Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past five years—or maybe you’ve been engrossed in politics, pandemics, and tutti quanti—you’ve 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 isn’t “coming”—it’s 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 AI—~60% in advanced economies. McKinsey estimates automation (incl. gen-AI) could add 0.5–3.4 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: it’s pretty straightforward—amplify everything AI can’t do (or doesn’t do well) and let AI (gen or agentic) do the rest.

🧭 Critical thinking is the operating system

It’s not about churning out reports; it’s about asking the right questions, getting the right info, and probing results. No report should come from an LLM that you don’t 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 ideas—but I lead, and I have the final say.

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🗣️ Talk > Type (your voice is a moat)

Written AI is getting good; verbal communication is harder to fake—only you can do that.

Be the room: run concise meetings, read dynamics, land a point clearly.
Reps: present often—brown-bags, client calls, board pre-reads—so 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 blockers—that can be a useful shortcut too.

🧠 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 want—even if they don’t articulate it clearly (or don’t yet know it)—anticipating pushback, and knowing what makes people tick are indispensable tools. If that sixth sense isn’t fully developed, no problem: listen more. Note the words they use—are they parroting the party line or independent thinkers? That tells you what matters to them.

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🤝 Your network is the new “GPU”

Models predict; people open doors. Invest like it’s an asset:

Daily micro-touches: three helpful notes a day.
Micro-salons: 6–8 people around one real problem.
Shared artifacts: playbooks, vendor maps, benchmarks your circle will reuse.

My example: I’m spending four weeks in the UAE—two in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabi—to learn the region, meet operators and investors, and uncover business opportunities. You learn faster in the room than online. And you’re definitely more memorable.

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🎙️ My real-world moat: show your work… consistently

For years I’ve written this newsletter and recorded podcasts. It lets me channel creativity, share ideas, invite interesting guests, build relationships, and—let’s be honest—remind people I exist 😉. It’s a body of work prospective clients and employers can scan to get a real sense of who I am. They may love it or not—that’s another story—but I’m not invisible.

In October I’ll join a fireside chat at Elevate Festival with the fabulous Sonia Couto. Yes, it will be fun and a chance to share insights and experience—but it’s also about being visible and showing who you are and what you stand for.

🧰 Yes, you need AI fluency (no lab coat required)

You don’t need to build models—you must drive outcomes with them. I took a course on using gen-AI well, and I’m 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 → tasks).
Guardrails: privacy, approvals, audit trails. Your reputation matters.

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🧭 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 ↔ UAE corridor, French/Arabic, local regs.

What makes YOU, YOU?

Your diploma is great, as is your work experience—but 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 can’t bank only on the classic diploma + work experience. Everyone has that. It’s boring—and not enough. What do you stand for, and how do you stand out?

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🧪 Your secret sauce (aka differentiation)

This is a variation on the above. You are you—great. Now what is it that you, and only you, can do? That’s your secret sauce.

Mine: I’ve always been told I can work with anyone—from the janitor to the CEO. I relate to people and understand what they need. I’m 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 don’t have is this exact combination of skills, experiences, capabilities, insights, and personality traits.

Ask: What can I do that’s hard to copy?

T-shape: one deep spike × 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?

🗓️ A 30-Day Human × AI Sprint

If you want to start AI-proofing your career, here’s a short sprint:

Week 1 — Audit: What is your secret sauce?
Week 2 — Build: One agentic workflow.
Week 3 — Signal: Publish one artifact (memo, teardown, 5-slide mini-deck).
Week 4 — Network: Host one micro-salon.

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🚩 Skip these traps

Certificate hoarding with no artifacts.
Copy-paste outputs without judgment or disclosure.
“AI will do my job” fatalism—let it kill your busywork so you can do the real work.

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🏁 Bottom line

AI eats tasks, not trust. Your moat is the combo: Human (EQ + network + verbal clarity + leadership) × AI (speed + scale). Nail both, and you won’t just AI-proof your career—you’ll 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 plans—from 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 partnerships—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape.

Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial.
Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

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Peggy Van de Plassche

🤖How to AI-Proof Your Career (and Actually…