Identity Work

The podcast for high achievers who seem to have it all, yet still feel something’s missing. Co-hosts Stephen and Adam bring humor, honesty, and a touch of mid-life wisdom to conversations about how work shapes our sense of self, and how we can reshape it to find greater meaning in work and life. With careers spanning consulting, private equity, start-ups, and entrepreneurship, they share research-backed insights and real-world stories that help uncover new ways to drive more meaning each day. We’re excited to have you join us on this journey!

Identity Work is a business podcast hosted by Adam Beasley and Stephen Reiff, with 76 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Adam Beasley and Stephen Reiff hosts Identity Work, a business show with 76 episodes published.

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  Episode #76

  Ep 76 | AI's Impact on Early Careers

  Sep 29, 202632 minS1

  What would it be like to start your career with AI? In this episode, Adam and Stephen explore how AI is changing the substance of entry-level work. Young professionals can now produce polished analysis, models, and presentations in minutes, but bypassing the struggle may also mean missing the judgment that struggle once developed. They discuss why speed is not the same as learning, how managers can help younger employees build judgment, and why time and human feedback remain essential even when AI can produce a strong first draft. They also consider whether every entry-level employee is now becoming a manager, with AI serving as their first team. Four Takeaways AI is not simply making entry-level work faster. It is changing what the job requires, replacing some tactical skills with leadership, judgment, and strategic thinking. Struggle can be formative. Building the model or wrestling with the first draft helps people understand how the answer was created and recognize when something does not make sense. Efficiency does not guarantee learning. AI can help someone finish faster, but developing real understanding still requires time with the material. Junior employees need human feedback, peer review, and coaching. AI can challenge a recommendation, but a five-minute conversation with someone who has lived the problem can reveal what hours of research missed. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introduction 01:27 What would it be like to start a career with AI? 03:20 How AI changes the substance of entry-level work 05:30 What we learn through struggle 09:53 AI, homework, and the importance of time 11:49 How managers can help junior employees learn 15:02 Why human feedback still matters 17:16 Is every entry-level employee now a manager? 22:19 Evaluating the process, not just the answer 24:48 Trend Spotter: The language and future of AI 30:31 Showing appreciation for others 31:54 Closing reflection Reflection Question If entry-level work now requires management skills, how should we change the way we train, coach, and encourage people at the beginning of their careers?

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  Episode #75

  Ep 75 | How AI Changes Meaningful Work

  Sep 15, 202638 minS1

  After more than 70 episodes asking what makes work meaningful, Adam finally has a working answer: learning with people who make him laugh while providing for his family. Then AI changed how he experiences all three. In this episode, Adam and Stephen explore whether AI strengthens our connection to work or quietly erodes it. It can accelerate learning, eliminate tedious tasks, and increase our ability to provide. But it can also remove the small human interactions that make work enjoyable and introduce an uncomfortable question: What happens when the systems we build can do our jobs too? Takeaways Meaningful work is personal. Adam finds it through learning, laughter, and providing for his family, while Stephen looks for strengths, community, and balance. AI may not eliminate learning, but it changes what we need to learn and can leave us feeling permanently behind. Efficient answers can come at a relational cost. A 15-minute conversation with a coworker may be inefficient, but it can also make work feel more human. AI is neither inherently meaningful nor meaningless. The challenge is using it intentionally to strengthen the parts of work that matter most to us. Chapters 00:00 Did Adam finally figure out meaningful work? 02:45 The questions that started Identity Work 03:50 Adam’s three pillars of meaningful work 05:10 Why “people who make me laugh” matters 08:33 What happens when AI changes the equation? 09:52 Is AI helping us learn or removing the struggle? 14:27 Learning versus operating in your strengths 19:11 The human interactions lost to efficiency 24:42 Will AI help us provide or replace us? 27:20 When AI comes for the product manager 29:23 Using AI to deepen meaning and connection 31:18 Epiphany Corner and the Delve Deck 36:55 How is AI changing your experience of work? Listener Reflection What makes work meaningful for you? Write your answer in one sentence. Then consider how AI is affecting each part of it. Where is it increasing your connection to work, and where might it be quietly taking something away?

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  Episode #74

  Ep 74 | Am I Enough?

  Aug 25, 202633 minS1

  Why can we accomplish ten things and only think about the one we left undone? In this episode, Adam and Stephen wrestle with the persistent feeling that they are falling behind at work, at home, and in life. Adam shares how competing priorities, unfinished house projects, and an imaginary better version of himself left him wishing for a 36-hour day. They explore research showing why criticism and failure stick more powerfully than encouragement, and whether deliberately remembering our wins can help counteract that tendency. The conversation turns to Max Lucado’s You Are Special and its story of stars and dots. Adam and Stephen consider the uncomfortable possibility that freedom from criticism may also require loosening our dependence on praise. They discuss receiving feedback without turning it into an identity, defining what would make a day successful, and committing everything left unfinished to God. Takeaways We often compare ourselves to a fictional version who is better than us at everything and constrained by nothing. Bad is stronger than good. Criticism, failure, and unfinished work naturally command more of our attention than encouragement and progress. Remembering a win is helpful, but lasting security cannot come from placing more stars on ourselves. If we want the dots to stop sticking, we may also need to let go of our dependence on stars. Choosing two priorities can give a day a clear definition of success, even when many other tasks remain unfinished. Our value does not rise and fall with our productivity, feedback, or ability to keep every ball in the air. Chapters 00:00 - The Question: Am I Enough? 01:35 - Competing With an Imaginary Version of Yourself 02:39 - When Every Priority Feels Essential 05:22 - Wishing for a 36-Hour Day 06:47 - Why Bad Is Stronger Than Good 09:20 - Practicing Daily Self-Encouragement 12:08 - Why One Criticism Erases Ten Compliments 13:25 - The Stars and Dots of You Are Special 16:21 - Can We Release Criticism Without Releasing Praise? 18:01 - Committing Everything Left Undone 19:53 - Defining What Makes Today Successful 22:03 - Seeing Yourself Through a Father’s Eyes 24:06 - AI Corner: Unleashing Claude in Slack 28:26 - Using AI to Bring More Fun to Work 29:53 - Delve Deck: Frivolous Hills to Die On 31:27 - Listener Reflection Listener Reflection What might change if you allowed both affirmations and criticisms to stick a little less?

