I was fortunate enough to hear John Bremen speak for the second time recently, and he said something I can’t stop thinking about (paraphrasing, sorry):

The exact skills needed to thrive in the age of AI are the skills that we used to teach in business school as "leadership skills".

For people who have spent their lives cultivating leadership skills, like my friend and military veteran Mike Garlington, many of the most valuable skills taught in general leadership are the very same that will make us valuable in an age of ubiquitous AI.

But here’s the catch: we’re all about to become leaders. When the lowliest employee in an organization has access to an army of AI agents, they too must act as a leader.

Managing agents and the processes therein is the same as managing a team of people, and using those people to achieve a desired outcome is the name of the game.

Technical knowledge is still important. But cultivating leadership and communication skills is the number one thing any of us can do to upskill for the wave ahead.