Happy Presidents’ Day. In the span of a single weekend, we moved from Valentine’s Day dinners to NBA All-Star highlights to celebrating Lunar New Year. This is the year of the Horse, which symbolizes movement, independence, energy, and momentum

This week, we dive into:

Events for You:

The algorithm for LinkedIn is often hidden but, we have dedicated people who are all about breaking it and testing its boundaries. ViralBrain just released a very comprehensive report on just that. They’re an AI-powered LinkedIn intelligence tool built to reverse-engineer what drives reach, engagement, and virality on the platform. Here is what stood out in the full report:

Small Account Advantage: 

For social media, we’re always told to believe that scale is the primary measure of success. On LinkedIn, more followers mean broader reach and greater influence. In reality, a smaller account can be an advantage. Smaller networks are typically more concentrated and aligned. Your followers are more likely to know you, work in your industry, or share a genuine interest in the problems you address. 

That alignment drives substantive engagement rather than surface-level reactions. Conversations develop, comment threads deepen, and people spend more time with your ideas. These behaviors signal relevance to the platform’s algorithm. You do not need 50,000 followers to build authority. You need a focused audience that responds. Early in your growth, when your network is concentrated and intentional, your engagement rate can outperform accounts many times your size. This is structural leverage that, if managed well, compounds over time.

The Structural Advantage of Human, Clear Communication

The strongest-performing posts are grounded in human experience rather than abstract theory. Ideas travel further when they are attached to a person, a decision, a setback, or a turning point that readers can recognize in their own careers. Specific details create credibility and emotional resonance, which in turn drive meaningful engagement. In contrast, jargon-heavy updates and self-congratulatory corporate language consistently underperform. Professionals scroll past content that feels performative or overly polished because it lacks authenticity and practical value. Clarity is a competitive advantage. 

Writing at a fifth to seventh grade reading level increases accessibility. Data shows that complex language can reduce engagement significantly because it forces readers to work harder than they are willing to in a fast-moving feed. The most effective communicators express nuanced ideas in simple, direct language that respects both the reader’s time and intelligence.

Attention Has a Clock

Timing influences distribution more than most professionals realize. Posting between 7 AM and 9 AM places your content into a rare overlap window when the U.S. is beginning its day, Europe is active, and parts of Asia are still online. That cross-regional visibility increases the probability of early engagement, which is critical because the algorithm closely monitors performance in the first hour. Early traction signals relevance and can expand reach beyond your immediate network. 

Sunday presents a different but equally strategic opportunity. Median engagement rates are highest on Sundays, largely because competition is lower and fewer posts are crowding the feed. When supply decreases and attention remains, well-crafted content stands out more easily. Thoughtful timing does not replace substance, but it meaningfully improves the odds that strong ideas receive the attention they deserve.

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We’re back dissecting Glassdoor’s Best Places to work, and we arrive at the #4 company, Ryan. Just behind Nvidia in the overall rankings, the tax services firm has a multidisciplinary team of 7000+ professionals and serves more than 74,000 across 80 countries. It ranks #1 in Glassdoor’s Consulting, Finance, and Insurance category. 

In 2023, Ryan’s annual revenue surpassed $1 billion. That was achieved after an aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy in 2022, in which Ryan made 12 strategic acquisitions. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Ryan’s Principals include legislators, judges, tax policy officials, and former tax auditors. In aggregate, Ryan’s employees celebrated the following factors:

The biggest takeaway here is the nature of Ryan’s work. It’s taxes. As the popular joke goes, paying taxes is the other guaranteed experience in life aside from death. While many job seekers are trying to chase areas with the latest innovation, perhaps a “boring” sector like tax services might be just the right career pivot landing spot for someone who has felt the ups and downs of more flashy sectors and industries. 

Since AI came onto the scene, it has been plastered everywhere that AI will reduce the need for entry-level workers. That assumption has shaped hiring freezes, reduced campus recruiting, and cautious workforce planning across industries. Now one of the world’s largest technology companies is moving in the opposite direction.

According to reporting from Bloomberg, IBM plans to triple its entry-level hiring in the United States in 2026, even as it continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence systems. TechCrunch first amplified the story, highlighting comments from IBM’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Nickle LaMoreaux, who described a deliberate redesign of junior roles rather than their elimination. TechRadar confirmed that IBM has rewritten job descriptions to reduce routine tasks that AI can perform and to increase emphasis on client interaction, judgment, and oversight.

Most organizations responded to generative AI by targeting cost savings. Software now drafts emails, writes code, summarizes documents, and generates reports. Those functions often sit at the bottom of the career ladder. IBM’s approach suggests a different conclusion. Automation removes tasks, not responsibility. Someone must evaluate outputs, interpret context, manage clients, and understand how automated systems operate inside real business constraints. By shifting junior roles away from repetitive production and toward contextual problem-solving, IBM signals that entry-level hiring is an investment in capability.

The decision also reflects a longer-term risk that many firms have overlooked. If companies eliminate early-career roles, they weaken their own leadership pipeline. Mid-career professionals do not appear fully formed. They develop through supervised work, increasing complexity, and accumulated judgment. If organizations hollow out the base of the pyramid, they eventually lack experienced managers who understand both operations and strategy.

IBM appears to recognize that risk. Junior employees will spend less time on repetitive outputs and more time working directly with clients and overseeing AI-assisted processes. It reframes artificial intelligence as a tool that augments workers rather than replaces them outright.

If your organization treats AI as a substitute for human development, you should question how it plans to cultivate future leaders. If your company redesigns roles to emphasize judgment and client engagement, you should position yourself as someone who can train, mentor, and structure those new workflows. Experience becomes more valuable when paired with technological fluency.