AI is not just changing how we work. It is changing who gets valued, what expertise means, and how professionals define themselves.

When anyone can create a prototype, write code, conduct research, or produce polished work faster than ever, what happens to the identity you spent years building?

In this episode of the Laid Off Legends podcast, I sit down with three accomplished leaders working at the intersection of AI, product, design, and workforce transformation:

* Taurean Jones, a design executive with experience building AI-native products at Intuit, Google Cloud, and Microsoft

* Sarah Bernstein, a Human resources and workforce-transformation executive with leadership experience at PayPal, ServiceNow, Airbnb, Lumen, and other major technology companies

* Orville McDonald, a Product executive, former leader at Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla, and founder of the AI-native investment research platform Musera

Together, we explore:

• Why standing still may be riskier than changing

• Why your identity can no longer depend on your employer or job title

• Whether the future belongs to specialists, generalists, or people who can become both

• How AI is collapsing the boundaries between product, design, and engineering

• Why companies should help employees adapt, but why you cannot wait for them

• How to think two roles ahead instead of protecting the identity of your past

• What it means to become a builder in the AI era

• How to reconstruct your professional identity without losing the expertise that made you valuabl

The central message is direct: do not fall in love with the artifact, the title, or the institution.

Fall in love with the outcome you are capable of creating. Your company may change. Your role may disappear. Your discipline may evolve. Your identity must become bigger than all three.

Subscribe to Laid Off Legends for honest conversations about layoffs, reinvention, AI, leadership, and building what comes next.

Helpful links:

Orville's startup: www.museras.com

Taurean's design consulting practice: www.Designfordirection.com

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