July 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Comments, questions? Let's connect!
The relentless march of technology has many professionals wondering will AI replace me? This fear is understandable but misplaced. While skills may become obsolete overnight, your authentic self remains irreplaceable.
What AI struggles to replicate is your intuition – that knowing that can't be explained but shouldn't be ignored. Science reveals our conscious mind processes just 40-50 bits of information per second, while our entire brain processes a staggering 11 million bits. This explains why intuition isn't mystical but practical – it's your brain processing information beyond conscious awareness. This hidden processing power is your competitive advantage in an increasingly automated world.
The concept of magnetic authenticity extends beyond simply "being yourself." It means knowing yourself so deeply that you can show up confidently and consistently in any situation – whether speaking truth to power or admitting when you're wrong. Research from 2005 confirms authentic leadership increases psychological safety, focus, and career fulfillment. When you lead from this place of authenticity, you create environments where others can thrive too.
In recruitment, the difference between AI-generated applications and genuinely personal ones is immediately apparent. Generic statements like "I'm a team player" fade into the background, while specific, authentic expressions of your unique approach make you memorable. The future belongs to those who can define what they bring that others don't, show up as their genuine selves, and use AI as a tool rather than a replacement for their judgment.
Ready to stand out? Remember: you were born for a reason. It's time to shine.
💖Love the podcast?💖
You can pay it forward by:
- Rating and Reviewing wherever you listen
- Sharing it with others!
Ready to level up your impact?
➡️Book a complimentary mini-strategy session and I'll help unpack one of your current challenges
➡️Join our Masterclass Waitlist and get practical tools to level up your impact
Let's connect!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolynne-rydz/
https://www.instagram.com/jolynnerydz/
https://www.facebook.com/brillianceinspired
I am a Confidence and Impact Coach for leaders, Organisational Development Consultant and independent Leadership Circle Profile® Certified Practitioner. Information shared about this tool is courtesy of Leadership Circle®, all rights reserved. www.leadershipcircle.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jolynne Rydz (00:00):
Imagine waking up and, overnight, your job, your
industry, your career haschanged.
This is happening.
We are in a world of rapidchange at the moment.
Change has always been aconstant, but it seems to be
getting faster and faster.
What do you think?
(00:20):
And in this world, wheretechnology can replace the tasks
that we're used to doing andsome of our skills are becoming
outdated in the blink of an eye,one thing will always remain in
demand your authenticity.
That is an essence that Ibelieve so far is very hard for
AI to replicate.
It can come close, but we canstill detect it, and I think
(00:45):
this is a really important topicto be talking about, because
there's so much fear around AIand people losing their job, and
I really want to flip that to amore empowering stance today.
So, of course, there arechallenges with things like AI
and rapid change in our world.
(01:06):
Skills are always going to comeand go, and I do truly believe
authenticity will always be indemand, because skills have
always been replaceable Thinkingabout, you know, people on a
production line and that beingslowly automated, and it
releases people human to do moreinteresting things, things that
(01:29):
we're probably better at Like,if you imagine being on a
production line doing the samething over and over again.
We do get injuries, likerepetitive strain injuries.
We're not designed to be a partin a production line.
We're so much more meaningfuland built for more meaning than
that.
I think the thing with AI isthat people can nut things out
(01:54):
and I'm not saying don't use it.
I'm just saying we've got tofind a relationship with it
where we're not coming from aplace of fear.
So what I believe AI can'treplace.
So while it can replace thingslike logic and thinking and
language, it can't really buildtrust and confidence and
(02:14):
connection yet.
And intuition, think about it.
The way it's been trained isand when I say it I mean
language model, which iscommonly referred to as AI, and
I know there's so much moredifferent kinds of artificial
intelligence than that but whenI say AI, I mean the chat GPT
(02:34):
style of AI, right?
So a lot of the way it's beentrained is through language and
logic and rational thought.
So what it can't do because ithasn't been trained with that
and it doesn't have access asfar as I'm concerned is
intuition.
You know that sudden knowingthat you know something is the
(02:57):
right choice or the right way togo or maybe not to walk down
that street.
You can't explain why, but youjust know and you trust it, and
some of us don't trust it.
We ignore it and we overthinkour brain and go there's nothing
wrong with that street and wewalk down and then something may
or may not happen who knows?
My point is that there is somuch that we don't understand
(03:19):
about our own brains and our ownbodies, and one of the things
that when I was doing mycoaching course, that they
brought to my attention and I'vesince looked it up as well is
that our conscious brain canonly process about 40 to 50 bits
of information per second, butour whole, entire brain
(03:42):
processes a massive amount.
