Career Webinars

The pace of work and the pressure to deliver create just the right conditions for tension to build in teams. You may leave interactions feeling frustrated, wondering why your team keeps having the same conversations, avoids the hard ones, or allows small issues to escalate into major misunderstandings.

If only other people would pull themselves together, everything would go smoothly, right?

Here’s something you may not realize: your communication style may be unintentionally contributing to the very dynamics that frustrate you.

In this session, you will learn how to spot the patterns underneath your team’s stuck conversations — and what to do about them. We will explore the four modes of communication that show up in every conversation, how missing actions create conflict, and the five common stuck patterns that play out in teams every day.

You will leave with a practical framework you can use immediately — in your next meeting, your next hard conversation, or your next moment of “here we go again.”

What you will learn:

• How to shift the role you might be playing in your team’s stuck patterns
• How to spot the communication patterns that keep your team going in circles
• The four modes of communication present in every conversation, and what happens when one goes missing
• The five most common stuck patterns that show up in teams
• Practical moves you can make to change the conversation in real time

Considering graduate school, a professional degree, or a career-changing certification? Before making a major investment of time and money, join this webinar to learn how to make a confident, informed choice by breaking down the real costs, career outcomes, and return on investment of continuing your education.

We will explore:

• Tuition costs and earning potential
• Employer tuition assistance and funding options
• Alternatives such as industry certifications and upskilling programs
• Strategies for evaluating long-term career value and alignment with your goals

Whether you’re advancing in your field, pivoting careers, or planning your next move, this session will help you assess which educational path offers the strongest value for your future.

Even the most brilliant ideas can fall flat if they aren’t delivered with conviction. True impact doesn’t just come from what you say — it comes from the delicate balance of confidence, passion, and authenticity behind how you say it.

In this webinar, Dr. Barbara Lash, a 20-year TV broadcast journalist, media coach, and doctoral researcher, will explore how to step into your power and own your narrative. Drawing on her extensive experience coaching professional athletes, celebrities, and corporate executives, Dr. Lash will use actionable guidance and live demonstrations to show you how ideas can be shaped into words that inform, persuade, and move people.

Whether you are stepping onto a stage, leading a boardroom, or looking to elevate your everyday influence, you will learn some of the leadership communication strategies high-profile leaders use to command a room and create buy-in through authenticity.

By the end of this webinar, you will be able to:

• Tap into your authentic voice to naturally build trust and credibility with your audience.
• Develop grounded confidence to navigate nerves and establish a steady, engaging presence.
• Channel your genuine passion so your core message truly connects with listeners.
• Adapt your communication for different scenarios while remaining true to your personal brand.

Remember when “learn to code” was the answer to every career question? Now, AI can code better than most humans. And computer science grads face higher unemployment than philosophy majors.

But here’s the truth nobody’s telling you: This wave isn’t about AI replacing you. It’s about AI changing what the world needs from you.

Join former LinkedIn and Khan Academy executive Jeremy Schifeling, MBA ’12, to discover exactly how to become the professional that AI makes more valuable, not less.

You will master:

• The SURF Framework: The four human and AI skills that make you unstoppable, no matter what comes next
• The 20X Playbook: The key human techniques that give you a 2,000% advantage over other job seekers, even in the toughest hiring markets
• The Portfolio Career: The essential strategies that keep your career sustainable — both today and tomorrow

The wave is almost here. Grab your board. Let’s ride.

This event is offered in partnership with the University Career Center, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the School of Kinesiology.

The future cannot be predicted, but it can be explored, challenged, and rehearsed.

What if being prepared for the future wasn’t about having the right answers, but about strengthening how you think? In environments dominated by short-term pressures, the ability to think beyond the present is emerging as a critical leadership advantage.

Imagination is a fundamental cognitive capability that allows us to generate possibilities beyond what exists today. Yet in fast-paced, and uncertain environments, we rarely make time to develop it. When imagination is underused, we default to reaction, overlook emerging signals, and feel less prepared for what’s ahead. Research consistently shows that while the vast majority of leaders see imagination as critical to future success, only a small minority actively cultivate it in practice.

Strategic foresight provides a way to actively build this capability — combining data, signals, and structured exploration with generative thinking to help individuals rehearse possibilities and shape more intentional outcomes. Organizations that apply these future-focused practices consistently outperform peers in growth, resilience, and innovation.

Led by leading foresight practitioners, this interactive session will engage participants in futures thinking and real-time exploration through approaches like scenarios, provocations, and reflection, creating space to strengthen imagination in action.

Participants will leave with practical approaches to:

• Generate and explore new possibilities
• Greater confidence navigating uncertainty
• New ways to think, decide, and lead beyond the present

Negative emotions at work are inevitable, but they don’t have to derail your performance or well-being. Many of us default to hiding or ignoring difficult feelings. Without the right tools, this can lead to unintended consequences and missed insights.

Advancing the Human Health and Well-Being impact area of U-M’s Look to Michigan vision, this global virtual panel will explore how mental fitness supports career growth. Ethan Kross, renowned U-M professor, international bestselling author of “Chatter” and “Shift,” and director of the U-M Mental Fitness Institute — a moonshot effort to reduce global suffering — will be joined by career coach Stacy Kim, author of “Envy,” to share practical strategies for managing and using negative emotions more effectively.

Using envy as a case study, they’ll show how emotions can reveal what you want, what to pursue, and who to learn from.

Myths we’ll challenge:

• There are “good” and “bad” emotions.
• Avoidance is always toxic, and venting is always helpful.
• Comparing yourself with others is the problem.

You’ll leave with:

• Concrete tools and exercises to build mental fitness at work. 
• Strategies for handling emotional “chatter” and relationship curveballs.  
• Greater calm, confidence, and clarity, plus resources to learn more.