Channeling A 30 Under 30 Mindset To Achieve Career Success |
The Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit kicked off in Phoenix this week, as thousands of ambitious young leaders from around the world gather to learn from one another and offer advice to aspiring young innovators.
Forbes editors evaluated thousands of applicants across 20 different categories, looking for scale, impact, creativity and potential for success.Only 600 people made the 2026 list.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Axiom Math founder Carina Hong and content creator Colin Rocker are a few of the achievers to make the list. Each honoree found career success because they showed up with confidence and ingenuity.
Here are three ways you can approach your career like a Forbes 30 Under 30:
Listen and learn from your audience. Rocker didn’t go viral by guessing. He researched the issues his audience faces and offered a solution.
Find mentors who want the best for you. None of the 2026 honorees succeeded on their own. They had people to support and encourage them along the way.
Gain confidence by showing up with your best foot forward. Hurts gave 100% effort in every game he played. He built confidence through consistency.
Learn and be brave. You just might find the same success as these 30 Under 30 honorees.
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Practical insights and advice from Forbes staff and contributors to help you succeed in your job, accelerate your career and lead smarter.
Create resilience in an unstable job market with six practical strategies—including building multiple income paths— from career coach Sho Dewan.
Workers should build three skills now to stay relevant in the age of AI, according to career expert Rachel Wells, who also offers advice to ensure your resume passes the vibe check.
Do you want to be more influential? Avoid these three behaviors at work as they can hinder your growth, according to executive coach Harrison Monarth.
If you want to make a career pivot but need ideas on how to start, use AI to identify roles that align with your skills with tips from executive coach Caroline Castrillon.
Have a job interview coming up? Read how to sell and market yourself to the hiring manager instead of simply answering the questions, according to career counselor Robin Ryan.
From Side Project To Media Empire: A Conversation With Gen Z Creator Morgan Young
I recently sat down with Morgan Young, founder of Hyphenate Media and a LinkedIn Top Voice for Gen Z, to find out the secret of her success. If you’re a professional trying to get noticed in a crowded job market, this interview is for you.
Colleen Batchelder: You started posting on LinkedIn at 18 with no plans to become a creator. What made you keep going?
Morgan Young: At first it was simply a creative outlet with no expectations. Then I started seeing real opportunities come from it, like speaking engagements, job opportunities and access to exclusive spaces. Once I realized sharing online could open these doors, I literally could not stop.
You built 130,000 followers without a big company. What do most people misunderstand about how personal brands grow?
People think a personal brand equals a following. Followers are a byproduct, not the foundation. Real growth comes from building credibility, earning trust, and consistently nurturing and serving the community you’re building.
What did your time in a corporate job teach you that made you a better founder?
The best transferable skill I gained working at Disney was learning how to tell stories and why storytelling is important. Being a founder is all about getting people to buy into your vision, and you need to be great at storytelling to do that.
What advice would you give to a job seeker who feels invisible in this market?
It is your responsibility to share your story and make the world aware of all the amazing things you’re doing. You have to become your own biggest and loudest advocate. Trust that your perspective has value right now, and don’t let age or experience keep you quiet.
News from the world of work.
Another tech company announced a major round of layoffs last week: Snap, the parent of Snapchat, said it will cut 16% of its workforce—about 1,000 jobs—citing “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence” that will allow the same work to be done with fewer employees. CEO Evan Spiegel said the cuts are expected to save $500 million by the second half of the year.
Not every AI executive is convinced the technology is ready to replace jobs. Scale AI CEO Jason Droege said at a conference last week that some companies are using AI as an “excuse” to cut headcount, adding that the technology is still too unreliable to handle many decisions currently made by humans. Still, AI has already been cited as a reason for 30,000 layoffs this year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Other AI leaders are proposing a different response to potential job losses: universal basic income. Elon Musk said last week “universal high income”—federal payments funded by an “increase in the money supply” driven by AI and robotics—could offset the impact. His comments came days after OpenAI published a proposal that included a Public Wealth Fund, which would give Americans an automatic stake in AI companies and infrastructure.
Thanks for reading! This edition of the Careers newsletter was edited by Anjelica Tan, Chris Dobstaff and Jeffrey Marcus.