THE GREAT CAREER CORRECTION

And what YOU can do about it...

Happy-ish Monday Peaceniks. Are you ready for correction?

The first week of this year, I predicted that the US economy would fall into stagflation – high unemployment, rising inflation, stagnant growth. I also forcast that the irrational AI bubble would spark a major correction.

This month, the US issued the worst jobs report since 2024, America started a war in Iran, oil prices have skyrocketed to more than $100 per barrel, and the weighted recession composite – an index of prediction markets, economic indicators, and forecasts from economic experts that gives the odds of a coming recession – saw the third-largest one-week jump in history, behind only COVID and the 2008 housing crash.

In 2025, there were more bankruptcy filings in the US than any year this decade – even worse than in 2020 and 2021 during the height of COVID.

Last year, layoffs and job losses specific to the Media and Entertainment sector grew by 14%. So far in 2026, for the same period year over year, job cuts in Media and Tech are up 22%.

Even more concerning is a trend now popular among Big Media & Tech C-Suites: announcing “Job Cut Targets” during earnings calls, to placate Wall Street and pop share prices. So far, nearly 60,000 targeted layoffs have been announced by tech and entertainment companies for this or next year.

While many of these layoffs and restructurings have been blamed on AI, most are, in fact, drastic, non-strategic cost-cutting measures by leaders who have made major investment miscalculations over the past two years. This is the case at Oracle, which is now overextended in AI data center investments and desperate for cash. Atlassian, a SaaS-based enterprise now in survival mode due to epically poor mismanagement, just announced a layoff of 10% of their employees, most here in the US. Meta, after years of irrational investment in the metaverse via their Reality Labs, is using AI as an excuse to shit-can people to cover up Zuckerberg’s various billion-dollar follies.

As a proof-point of just how lost the leadership of these companies are, look to how most of their CEOs spent the past year bending the knee and licking the feet of America’s CEO in Chief, in the belief that they could “manage him,” only to see New Nero start an ill-advised war, directly against the advice of his own military leaders, on the misguided belief that it would end quickly and that Iran would not shut down the Strait of Hormuz to cut off the world’s oil supply.

The US Economy now finds itself in a prolonged Age of Chaos.

In an environment where the entire global financial ecosystem can be turned upside-down by a late-night social media rampage from the world’s most Irrational Internet Troll, unpredictability is the only reliable constant. A major correction – on the scale of 2008 or 1999 – is not just likely but seems increasingly unavoidable. Even if the US decides to end its war next week (prediction: watch for a face-saving declaration of “Mission Accomplished” any minute), the damage to the world’s oil supply cannot be simply reversed. The International Energy Agency has reported that the Hormuz shutdown has sparked supply chain “heart attacks” due the sudden choke-holds on pipelines and infrastructure, much of it underseas, where repairs may take months, if not years.

The big question is: What does this mean for you?

The layoffs were already coming. Many more pink slips were likely on their way, due to major consolidation at Paramount/Disco Bros; Charter and Cox; Banijay and All3; Comcast and ITV; and beyond. Now they could very well multiply, especially in the fragile media and entertainment industry, which depends on advertising from other industries (who in turn depend on high consumer spending) to survive and grow.

So, what can you do about it?

The First Lesson: Always be prepared to pivot. The narcissistic selfishness of the C-Suites who control the fates of so many in our industry have taken a toll on our collective employment for this entire decade. Trusting that everything will always be fine is a great way to be first in line for the next layoff.

How can we “always be prepared to pivot?” Wake up stupid every day. Always look for where the puck is going next. Dig into trends like the Creator Economy, Premium Vertical TV, AI, Retail Media, Experiential Entertainment, and Next-Gen Bundling. If you work in Media, and any of these terms are foreign to you, start fucking googling. If you know about these growth areas but have spent no time digging into or learning more about them, get off your tush and get on it.

I now get paid to write about parts of our industry that I knew nothing about a short time ago. I knew fuck-all about the Creator Economy at the start of this decade. I am now a full-time Creator and considered by some as one of the top experts on the subject (to the point that my map on Creators was called “The Definitive Guide to the Creators EcoSphere” by The Hollywood Reporter).

