"Some CEOs, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Ford’s Jim Farley, have even used their platforms to warn that AI and automation pose existential threats to many entry-level roles.
But while there are signs that 2026 could bring further turbulence, not every executive message has been a bleak one. As AMD CEO Lisa Su put it: “Run towards the hardest problems—not walk, run—and that’s where you find the biggest opportunities, where you learn the most, where you set yourself apart, and most importantly, where you grow.” "
That is so representative of your run of the mill LinkedIn garbage. Peak motivational poster material.
Even if it was meant sincerely, how does that approach work any better in 2026 than it would have in 2006, 1986, 1966?
It's a TED-talkified variation of "trust me, all you need to be is a hard worker, kiddo."
And as such, it completely misses the point of what gen z is griping about.
It’s not the worst advice to try hard things
No, absolutely not. I agree.
But framing it as if going after hard problems is all you need to succeed is disingenuous.
As far as I understand it, gen z's primary issue is that outside factors, those beyond "running towards the hardest problems" and outside of your direct control are stacked against them, whereas it used to be more favorable according to them.
Whether that perception is correct or not, telling them to just "do harder things, stupid" has close to zero value from that perspective.
What did Gen Z expect? Life is a fight for survival.
Remember, these are the kids who were raised that "everyone is a winner!"
Nobody asked me. But if they did, I'd say to find one problem that scares the shit out of people and learn how to consistently solve it.
Can substitute "annoys the shit out of" if fear is too difficult.