There’s been a lot of job churn lately in the industry (including at Microsoft), so I know a lot of folks are thinking about their careers. I find these questions a helpful north star:
- What voice do you want to have?
- What are you doing to develop it?
At the gym this morning I was listening to Emerging Cyber Risk‘s recent podcast chat with Phil Agcaoili, on the subject of AI in Cybersecurity. The subject turned to “replaceability” as a function for determining AI’s impact on people’s roles, and it reminded me of a fantastic quote by Robert Greene:
“If you ignore the advice to discover and connect to what moves you, you are setting yourself up for failure. The day will come where there’s nothing unique about you, and you become replaceable. Most people get freaked out about the money, but it always comes eventually. The more important question is, what unique skills are you building that set you apart?”
(PS: if you haven’t read his legendary book “Mastery“, go buy it right now)
There is a tension between the now and the not-yet. The energy required to escape the gravity of the status quo is considerable. We all get sucked into just turning the crank handle on another day, and sometimes weeks or even months can go by as we shuffle along in an email/Teams/meeting-induced stupor. One day we snap out of it—or life events, like a redundancy, snap us out of it—and we realize that life is just happening to us.
Never, ever give yourself so fully to what you’re doing now that it undermines your development into who you want to become. Do not sacrifice future-you on the altar of now-you. Fight to keep your north star in view, and cultivate your unique voice (and the skills and experience to go along with it). The machines are definitely coming for the rote aspects of our jobs—whether that is a blessing or a curse depends a lot on how you focus your time and energy now.
“The only unique contribution that we will make in this world will be born of creativity.” (Brené Brown)