It's around 11 million bits persecond.
So I just did the numbers onthat and the calculator kind of
like it's 0.0004.5%.
So our conscious brain isprocessing less than a percent,
(04:06):
a fraction of a percent, of whatour entire body and brain is
being able to pick up from theworld.
So that intuition is notnecessarily as airy-fairy as you
think.
It's information that ourconscious brain is unable to
process, but other parts of ourbrain can, and so what this
(04:29):
means for me is that that is sokey to us standing out and
having value in a world that'sincreasingly being meshed with
things like AI being meshed withthings like AI, and I've spoken
about this before but theamount of spend that
(04:50):
organizations make on upskillingtheir people, which is
fantastic, and I do believe,though, what we need to now
double down on is investment inhelping people to overcome their
own unique barriers thatprevent them from trusting
themselves, that prevent themfrom realizing their own unique
(05:11):
strengths, and letting thisshine out, and I am so
passionate about this because Isee it.
In every single client that Imeet, and even the clients that
don't quite come through to me,I see these patterns of behavior
where there's gold inside thatperson and they don't realize it
.
Or they don't believe it, orthey don't think they're worthy,
(05:31):
or they don't think people aregoing to accept it if they let
it out.
There's so many layers andwalls and barriers of protection
that half of us are walkingaround as shells of ourselves,
trying to fit in to a idea thatwe think other people think so.
(05:52):
It's not even a real idea,necessarily Somewhere along the
line it was but we've meshed itall together in our heads to
create this imaginary image ofwho we should be.
And in the workplace thistranslates to how we show up and
communicate and lead in theworkplace in a way that is
replicable by things like AI.
(06:13):
And so if we take off thatarmor and tap into that
intuition and the other parts ofour brain, so the subconscious
excuse me, the subconsciousbrain there's power in that.
So one of the other things thatI'm noticing in terms of what's
probably going to become anover-reliance on AI tools is
(06:37):
this need to copy right, so theneed to use AI as a security
blanket, because, well, if Iwrote it and I get criticised
for it, it's not really me, it'sAI.
Right, it's easy to blameothers, even if it's a piece of
technology, for something thatdidn't work well, and what works
(06:57):
for one person doesn't alwayswork for everyone else.
So, with all of these tools andthe way that they've been
trained at such a rapid pace, Ijust get this sense that
everything's getting homogenized, everything's getting pushed
down into this common output andthen you kind of have to
untrain it out of that, but eventhen it struggles to do it.
(07:18):
So am I anti-AI?
No, I'm not.
I'm saying use it, use it tostreamline what you do, but you
still need to own your own flairto whatever that is.
So, whether that's a speech,you're writing a report, you're
writing email that you'resending to someone I won't even
go into other things because,again, I don't want to get in
(07:39):
the rabbit hole.
That's not my rabbit hole toget into.
I don't want to get in therabbit hole, that's not my
rabbit hole to get into.
But what I do want to ask youis to think about a great leader
, someone that has inspired you,maybe, to be a great leader
yourself, and have a think aboutwhat the top three things are
that make them a great leader.
I bet you it's not somethinglike I've spent seven years as a
(08:07):
journal manager, or I'm aPowerPoint queen or whatever
that is, and I'm bringing upthese skills, because this is
what I'm seeing at the momentthat a lot of people talk to is
what skills they have, and somany people share the same
skills.
Yeah, so many people can usePowerPoint.
(08:28):
So many people can use AI.
So many people can I don't knowcommunicate with emotional
intelligence.
We have to get way more nuancedabout what it is your skills
and flair are.
So the whole idea of thisepisode is that the future
belongs to the real and that youcan amplify your career using
(08:52):
magnetic authenticity.
So magnetic authenticity isn'tjust being yourself.
It's knowing yourself so wellthat you can be confident,
consistent and compelling in anysituation, even if it's
challenging, even if it's havingto have the courage to speak up
when something matters to youand doesn't feel right, or even
(09:15):
when you need to have thathumility to listen when you're
out of your depth or you've donesomething wrong.
The future belongs to the realand you can amplify your career
using magnetic authenticity.
In 2005, there were someresearchers from Korea, taiwan
and the USA who did a study intoauthentic leadership, and what
(09:37):
they found was that authenticleadership increased things like
psychological safety.
So how safe someone feels to bethemselves, how safe it feels
to show up to work and maybe bea bit vulnerable, how safe it
feels to take that mask off thatwe all have of you know you
(09:59):
can't be emotional at work.
They also found that authenticleadership helped people to be
more focused and that peoplethat used authentic leadership
had greater career fulfillment.
