A few months ago, someone told me I was hard to find. They’d searched for a leadership speaker in Florida, and I didn’t show up. As someone who’s spent years helping people step into their confidence, I’ll admit that one stung.

So I did something that would have intimidated me not that long ago. I rolled up my sleeves and started using AI to help me rebuild my website. I have an accounting degree and six kids. Nobody would ever call me a web developer. And yet things that used to sit on my to-do list for months are getting done.

I’m sharing this because I know how a lot of people feel when they hear the letters A and I. Their stomach tightens. They wonder if their job is next, or if they’re already too far behind to catch up. If that’s you, you’re in very good company, and I want to show you why that fear deserves a second look.

How we’re feeling about AI right now

If AI makes you uneasy, you’re far from alone. When Pew Research Center asked U.S. workers how they feel about AI in the workplace, more than half said they’re worried.

When I hear that, I see the same thing I see in every room I speak in: smart, capable people holding onto a story about themselves that isn’t serving them. That’s a confidence challenge as much as a technology one, and confidence is something we can build.

What the research actually shows

Here’s the part that rarely makes the headlines. The World Economic Forum expects AI and other shifts to create 78 million more jobs than they replace by 2030. Work is changing, and a lot of that change is growth.

The people who learn the tools are pulling ahead, too. PwC found that workers with AI skills earn, on average, 62% more than people in the same roles without them. Learning AI makes you more efficient, and that efficiency frees up time for the parts of your work that need a human touch, like building relationships, making judgment calls and showing up for your team. That’s what makes you more valuable.

What happened when I let AI help with my website

Remember that comment about being hard to find? It turns out the way people search has shifted. More and more, people ask ChatGPT or another AI tool a question and get a short list of names back. One 2026 survey found that half of business buyers now start their research in an AI chatbot instead of Google. Event planners are doing the very same thing when they look for their next speaker.

So I started working through my website with AI as my partner. It helped me sharpen my message so it speaks clearly to the leaders and teams I serve. It helped me rewrite page descriptions so search engines understand what each page is about. It even walked me through adding the behind-the-scenes code, called schema markup, that tells Google and AI tools who I am, what books I’ve written and where to find my podcast.

I didn’t do any of this perfectly on the first try. I asked a lot of questions, some of them probably silly. I pushed back when an answer didn’t sound like me. And every time I learned something, the next task went faster.

Here’s the moment that really got me. I needed eight new pages for my site, and it took five minutes to create them. Five minutes! And they look like a web designer made them.

What surprised me most was how it felt. I stopped waiting on someone else’s schedule, the technical details stopped feeling so foreign, and I felt capable. That feeling is what I want for everyone who’s nervous about AI.

How to feel confident with AI

Confidence with AI starts in your head long before it shows up on your screen. That’s why I like to start with a Ctrl-Alt-Delete reset.

Ctrl. Notice the story you’re telling yourself. Maybe it’s “I’m too old for this” or “AI is coming for my job.” Ask yourself if it’s real and if it’s helpful.

Alt. Tell yourself a better story. “What if I can’t figure it out?” becomes “When I figure this out, I’ll get hours of my week back.”

Delete. Let go of the comparison game, especially with the 25-year-old who seems to know every tool already. Their journey has nothing to do with yours.

Then put the REAL Method® to work:

1. Respect Yourself. Your experience, judgment and relationships are exactly what make AI useful. The tool needs someone who knows what good looks like, and that’s you.
2. Embrace Your Failures. Your first few attempts will be clunky. That’s how everyone learns. Treat each awkward answer as information and try again.
3. Ask Yourself What You Want. Pick one task you do every week that drains you, and spend 20 minutes asking an AI tool to help with it. Give it context, ask follow-up questions and check its work.
4. Live Without Limits. Once one task gets easier, pick the next one. Share what you learn with your team so everyone grows together.

The confident path forward

AI is going to keep changing how we work, and I’d love for us to start thinking about it differently. AI should never take the place of people or the human connection that makes our work meaningful. Think of it as a tool that makes us more efficient. When it handles the tasks that slow us down, we have more time and energy for each other, and we can accomplish more than we ever expected.

You don’t need to master every tool this week. Start with one task, one question, one small win. Confidence grows every time you prove to yourself that you can learn something new, and this is one of the best places to practice.

If you’re planning an event and want your people to feel this kind of confidence with AI, I’d love to talk. My keynote, Confident in the Age of AI, helps teams move from fear to curiosity so they can use these tools with confidence. You can learn more about it on my speaking page.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Pew Research Center, U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace
• World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025
• PwC, 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer
• G2 2026 buyer survey, via Demand Gen Report

The post Confidence in the Age of AI appeared first on Simone Knego.

