Not long ago, I was at a dinner event — the kind with monogrammed name cards, three forks and someone at the front delivering what sounded like a polished, TED-ready speech. The person could have spent hours carefully preparing their remarks — but the table chatter that followed went straight to the point: “That was definitely written by AI.”
Whether it was or not didn’t really matter. What stuck with me was this: the creative process — once valued, defended and painstakingly lived through — is now something people assume we’re skipping entirely.
And that made me think about something else.
What does it really take to get ahead in a world where machines draft your memos, answer your emails and can sketch a business plan before you’ve had your morning espresso?
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For much of my career, success was earned through detailed strategy documents. These took time — weeks, sometimes months — and involved actual thinking: research, analysis, interviews, coffee-fueled synthesis. You shaped a point of view. You sharpened a recommendation. And you presented it with conviction. Today, a junior associate can plug a few prompts into a chatbot and generate something that looks… shockingly passable. That’s not a criticism. It’s a shift. A big one. And it leaves us with a very real question: Where is value created now?
If machines can handle analysis, research and even presentation, what’s left for us to do? This is where things get interesting. Because AI isn’t replacing all of us — at least, not yet. But it is forcing us to shift where we focus. And for many in the middle rungs — consultants, managers, analysts — this means developing a new edge: not in ideas, but in action.
Barack Obama once said the people who succeed — in government or anywhere else — aren’t the ones with the most data or the slickest PowerPoint. They’re the ones who say: “I will take care of it.” Six simple words. Unpolished. Undeniable. Un-automatable.
As the CEO of a business that orchestrates 20,000 high-touch, high-stakes travel experiences a year — involving roughly 600 staff across dozens of locations — I’m not looking for more analysis.
I’m looking for people who get things off my desk.
Problem-solvers. Fire-putter-outers. Quiet fixers. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it” types. They don’t generate drama. They defuse it. They don’t escalate. They execute. They don’t write memos. They make things happen.
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That, to me, is the future of getting ahead. Not thought-leaders. Not strategists. Doers. They still use data — but they’re not paralyzed by it. They act. They understand that in a world where everyone has access to the same tools, the only real advantage is speed, discernment and reliability. These are the people you trust in the crunch. The ones who get the callback. The ones you promote. If I were starting my career today, I’d spend less time worrying about how to appear smart — and more time figuring out how to be indispensable. Not in a performative way. But in a practical one.
Let’s shift the lens. Say you’re a manager, drowning in your own responsibilities. A team member drops by with a problem — one more thing to deal with. Another shows up and says, “That thing? I’ve already handled it.” Which one are you remembering when promotion season rolls around? In a world now calibrated for passive output, active ownership has become the rarest — and most valuable — currency.
This is how careers are made in the post-AI era. Not by being the smartest person in the room, but by being the most accountable. The most trusted. The most effective. So, if you’re wondering how to stand out — start with this: Look for what needs to be done. Then say, “I’ll take care of it.” And then, of course, take care of it.
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Do that often enough, and eventually, you’ll find yourself in the room where problems are no longer handed to you. You’re the one handing out the solutions.
AI might take your job. But it will never take your follow-through. The real value-add — the kind that earns trust, promotions, referrals and opportunities — is still astonishingly analog: Solve problems. Be reliable. Take ownership. It’s not always glamorous. It’s not always noticed. But in the long arc of your career, those six words will get you further than any résumé ever will.
So, the next time your boss brings you a fire to put out? Don’t schedule a meeting. Make it disappear.
Not long ago, I was at a dinner event — the kind with monogrammed name cards, three forks and someone at the front delivering what sounded like a polished, TED-ready speech. The person could have spent hours carefully preparing their remarks — but the table chatter that followed went straight to the point: “That was definitely written by AI.”
Whether it was or not didn’t really matter. What stuck with me was this: the creative process — once valued, defended and painstakingly lived through — is now something people assume we’re skipping entirely.
And that made me think about something else.
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