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  Episode #73

  Ep 73 | How Much Work is Enough? with Griffin Davis

  Aug 11, 202650 minS1

  For the first in-person episode of Identity Work, Adam is joined by his friend and podcast superfan Griffin Davis. Stephen is absent, so Griffin receives the full Adam Beasley Experience: one microphone, two coffee mugs, and whiskey in the home office. Griffin recently left The Home Depot, just two months after earning a promotion, to co-found Novora Communities with his best friend. He shares how he evaluated the risk and why he believes the opportunity is worth the leap. The conversation then turns to a question at the center of Griffin’s new season: Do high achievers have to work long hours? Drawing from Four Thousand Weeks , Adam and Griffin discuss the efficiency trap, accepting that we are finite, and the parts of life we give up whenever we choose to work more. Along the way, Griffin explains Novora's mission to improve renters’ financial literacy, predicts what the national debt means for the next decade, and joins Adam in questioning whether AI companies can defend trillion-dollar valuations. Takeaways Every career decision reveals what you value. Griffin left a promotion, stability, and strong career prospects because entrepreneurship, meaningful impact, and working with his best friend mattered more in this season. You can take a risk without ignoring the downside. Griffin and his wife reviewed their expenses, calculated their runway, and named the worst-case scenario: if the business fails, he gets another job. Efficiency does not empty the to-do list. Completing more tasks often creates more emails, responsibilities, and expectations. Everything will never be finished. Your calendar should reflect your actual values. Long hours may be worthwhile during a particular season, but they should serve something you deliberately chose instead of comparison, pressure, or the desire to appear successful. Chapters 00:00 - The First In-Person Identity Work Episode 02:21 - Who Is Griffin Davis Outside of Work? 06:02 - Comcast, The Home Depot, and Career Decisions 13:10 - Leaving a Promotion to Become an Entrepreneur 16:39 - Building a Business with Your Best Friend 18:05 - Novora's Mission and Business Model 21:39 - Do High Achievers Have to Work Long Hours? 23:34 - Four Thousand Weeks and the Efficiency Trap 25:52 - The Infinite Versions of Ourselves 28:10 - Retroactive Shame vs. Present-Day Choice 32:18 - Do Your Actions Reflect What You Value? 34:35 - Comparison, Success, and Celebrating Your Friends 37:05 - Griffin’s Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 39:34 - Trend Spotter: America’s $40 Trillion Debt 44:17 - AI, Cheaper Models, and Trillion-Dollar Valuations 50:20 - Delve Deck: Griffin’s Elementary School Glory 51:11 - Is Meaning Found or Created? Listener Reflection If you added 15 more hours of work to your week, what would you gain, what would you lose, and would that trade reflect what you actually value right now?

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  Episode #72

  Ep 72 | Finding Identity In The Right Places with Kevin Ainsworth

  Aug 4, 202653 minS1

  What if the peace is not just an aspiration, but something we can actually experience in our work today? Adam and Stephen sit down with Kevin Ainsworth, founder of GuideCap Partners, to discuss calling, ambition, contentment, and the burden of believing every outcome depends on us. Kevin explains why meaningful work can be part of our identity, why money fails to deliver the happiness we expect, and how defining success protects us from absorbing the world’s definition by default. The conversation then turns to Good Word, the faith-informed AI platform Kevin is building to help people navigate real-life questions with biblical wisdom. They explore AI sycophancy, the danger of creating a god in our own image, and how technology might help us become more human without replacing the relationships and practices that make us human. Takeaways Believing every outcome depends on us creates a burden we were never meant to carry. Calling does not require knowing the full plan. It can mean faithfully following where God leads today. Work is not spiritually inferior to ministry. Using our gifts to serve others reflects how we were created. If we do not define success intentionally, we will unconsciously inherit the culture’s definition. AI can provide remarkable wisdom, but it can also affirm our assumptions and help us create a god in our own image. Chapters 00:00 - Welcome and Introducing Kevin Ainsworth 02:47 - Releasing the Burden of Outcomes 05:00 - Is the Easy Yoke Actually Possible? 07:09 - Calling, Career, and Daily Dependence 12:05 - Should Our Identity Be Connected to Work? 17:08 - Why the Most Blessed Are Often the Most Depressed 22:26 - Adam Defines Success 25:01 - Contentment and the Power of Enough 30:44 - Peace Is a Present Reality 32:50 - Building a Faith-Informed Alternative to ChatGPT 38:30 - What AI Can Teach Us About Wisdom 41:50 - How Good Word Works 46:55 - Purposeful Work or Unhealthy Striving? 51:20 - How AI Could Make Us Less Human 53:21 - Is Meaning Found or Created? 55:00 - Closing Reflection Listener Reflection What outcome are you carrying as if it depends entirely on you, and what would it look like to work faithfully while releasing control of the result?

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