How to build a career for a future you can’t predict

This Week

Experience used to be a career safety net. It’s not anymore.

This week, I'm sharing why reinvention is becoming a must-have skill, and how to future-proof your work before AI does it for you.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

• How to build a career for a future you can’t predict

• The numbers you can’t ignore

• Emerging job roles

• Why you need to reinvent your career

• Leading teams through change

Let’s get into it.

How to Build a Career for a Future You Can’t Predict

I thought experience would be enough. It wasn’t.

After building a company from a handful of people to a 400+ team, I assumed stepping back into the workforce would be a challenge, but a familiar one.

I did what had always worked before: updated my resume, wrote dozens of cover letters, submitted hundreds of applications. Out of all that effort, I landed a single interview and no offers.

At first, I kept trying harder. I applied to more roles, rewrote my resume (again), and dragged myself to networking events. But after months of effort and more than a little frustration, I realized I was solving the wrong problem. The world had changed and I needed to change with it.

AI was already reshaping how businesses operated and teams were built. The skills I’d learned in the past weren't enough anymore.

So I pivoted.

I took what I knew best (leadership, strategy, building teams) and combined it with what the future demanded: AI fluency, adaptability, and a willingness to rethink how work gets done.

That shift became the foundation for A25, the AI training and implementation agency I run today.

The journey wasn’t easy. Reinvention never is. But once I stopped trying to rebuild what I had lost and started creating what was possible, everything changed.

The Numbers You Can’t Ignore

The situation I found myself in — having to completely rethink how I worked and what value I could bring — isn’t unique, and it's about to become a reality for millions of people as AI reshapes the entire workforce.

If you look at the latest research from the World Economic Forum, the numbers are startling: AI is projected to eliminate 92 million jobs, but at the same time, create 170 million new ones. The opportunity is real, but it isn’t automatic… and the people and organizations that succeed won’t be the ones holding onto old methods. 

They’ll be the ones willing to rethink, relearn, and rebuild.

New Jobs Are Emerging

Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens and Nexus, put it best when he said that AI is advancing so rapidly, there's no way to predict what jobs will exist in 30 years. The only way to prepare for the future, he argues, is to develop a mindset geared toward constant change, personal growth, and the ability to work effectively with AI.

If you're looking for a glimpse of what that future might hold, a timeline created by my colleague Liza Adams offers a helpful guide. It shows how every major technology shift (from the mechanization of farming to the rise of the internet) created new job categories that didn’t exist before.

In the AI era, we’ll see a similar pattern. 

New roles like Human-AI Collaboration Specialists, Prompt Engineers, and AI Ethics Officers are already emerging. Skills are shifting away from purely technical tasks toward cognitive, creative, and collaborative work. 

Recent research from Indeed points in the same direction. Roles like proofreaders, graphic designers, and paralegals are listed among the most at risk for automation, but new paths are opening at the same time, for those who are ready to move.

Why Reinvention Is a Career Skill

The future of work isn't something to fear, but it is something to prepare for, starting today.

If you're an individual contributor, the path forward starts by doubling down on the skills machines can’t easily replicate. According to the World Economic Forum, the most durable skills over the next decade will be analytical thinking, resilience, leadership, and creative problem-solving.

Data literacy, understanding AI ethics, and collaborating across functions all add layers of resilience. They make you more versatile, more valuable, and better able to adapt as roles evolve.

Another overlooked move: build your network. 

Peer groups, mentorship relationships, and professional communities are becoming more important. Find places to learn best practices, get early access to new ideas, and connect with people who are navigating the same shifts you are.

And maybe most importantly, be open to reimagining your career path altogether. Lateral moves, new specializations, or hybrid roles could become some of the fastest paths to growth. A content marketer, for example, might evolve into an internal marketing AI trainer. A sales operations manager could pivot into an AI integration lead. Those who are willing to move will find more open doors.

Still not sure where to focus? You can try SmarterX’s JobGPT, which maps out the tasks most at risk for AI automation within your role. Or you can take Google’s Career Dreamer for a test drive to see where your current experience might lead you in the future.

If I still haven’t convinced you of the urgency here, Greg Shove, CEO of Section, has a brutally honest take: if you don’t prove your value now, you’ll be out of a job in five years. 

Don’t want that to happen? Here’s his playbook for redefining your value in relation to AI:

1. Benchmark AI against your best output: Test AI tools against your best work to see where you stand. If AI is 60% as good as your best output, start up skilling immediately. 

2. Assume 2x acceleration in two years: If AI is half as good as you today, it could match or surpass you in two years. Plan for that now, not when it happens.

3. Redefine your role around outcomes, not outputs: Stop defining your job by the things you produce (presentations, content, models). Instead, focus on the business outcomes you drive, like revenue growth, customer loyalty, or market expansion. Orchestrate AI to handle outputs so you can deliver bigger outcomes.

Leading Teams Through Change

If you're leading a team, the stakes are even higher. 

Your job is to create the environment where your people can adapt. This means encouraging learning at every level, not treating it as an afterthought or a side project. It means giving your team the room to experiment with AI tools, redesign workflows, and rethink old habits, without the fear that failure will be punished. 

Leaders who model a growth mindset will find that it cascades through their teams, creating a culture that’s ready to evolve instead of resist.

AI leadership coach Carolyn Healy has a great guide on LinkedIn for leaders working to build AI literacy across teams. It’s worth checking out.

None of these moves guarantee certainty, but they dramatically increase your ability to thrive in a future that’s still taking shape.

Future Proof Your Career

The future of work won’t be shaped by technology alone. 

Leaders should be planning for multiple outcomes: aggressive automation, balanced augmentation, and everything in between. The organizations that succeed won’t rely on a single tool or strategy. They will invest in building teams that can learn, adapt, and lead through uncertainty.

For individuals, the best hedge against an unpredictable future is to stay informed, build new skills continuously, and stay ready to pivot as opportunities shift. 

Strategy, creativity, and empathy will continue to anchor lasting careers. Layering technical fluency in AI, data, and analytics on top of those strengths will make them even more powerful.

Don’t wait for someone to hand you a map, head into the jungle and make your own!