I got there by waking up stupid, every fucking day, and spend two hours learning something new about something new, before I do anything else.

Lesson Two: GTFO There. Because I write about it often, many people hit me up for career advice. In fact, if you sign up as a premium subscriber to this newsletter, one of the benefits is a one-on-one meeting with me twice a year. I do this not only to help “pay it forward,” but also because I learn a lot simply by talking with others on the regular.

I’m always surprised by how little effort most in our industry invest in attending conferences, campaigning to be on panels at events, and actively putting themselves “out there.” If you put in the effort, many of the companies you now work for will pay to send you to these convenings and help you get on stage. But, even if they don’t, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Reaching out to be on a panel, putting up your own money to get there - putting your own skin in the game and neck on the line to learn more about what you need to know, meet people you need to meet, and shine a light on what you offer is the best way to be ready to make a move (get this) before you are forced to.

Lesson #3: Always Be Branding. Some of you know me from this newsletter. However, most of you likely first came upon me on LinkedIn, where I post almost every day of the year. Crucially, I try not post self-congratulatory bullshit, or cloying pablum. I offer information, insight, data, analysis, advice - substantive content - for free, with zero expectation of immediate return. I send value out into the community, with the primary goal of building community. I have found that the more value I ship for free to the world, the more value eventually and consistently comes back to me. This is another version of putting skin in the game.

You do not need to put yourself out there like I do. You do not need to try and “build a following.” But, to survive, from now on, especially in Media and Tech, you must build and manage your own community. If you think this is crass or “beneath you,” prepare to be irrelevant. If you fear saying the wrong thing, look around. The ‘wrong thing’ is now an incredibly high (or low) bar.

The key is finding a voice that makes you feel comfortable. Test and learn. Try and adapt. I’ve learned that the single biggest challenge people face is the fear of taking that first step. I’ve also found that those who TRY to ship value and put their authentic selves out there find a community they didn’t even know they had. And that community always brings value back to them.

Last Lesson: We Are Not Alone. This is the entire point of this piece. I have been fired – repeatedly and notoriously. The more I talk about it; the more people reach out to thank me for talking about it. WE ALL GO THROUGH CAREER CHALLENGES. Admitting you need help from others is the first step in getting help from others.

The mistake most people make is waiting until they desperately need help before seeking it. If you cold DM someone with whom you haven’t spoken in years, asking them for help finding a new job or connecting you to someone they know, you will only piss them off.

I get at least one DM like that every day. It truly pisses me off. However, people I see in my DMs when they don’t need my help – folks who reach out to say “that was a cool piece” or “I thought you might find this article interesting” – are the first ones I line up to help when they need it.

Ask yourself this: What’s the health status of my personal network? Is it a network or is it a community? If my career was drowning, how many people would rush to throw me a life saver? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, your career is under threat. If you do know the answer, and the answer ain’t good - given the data about the state of our economy at the top of this piece - then your career is likely in trouble.

Whether or not your company is on that layoff list, regardless of if you think your job is jeopardy today, NOW is the time to work on your community health. Not eventually. Not next month. Today. Block off time to reach out to folks for lunch or coffee. Make a list of people you think you should meet, then chart a path to meet them. Put positive vibes out into your network with the goal of converting it to a community, even just a little bit, every day for the rest of your life.

These four lessons are not the end-all-and-be-all of career sustainability. They are simply some first steps to finding and securing the rest of your career. They key is forcing yourself to take the first steps, whatever they are.

I write about this stuff often. If you want a deeper dive, including the story of my own, last, great shit-canning from Comcast, you can find that here.

If you want to grab time with me for a career kick-in-the-butt, as mentioned, I just ask that you subscribe as a Premium Peacenik. Then feel free to email or DM me for a one-on-one about the path to your next chapter.

If you’re already a paying subscriber - hit me up and let’s set some time to chat!

Also, and importantly, don’t forget to enjoy the week.

ESHAP