Episode Ep 731 July 10, 2026 1 hr 16 min

Is AI Making You Dumber? With Lorraine Marchand

From Afford Anything Paula Pant, Personal Finance Expert

#731: What if the best way to test a new hire wasn't a resume, but a two-hour breakfast? One CEO built his entire hiring process around it — and it worked.

Lorraine Marchand spent three decades in leadership roles at companies like IBM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and LabCorp, and interviewed more than 120 CEOs for her book on what actually makes teams innovate. Now she teaches at Wharton and Columbia Business School, and in this episode she joins Paula to share what really works.

In this episode, we discuss:

How one CEO used a casual team breakfast to test whether a new hire was the right fit before they came on board
A simple three-question test to figure out if a bad job culture is fixable, or if it's time to start looking elsewhere
Why a weekly 30-minute habit of talking about what's not working can make a team stronger
How to network your way into opportunities early in your career, even if you're worried AI will replace you first
What new research on memory loss and heavy AI use means for how you should be using these tools
How to protect your job in your 50s and 60s as companies push AI adoption on everyone
Where Marchand thinks the next wave of entrepreneurial opportunity is actually hiding (hint: it's not another app)

Whether you're building a team from scratch, trying to decide if a toxic job is worth fixing, or just trying to use AI without losing your edge, this episode gives you practical takeaways you can put to use right away.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(02:00) – The team breakfast test: how one CEO used a shared meal to hire the right people

(17:38) Should you try to fix a bad culture, or start looking for a new job?

(26:29) Why people follow good bosses, not companies

(28:26) Networking advice for people early in their career

(30:25) What heavy AI use might be doing to your memory and thinking

(31:06) AI job displacement and the skills worth building now

(50:56) Using AI as a thought partner to build emotional intelligence

(58:23) Advice for workers in their 50s and 60s worried about AI and ageism

(1:06:00) Building a team of humans and AI "agents" — including an AI board of directors

(1:14:43) Where Marchand sees the next wave of entrepreneurship and innovation heading