So you and your career and yourleadership and your impact can
have so much more meaning whenit's coming from you, not what
(10:23):
everyone else tells you youshould do so, tell me, like, who
out there doesn't want to makea difference and pay the bills?
Like we can do both.
And I'm so passionate that ifeveryone did both those things,
rather than one or the other.
And what I mean by that isthere's a lot of people that
will take a job and they settlefor that because, yeah, it does
(10:44):
pay their mortgage, but they'renot really fulfilled.
They're just kind of coastingalong.
They might still try and do agreat job or they might just do
the bare minimum anywhere inbetween.
But the energetic drain to showup every day doing something
that you don't love is a massivecost to society.
And I don't mean that just interms of the effort it takes to
(11:08):
get you out of bed.
It's the toll that that takeson your wellbeing.
So you're more likely to besick.
You're more likely to end upwith disease.
If you're constantly in thisstate of being, somewhere where
you're not, you're literallyforcing yourself.
And before I get too technical,like, just think about it in
(11:33):
terms of muscle aches and pains,headaches, the basic things.
I'm not even talking aboutanything crazy here.
But your mental well-being,your emotional well-being and
your physical well-being are sointerrelated being your
emotional wellbeing and yourphysical wellbeing are so
interrelated and it's notsomething that I think we talk
about enough in organisations.
(11:53):
So the other end of thatspectrum is people that love
what they do but don't deservedon't believe that they deserve
to get paid for it, so they giveit away and they give it away
for free.
Or they give it away for so lowthat they can't sustain it and
they burn it away for free, orthey give it away for so low
that they can't sustain it andthey burn themselves out.
And there's some incrediblytalented people who do that and
then go back to some other jobto support themselves and get
(12:16):
disillusioned and then they stopshining that light that is very
much needed in the world.
Think of like the poor,creative type archetype here.
So I'm saying we can have bothand we get so much more energy
(12:40):
from people's passion, theireffort and that pull energy
where they pull towards whattheir purpose is, rather than
that push because you have to doit.
You have to get it done.
This is the deadline, this iswhat we're told, this is what
you're contracted to do.
So what does this all have to dowith your career in AI.
Well, recently I was doing somerecruitment for one of my
clients actually a couple of myclients and I do this for a
(13:02):
couple of reasons.
One, some of my clients aresmaller business owners and they
need some support in terms ofhuman resources or
organizational developmentbasically anything people
related to help people to thrivein their business and one of
them is getting the right peoplein the door with the right
skills at the right time, and Ilove doing this from time to
(13:24):
time because it's such a rush toget someone who's really
passionate about an opportunityto actually match with an
organization that's going to bea great fit for them and then
watch what happens Like it's sobeautiful.
However, I've noticed a markeddifference from recruitment in
2025 versus recruitment, maybe,you know, three, four, five
(13:47):
years ago, where AI was not soprominent.
So I don't know if this isrelated, but it's likely that it
might be, given what's alive inthe world today, right, and
what I'm seeing.
So, what I'm seeing is likehundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of applications thatpeople probably did spend a lot
of time and effort doing, butthen they've hit send and sent
(14:10):
it out broadly and not actuallytailored it in any way to the
job, to what their skillset is,and it's just, if I could be
really frank boring and almostdisheartening because there's no
personality in it and often youcan tell that someone's done a
(14:30):
chat GPT.
I mean, some people haveaccidentally left the you know
little.
Oh, are you happy with thisLike copy and paste bit in there
?
So, in amongst that, how canyou possibly stand out if you
haven't put your own personalflair onto it and you've only
relied on AI?
So the future truly belongs tothe real and you can amplify
(14:54):
your career using magneticauthenticity.
So how do you do that Like?
How do you stand out, whetheryou're job hunting for your next
opportunity or whether you'rein your current role and you
just want to shine so that whenthat next opportunity comes,
your name is front of mind?
The first one is to show up asyou Like.
(15:16):
Honestly, that sounds so simple, but really when was the last
time that you showed up as youquirks and all, and for some
people, yes, the environmentmight not be safe to do that,
but if it is, give it a go andcheck.
Is it safe?
But you just are scared it'snot, because that might be a
case.
You can do some little tests.
(15:37):
So, especially when you'reapplying for a job or you're
going for that next opportunityor you just want people to see
your value, the only way to getnoticed is to not be that common
person who says I've got greatcommunication skills, I can use
computers, I can, I'm a teamplayer.
(15:58):
Right, a lot of people can dothat.
How is that different?
So, as an example, I am a teamplayer, but how I language, that
is very different.
So when I was in high school, Iwas part of a symphonic band.
