title disappeared tomorrow, who would you be? Listen to this episode of What’s Your Work Fit? and discover why your professional identity may be far more durable—and valuable—than any title an employer gives you. What’s Your Work Fit? explores how career professionals can make work a wonderful part of their day while doing other wonderful things. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work. Our best days lie ahead. Website Substack Book Page

  5. Oct 2

    Is Perfection Keeping Me From Work Fit?

    What if the drive to get everything exactly right is actually getting in the way of doing your best work? Charles Glassman, MD returns to What’s Your Work Fit? for a conversation about perfectionism, fear, psychological safety, vulnerability, and discernment that can influence how we respond to pressure at work. Charlie explains why perfectionism isn’t always a strength. It can become a fight-or-flight response—what he calls the Automatic Brain—driving us to overwork, procrastinate, avoid discomfort, or obsess over outcomes we cannot completely control. His distinction is simple and powerful: being the best is largely outside our control. Doing our best is always possible. Joining Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen in the conversation is co-host Marian Anderson; she brings a workplace and HR perspective to the discussion. Together, they explore how our past experiences follow us into the workplace, why psychological safety shouldn’t mean eliminating all discomfort, and why our brains can confuse what is possible with what is probable. We also turn to the future of work. As AI takes on more tasks, discernment—the human ability to reflect, question, and determine what is true—may become increasingly important. And Charlie makes the case for something we don’t always associate with workplace success: humility and vulnerability. In this episode: Why perfectionism can become self-sabotage How the automatic brain shapes workplace behavior Why employees don’t arrive at work as blank slates Psychological safety versus avoiding discomfort The difference between possibility and probability Why vulnerability can be an asset The growing importance of discernment in an AI-enabled workplace Why Charlie defines his own Work Fit through connection What’s Your Work Fit? explores how career professionals can make work a wonderful part of their day while doing other wonderful things. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work. Our best days lie ahead. Charles Glassman MD Website Charles Glassman MD Substack Book Page

  6. Sep 25

    What Should the Modern Workplace Be Designed For?

    The modern workplace has undergone enormous change. But are we still designing offices around an outdated idea of what people actually need when they come together? MillerKnoll’s Ryan Anderson returns to What’s Your Work Fit? to answer our lead question: What should the modern workplace be designed for? His answer is one word: interaction. Ryan argues that many activities offices were once designed to support—meetings, training, collaboration and individual work—have migrated to our laptops. That means the workplace needs a different purpose: creating the human interactions, relationships and sense of belonging that are harder to replicate digitally. We explore what that means for workplace leaders, including why badge swipes reveal little about what actually happens inside an office, how workplaces can foster stronger team connections, and why organizations should think about “reattachment to office” rather than simply Return to Office. The conversation also turns to AI. Ryan explains why agentic AI could make human connection even more important as people increasingly work alongside intelligent agents—and why organizations should be wary of creating workforces where people feel like isolated freelancers interacting with AI all day. And Fran Saele brings the discussion to employee health and well-being: could thoughtfully designed workplaces help people feel better during their workday? Ryan describes opportunities ranging from respite and inclusive spaces to childcare and other practical resources—and argues that organizations must communicate the intent behind these investments. Joining Ryan are What’s Your Work Fit? Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen and co-hosts Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, and Fran Saele, Managing Principal of MorteVita. In this episode: What the modern workplace should actually be designed for Why interaction is replacing activity as a workplace-design priority Why measuring attendance isn’t the same as measuring workplace success Return to Office versus “Reattachment to Office” Why AI may increase the importance of human connection How agentic AI could affect workplace relationships The role of mentoring, belonging and relationship-building How workplace design can better support employee health and well-being The bigger question: If we no longer need an office simply to get our work done, what should make the workplace worth going to? Subscribe to What’s Your Work Fit? wherever you listen to podcasts. MillerKnoll Insight Page MillerKnoll About Place Podcast

  7. Sep 11

    Who Owns My Workplace AI? With Nirit Cohen

    Future-of-work strategist Nirit Cohen returns to What’s Your Work Fit? to explore a provocative question: Who owns my workplace AI? We discuss whether employers can own how AI learns the way we think, who benefits from AI-created productive capacity, who owns the time AI gives us back, and what greater human agency could mean for the future of work.

  8. Apr 10

    Are Livable Communities the Result of Work Fit?

    What if where you live, work, and connect wasn’t fragmented—but intentionally designed to work together? In this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, host Dan Smolen is joined by returning guest Chris Moeller, Founder of PathwayCommunities, alongside show Co-Hosts Mark Gilbreath (CEO of LiquidSpace) and Fran Saele (Managing Principal, MorteVita). Together, they explore a bold idea: livable communities as infrastructure for stability—not just housing. From factory-built homes to resilient microgrid-powered neighborhoods, Chris shares how his team is rethinking housing to better support civil servants like nurses, firefighters, and first responders—people increasingly priced out of the communities they serve. Key Themes & Takeaways 1. Work, Life, and Place Are Converging The traditional separation between where we live and where we work is collapsing. Livable communities are emerging as integrated ecosystems where people can live, work, and connect—all within proximity. 2. Housing as Infrastructure (Not Just Shelter) Chris reframes housing as a stabilizing force—critical to economic mobility, community resilience, and workforce sustainability. 3. The “Missing Middle” Housing Opportunity Hudson Commons introduces a range of smaller, attainable housing options (500–1,200 sq ft) designed for: Single professionals Civil servants First-time homeowners This “missing middle” fills a major gap between single-family homes and large apartment complexes. 4. Factory-Built, High-Performance Homes Fully assembled modular homes delivered in weeks Reduced labor constraints and weather delays Energy-efficient designs with lower operating costs Example: ~1,200 sq ft home priced under $300K with low annual energy costs 5. The Commons: Designed for Human Connection Instead of isolating residents, the community includes shared spaces such as: Community kitchens Co-working hubs Fire pits and gathering areas Short-term guest accommodations These spaces are designed for daily use—not just amenities. 6. From Sustainability → Resilience The conversation shifts from “green living” to resilient living, inspired by disaster recovery lessons: Microgrids powered by renewables On-site emergency resources Built-in disaster response capabilities Resilience isn’t theoretical—it’s operational. 7. Affordability Anchored to Real Incomes The model is built around a critical principle: Housing costs should not exceed ~25% of income This ensures long-term financial stability for residents. 8. Rebuilding Community for Essential Workers Today, many nurses, firefighters, and police officers commute long distances. This model brings them back into the communities they serve—strengthening both quality of life and civic resilience. 9. A New Housing Lifecycle Model Pathway Communities envisions housing as: An on-ramp for early-career workers (ages ~20–30) A stability platform for saving and wealth-building A stepping stone toward long-term homeownership Standout Insight “We don’t look at this as an amenity… we look at it as infrastructure.” This shift—from lifestyle perk to essential system—may redefine how communities are built moving forward. Why This Episode Matters As housing affordability, remote work, and community fragmentation collide, this episode offers a practical and scalable vision for rebuilding connection, stability, and opportuniy. This isn’t about amenities. It’s about designing communities that actually work—for the people who keep them running. Listen & Subscribe Follow What’s Your Work Fit? on: LinkedIn Live YouTube What’s Your Work Fit? on Substack

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About

One Career Doesn't Fit All.

Information

  • Creator
    Dan Smolen
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    255
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2018-2023 The Dan Smolen Experience, LLC
  • Show Website
    What's Your Work Fit?