Lately, I’ve been posting about the changes I see coming as we move deeper into the Intelligence Age. A time when AI isn’t just assisting us, it’s reshaping how we work, lead, and live.
A lot of what I see on LinkedIn right now feels like people trying to fix broken mindsets. Posts about holding onto outdated models or patching things that no longer serve us. And I get it. I've done it. That’s often the first step. But we need to aim a little further down the road.
So I’ve been asking: What do we need to get right in this moment if we’re going to survive what’s coming next?
Rethinking Value, Trust & Teams
As AI accelerates what we’re capable of, it’s also demanding that we rethink how we operate. We need to lift our heads and look further down the road. If we’re going to thrive in the Intelligence Age, we have to shift the way we think about work, value, and collaboration. Here are five shifts I believe are essential.
From Services to Systems
Clients aren’t just looking for outputs. They want motion. We need to build adaptive systems, not just isolated services. Strategy, automation, AI tools, and continuous insight all need to work together. Static scopes and handoffs won’t cut it.
From Talent-Centric to Outcome-Centric Teams
The era of staffing by title or tenure is ending. We’re moving toward teams built for outcomes, groups of humans with strategic, technical, and operational skills aligned around a goal. Fewer labels, more capability. And everyone has to know how to collaborate with both humans and machines.
From Selling Projects to Earning Trust at Scale
The best business development today happens through visible progress. No more shiny pitch decks and vague promises. It’s about showing up, embedding, collaborating, and building real-time trust.
From Current Pricing Models to Aligned Incentives
Time and materials, fixed bid and value-based pricing break under the speed and fluidity of AI work. We need Accountability Pricing, where success is defined with the client, risk is shared, and compensation aligns with results in real-time.
From Deliverables to Direction
In a world where clients have access to creating through a chat box, deliverables aren’t valuable anymore. What Client's will really need is clarity, speed, and confidence. We must become trusted guides and operators, not just vendors. Partners in the real sense, not some marketing hype.
Some of this feels like common sense, some of this rubs us the wrong way and some of it feels unattainable because the tools aren't ready yet. But they will be, and we have to be ready to adapt and aim for a new North Star because it's what will keep us valuable.
If AI is going to help us do more, we have to meet that moment by becoming more. That means questioning old habits, letting go of what no longer serves us, and stepping fully into new ways of thinking and working. These shifts won’t be easy, and they won’t happen all at once, but they’re where the road is heading. And if we commit to the journey, we’ll not only stay relevant, we’ll help shape what comes next.