Dan Smolen

You Built the AI. Who Owns It? As AI agents become valuable workplace assets, a provocative question emerges: Does your digital expertise belong to you—or your employer? Read more and watch the clip at--> dansmolen.substack.com/p/you-built-...

Can AI Be a Launchpad for Better Work? What if the greatest promise of AI isn't making us more productive, but making our working lives better? Join us this Wednesday 10/14 at 12PM for a What's Your Work Fit? LIVE SHOW discussion. LINK--> dansmolen.substack.com/p/can-ai-be-...

How Can We Make Work Work? As engagement falls and AI transforms the workplace, future of work expert and author Deborah Lovich argues that making work better starts with what leaders do every day. dansmolen.substack.com/p/how-can-we...

If AI does the knowledge work, why am I still responsible for it? Agentic AI promises to take work off our plates. But what if it simply turns all of us into managers? Our latest on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/if-ai-does...

The Career Ladder doesn't make sense anymore. The future of work may be less about climbing—and more about discovering where you belong. On What's Your Work Fit? Sarabeth Berk Bickerton PhD describes a new metaphor for career progression. dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-career...

You Are Not Your Job Title. Sarabeth Berk Bickerton explains why who you are in your work goes far beyond what an employer calls you. LINK: dansmolen.substack.com/p/you-are-no...

Perfectionism May Be Keeping You From Doing Your Best at Work. Charles Glassman MD returns to What's Your Work Fit? to describe how perfectionism undermines our success at work. LINK: dansmolen.substack.com/p/perfection...

AI Doesn’t Need an Office. The Humans Using It Do. As AI takes on more of our work, the reason for bringing humans together may become clearer—not less important.

Return to Office? Or Reattach to Office? The workplace challenge isn’t getting people back into the building. It’s giving them a reason to feel connected to it again. dansmolen.substack.com/p/reattachme...

My High Holidays Prayer: May We Remain Human. dansmolen.substack.com/p/my-high-ho...

Finding Your Work Fit Is Better When You Don’t Do It Alone. Join the What's Your Work Fit? community to help make it all happen. LINK: dansmolen.substack.com/p/finding-yo...

The End of the Org Chart? What Human Capacity Is Worth in an Agentic World. If AI makes execution abundant, the scarce human capabilities may become judgment, wisdom, prioritization—and the ability to decide what is worth doing at all. Our latest on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-end-of...

Agentic AI Is a Board-Level Question. Corporate boards have spent decades asking whether companies are creating shareholder value. Agentic AI requires them to ask another question: what kind of workplace are we creating in the process? Latest on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/agentic-ai...

The Skills AI Can't Automate Begin at the Elementary School Inventors Fair. Long before we teach children to master technology, we should be teaching them to notice problems worth solving. My thoughts on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-skills...

Companies that win in the AI Age won't simply get more work from people. They'll build something called Productive Capacity that yields better outcomes for people in the modern workplace. Read about it in my latest Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/ai-didnt-j...

We Didn't Need Perfection. We Needed to Keep Getting Better. Charles Glassman, MD reminds us that the pursuit of perfection may be making us sick. The workplace has spent more than a century rewarding exactly that pursuit. Read my Substack for a deeper dive: dansmolen.substack.com/p/we-didnt-n...

AI Doesn't Need More Answers. It Needs Better Questions. What if Sunday School prepared us for the age of agentic AI better than we realized? I explore this in my latest Substack. Subscribe so you don't miss future discussions like this one. LINK--> dansmolen.substack.com/p/ai-doesnt-...

The Generation That Was Told Never to Fall Behind. Gen Z mastered the education to career system we built for them, then AI changed the rules. It's time for a fundamental rethinking. My latest on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-genera...

AI Didn't Make Intelligence Obsolete, It Made Discernment Priceless. In my latest Substack, why artificial intelligence hasn't diminished the value of human intelligence, but rather changed what the marketplace rewards most. LINK: dansmolen.substack.com/p/ai-didnt-m...

AI Made Intelligence Cheap, Discernment Is About to Become the Most Valuable Skill at Work. Our latest on Substack. Please subscribe so you don't miss future posts, clips, and content. dansmolen.substack.com/p/ai-made-in...

What's the career harming habit nobody warned you about? Check out my latest on Substack; please subscribe so you never miss future posts. LINK: dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-career...

July 4, 1976 was chill. July 4, 2026 is not. And yet I still believe our best days lie ahead. Indulge me... dansmolen.substack.com/p/july-4-197...

“Prompt Literacy” is Our New Social Signal. Agentic AI has upgraded workplace vernacular. dansmolen.substack.com/p/prompt-lit...

AI Is Rewriting the Definition of a “Qualified Candidate” We optimized for readiness. Now we need people who can reason. My deep dive on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/ai-is-rewr...