I think some of you might'veheard this story.
(16:18):
So, yes, the band nerd.
Yes, but what that taught me?
Because when you're in a groupmusical setting, if you just
shine all the time and be thesolo star in a group, you make
everyone else sound bad and themusic and the experience for the
audience is just ugh, right,yeah.
(16:39):
But if you're a true teamplayer, you know when to shine
and that's your time to bringyour unique, like timber to the
sound out and your talent, andyou know when to pair it back so
that someone else can shine.
So that is how I describe myability to be a team player.
(17:00):
It's that knowing of exactlywhen I step up and someone else
needs to step up, and how do Iempower them to do that?
So when you stand out, there isa risk that you will put people
off, but my question is are theythe people that you actually
want to put off?
And you've saved yourself from,you know, a couple of years of
(17:21):
slogging it out to feel like youhave done your time in that
role and given it its dues.
Could you have saved yourselfthat if you actually turned some
people off on purpose?
Because when you show up as youand you don't have those
inhibitions and you've got to doit within reason, obviously
people will love you andremember you.
(17:43):
The right people will.
So one story that comes to mindis I was doing some recruitment
during COVID for a role whichwas basically a data analyst
role.
So usually a lot of applicantsin this area are very structured
people because you've got to befor the job.
Yeah, very structured, verytask focused.
Usually a little bit lesspersonality comes through.
(18:04):
Naturally for these people andI'm generalizing here, I know,
but I'm trying to paint thepicture so you can imagine the
kind of candidates we wereinterviewing and seeing meet us
across the table and this onecandidate told us how they'd
invented the COVID foot shakeand we're like, what is the
COVID foot shake Right?
So we obviously at this pointweren't allowed to shake hands
(18:26):
or it was a taboo.
So you stick out your foot andthe other person sticks out your
foot and you kind of likejiggle the feet together.
It's hard to explain itverbally but I hope it paints
the picture that it's.
It was funny like that.
He did that and it's somethingthat I think I will always
remember.
So when you're looking athundreds, tens, hundreds of
(18:51):
different people for a role,like standing out is really
important.
So the next way that you canuse magnetic authenticity to
amplify your career is to definewhat's the number one thing
that you bring that others don't.
Everyone's going to say ontheir application I'm a great
leader, I have excellentleadership skills.
(19:14):
How can you define the numberone thing that you do that
others actually can't or findvery difficult to do and let
that shine?
And sometimes finding out whatthat thing is does take a lot of
effort, and that's why it'ssomething that I do spend a lot
of time with with my clients isand I've got tools to do that
(19:36):
because you don't always knowwhat that is and sometimes you
need other people to tell you.
But once you find what thatthing is, it's pretty magical,
and when you start gettingfeedback on that, that's when
you know it's happening.
So I've, as an example, often mywhole life had people just open
(19:58):
up to me.
Even strangers, within 10, 20seconds of meeting me, will tell
them their deepest hurts andfeelings and challenges.
And that's why I think I'mprobably was meant to be a coach
, because I can create that safespace for people to share so
easily and naturally.
And I think I do that because Ican just be myself in that
(20:23):
moment.
Sometimes I sometimes I'm shy,sometimes I'm really out there,
sometimes I'm really open aboutwhat's challenging for me.
And so more and more recently,and even after this podcast,
like so many people are usingthe word oh, you're so authentic
, like just so real, and sothat's feedback to me that this
(20:43):
piece that I've picked out, thatI think I do well, is starting
to shine and other people areseeing it and feeding it back to
me.
So that's how you know thatthat is one of the things that
you're good at, and if you'renot open to this feedback,
sometimes you will dismiss thesemessages and not get there.
So that is why sometimes somepeople do need some guidance
(21:05):
along the way to actually openup the doors so you can see this
kind of feedback coming in.
It's like putting on yourglasses but cleaning them so
they're not so foggy and so youcan actually see what other
people are seeing.
And then the third thing toamplify your career using
magnetic authenticity is to useAI really smartly.
(21:27):
Use it as a starting point andthen trust your own flair,
because what I'm concerned withis that people, more and more,
are relying on AI for thingsthat they know, things that
maybe big decisions, and they'retrying to use that as a
validation.
And I think the more we sort ofdo this, the more we're going
(21:50):
to start to over-rely on it.
A simple example is let's say,you're at a pub with your
friends and someone says, hey,what's the name of that movie
where such and such actor is inspace and they have to dive down
and they've got to hold theirbreath for a long time, like,
(22:10):
and they've got to push thebutton and they they sacrifice
themselves for their daughter,like, what's the name of that
movie?
