Just posted to my Forbes column about why surviving the current wave of tech layoffs may have less to do with fighting AI—and more to do with partnering with it.
2025 has been a rough year for tech workers, with layoffs sweeping through companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google, even as many of them report strong earnings. Against that backdrop, longtime founder and resilience expert Nikki Barua argues that the real career shift isn’t about learning a few AI tools—it’s about becoming what she calls an “agentic human.” I spoke with her recently on the TechFirst podcast where she made the case that humans must move from doing work to directing outcomes, leading with judgment, creativity, taste and empathy while letting AI handle execution-heavy tasks.
That idea echoes what I’ve been hearing across the industry. Leaders like Amir Ashkenazi, Tom Jenkins and Dharmesh Shah all describe a future where we manage fleets of AI agents rather than compete with them. Barua distills the shift into a four-step framework—Focus, Leverage, Influence and Power—designed to help people redefine their value, multiply their impact, and keep learning as everything changes.
The takeaway: AI may be democratizing intelligence, but imagination, judgment and uniquely human input still determine who thrives.