If Donald Trump has his way, America’s Worst Airline™ might soon become our national flagship carrier. open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

When Different Birds Share a Perch. On Substack we explore what a Robin and a Mourning Dove can teach us about the future of work—and each other dansmolen.substack.com/p/when-diffe...

What happens when people who serve us can afford to live among us? We deep dive into that question on our latest Substack. Subscribe and never miss future posts. dansmolen.substack.com/p/what-happe...

What happens when civil servants are priced out of the communities that they serve? A deep dive from the latest What's Your Work Fit? live show with our guest Chris Moeller. dansmolen.substack.com/p/they-save-...

I saw her bright future before she could. 10 years ago, in the middle of fear, illness, and uncertainty, I imagined the life she couldn't; next week, she steps into it as a newly minted registered nurse. dansmolen.substack.com/p/i-saw-her-...

Return-to-Office (RTO) Isn't About Strategy. It's About Fear. Check out this clip from the latest What's Your Work Fit? podcast episode. dansmolen.substack.com/p/return-to-...

Stop Designing Offices Before You Design Work. Our guests on What's Your Work Fit?, authors Sara Escobar and Corinne Murray, describe the costly mistake companies keep making about work—and why it’s failing employees and leaders alike. youtu.be/-cCOQypoLgs?...

Stop Designing Offices. Start Designing Work. That's where we start today on What's Your Work Fit? with our guests, the authors of WORK Then PLACE Sara Escobar and Corinne Murray. dansmolen.substack.com/p/stop-desig...

In Loudoun County, Virginia, noise from a data center exceeded 90 decibels. Long term exposure to such noise can harm one's hearing. Here's a story from NBCWashington: www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/n...

The Cloud Lives Across the Street. What happens when the infrastructure of AI shows up 100 yards from your front door? This is my latest missive on Substack. dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-cloud-...

Is Agentic AI Becoming...Aware? With mind-boggling advancement, it seems as if it is quickly approaching consciousness. Our latest What's Your Work Fit? live show. dansmolen.substack.com/p/is-agentic...

Laid off talent must "differentiate" to find new work opportunities. Key insight from our What's Your Work Fit? guest, recruiter Kareem Rogers> dansmolen.substack.com/p/laid-off-t...

How Do I Reinvent Myself After a Layoff? Our guest on What's Your Work Fit?, Kareem Rogers, helps sidelined professional talent establish their next chapters. Catch this important discussion starting at 12PM TODAY, March 11, 2026, or anytime thereafter. dansmolen.substack.com/p/how-do-i-r...

Cornell Univ Researcher Confirms What Your Worst Meeting Already Told You: People most inspired to “synergize paradigms” may be awful at their jobs. dansmolen.substack.com/p/cornell-re...

When Space Expands: Will More Square Footage Improve My Work Fit? dansmolen.substack.com/p/when-space...

Walt Disney invented Imagineering. We're wondering how it can inform work fit in the Age of AI. dansmolen.substack.com/p/imagineeri...

When Praise Becomes Pressure: The Hidden Cost of Workplace Hype. An important read for career high-achievers. dansmolen.substack.com/p/when-prais...

Work Fit in a 'Fire Horse' Year: Designing Endurance in a Season of Acceleration. The Lunar New Year, which starts on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, ushers in an intense, norms crushing Fire Horse Year. During it, how will you achieve your Work Fit? dansmolen.substack.com/p/work-fit-i...

The quiet death of courtesy and why its revival may be central to Work Fit. Subscribe to our Substack for FREE. dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...

Busyness is Not the Mission of Modern Work. When it loses its status in the workplace, better outcomes emerge. Check out our latest on Substack; subscribe to it for FREE. dansmolen.substack.com/p/busyness-i...

The Dhammacetiya Monks’ Walk for Peace Aligns With Our Quest for Work Fit. Begun in October, their 2,300 mile journey from Ft. Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. promoted nonviolence and harmony. More on Substack: dansmolen.substack.com/p/the-dhamma...

Do Super Bowl ads actually work? Years ago, I was an ad agency exec; I'm still asking the question... dansmolen.substack.com/p/do-super-b...

In a day that includes work and other things, successful careerists strive to determine: What gets me to my Work Fit? Check out our latest Substack and subscribe for FREE. dansmolen.substack.com/p/what-actua...

Can Rural Communities Once Again Drive Work Fit? Small, long forgotten communities like Virginia's Northern Neck are reimagining their spaces as optimal ones to live and work. Our latest Substack post considers the rural future. dansmolen.substack.com/p/can-rural-...

Reimagining Higher Education: What If More Schools Looked Like Babson? Many institutions are not Division I cash cows; they have to get inventive to remain relevant and help students achieve work fit. Check out our latest on Substack and subscribe for FREE. dansmolen.substack.com/p/reimaginin...

Out Sick, Still Online: The New Theater of Illness in the Modern Workplace. Check out my latest missive on Substack. Subscribe for FREE. dansmolen.substack.com/p/out-sick-s...