And everyone will sit theregoing oh, it's just right on the
tip of my tongue and Iguarantee you in 99.9% of cases,
someone is going to pull outtheir phone and say let's Google
it.
Why?
Because we're uncomfortablesitting in with that discomfort
(22:32):
of not knowing.
And so how this relates to AIis that AI kind of feeds this,
this instant answer or instantpossibility of how we could
answer something instantly.
So it's so quick that we aregoing to find it harder and
harder and harder to sit withthis discomfort of not knowing
or sit with this discomfort oftrying something out and testing
(22:55):
how it feels and is it theright thing, unless we're really
intentional about it?
So I hope you kind of aregetting the point here that I
hope you kind of are getting thepoint here that you know the
only thing that is going to makeyou replaceable is complacency
and over-reliance on AI.
So if you just let yourselfshine, there is always going to
(23:18):
be new and better ways that youcan grow and have an impact and
find what lights you up and godo that.
So, on that note, go do thatand remember you were born for a
reason.
It's time to shine.
Imagine waking up and, overnight, your job, your
industry, your career haschanged.
This is happening.
We are in a world of rapidchange at the moment.
Change has always been aconstant, but it seems to be
getting faster and faster.
What do you think?
(00:20):
And in this world, wheretechnology can replace the tasks
that we're used to doing andsome of our skills are becoming
outdated in the blink of an eye,one thing will always remain in
demand your authenticity.
That is an essence that Ibelieve so far is very hard for
AI to replicate.
It can come close, but we canstill detect it, and I think
(00:45):
this is a really important topicto be talking about, because
there's so much fear around AIand people losing their job, and
I really want to flip that to amore empowering stance today.
So, of course, there arechallenges with things like AI
and rapid change in our world.
(01:06):
Skills are always going to comeand go, and I do truly believe
authenticity will always be indemand, because skills have
always been replaceable Thinkingabout, you know, people on a
production line and that beingslowly automated, and it
releases people human to do moreinteresting things, things that
(01:29):
we're probably better at Like,if you imagine being on a
production line doing the samething over and over again.
We do get injuries, likerepetitive strain injuries.
We're not designed to be a partin a production line.
We're so much more meaningfuland built for more meaning than
that.
I think the thing with AI isthat people can nut things out
(01:54):
and I'm not saying don't use it.
I'm just saying we've got tofind a relationship with it
where we're not coming from aplace of fear.
So what I believe AI can'treplace.
So while it can replace thingslike logic and thinking and
language, it can't really buildtrust and confidence and
(02:14):
connection yet.
And intuition, think about it.
The way it's been trained isand when I say it I mean
language model, which iscommonly referred to as AI, and
I know there's so much moredifferent kinds of artificial
intelligence than that but whenI say AI, I mean the chat GPT
(02:34):
style of AI, right?
So a lot of the way it's beentrained is through language and
logic and rational thought.
So what it can't do because ithasn't been trained with that
and it doesn't have access asfar as I'm concerned is
intuition.
You know that sudden knowingthat you know something is the
(02:57):
right choice or the right way togo or maybe not to walk down
that street.
You can't explain why, but youjust know and you trust it, and
some of us don't trust it.
We ignore it and we overthinkour brain and go there's nothing
wrong with that street and wewalk down and then something may
or may not happen who knows?
My point is that there is somuch that we don't understand
(03:19):
about our own brains and our ownbodies, and one of the things
that when I was doing mycoaching course, that they
brought to my attention and I'vesince looked it up as well is
that our conscious brain canonly process about 40 to 50 bits
of information per second, butour whole, entire brain
(03:42):
processes a massive amount.
It's around 11 million bits persecond.
So I just did the numbers onthat and the calculator kind of
like it's 0.0004.5%.
So our conscious brain isprocessing less than a percent,
(04:06):
a fraction of a percent, of whatour entire body and brain is
being able to pick up from theworld.
So that intuition is notnecessarily as airy-fairy as you
think.
It's information that ourconscious brain is unable to
process, but other parts of ourbrain can, and so what this
(04:29):
means for me is that that is sokey to us standing out and
having value in a world that'sincreasingly being meshed with
things like AI being meshed withthings like AI, and I've spoken
about this before but theamount of spend that
(04:50):
organizations make on upskillingtheir people, which is
fantastic, and I do believe,though, what we need to now
double down on is investment inhelping people to overcome their
own unique barriers thatprevent them from trusting
themselves, that prevent themfrom realizing their own unique
(05:11):
strengths, and letting thisshine out, and I am so
passionate about this because Isee it.