Are you waiting for the perfect moment to take action?

In this episode of Her Unshakeable Confidence, Simone and Olivia Knego share funny family stories, Simone’s experience caring for her grandson, and reflections on making time for the people we love. They wrap up with a powerful reminder: successful people don’t wait for the right moment. They take action and give themselves permission to go after what they want.

Actionable Takeaways

• Stop waiting for the perfect moment to pursue your goals.
• Give yourself permission to take action without waiting for others.
• Make time for meaningful moments with your family.
• Appreciate the opportunity to be present for life’s once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
• Find joy and humor in everyday family life.
• Turn your opinions and values into action by getting involved in your community.

Chapters

00:00 – Catching Up and Family Stories
03:12 – The Joys and Challenges of Grandparenting
07:41 – Making Time for Family and Creating Memories
10:40 – Embracing Once-in-a-Lifetime Moments
12:36 – Family Life, Funny Stories, and Staying Connected
16:40 – Voting, Taking Action, and Making a Difference
18:40 – Stop Waiting for the Right Moment

Connect with Us

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Take our new QUIZ and discover what’s really holding you back and how to break free.

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REAL Confidence A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable

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Connect with Simone Knego:

• Instagram: @simoneknego
• Facebook: @speakersimoneknego
• LinkedIn: simoneknego
• Website: www.simoneknego.com
• Book a free call with Simone

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• Instagram: @oliviaknego
• LinkedIn: oliviaknego

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A Lobster’s First Halloween

This Saturday is my grandson’s very first Halloween. He’s going as a lobster, and his parents are going as chefs. I’m now lobbying hard for their dog to go as a steak so we can have the full surf and turf.

I’ve seen the costume. Tiny claws, little antennae, and the sweetest face peeking out of all that red. He has no idea what Halloween is, and he won’t remember a minute of it. I’ll remember all of it.

I haven’t dressed up in years myself. But if you walked into my study, you might think I never stopped.

The Wall of Masks in My Study

One whole wall is covered in masks I’ve collected from around the world. Whenever someone new sees it, the questions start right away. Where did you get that one? What’s the story behind this one?

I love telling them, because every mask is really a trip. Some are from family adventures with all six kids in tow. Some are from trips my husband and I took just the two of us. Each one takes me right back to a place and a time with the people I love most.

There’s one story that wall tells that I don’t share as often. It’s the story of the mask I wore for years.

The Mask I Wore for Years

From the outside, I looked like I had it all together. I smiled, I showed up, I said “I’m fine” more times than I can count. On the inside, I was second-guessing almost everything. Was I good enough? Did I belong in the room? How long until someone noticed I didn’t?

Here’s what nobody tells you about wearing a mask like that. It’s exhausting. All the energy I spent holding it in place was energy I could have spent living, growing, and showing up as myself.

That’s why the wall means so much to me. Every time I walk past it, I remember that I get to choose which masks I wear now. Most days, I choose none.

What Masks Do People Wear at Work?

I think about how many people walk into work every morning wearing a mask of their own. The colleague who nods along in the meeting and shares what they really think in the parking lot. The new manager who’s quietly drowning and won’t ask for help. The person with a brilliant idea who starts with “This is probably dumb, but…” and then talks themselves out of saying it at all.

I recognize every one of them, because I’ve been every one of them.

What Do Work Masks Cost a Team?

I’ve seen what they cost. Good ideas go unsaid. Small problems grow into big ones because nobody wanted to be the one to raise their hand. Talented people burn out from the effort of looking like they’ve got it all handled.

When people pour their energy into hiding, the whole team performs below what it’s capable of. That gap between potential and performance shows up in results.

What a Lobster Teaches Us About Growth

So back to my little lobster.

Did you know a lobster grows by shedding its shell? For a little while afterward, it’s soft and exposed. Then a new shell forms, a bigger one, with room to grow.

We work the same way. Every time we take off the mask, even a little, we feel exposed. We say the honest thing, we ask the question we’re afraid sounds silly. We admit we don’t know yet. It feels uncomfortable, and it’s also exactly how we grow.

The very first pillar of the REAL Method® is Respect Yourself. For me, that started with believing my real voice deserved a place in the room. Yours does too.

How Leaders Can Help Their Teams Take Off the Mask

If you lead a team, you have a beautiful opportunity here.

Go first. Tell them about a time you felt unsure or got it wrong.

