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AI has made information easier to access and first drafts easier to produce, but abundant answers do not automatically create better thinkers. As schools, universities, and workplaces race to introduce AI, the more urgent question is what people should learn when the answer itself is no longer scarce.

In Episode 3 of The Edge of Now, Jason Averbook and Jess Von Bank explore why everyone is going back to school, regardless of age or role. They examine the durable human capabilities that become more valuable as technology accelerates, including curiosity, judgment, adaptability, presence, expertise, and the ability to ask better questions.

The conversation moves beyond prompt engineering and AI adoption to a more consequential challenge: how do we create experiences that strengthen thinking, preserve human agency, and help people practice their way into new capabilities? For leaders, educators, parents, and anyone trying to navigate this moment, the goal is not simply to know more. It is to become a better learner in a world that will not stop changing.

Highlights:

• Why back-to-school season now applies to leaders, employees, parents, students, and educators
• Why waiting for a dramatic AI threshold distracts us from changes already happening around us
• How organizations can help change happen with people instead of merely to them
• Why human value must be designed into the technological revolution from the beginning
• Which durable capabilities become more valuable when information and basic production become abundant
• Why expertise matters most when it is paired with curiosity, humility, adaptability, and contextual judgment
• How practice, feedback, reflection, and real work build capabilities that a conventional course cannot
• Why the future of learning may be less about transferring knowledge and more about creating better thinkers
• How AI detection tools and unclear rules can punish people for using the very tools they were told to adopt
• Why prompt engineering should not become the center of organizational AI education
• What organizations should measure instead of logins, usage, and superficial adoption
• Why leaders must define value and outcomes before prescribing tools
• How schools and workplaces can create the capacity, culture, and presence required for meaningful learning
• Why knowing who you are may matter more than knowing exactly what you will do

About Jason & Jess

Jason Averbook

Jason Averbook has spent more than 30 years shaping HR technology and workforce transformation. His career includes leadership roles at PeopleSoft and Ceridian, co-founding and leading Knowledge Infusion from 2005 to 2012, serving as CEO of The Marcus Buckingham Company, and co-founding and leading Leapgen from 2018 to 2023. After serving as Mercer’s Global HR Transformation Leader, he co-founded Now to Next to help leaders prepare people and organizations for an AI-shaped world.

Jess Von Bank

Jess Von Bank brings more than 20 years of experience across recruiting, talent strategy, employer branding, HR technology, and workforce transformation. She began as a recruiting practitioner before moving into leadership roles focused on bringing workforce solutions to market, including global HR transformation and technology advisory work at Mercer. She is now co-founder of Now to Next, where she combines industry expertise, community building, storytelling, and a human-centered perspective on change.

Stay Connected:

Jason Averbook
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/
X: https://x.com/jasonaverbook
Substack: https://jasonaverbook.substac...