In every single client that Imeet, and even the clients that
don't quite come through to me,I see these patterns of behavior
where there's gold inside thatperson and they don't realize it
.
Or they don't believe it, orthey don't think they're worthy,
(05:31):
or they don't think people aregoing to accept it if they let
it out.
There's so many layers andwalls and barriers of protection
that half of us are walkingaround as shells of ourselves,
trying to fit in to a idea thatwe think other people think so.
(05:52):
It's not even a real idea,necessarily Somewhere along the
line it was but we've meshed itall together in our heads to
create this imaginary image ofwho we should be.
And in the workplace thistranslates to how we show up and
communicate and lead in theworkplace in a way that is
replicable by things like AI.
(06:13):
And so if we take off thatarmor and tap into that
intuition and the other parts ofour brain, so the subconscious
excuse me, the subconsciousbrain there's power in that.
So one of the other things thatI'm noticing in terms of what's
probably going to become anover-reliance on AI tools is
(06:37):
this need to copy right, so theneed to use AI as a security
blanket, because, well, if Iwrote it and I get criticised
for it, it's not really me, it'sAI.
Right, it's easy to blameothers, even if it's a piece of
technology, for something thatdidn't work well, and what works
(06:57):
for one person doesn't alwayswork for everyone else.
So, with all of these tools andthe way that they've been
trained at such a rapid pace, Ijust get this sense that
everything's getting homogenized, everything's getting pushed
down into this common output andthen you kind of have to
untrain it out of that, but eventhen it struggles to do it.
(07:18):
So am I anti-AI?
No, I'm not.
I'm saying use it, use it tostreamline what you do, but you
still need to own your own flairto whatever that is.
So, whether that's a speech,you're writing a report, you're
writing email that you'resending to someone I won't even
go into other things because,again, I don't want to get in
(07:39):
the rabbit hole.
That's not my rabbit hole toget into.
I don't want to get in therabbit hole, that's not my
rabbit hole to get into.
But what I do want to ask youis to think about a great leader
, someone that has inspired you,maybe, to be a great leader
yourself, and have a think aboutwhat the top three things are
that make them a great leader.
I bet you it's not somethinglike I've spent seven years as a
(08:07):
journal manager, or I'm aPowerPoint queen or whatever
that is, and I'm bringing upthese skills, because this is
what I'm seeing at the momentthat a lot of people talk to is
what skills they have, and somany people share the same
skills.
Yeah, so many people can usePowerPoint.
(08:28):
So many people can use AI.
So many people can I don't knowcommunicate with emotional
intelligence.
We have to get way more nuancedabout what it is your skills
and flair are.
So the whole idea of thisepisode is that the future
belongs to the real and that youcan amplify your career using
(08:52):
magnetic authenticity.
So magnetic authenticity isn'tjust being yourself.
It's knowing yourself so wellthat you can be confident,
consistent and compelling in anysituation, even if it's
challenging, even if it's havingto have the courage to speak up
when something matters to youand doesn't feel right, or even
(09:15):
when you need to have thathumility to listen when you're
out of your depth or you've donesomething wrong.
The future belongs to the realand you can amplify your career
using magnetic authenticity.
In 2005, there were someresearchers from Korea, taiwan
and the USA who did a study intoauthentic leadership, and what
(09:37):
they found was that authenticleadership increased things like
psychological safety.
So how safe someone feels to bethemselves, how safe it feels
to show up to work and maybe bea bit vulnerable, how safe it
feels to take that mask off thatwe all have of you know you
(09:59):
can't be emotional at work.
They also found that authenticleadership helped people to be
more focused and that peoplethat used authentic leadership
had greater career fulfillment.
So you and your career and yourleadership and your impact can
have so much more meaning whenit's coming from you, not what
(10:23):
everyone else tells you youshould do so, tell me, like, who
out there doesn't want to makea difference and pay the bills?
Like we can do both.
And I'm so passionate that ifeveryone did both those things,
rather than one or the other.
And what I mean by that isthere's a lot of people that
will take a job and they settlefor that because, yeah, it does
(10:44):
pay their mortgage, but they'renot really fulfilled.
They're just kind of coastingalong.
They might still try and do agreat job or they might just do
the bare minimum anywhere inbetween.
But the energetic drain to showup every day doing something
that you don't love is a massivecost to society.
And I don't mean that just interms of the effort it takes to
(11:08):
get you out of bed.
It's the toll that that takeson your wellbeing.
So you're more likely to besick.
You're more likely to end upwith disease.
If you're constantly in thisstate of being, somewhere where
you're not, you're literallyforcing yourself.
And before I get too technical,like, just think about it in
(11:33):
terms of muscle aches and pains,headaches, the basic things.