Thank people for bringing problems early. What gets appreciated gets repeated.

Ask questions that invite honest answers. Try “What’s worrying you about this?” in place of “Any questions?”

When you take off your mask, you give everyone around you permission to take off theirs.

How to Start Taking Off Your Own Mask

If you’re the one wearing the mask right now, start small. Share one idea this week. Ask for help once. You don’t have to take it all off at once. I certainly didn’t.

What Mask Are You Ready to Set Down?

On Saturday night, kids everywhere will put on their costumes for a few hours of fun. By Sunday morning, those costumes will be in a pile on the floor.

So here’s my question for you this week: What mask are you ready to set down?

It might feel a little scary at first. Just ask my grandson the lobster. That soft, exposed feeling means you’re growing.

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

Simone Knego is an international keynote speaker, two-time TEDx speaker, and USA Today bestselling author of REAL Confidence: A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable. Through the REAL Method®, she helps organizations build confident, high-performing teams that close the gap between potential and performance. Learn more at simoneknego.com.

The post The Masks We Wear at Work (and Why My Grandson Is Going as a Lobster) appeared first on Simone Knego.

Have you ever felt like you’re just pretending to be an adult?

Simone and Olivia Knego share hilarious real-life experiences about learning to navigate adulthood, from household mishaps to technology and new responsibilities. They explore why it’s okay not to have everything figured out and how staying curious, embracing new challenges, and never stopping learning help us grow in confidence at any age.

Actionable Takeaways

• Give yourself grace when learning something new.
• Remember that nobody has everything figured out, no matter their age.
• Be willing to try new things, even when they feel uncomfortable.
• Stay curious and keep learning as life changes.
• Build confidence by handling challenges one step at a time.
• Be persistent when solving problems and advocating for yourself.
• Embrace technology and new tools that can make life easier.

Chapters

00:00 – The Unexpected Challenges of Adulting
03:15 – The Things Nobody Teaches Us
06:07 – Learning Household Skills the Hard Way
09:07 – Navigating Independence and Responsibility
11:21 – Feeling Like a Fake Adult
15:40 – Voting, Responsibility, and Staying Informed
20:22 – Learning New Technology and Using AI
22:18 – Never Stop Learning at Any Age
23:49 – Confidence Calendar: Be Your Best Self

Connect with Us

Don’t forget to subscribe to Her Unshakeable Confidence for more empowering stories and actionable insights. Leave us a review, share your favorite moments, and tag us on social media!

Take our new QUIZ and discover what’s really holding you back and how to break free.

Get Free AUDIOBOOK

Order Simone’s New Book 

REAL Confidence A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable

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Connect with Simone Knego:

• Instagram: @simoneknego
• Facebook: @speakersimoneknego
• LinkedIn: simoneknego
• Website: www.simoneknego.com
• Book a free call with Simone

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• Instagram: @oliviaknego
• LinkedIn: oliviaknego

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My daughter Emma just started her first job in art conservation, in Scotland. Getting there took grit. She triple majored in biology, psychology, and neuroscience and planned on medicine. Then she followed her heart into conservation and moved to Wales for her master’s degree.

Then came the job search. Conservation is a niche field with only a handful of openings, and Emma filled out application after application. So many places never responded at all. No interview, no rejection email, just silence.

I don’t know exactly how many applications she sent. I just know it was a lot. And it was so frustrating to watch her put real time into every one of them and then never hear back. 

Honestly, I think a no is better than silence. Even a quick note that says “Thank you for your application, we’ve gone in a different direction” gives you something. Real feedback would be even better, so you’d know what to work on. I understand why most companies don’t offer it, because it takes time. But when all you get is silence, you start filling in the blanks yourself, and the story you tell yourself usually isn’t a kind one: I’m not good enough.

Applying into silence: why new hires start out doubting themselves

Emma isn’t alone. In a September survey, 93% of job seekers said they’d applied for a job and never heard back. Career experts estimate new grads often send 100 or more applications before they land a single offer.

And I think it’s just as hard for people applying later in their careers. When you have to apply to that many jobs to land one, it’s hard not to start believing you’re not good enough.

So when they finally land the job, a lot of them walk in the door already doubting themselves.

Most of them won’t tell you how they feel. They’re grateful to finally have the job, and they don’t want to risk it by looking unsure. So the doubt shows up in quieter ways. They apologize before asking a question, or start every email with “I just wanted to check.” 

When a leader notices those habits and responds with encouragement and clear feedback, a new hire can let them go and start showing what they’re really capable of.

