ARTICLE · AI Adoption and Delivery
Do not wait for the layoff email to redesign your own job
My assistant made his old job redundant. He is still here, and he is doing better work than ever.
When he joined less than a year ago, he sat in on every one of my meetings. He took the notes, reminded me of my tasks and made my travel bookings. He did it well, and I relied on him.
Then, within his first year, he did something I did not ask for. He helped me redesign that work around a Gen AI virtual assistant. Today the virtual assistant captures the meeting notes, tracks the follow-ups and handles routine bookings. He set it up, he checks it, and he steps in only on very exceptional basis.
That freed him for work with far more impact. He now prepares the first drafts of our client proposals. He reaches out to partners and handles the first conversations with them. He works with universities on our intern hiring and does the first screening of candidates.
Every one of those tasks used to wait for me. He has now released my time to do other higher impact tasks. It is helping me to do more work much faster than ever.
Everyone won. I get time back for the work only I can do. He builds skills in business development, partnerships and hiring that will shape his career. The business moves faster on the things that drive growth.
He did not wait for someone else to decide what AI meant for his role. He knew the work better than anyone, so he redesigned it himself.
The colleagues I think about
I have worked in seven countries, across several companies and many teams. His story made me think about the people I worked with along the way.
The customer service colleague who knew why an order was stuck. The finance colleague who found out what had gone wrong with a receivable before picking up the phone again. The people in data entry and operations who kept the business moving every day. Many of them became friends. They have families and lives beyond work.
Software with access to the right systems can now do more and more of their daily tasks: scheduling, updating records, entering orders and answering routine queries.
What the data says, and what it does not
The World Economic Forum surveyed more than 1,000 employers across 55 economies for its Future of Jobs Report 2025. Employers expect clerical and secretarial roles, including administrative assistants and executive secretaries, to see the largest decline in absolute numbers by 2030.
That is a forecast, not a verdict on any one person. The layoff headlines do not give a clear answer either. They mix cost decisions, restructuring, outsourcing and technology changes into one story.
The more useful question is personal. What happens to you when a connected system can handle more of your daily tasks?
Your advantage is what you already know
You know the real sequence of approvals behind a meeting or a trip. You know which customer queries need a person to step in. You know the difference between a missed payment, a disputed invoice and a customer relationship that needs care.
Software does not know these things on day one. When a business connects its tools into one workflow, it needs the people who know where the work really breaks.
Where to start
Start with a process you know better than anyone else.
- Map it from beginning to end. Where does the information come from? What happens next? Who decides? Where does it regularly break?
- Learn how the tools you already have at work can connect those steps.
- Try them on a small, approved part of the process.
- Show your manager the result, and offer to take on the work that the time saving makes possible.
That is exactly what my assistant did.
The evidence that this works
Researchers followed the introduction of an AI assistant to 5,179 customer support agents. Issues resolved per hour rose 14% on average. For novice and lower-skilled agents, the gain was 34%.
That is one workplace, and I will not promise the same result everywhere. It does show what happens when people get a useful tool and learn to use it in their real work.
Employers carry part of the responsibility
This cannot sit with employees alone. Employers need to give people the right tools, time to learn and a real chance to take on the redesigned work.
The same World Economic Forum survey makes the point. Employers expect 59 in every 100 workers to need training by 2030. They also expect 11 of those 59 to miss out on it. Leaders decide which group their people fall into.
Why I am writing this
I know some of the people behind these job titles. I watched one of them lead the change in his own role, and I want the same chance for the rest.
If most of your day is routine tasks, which one will you redesign first?
Sources: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025. Brynjolfsson, Li and Raymond, “Generative AI at Work”.
#FutureOfWork #Gen AI #Reskilling #CareerGrowth #Leadership
Tom Thomas, Managing Director
Tom has spent more than 30 years leading consumer businesses across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Today he helps leadership teams grow revenue, improve profitability and put AI to work.