I am an executive coach for clients looking to advance their careers in retail, finance, technology, and media. Many of my clients, whether mid-level leaders or senior executives, ask me similar questions. “What should I do now to prevent AI from rendering me irrelevant?”
People are seeing AI tools perform tasks that once took hours. Companies are rethinking employee numbers, productivity, and the value of certain roles. And when it comes to “adopting AI,” we hear a lot of vague guidance, with little practical guidance on what that means. It’s no wonder they’re concerned about job security.
I will tell them what they need to do within the next month.
Start by identifying the most at-risk parts of your job
Don’t ask broad questions like “Will AI take my job?” You can get more practical answers by asking, “What parts of my job are most likely to be automated, reduced, or done faster?”
First, let’s take a look at the calendar. List tasks that are repetitive, rule-based, or require a first draft. This may include writing meeting summaries, status updates, summarizing research, drafting emails, creating presentation summaries, or analyzing large amounts of information.
Next, list jobs that rely on judgment, relationships, trade-offs, or influence. This may include coordinating stakeholders, making recommendations, coaching team members, diagnosing why a project is stalling, navigating office politics, and more.
Third, we will list jobs where AI could be useful, but where a human expert would need to determine whether the output of AI is truly useful. The third category is where most people should focus first, as AI can supplement intuition and judgment. This increases productivity and shows your manager that you’re not afraid of technology.
Talk to your boss before your organization talks to you
If you’re concerned about AI and your role, there’s no need to wait for your organization to announce how it will be used. Have a practical conversation with your manager now. Don’t ask “Will AI replace me?” This can put managers in an awkward position and prevent them from getting useful information.
Instead, ask smart, proactive business questions. You can say, “I’m thinking about how AI can help my team move faster. Are there any specific areas you’d like us to improve on, such as efficiency, quality, turnaround time, etc.?”
These questions provide useful background and position you as someone who thinks like a business owner. You’re not panicking or just worried about protecting your job. You are focused on the future of work and how it can be improved.
Get closer to revenue, customers, decisions, and risk
Every time the workplace changes, some jobs become more vulnerable because they are so far removed from business value that they are not considered a priority. Look for ways to get closer to the parts of the business that matter most to leaders.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs to go into sales. That means you need to understand how your work connects to revenue, customers, cost, speed, quality, risk, and employee performance.
If you’re in marketing, talk about pipeline, customer behavior, conversions, retention, or brand relevance, not just campaigns. If you’re in human resources, talk about not just the program, but things like manager effectiveness, retention trends, employee competency, and time to productivity. If you’re in operations, talk about not just processes, but also cost, reliability, customer experience, or execution risk.
AI may change how work is accomplished, but companies will continue to need people who understand what’s important, how to make decisions about tradeoffs, and can explain how recommendations will impact the business.
The more clearly you can connect your work to results, the harder it will be to translate your value into a list of tasks.
Build one visible example of adaptation
Over the next 30 days, create one practical example that you can highlight as how you learned about AI and applied it to your work in a way that benefits others. You can access free guidance on platforms like Reddit or subscribe to Courseiv and other apps that offer AI skill building.
You can redesign your recurring reports to focus on insights rather than activities, improve the quality of your team processes, create better preparation documentation for leadership meetings, reduce the amount of time your team spends on manual updates, or develop a simple set of prompts to help junior team members prepare stronger first drafts. All of this can be done using ChatGPT and other accessible AI tools that are very easy to get started with.
Once you find your contribution, display it. Tell your manager what you tested, what you improved, and what you learned. “I tested a new way to prepare for my weekly business review. AI helped me compile input faster, but the bigger improvement was that I had more time to identify two risks that needed to be discussed. I recommend sticking with that approach and seeing if it helps make the meeting more action-oriented.” If your boss is supportive, you might be able to share your experience with senior leaders and get further recognition.
This kind of update is much more powerful than saying “I play with AI” or suggesting that you’re proficient in AI because ChatGPT helped you plan your vacation. This shows that you are willing to take the initiative to intentionally experiment with methods that are valuable to your organization.
Don’t confuse anxiety with action
It’s natural to feel anxious about AI. Some jobs will change. Some tasks will no longer be visible. Some companies use AI in subtle ways, while others use it as a blatant cost-cutting tool.
Over the next 30 days, you don’t need to become an AI expert, but you should understand where your job exposes you, demonstrate that you can use AI in practical ways, have smart conversations with managers, and build evidence that you can generally adapt.
Start with one regular task, one conversation with your manager, and one measurable improvement. Then continue.