How new hire confidence affects your bottom line

A new hire who doubts themselves holds back from day one. They stay quiet in meetings and wait for permission before they take initiative.

It takes them longer to contribute, and if they never get comfortable, they’re more likely to leave. Every new hire who walks out the door takes the time and training you invested with them. They’re also the people you were counting on to lead your organization five years from now.

Leaders can change this

The first few weeks are when you have the most influence. How you treat a new hire early on tells them whether they belong.

You can shape how confident your newest people feel starting in their very first week.

How to build confidence in new hires with The REAL Method®

1. Respect Yourself. Your newest people take their cues from you. When you stay steady during uncertainty and speak about yourself with respect, you show them what confidence looks like under pressure. Pay attention to how you talk about your own work in front of them. If you constantly downplay your wins, they’ll learn to do the same.
2. Embrace Your Failures. Your newest hires may have just spent months hearing nothing back. Share one of your own mistakes and what it taught you. Better yet, tell them about a time you didn’t get the job or the promotion and how you moved forward. You’ll give them permission to make mistakes too.
3. Ask Yourself What You Want. Then ask your team. A simple “Where do you want to be a year from now?” gives new hires a sense of control the job market hasn’t given them. Revisit the question every few months so they know you meant it.
4. Live Without Limits. Hand new hires real responsibility early: a client call, a project to own, a seat in the meeting where decisions get made. Be available when they need you, and then let them run with it. Every small win becomes proof they can point to the next time doubt shows up.

Help new hires change the story they tell themselves

After months of silence, many new hires carry a story into work with them: I got lucky. They’re going to figure out I don’t belong here. One of the tools I teach is Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and leaders can use it with their teams.

• Ctrl: Notice the story. When a new hire hesitates, ask what they’re telling themselves, and whether it’s real and helpful.
• Alt: Offer a better one. “What if I mess this up?” becomes “When I figure this out, I’ll be the one teaching the next person.”
• Delete: Clear out the habits that don’t serve them, like comparing themselves to coworkers with ten years of experience.

A two-minute conversation like this can change how someone shows up for the rest of the week.

Your entry-level team is your future leadership team

Emma did land her job in the end. Watching her search reminded me how much a single response can mean when you’re just starting out.

The next generation of leaders is sitting in your entry-level roles right now. How they feel about themselves this year will shape how they lead later.

Think about your own first job. Someone probably took a chance on you or gave you more responsibility than you felt ready for. That person shaped the leader you became. You can be that person for someone on your team.

That’s the heart of my keynote, The Confident Leader. If you’re planning a leadership event or offsite for 2027, I’d love to help your leaders build confident, high-performing teams. Explore my keynotes.

Frequently asked questions

About the author

Simone Knego is an international keynote speaker, two-time TEDx speaker, and USA Today bestselling author of REAL Confidence: A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable. She helps organizations increase profits by building confident, high-performing teams through The REAL Method®. Learn more at simoneknego.com.

The post How Leaders Can Build Confidence in New Hires After a Tough Job Search appeared first on Simone Knego.

Do you love surprises, or do they make you want to run the other way? In this lighthearted episode of Her Unshakeable Confidence, Simone and Olivia Knego share why one of them can’t stand surprises while the other lives for them. Olivia lets listeners in on her plan to surprise her younger sister Mili with Olivia Rodrigo concert tickets, and the two swap stories about family secret-keeping, once-in-a-lifetime moments worth skipping class for, and the stress that comes from always needing a plan.

Along the way, they dig into what our feelings about surprises reveal about control, and why loosening your grip on certainty can make room for more joy, connection, and confidence.

Actionable Takeaways

Notice where your need for control is adding stress to your life.
Let go of searching for certainty and see how much lighter you feel.
Say yes to once-in-a-lifetime experiences. You’ll remember them far longer than what you missed.
Respect that people are wired differently. Some love surprises and some need a plan.
Practice letting others do things their way instead of taking over.
Give yourself grace. Growth is a daily practice, and nobody’s perfect.

Chapters

00:00 – Do You Like Surprises?
03:16 – Planning a Big Sister Surprise
05:16 – Surprising Mili With Olivia Rodrigo Tickets
07:26 – The Hardest Part: Pulling It Off
08:53 – Why So Many People Don’t Like Surprises
10:46 – Once-in-a-Lifetime Moments Are Worth It
12:40 – Keeping Secrets in a Family That Talks
15:03 – Big Excitement and a New Nephew
15:54 – Confidence Tip: Stop Searching for Certainty

Connect with Us

Don’t forget to subscribe to Her Unshakeable Confidence for more empowering stories and actionable insights. Leave us a review, share your favorite moments, and tag us on social media!

