No, not me! Although #lifegoals, if I'm being honest. Actually, the friend who uttered the word was referring to The 44th Annual Central Park Hat Luncheon, which sprang forth in all its ridiculous, beautiful, generous-hearted wonder this week.
It makes me giddy to be there every year, this daughter of two hippy-dippy, artsy-fartsy, cranky-pants artists who lived their lives in defiant contention to the world.
|
|
|
|
I rather like the world.
And I really, really like it when smart women in clever, sardonic, often spectacular hats raise money for a great cause. Count me in forever.
Now, a few among you may notice I am not wearing any of the hats in last week's newsletter vote, but I went instead with the yellow frippery you see here, which I selected because it matched a silk ribbon dress made by my grandmother, Francesca Tubiolo, the year I was born. She was a divorced Sicilian immigrant who put four children through college by owning a dress store selling fine knits to the fancy ladies of Rochester, NY. This particular dress belonged to my Aunt Lucille, and it landed with me when she passed away. |
|
For years, it has hung in my closet, unworn. I never could figure out when to put it on; it's gorgeous but retro. And it carries a lot of emotional stuff. Family history stuff.
But reinvention is not just for people. The dress has a new history now! It's in its Hat Luncheon era. Just like me.
|
|
|
|
So. I had an encounter this week with a student that I can barely process, except to say it makes me sad. I didn't know her at all; a colleague sent her by. I just knew she was a computer science major, graduating in two weeks.
Turns out her job search is in a dead stall. Hundreds of applications, two interviews, no callbacks. I was not surprised by this news, and you probably aren't either.
But maybe you will be about what happened next.
"The conveyor belts are broken," I told her. "It used to be that certain college degrees led you to certain entry-level jobs. That isn't happening as much anymore. You have to start looking for work outside the factory walls, so to speak."
She nodded, but only vaguely, so I pushed on. I told her how, in Becoming You, I urge my students to open their aperture to the full array of the economy's 135 industries. I explained there are tens of millions of jobs being created in the dozen megatrends on the horizon, like the silver economy of genomics, the cardiometabolic revolution around GLP-1s, sustainable recreation, cultivated meat, and space mining.
"I'm afraid you may have to really hustle," I told her, "you have to get creative, and expansive, and look for opportunities in places you maybe never expected to look."
I saw tears well up in her eyes.
Then: "Can't you just introduce me to any CEOs in your network?" she asked.
Sigh.
I want to be clear. I love Gen Z, I really do. But there is too much magical thinking going on with them. Too much.
The truth is, there are no knights in shining armor when it comes to careers. There's just hard work, dues paying, and struggle.
That has always been true, and always will be.
I wish I could tell my students that. I cannot. Because if I did, I know they'd stop listening to me entirely.
And so I teach on, knowing that eventually, the world will bring them around. It always does. (I like that about the world too.) |
|
Mother's Day is around the corner, and I have two things for you.
First, please listen to my podcast about it! It's called, "I Raised Four Perfect Children. You Will Hate How I Did It. You're Welcome." Let's just say I get feisty, and I want you to get feisty back at [email protected].
Second, if you're still looking for a gift for your mom, how about the gift of actually knowing yourself? We have a special Mother's Day gifting option available on the Values Bridge through Sunday, here. This was not my idea – it came from a colleague who recently took the Bridge with her own mom – but I think it's brilliant. We have so much to talk about with our moms, don't we? Imagine if we could do it in the same language.
That, my friends, would be iconic.
I will be seeing some of you at the Three-Day Intensive soon, and that fills me with joy.
But to one and all, with love, |
|
What's coming?
→ June 2026 One-Day Becoming You Intensive here
→ Becoming You Certification Program here
|
|
I Raised Four Perfect Children. You Will Hate How I Did It. You’re Welcome.
|
|
OK, first of all, they are not actually perfect. But they are perfectly happy and healthy. They have lives they love, partners they adore, and jobs that light them up. And so, in this Mother's Day episode, I'm sharing the three rules I mothered by, and they are not what you'd expect. This episode is for every mother who is in it right now — tired, uncertain, doing your absolute best, and wondering if it's going to be enough. I'm here to tell you: it is.
|
|
|
|
|