I'm not even talking aboutanything crazy here.
But your mental well-being,your emotional well-being and
your physical well-being are sointerrelated being your
emotional wellbeing and yourphysical wellbeing are so
interrelated and it's notsomething that I think we talk
about enough in organisations.
(11:53):
So the other end of thatspectrum is people that love
what they do but don't deservedon't believe that they deserve
to get paid for it, so they giveit away and they give it away
for free.
Or they give it away for so lowthat they can't sustain it and
they burn it away for free, orthey give it away for so low
that they can't sustain it andthey burn themselves out.
And there's some incrediblytalented people who do that and
then go back to some other jobto support themselves and get
(12:16):
disillusioned and then they stopshining that light that is very
much needed in the world.
Think of like the poor,creative type archetype here.
So I'm saying we can have bothand we get so much more energy
(12:40):
from people's passion, theireffort and that pull energy
where they pull towards whattheir purpose is, rather than
that push because you have to doit.
You have to get it done.
This is the deadline, this iswhat we're told, this is what
you're contracted to do.
So what does this all have to dowith your career in AI.
Well, recently I was doing somerecruitment for one of my
clients actually a couple of myclients and I do this for a
(13:02):
couple of reasons.
One, some of my clients aresmaller business owners and they
need some support in terms ofhuman resources or
organizational developmentbasically anything people
related to help people to thrivein their business and one of
them is getting the right peoplein the door with the right
skills at the right time, and Ilove doing this from time to
(13:24):
time because it's such a rush toget someone who's really
passionate about an opportunityto actually match with an
organization that's going to bea great fit for them and then
watch what happens Like it's sobeautiful.
However, I've noticed a markeddifference from recruitment in
2025 versus recruitment, maybe,you know, three, four, five
(13:47):
years ago, where AI was not soprominent.
So I don't know if this isrelated, but it's likely that it
might be, given what's alive inthe world today, right, and
what I'm seeing.
So, what I'm seeing is likehundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of applications thatpeople probably did spend a lot
of time and effort doing, butthen they've hit send and sent
(14:10):
it out broadly and not actuallytailored it in any way to the
job, to what their skillset is,and it's just, if I could be
really frank boring and almostdisheartening because there's no
personality in it and often youcan tell that someone's done a
(14:30):
chat GPT.
I mean, some people haveaccidentally left the you know
little.
Oh, are you happy with thisLike copy and paste bit in there
?
So, in amongst that, how canyou possibly stand out if you
haven't put your own personalflair onto it and you've only
relied on AI?
So the future truly belongs tothe real and you can amplify
(14:54):
your career using magneticauthenticity.
So how do you do that Like?
How do you stand out, whetheryou're job hunting for your next
opportunity or whether you'rein your current role and you
just want to shine so that whenthat next opportunity comes,
your name is front of mind?
The first one is to show up asyou Like.
(15:16):
Honestly, that sounds so simple, but really when was the last
time that you showed up as youquirks and all, and for some
people, yes, the environmentmight not be safe to do that,
but if it is, give it a go andcheck.
Is it safe?
But you just are scared it'snot, because that might be a
case.
You can do some little tests.
(15:37):
So, especially when you'reapplying for a job or you're
going for that next opportunityor you just want people to see
your value, the only way to getnoticed is to not be that common
person who says I've got greatcommunication skills, I can use
computers, I can, I'm a teamplayer.
(15:58):
Right, a lot of people can dothat.
How is that different?
So, as an example, I am a teamplayer, but how I language, that
is very different.
So when I was in high school, Iwas part of a symphonic band.
I think some of you might'veheard this story.
(16:18):
So, yes, the band nerd.
Yes, but what that taught me?
Because when you're in a groupmusical setting, if you just
shine all the time and be thesolo star in a group, you make
everyone else sound bad and themusic and the experience for the
audience is just ugh, right,yeah.
(16:39):
But if you're a true teamplayer, you know when to shine
and that's your time to bringyour unique, like timber to the
sound out and your talent, andyou know when to pair it back so
that someone else can shine.
So that is how I describe myability to be a team player.
(17:00):
It's that knowing of exactlywhen I step up and someone else
needs to step up, and how do Iempower them to do that?
So when you stand out, there isa risk that you will put people
off, but my question is are theythe people that you actually
want to put off?
And you've saved yourself from,you know, a couple of years of
(17:21):
slogging it out to feel like youhave done your time in that
role and given it its dues.
Could you have saved yourselfthat if you actually turned some
people off on purpose?
Because when you show up as youand you don't have those
inhibitions and you've got to doit within reason, obviously
people will love you andremember you.