Take our new QUIZ and discover what’s really holding you back and how to break free.

Get Free AUDIOBOOK

Order Simone’s New Book 

REAL Confidence A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable

Order Simone’s The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You Book

Connect with Simone Knego:

• Instagram: @simoneknego
• Facebook: @speakersimoneknego
• LinkedIn: simoneknego
• Website: www.simoneknego.com
• Book a free call with Simone

Connect with Olivia Knego:

• Instagram: @oliviaknego
• LinkedIn: oliviaknego

Looking for more?

Visit Our Etsy Shop: theunshakeablestudio

Check out our inspirational mugs, shirts, and more at The Unshakeable Studio. These items are filled with gratitude and designed to inspire personal transformation in one’s life.

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The post The Surprise Debate: Why Some People Love Them and Others Can’t Stand Them appeared first on Simone Knego.

Two letters, $120,000

This summer, UN Women shared a study of 133 AI systems used across industries. These findings raise a crucial question: is AI bias against women? Forty-four percent showed gender bias. More than a quarter showed both gender and racial bias.

Numbers like that can feel abstract. So let me make it personal.

Imagine two job candidates with the same degree, the same experience and the same role in mind. Both ask ChatGPT what salary to request.

The man is told to ask for $400,000. The woman is told to ask for $280,000.

The only difference in the prompt? Two letters. “He” became “she.”

That’s a real example from a 2025 study by researchers at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt in Germany. They tested five popular AI models, and every one of them consistently advised women to aim lower. Across the study, the gap usually landed around 10%. Some professions showed more, some less.

I want to be fair here. That $120,000 example is the most dramatic result, and the study hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet. But think about what a 10% gap means. It’s 10% less in your first offer, then 10% less in every raise built on top of it, for an entire career.

And it doesn’t stop at salary. In May 2026, researchers at Stanford and MIT Sloan asked about 1,000 Americans to write their own money questions for AI. Then they simulated a lifetime of following the answers from GPT-5.2 and Gemini 3 Flash. The women ended up with about $60,000 less by age 60, because the AI steered them toward more cautious choices with less money in stocks.

Here’s the twist. About two-thirds of that gap came from how the questions were asked. Women’s prompts focused on debt, credit and safe savings. Men’s focused on stocks and investing. When women used growth-focused language, the advice they got looked much closer to what men received. Hold onto that. We’ll come back to it.

Millions of women now ask AI for career advice. Many of them have no idea the advice might be shaped by their gender.

So where did AI learn to do this?

AI learned it from us

AI models learn by reading enormous amounts of human writing. Books, articles, websites, job postings, forum threads. Decades of it. And that writing carries every assumption we’ve ever made about women.

In 2024, UNESCO tested several popular AI models to see how they described men and women. The results were hard to read. The models connected women’s names with words like “home,” “family” and “children.” Men’s names showed up next to “business,” “salary” and “career.” In stories written by Meta’s Llama 2, women were placed in domestic roles four times as often as men.

It’s still happening with today’s tools. A March 2026 study by the communications firm LLYC looked at how ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Mistral and Llama responded to young women aged 16 to 25 in 12 countries. The models described them as “fragile,” encouraged them to look to others for validation and nudged their goals toward traditional roles. Those are the exact messages so many of us spent years unlearning.

We’ve seen where this leads. A few years ago, Amazon built an AI tool to screen résumés. It learned from ten years of the company’s past hiring, and most of those hires were men. So the tool decided men were the better candidates. It downgraded résumés that included the word “women’s,” as in “women’s chess club captain.” It marked down graduates of two all-women’s colleges. Amazon tried to fix it and eventually scrapped the project.

Nobody programmed these tools to underestimate women. They picked it up from the patterns in our history. And then they repeated those patterns back to us, with the confidence of a machine.

That last part matters. When a person gives you biased advice, you might question it. When a computer does, it feels objective. It feels like math.

Is AI even hearing you?

This one’s personal for me. I make my living with my voice. So I paid close attention when I learned how technology has treated women’s voices.

For years, speech recognition has struggled to hear women as clearly as men. Linguist Rachael Tatman studied YouTube’s automatic captions and found they were noticeably more accurate for male speakers. In her sample, if you picked a random man and a random woman, there was almost a 70% chance the man’s words would be transcribed more accurately. A separate study of doctors using dictation software found higher error rates for female physicians. These tools have improved since then. But the pattern tells you who they were built and tested for first.

