Failure is Data (and Other Career Advice) | Todd Dewett, Leadership Author & Speaker

As AI takes over more technical and routine work, the skills that set data and AI professionals apart are shifting. Raw technical ability and a high IQ still matter, but they are becoming table stakes as tools get more capable and teams get smarter. What increasingly separates people is harder to automate: communication, self-awareness, authenticity, and the ability to keep learning through failure. For anyone building a career in this space, that raises real questions. Which skills are actually worth investing in now? What holds up as AI advances? And how do you keep growing once you have already had some success? Dr. Todd Dewett is one of the world's most-watched leadership voices — an authenticity expert, bestselling author, and top LinkedIn Learning instructor whose courses have reached more than 25 million people across 100+ countries. After beginning his career at Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young, he earned a PhD in organizational behavior at Texas A&M and spent a decade as an award-winning professor before going solo. He is a five-time TEDx speaker and the author of Show Your Ink. In the episode, Richie and Todd explore why fear quietly limits careers, treating failure as data rather than a verdict, the people skills that outlast raw IQ, learnable self-awareness, authenticity at work, using AI without losing your voice, getting better at speaking and writing, building habits, escaping the success trap, and much more. 0:00 Intro 1:18 The fears holding your career back 2:37 Why failure is data, not a verdict 7:27 The career skills that beat raw IQ 10:19 Training your self-awareness 12:43 Overrated skills: networking & over-specialization 17:22 Being authentic at work 21:11 Which skills are AI-proof? 24:08 Getting better at public speaking 28:50 Improving your written communication 33:30 The success trap 38:11 "We're family" & other corporate lies 39:47 Final advice & who to follow Find DataFramed on DataCamp https://www.datacamp.com/podcast and on your preferred podcast streaming platform: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/02yJXEJ... Links Mentioned in the Show: Todd's LinkedIn newsletter —   / drdewett   Todd Dewett on LinkedIn Learning —   / todd-dewett   Free LinkedIn Learning via your public library —   / learning   Gemma Leigh Roberts —   / gemmaleighroberts   Erin Shrimpton —   / erinshrimpton   Connect with Todd —   / drdewett   AI-Native Course: Intro to AI for Work — https://www.datacamp.com/courses/intr... Related Episode: How to Have a Machine Learning Career in 2026 with Marina Wyss — https://www.datacamp.com/podcast/how-... New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile app - https://www.datacamp.com/mobile Empower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business - https://www.datacamp.com/business