23 OTT 2026 · When layoffs and AI anxiety hit, the instinct is to say yes to everything and prove you're indispensable through sheer output. But competing on speed and volume is a race AI wins every time. In this episode, Melinda Belcher, Executive Director, Content Design, JPMorganChase, explains why the answer isn't to hug your whole job, but to choose the parts worth protecting, using a framework she calls the velvet cannonball.
What you'll learn
- How to separate your high-impact “hardcore” work from “soft cover” work with one question: if you stopped doing this well, would it hurt the business, your customers, or your end users?
- Why competing with AI on throughput is a losing strategy, and which work (standards, evaluation, guardrails, and judgment) holds its value
- How to practice strategic disappointment: deciding who you'll disappoint and offering a smaller scope, a new timeline, or another resource instead of a silent no
- What to do with the time AI gives back so it goes to standards and review, not more output
- Team habits that make prioritization visible, including an engagement model with four levels of attention, batched soft cover work, and dedicated office hours
About Melinda
Melinda Belcher has a knack for simplifying the complex and optimizing for efficiency. With more than two decades of experience in brand strategy, sales enablement, and product design, Melinda has worked with esteemed organizations such as Salesforce, IBM, AT&T, and Mastercard.
Currently, Melinda heads up content across all payments portals for the Corporate & Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase. In 2018, Melinda co-founded the UX Content Design NYC Meetup and regularly speaks at conferences such as Confab, Enterprise Experience, and LavaCon.
Where you can find MelindaLinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarox/
- Website: https://www.melindarocks.com/
- UX Content Design NYC: https://uxcontentdesign.nyc/
- LavaCon 2026 session: https://www.lavacon.org/blog/speaker/melinda-belcher/
Key timestamps
[03:06] What job hugging means and why AI makes the instinct stronger
[04:51] Why competing on speed and volume is a race AI wins, and the velvet cannonball framework
[09:37] Polished isn't the same as right: why AI output still needs human judgment
[12:12] How to tell whether AI is creating capacity or just raising expectations
[14:33] The question that separates hardcore work from soft cover work[
[17:52] Strategic disappointment: choosing who you disappoint, and how to say it
[23:29] Putting the velvet cannonball into practice: engagement model, batching, and office hours
[29:56] The grief over lost craft, and why editing is where content pros add value
Episode highlights
- “[People say] I want to compete on throughput. I want to compete on speed and volume. AI is going to beat you every day."
- “You're always disappointing somebody… it's important to choose who you're going to disappoint because otherwise it will just happen.” (Condensed)
- “What kind of work would you give an intern? That's the kind of work that you should give to AI.” Check out all 8 seasons of the Content Matters Podcast here: https://www.ingeniux.com/blog/category/podcasts
See who's coming up in future episodes here: https://info.ingeniux.com/content-matters-podcast