Time to Upskill With AI and Build a Growing Career

We are living in a moment of incredible opportunity – AI tools and technologies are creating a lot of productivity gains while also opening career advancement opportunities like never before. However, with the excitement comes responsibility: With all the technological changes there is also a responsibility to adapt, learn and upskill yourself to stay relevant in this evolving job market.?As someone with a front-row seat to this transformation, I’d like to share a few insights for business professionals to navigate this shift effectively.

1.?Shift in Expectations:?With AI-based tools and agents becoming an integral part of the workplace, the bar is rising, you are now expected to move up the value chain, do far more, far faster and produce insightful results as your key value-add. Fortify your skills with new AI tools that boost your productivity and improve workflows to amplify impact.

2.?Think Strategically:?Just gathering information, collating data into polished reports and sharing it with management is no longer enough for a thriving career. AI can do all of that and much faster. Your value add is - strategic insights, validation of AI-based results, and creative thinking based on your experience and wisdom. Your judgments on top of the AI-based analytical data and insights will be a key differentiator.

3.?Hone your Leadership Skills and Innovate:?New breakthroughs and ideas will come from your intuitive thinking and your ability to motivate and mentor people around you. Hence strong people leadership and coaching skills remain just as important in the AI era. While everyone will have access to the usage of AI tools, your innovative use of them will create a barrier to entry for your competitors. Safeguard these innovations - keep these innovations and data private and safe.

4.??Presentation and Communication Skills: Especially verbal - They remain a paramount differentiator for you and are still very important to win customers. These skills are necessary to explain complex topics in a simple yet effective manner. Keep honing these skills.

5.?Beyond Technical Prowess:? Relying on coding skills, the ability to collate information from various sources, spreadsheet prowess, and PowerPoint skills will not be enough to build a growing career. Many AI tools are already usurping these tasks. Shift your focus to higher-order strategic thinking and problem-solving.

Let AI tools improve your productivity - but don’t let them hijack your strategic thinking and deep judgment. Your value will be your intuition, deep strategic thinking, people leadership skills and the ability to mentor talent to create Nextgen breakthroughs.