(17:43):
The right people will.
So one story that comes to mindis I was doing some recruitment
during COVID for a role whichwas basically a data analyst
role.
So usually a lot of applicantsin this area are very structured
people because you've got to befor the job.
Yeah, very structured, verytask focused.
Usually a little bit lesspersonality comes through.
(18:04):
Naturally for these people andI'm generalizing here, I know,
but I'm trying to paint thepicture so you can imagine the
kind of candidates we wereinterviewing and seeing meet us
across the table and this onecandidate told us how they'd
invented the COVID foot shakeand we're like, what is the
COVID foot shake Right?
So we obviously at this pointweren't allowed to shake hands
(18:26):
or it was a taboo.
So you stick out your foot andthe other person sticks out your
foot and you kind of likejiggle the feet together.
It's hard to explain itverbally but I hope it paints
the picture that it's.
It was funny like that.
He did that and it's somethingthat I think I will always
remember.
So when you're looking athundreds, tens, hundreds of
(18:51):
different people for a role,like standing out is really
important.
So the next way that you canuse magnetic authenticity to
amplify your career is to definewhat's the number one thing
that you bring that others don't.
Everyone's going to say ontheir application I'm a great
leader, I have excellentleadership skills.
(19:14):
How can you define the numberone thing that you do that
others actually can't or findvery difficult to do and let
that shine?
And sometimes finding out whatthat thing is does take a lot of
effort, and that's why it'ssomething that I do spend a lot
of time with with my clients isand I've got tools to do that
(19:36):
because you don't always knowwhat that is and sometimes you
need other people to tell you.
But once you find what thatthing is, it's pretty magical,
and when you start gettingfeedback on that, that's when
you know it's happening.
So I've, as an example, often mywhole life had people just open
(19:58):
up to me.
Even strangers, within 10, 20seconds of meeting me, will tell
them their deepest hurts andfeelings and challenges.
And that's why I think I'mprobably was meant to be a coach
, because I can create that safespace for people to share so
easily and naturally.
And I think I do that because Ican just be myself in that
(20:23):
moment.
Sometimes I sometimes I'm shy,sometimes I'm really out there,
sometimes I'm really open aboutwhat's challenging for me.
And so more and more recently,and even after this podcast,
like so many people are usingthe word oh, you're so authentic
, like just so real, and sothat's feedback to me that this
(20:43):
piece that I've picked out, thatI think I do well, is starting
to shine and other people areseeing it and feeding it back to
me.
So that's how you know thatthat is one of the things that
you're good at, and if you'renot open to this feedback,
sometimes you will dismiss thesemessages and not get there.
So that is why sometimes somepeople do need some guidance
(21:05):
along the way to actually openup the doors so you can see this
kind of feedback coming in.
It's like putting on yourglasses but cleaning them so
they're not so foggy and so youcan actually see what other
people are seeing.
And then the third thing toamplify your career using
magnetic authenticity is to useAI really smartly.
(21:27):
Use it as a starting point andthen trust your own flair,
because what I'm concerned withis that people, more and more,
are relying on AI for thingsthat they know, things that
maybe big decisions, and they'retrying to use that as a
validation.
And I think the more we sort ofdo this, the more we're going
(21:50):
to start to over-rely on it.
A simple example is let's say,you're at a pub with your
friends and someone says, hey,what's the name of that movie
where such and such actor is inspace and they have to dive down
and they've got to hold theirbreath for a long time, like,
(22:10):
and they've got to push thebutton and they they sacrifice
themselves for their daughter,like, what's the name of that
movie?
And everyone will sit theregoing oh, it's just right on the
tip of my tongue and Iguarantee you in 99.9% of cases,
someone is going to pull outtheir phone and say let's Google
it.
Why?
Because we're uncomfortablesitting in with that discomfort
(22:32):
of not knowing.
And so how this relates to AIis that AI kind of feeds this,
this instant answer or instantpossibility of how we could
answer something instantly.
So it's so quick that we aregoing to find it harder and
harder and harder to sit withthis discomfort of not knowing
or sit with this discomfort oftrying something out and testing
(22:55):
how it feels and is it theright thing, unless we're really
intentional about it?
So I hope you kind of aregetting the point here that I
hope you kind of are getting thepoint here that you know the
only thing that is going to makeyou replaceable is complacency
and over-reliance on AI.
So if you just let yourselfshine, there is always going to
(23:18):
be new and better ways that youcan grow and have an impact and
find what lights you up and godo that.
So, on that note, go do thatand remember you were born for a
reason.
It's time to shine.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.