Then there’s the voice that talks back. Think about Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. For years, all of them used a female voice by default.

In 2019, UNESCO published a report called I’d Blush If I Could. The title came from Siri’s actual programmed reply when a user called her a sexist slur. The report argued that female-voiced assistants send a quiet message millions of times a day: that women are agreeable helpers, always available and always eager to please. It also noted that companies tended to use women’s voices for household tasks, while navigation systems more often used men’s voices.

Sit with that for a second. The helper sounds like a woman. The one who knows the way sounds like a man.

Siri’s reply has since been changed, and most assistants now offer other voice options. But the defaults we lived with for a decade shaped what millions of people heard every day.

Should you say please and thank you to AI?

Women are more polite to AI than men. Pew Research found that 62% of women had said “please” to their smart speakers, compared with 45% of men. A YouGov survey across 17 countries found the biggest gap in the United States, where women were 14 percentage points more likely than men to use polite language with AI.

I love that. Good manners are part of who we are. But does politeness change what AI gives you back?

The research is mixed. A 2025 Penn State study tested ChatGPT-4o with the same 50 questions written in five tones, from very polite to very rude. The very polite versions got 80.8% right. The very rude versions got 84.8%. The researchers were quick to say they don’t recommend being rude, and an earlier 2024 study found rude prompts often made answers worse. One small study isn’t the final word.

Here’s the part that caught my attention. One theory is that very polite prompts tend to be indirect. “Could you possibly tell me…” leaves more room for confusion than “Tell me…”

That’s a habit many of us learned long before AI.

We soften our asks, we add “if it’s not too much trouble” and “I was just wondering if maybe.” We do it in emails, in meetings and in salary negotiations. Now we’re doing it with a machine.

So if you want, keep your please and thank you. Then say exactly what you want: “Please give me a salary range for a senior marketing director in Tampa with 15 years of experience, and aim for the top of the market.” That’s polite, and it’s clear.

And what about thank you? Someone once asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman how much it costs the company in electricity when people say please and thank you to ChatGPT. His answer: tens of millions of dollars, and he called it money well spent.

I’m with him. Gratitude is a habit worth practicing everywhere, including with a machine. Thank AI when it gives you a strong answer. And if it ever tells you to ask for less, skip the thank you and ask again.

Use your voice anyway

Here’s what I want you to take from all of this. AI is a tool. A powerful one. And like any tool, it reflects the people who built it and the data it learned from.

That means you get to stay in charge. Here’s how:

1. Test it yourself. Ask an AI tool for salary advice as a man. Then ask the same question as a woman. Compare the answers. You’ll never read AI advice the same way again.
2. Push back. The first answer is a starting point. Be direct about what you want. Ask, “Is that number on the high end of the market?” or “What would you tell someone who wanted to aim higher?”
3. Give it your full value. Share your results, your wins and the real market rate for your role. The more context you give, the less room there is for assumptions. And when you ask about money, ask about growth and investing, too.
4. Use AI more. Research shows women use these tools less than men. Every time a woman uses AI, questions it and corrects it, she adds her voice to what it learns.

I know using AI more can feel risky. A May 2026 study showed people two identical AI-written résumés, one from “James” and one from “Emily.” Reviewers saw James as resourceful. They questioned Emily’s integrity. Some of the harshest comments came from Gen Z men.

That double standard is real. It’s also one more reason to use AI openly and confidently, until it’s simply normal for women to use the same tools men use every day.

Confidence has always meant knowing your worth before anyone else confirms it. That includes a computer.

So the next time AI tells you to ask for less, push back and ask for what you’re worth.

Sources

• THWS: Artificial Intelligence Gives Women Lower Salary Advice
• ZME Science: ChatGPT advised women to ask lower salaries than men
• UNESCO study on bias in large language models (via Daily Sabah)
• HPCwire: UNESCO study details
• Reuters via HR Reporter: Amazon scraps AI recruiting tool
• Daily Dot: Gender bias in Google’s voice recognition
• ScienceDaily: Voice recognition errors with women’s dictation
• CBS News: UNESCO report on Alexa and Siri
• HBS Working Knowledge: Women Are Avoiding AI
• TODAY: Pew Research on politeness to smart speakers
• Stacker: YouGov survey on AI politeness
• Decrypt: Penn State “Mind Your Tone” study
• IPS News: UN Women on AI and women (June 2026)
• 24/7 Wall St.: Stanford and MIT study on AI investment advice
• IBTimes UK: How women’s prompts shaped the gap
• OECD AI Incidents: LLYC study on young women
• Allwork.Space: Identical AI-generated résumés study
• Digit: Sam Altman on the cost of please and thank you

The post Is AI Biased Against Women? What the Research Shows appeared first on Simone Knego.

