Unless youâve been living under a rock these past five yearsâor maybe youâve been engrossed in politics, pandemics, and tutti quantiâyouâve asked yourself these questions: Is AI coming for my job? How do I stay relevant? How can I AI-proof my career? I certainly have. And rightfully so: AI isnât âcomingââitâs here.
Analysts peg a big share of jobs as exposed; some tasks get automated, many get re-bundled, productivity jumps, careers reshape. A quick scan of the data: the IMF says ~40% of global jobs are exposed to AIâ~60% in advanced economies. McKinsey estimates automation (incl. gen-AI) could add 0.5â3.4 pp to annual productivity growth. Goldman Sachs pegs the long-run GDP lift at ~7%. The WEF expects 69M jobs created and 83M displaced by 2027. Translation: change is here; your move.
So where do you go from here? FMP: itâs pretty straightforwardâamplify everything AI canât do (or doesnât do well) and let AI (gen or agentic) do the rest.
đ§ Critical thinking is the operating system
Itâs not about churning out reports; itâs about asking the right questions, getting the right info, and probing results. No report should come from an LLM that you donât intimately understand and design. I treat ChatGPT like an analyst: I direct the work. I bring the industry context; it compiles, drafts, and sometimes sparks ideasâbut I lead, and I have the final say.
đŁď¸ Talk > Type (your voice is a moat)
Written AI is getting good; verbal communication is harder to fakeâonly you can do that.
Be the room: run concise meetings, read dynamics, land a point clearly.
Reps: present oftenâbrown-bags, client calls, board pre-readsâso your spoken clarity becomes your signature.
Speaking in public was not my strong suit by any stretch of the imagination. But I realized early on that if I wanted a fulfilling career I had to master it. I took courses (hello, Toastmasters) to get comfortable. I also used to blush a lot and my body would get very nervous; hypnotherapy helped calm my body and reduce performance anxiety. Many use beta blockersâthat can be a useful shortcut too.
đ§ EQ is your unfair advantage
AI is great at tokens, terrible at trust. Make the human stack visible:
Judgment & ethics: trade-offs, timing, consequences.
Leadership presence: calm under pressure; taste and narrative.
Decision storytelling: turn math into meaning people act on.
Understanding what people wantâeven if they donât articulate it clearly (or donât yet know it)âanticipating pushback, and knowing what makes people tick are indispensable tools. If that sixth sense isnât fully developed, no problem: listen more. Note the words they useâare they parroting the party line or independent thinkers? That tells you what matters to them.
đ¤ Your network is the new âGPUâ
Models predict; people open doors. Invest like itâs an asset:
Daily micro-touches: three helpful notes a day.
Micro-salons: 6â8 people around one real problem.
Shared artifacts: playbooks, vendor maps, benchmarks your circle will reuse.
My example: Iâm spending four weeks in the UAEâtwo in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabiâto learn the region, meet operators and investors, and uncover business opportunities. You learn faster in the room than online. And youâre definitely more memorable.
đď¸ My real-world moat: show your work⌠consistently
For years Iâve written this newsletter and recorded podcasts. It lets me channel creativity, share ideas, invite interesting guests, build relationships, andâletâs be honestâremind people I exist đ. Itâs a body of work prospective clients and employers can scan to get a real sense of who I am. They may love it or notâthatâs another storyâbut Iâm not invisible.
In October Iâll join a fireside chat at Elevate Festival with the fabulous Sonia Couto. Yes, it will be fun and a chance to share insights and experienceâbut itâs also about being visible and showing who you are and what you stand for.
𧰠Yes, you need AI fluency (no lab coat required)
You donât need to build modelsâyou must drive outcomes with them. I took a course on using gen-AI well, and Iâm now exploring advanced agentic AI systems via Coursera. Worth it.
Tool belt: prompting basics, retrieval, spreadsheet+AI, slide/email copilots.
Automation: build one agentic workflow that saves you an hour a week (pipeline scrub, KPI digest, meetings â tasks).
Guardrails: privacy, approvals, audit trails. Your reputation matters.
đ§ Specialize to stand out (become a category of one)
Generalist is table stakes. Your moat is specific:
Industry spike: e.g., SME lending risk, specialty pharmacy ops, B2B infra pricing.
Geo/language edge: North America â UAE corridor, French/Arabic, local regs.
What makes YOU, YOU?
Your diploma is great, as is your work experienceâbut the combination of everything (speaking multiple languages, working abroad, serving on charity boards, competing as an athlete, a passion for contemporary art, etc.) is what makes you special. You canât bank only on the classic diploma + work experience. Everyone has that. Itâs boringâand not enough. What do you stand for, and how do you stand out?
𧪠Your secret sauce (aka differentiation)
This is a variation on the above. You are youâgreat. Now what is it that you, and only you, can do? Thatâs your secret sauce.
Mine: Iâve always been told I can work with anyoneâfrom the janitor to the CEO. I relate to people and understand what they need. Iâm creative, strategic, and an independent thinker with deep financial expertise and tech experience across large and small organizations globally.
The role of operating partner in private equity fits me perfectly: I can lead global change strategically and collaboratively. Yes, my diploma and experience matter, but thousands of people have those. What they donât have is this exact combination of skills, experiences, capabilities, insights, and personality traits.
Ask: What can I do thatâs hard to copy?
T-shape: one deep spike Ă cross-functional collaboration.
Proof of work: case studies with numbers; links to artifacts (hello, newsletter/podcast).
Operating system: your repeatable way of working (cadences, dashboards, guardrails).
What is your unique secret sauce?
đď¸ A 30-Day Human Ă AI Sprint
If you want to start AI-proofing your career, hereâs a short sprint:
Week 1 â Audit: What is your secret sauce?
Week 2 â Build: One agentic workflow.
Week 3 â Signal: Publish one artifact (memo, teardown, 5-slide mini-deck).
Week 4 â Network: Host one micro-salon.
đŠ Skip these traps
Certificate hoarding with no artifacts.
Copy-paste outputs without judgment or disclosure.
âAI will do my jobâ fatalismâlet it kill your busywork so you can do the real work.
đ Bottom line
AI eats tasks, not trust. Your moat is the combo: Human (EQ + network + verbal clarity + leadership) Ă AI (speed + scale). Nail both, and you wonât just AI-proof your careerâyouâll accelerate it.
Peggy Van de Plassche is an Operating Partner in Private Equity with over 20 years of experience across financial services, healthcare, and technology. She partners with investment firms, boards, and portfolio company leadership to accelerate performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value.
Peggy specializes in executing complex value creation plansâfrom capital allocation and digital enablement to transaction advisory and leadership alignment. Her work bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators boost EBITDA and maximize enterprise value.
A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings deep expertise in institutional capital deployment and public-private partnershipsâcritical levers for competitive advantage in todayâs global landscape.
Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial.
Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.