#24

Future proofing your career with AI

I am sure I am not the only one thinking about how AI is permeating every aspect of our lives right now. Our social groups, work, even our parents are talking about AI. I went to visit my mom last week and she was showing me a video on WhatsApp. This video was so obviously AI it was embarrassing, but she couldn’t tell the difference. SCARY. However, this post isn’t about how my mom fell for something she saw online, cases like that aren’t new. What is new however, is how this same technology is coming for white collar jobs. It’s moving fast and for some reason, as men do, we seem to think we’re immune to this threat. The reality is that AI is not going anywhere, but your job might be.

The block lay off - and why you should care

I’m sure you heard about Jack Dorsey’s (founder of Twitter and square) Block announce that it was laying off almost 50% of its employees.

jack @jack we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are 9:12 PM • Feb 26, 2026 6710 Retweets 51389 Likes Read 8858 replies

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There have been a number of notable companies making these radical changes and it’s not just one specific role. It’s everything form entry level roles to really senior positions. EAs to engineers, product managers, designers, marketers. Blue collar roles seem a lot safer, well at least for now. Anthropic produced this chart on the jobs that AI could theoretically perform, and has been measured and observed. As you can see, blue colour work hasn't been impacted as much but that is mostly due to focus of the people who are building the technologies, & the power users, rather than a inherent limitation.

Agentic AI is real, the software is getting smarter by the day and what seemed impossible a few years ago is now becoming table-stakes. I know what you are thinking, what does this mean for you and me? We will get into that.

How you should be thinking about AI right now

The most important is to acknowledge what is happening and start to take action. Treating AI as if it is a fad is the fastest way to make yourself become obsolete at work. If you or your manager aren’t talking about AI workflows or what LLM to use at work, then I bet someone in your company is. And that my friend is not good. You need to be pushing the agenda, experimenting and putting yourself in environments where you are exposed to the right tools. This is one of the rare times in history where there is actually a level playing field. This means you have an opportunity to become one of the most valuable people in your company. The men that adapt, up-skill and see where AI can be leveraged at work become the new subject matter experts.

Here is what you need to do to become valuable

You basically have to treat this like you are back at school again. Schedule a couple of hours per week to learn more about AI in your domain. Pick a platform, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or something else and go all in on one or two of them. Understand their capabilities, and what situations you can use these tools to support you in your work.

Anthropic has just published an easy to follow free tutorial on how to use Claude, you can also find a lot of resources on Youtube. Learn to stay up to date on all new technologies and all the updates, make this part of your weekly practice. Document what you learn, and share back with the team. Become that guy!!

Implement and use IRL

That task you need to do today? Think about how you can do it using AI. Or even better think about things that your boss, or your team does that you can take off their plate with the aid of AI. Not sure where to start? Document the task that you want to hand over to AI , and then ask ChatGPT/ Claude etc. how you can it can help you to execute this task (it is really that easy).Test it out, assuming you can and it meets your AI policy. If your company doesn’t have an AI plicy, take the lead and create one. Think about the criteria and restrictions your company should implement in order to have the tools approved at work. That’s taking initiative and shows you are serious about future proofing the company and your role.

Show outcomes

The key aspect of helping to drive adoption is showing the impact that the tool has had on your productivity. What have you done that you haven’t been able to do before, and how did it increase your productivity? That will be the question you’ll be asked by the team, the board, or whoever you report into. You need to measure the impact and be able to explain it to your team using numbers.

Here is an example “Previously I used to spend 30 hours a week responding to customer support ticket. After implementing a customer support AI agent that handles repeated customer queries, I now spend 80% less time doing this (6 hours per week) and I am using this time to focus on more strategic initiatives.”

This is a clear articulation of how AI has helped you to become more efficient, and made you more valuable to your company. Think about how you can do something similar within your context.

Up-skill to remain competitive - this is not a choice

Up skilling is not a choice, it’s a must in 2026. If you don’t learn these new tools or platforms you will be left behind. As I’m writing this, a friend of mine just texted me and said 25% of his company were just let go. Luckily he wasn’t one of them…this time. Companies are increasingly seeing people who augment their work with AI as their most valuable players, make sure that you fall into this category.

Start interviewing to understand how the market is changing

Start interviewing to understand what people are looking for and how they are doing things.

Pros, insights and a potential offer... both of which you can take to work.

Con’s... none.

Even if you have no intention of leaving your job, you need to see what skills companies are looking for, and how the expectations are changing in the market. What questions are people asking? What do they expect of you? How are other companies leveraging AI? Take all of this information back with you and see where you can implement that within your company, and more importantly, for your career. Oh, and if you get an offer you can use that as leverage to get a raise at work or leave.

The Man Daily Way

Look, the message here isn’t panic - it’s responsibility.

Technology has always changed the game. The men who win are the ones who adjust their training.

The Man Daily way is simple:

Don’t compete against the future. Position yourself with it.

That means three things.

1. Become the man who learns faster than everyone else.

Most people stop learning the moment they leave school which is the worse thing you could do. Every week you should be exploring new tools, new systems and new ways to increase your leverage. Curiosity becomes a competitive advantage.

2. Turn tools into leverage.

AI shouldn’t replace you - it should multiply you.

The goal is to produce more value per hour than everyone else.

3. Own your career like a CEO, not an employee.

Employees wait to be told what to do. Assets look for ways to improve the system.

If AI is changing your industry, don’t hide from it.

Study it. Test it. Lead the adoption.

The men who adapt will become indispensable.

The men who don’t will become replaceable.

Choose which side you want to be on.