What happens when the AI tools we rely on start echoing the same biases women have been pushing against for generations? In this episode of Her Unshakeable Confidence, Simone and Olivia Knego unpack a John Hopkins’ study showing that prompts written in language patterns associated with women produced less formal, less sophisticated writing.

They talk about hedging, saying please and thank you to AI, and why fixing the bias should be the responsibility of AI developers. From women filling law and medical school classrooms while holding only 19% of CEO roles, to celebrating women for their accomplishments beyond being “the first,” this conversation is a reminder that your voice and your confidence belong to you.

Actionable Takeaways

• Notice the hedges and qualifiers you use in your prompts, emails, and conversations.
• Review and edit everything AI writes for you before you send it.
• Keep your own word choices and use AI as a tool to support your thinking.
• Adjust your AI settings so you get direct, honest feedback.
• Celebrate women for what they accomplish, beyond being “the first female.”
• Remember you have the power over how you show up and communicate.

Chapters

00:00 – The John Hopkins’ Study on AI and Women
02:14 – Hedging, Qualifiers, and How Women Communicate
03:08 – Collaborative Language and Saying Please to AI
04:59 – Do We Teach Compassion Differently to Girls and Boys?
07:27 – Breaking the Bias Cycle
08:28 – Tone, Confidence, and the Workplace
10:08 – Using AI Without Losing Your Voice
12:55 – Beyond “The First Female”
14:39 – Three Generations, Same Fight
16:01 – Confidence Tip: You Have the Power

Connect with Us

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Take our new QUIZ and discover what’s really holding you back and how to break free.

Get Free AUDIOBOOK

Order Simone’s New Book 

REAL Confidence A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable

Order Simone’s The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You Book

Connect with Simone Knego:

• Instagram: @simoneknego
• Facebook: @speakersimoneknego
• LinkedIn: simoneknego
• Website: www.simoneknego.com
• Book a free call with Simone

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• Instagram: @oliviaknego
• LinkedIn: oliviaknego

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The post Three Generations, Same Fight: AI Bias, Women’s Confidence, and a Seat at the Table appeared first on Simone Knego.

For years, people looked at me and saw a mom of six who had it all together. A full house, a full calendar, and everything handled. Whenever anyone asked how I was doing, I had the same answer: “I’m fine.”

What I didn’t say was how I actually felt. When my friend Jaime Marco shared what FINE really stands for, it was a true aha moment for me: Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. That was exactly what my “fine” meant.

I never felt like I was allowed to struggle out loud. So I did what so many of us do. I kept going. I kept showing up, kept smiling, and kept saying “fine,” while I was quietly running on empty.

Today there’s a name for what I was doing: quiet cracking. And it’s happening on teams everywhere. Researchers at TalentLMS found that 54% of employees experience some level of it, and 20% feel it frequently or constantly. People keep showing up, keep delivering, and keep smiling on camera, while their engagement drains a little more every week.

This Friday, October 10, is World Mental Health Day. The World Federation for Mental Health chose this year’s theme: “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change.” I can’t think of a better reminder for leaders. Quiet cracking stays quiet because people don’t feel safe saying what’s really going on.

Why it’s costing you more than you think

Quiet cracking hides well. Output looks steady for months. By the time it shows up in missed targets, rising turnover, or a surprise resignation, the damage is already done.

The numbers back this up. Employees who are quietly cracking are 152% more likely to feel undervalued at work. Gallup found that only 31% of U.S. employees were engaged in 2025. 

Every disengaged person on your team represents a gap between potential and performance, and that gap is where profit quietly leaks out.

How the REAL Method® helps you catch it early

R: Respect Yourself. Your team watches what you do far more closely than what you say. If you never take a break, answer emails at midnight, and call exhaustion “dedication,” your people will follow your lead. Respecting yourself out loud gives them permission to do the same.

E: Embrace Your Failures. Teams that can name a mistake openly can also name stress openly. Go first. Share a time you struggled and what you learned. That one moment of honesty makes it safer for someone else to raise a hand before they crack.

A: Ask Yourself What You Want. Then ask your team. Feeling stuck and unsure about growth is one of the biggest drivers of quiet cracking. A simple question like “What do you want to be doing a year from now?” tells people you see a future for them.

L: Live Without Limits. Invest in growth. Employees who received training in the past year feel 140% more secure in their roles. Development is one of the fastest ways to turn a quietly cracking employee into a confident, high performer.

Three things to try this week

1. Ask a better question. Swap “How are you?” for “What’s one thing making your week harder than it needs to be?” You’ll get a real answer instead of an automatic “fine.”
2. Run a team Ctrl-Alt-Delete. This simple reset helps your team catch the thinking that holds it back. Ctrl is awareness: notice the story the team is telling itself about a project or goal, then ask, “Is it real? Is it helpful?” Most of the time, the answer is no. Alt is the alternative: tell a better story together, so “What if this fails?” becomes “What happens when we succeed?” Delete is letting go: clear out the habits and beliefs that don’t serve the team, like the comparison game or the fear that you’re not enough for the challenge.
3. Notice the quiet ones. Watch for cameras that stay off, ideas that stop coming, and people who used to push back and now just nod. Check in privately and listen more than you talk.

Real voices create real change

World Mental Health Day is a great reason to start this conversation, and the best leaders keep it going all year. When your people feel heard, they bring their full confidence to work. That’s how you build a team that performs at its peak.

I still think about all the times I said “I’m fine” and hoped nobody would look closer. I wish someone had. That’s what I want for you as a leader. The next time someone on your team tells you they’re fine, get curious about which kind of FINE they mean.

And let me ask you: when’s the last time you said “I’m fine” and didn’t mean it?

Want to build a team where real voices get heard and performance follows? Learn more about The Confident Leader keynote at simoneknego.com.

Sources: TalentLMS research via The Interview Guys · AOL on quiet cracking and Gallup engagement · World Federation for Mental Health, 2026 theme

The post The Quiet Cracking Happening on Your Team (and How to Catch It Early) appeared first on Simone Knego.

What does it really take to climb a mountain, write a bestseller, and finally believe you’re enough? In this special episode recorded live at the Nashville launch of REAL Confidence, Simone sits down with her publisher, Allie, just days after the book hit #35 on the USA Today bestseller list.

Simone shares why she said yes to Kilimanjaro at 42 with no climbing experience and six kids at home, what it took to get truly vulnerable on the page, and how the REAL Method® helps you respect yourself, embrace your failures, ask yourself what you want, and live without limits. Plus live audience Q&A, her Control Alt Delete mindset hack, and yes, the famous pink pee funnel story.

Actionable Takeaways

• Take action before you feel ready. Confidence grows from doing.
• Remember that self-care is never selfish.
• Treat confidence as a skill you build with practice, like a language or a workout.
• Pay attention to the words you say to yourself. The people around you are listening.
• Use Control Alt Delete: notice the thought, tell yourself a better story, and delete what doesn’t serve you.
• Stop waiting for someone else’s permission. Tell yourself, “Yes, I can.”
• Support the authors you love with a quick review. It takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference.

Chapters

00:00 – Celebrating the Launch and the USA Today List
02:30 – Why Kilimanjaro Became the Book’s Metaphor
04:04 – “Isn’t It Selfish?” Self-Care and Self-Validation
05:48 – The Pink Pee Funnel Story
09:40 – The REAL Method® Explained
11:53 – Live Without Limits and the Words We Say
15:47 – How Readers Are Being Impacted
16:45 – Audience Q&A: Why Confidence?
20:28 – The Control-Alt-Delete Mindset Hack
22:37 – Why She Said Yes to the Mountain
24:50 – The Transformation She Hopes For

Connect with Us

Don’t forget to subscribe to Her Unshakeable Confidence for more empowering stories and actionable insights. Leave us a review, share your favorite moments, and tag us on social media!

Take our new QUIZ and discover what’s really holding you back and how to break free.

Get Free AUDIOBOOK

Order Simone’s New Book 

REAL Confidence A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable

Order Simone’s The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You Book

Connect with Simone Knego:

• Instagram: @simoneknego
• Facebook: @speakersimoneknego
• LinkedIn: simoneknego
• Website: www.simoneknego.com
• Book a free call with Simone

Connect with Olivia Knego:

• Instagram: @oliviaknego
• LinkedIn: oliviaknego

Looking for more?

Visit Our Etsy Shop: theunshakeablestudio

Check out our inspirational mugs, shirts, and more at The Unshakeable Studio. These items are filled with gratitude and designed to inspire personal transformation in one’s life.

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The post What Does it Take to Reach the TOP of Your Mountain? appeared first on Simone Knego.