AI Has Redefined Value of Work, Here's How You Can Stay Relevant

We’re living in a time of unprecedented upheaval.

Political instability with riots, wars being fought without signs of abating, trade wars leading to economic slowdown. AI is replacing jobs, people being laid off and fresh graduates unable to find jobs.

People are asking:

• Will I still have a job in tomorrow?
• How will my business be disrupted?
• What’s the point of up-skilling when AI is learning faster than I am?

I get it. The fear is real. To borrow a fantastic analogy from my mentor Marshall Thurber, we are all "walking on liquid turf".

AI is a Structural Shift of Values

Back in 2017, I met my mentor Marshall Thurber, and he taught me a powerful distinction between 2 types of changes: 

1)    Cyclical Change

This are the types of changes that may reverse themselves or are temporal. For example with economies, there are booms and recessions, bull and bear markets.

2)    Structural Change

These changes are irreversible. They redefine how we live and function. For example, when automobiles were invented, they didn’t just improve horse-drawn carriages, they rendered them obsolete. They restructured cities, economies, and entire industries.

Too many people still treat AI like a passing wave, just another trend like the rise of social media or the gig economy. But make no qualms about it, AI is a structural change.

We are seeing it not just the emergence of new tools, but we’re witnessing the restructuring of how the world defines, creates, and rewards value.

What's Missing: The "Value" Perspective

With all the anxiety, people aren't pausing, zooming out and asking the deeper question.

Instead of thinking about Jobs, we should be thinking about Values.

Instead of asking “Will AI replace me?”, the deeper question is: “How can I create value where it still matters?”

Just think about it:

• Economies are built on creating value.
• Businesses survive by adding value to customers.
• Employees are hired to bring value to their employers.

AI has Reshuffled the Global Value-chain

Tasks that once required human intelligence – writing, coding, analysing data – are now increasingly automated or accelerated by AI.

But here's the twist: while AI has made certain value obsolete, it has also opened up space for new, more human, more soulful forms of value.

Think about it:

• Therapy was once stigmatised, now it's seen as vital.
• Emotional intelligence was once considered "soft", now it's a leadership superpower.
• Facilitation, meaning-making, storytelling, once considered luxuries, are now differentiators.

Value is dynamic. And in order to stay relevant, we not only have to be adaptable, but we have to try and keep ourselves ahead of the curve in being strategic about how we create and articulate value.

Visibility ≠ Value

It can be tempting to confuse being visible (posting more, speaking louder, follower count) with being valuable.

AI can mimic output, but not original insight, emotional resonance, or nuanced problem-solving in ambiguous situations yet. Emotional labor, trust-building, ethical judgment, and meaning-making are under-recognised sources of value.

Visibility just gets you through the door. But the true differentiator is whether your work is relevant, rare, and hard to replicate.

Articulated Value is as Important as Actual Value

Many professionals fail not because they lack value, but because they can’t explain it in business terms, easy-to-understand language to the right audience. This is why storytelling, strategic positioning and relational intelligence are the power skills in the AI age.

In my workshops and "WholeHearted Influence" coaching program, I bring my clients through an exercise to "Uncover their Wisdom Stack" and help them identify where their lived experiences, natural and learned skills and insight matter.

5 Questions to Help You Recalibrate Your Value Compass

If you’re an employee, business owner, freelancer, or fresh graduate entering the workforce, this moment requires deep reflection.

Here are 5 WholeHearted questions to help you navigate this shift:

Question 1: How am I really creating value today?

Strip away your job title, your credentials, your LinkedIn headline.

Ask yourself: What changes because I show up? What effect do I have on people on people because of my presence?

Value is about impact you have on people:

• Are you solving problems?
• Are you making people feel better about themselves because you were there?
• What can people now do where they previously couldn't if not for your guidance?

Question 2: With AI and shifting economic conditions, what are emerging areas of value I can create?

Look around you. What new needs are emerging? What are some new roles you've started to see coming up?

• Human-AI collaboration facilitators
• Trust curators
• Loneliness coaches
• Experience architects
• Wellbeing designers
• Workplace healers
• Narrative strategists

In a world drowning in noise but lacking in meaning, there are more value that can be created in the in-between spaces between technology and human psychology.

Where does your personal story, your lived experience, your Wisdom Stack give you an edge?

Question 3: How is AI changing the perception of value in my industry?

AI is shifting the perception of value in three interconnected ways:

1. From Output to Orchestration → The value of a professional isn’t whether they can do a task, but whether they can frame the right prompts, integrate outputs, and orchestrate outcomes.
2. From Efficiency to Meaning → Clients, employers, and society now prize foresight, ethics, trust, and originality as new forms of value. Value in industries increasingly depends on storytelling, legitimacy, and ethics, not just functionality.
3. From Individual to Ecosystem → Value is judged not only by what one actor delivers, but by the integrity, resilience, and legitimacy of the supply chain.

Given the perception of value, how can I integrate my various skills meaningfully in my Wisdom Stack to add value in meaningful ways?

Question 4: How can I upgrade my skills to provide meaningful value?

Not all up-skilling is equal.

In a world of fast, fast, fast, speed and convenience is the norm and therefore taken for granted. But what can’t be easily replicated?

• Deep listening
• Ethical discernment
• Cultural nuance
• Empathetic leadership

Instead of chasing the newest certifications, ask where your human touch is still irreplaceable, and refine that.

• Can you coach? Facilitate? Lead?
• Can you design spaces where people feel seen and safe?
• Can you bridge ideas between disciplines or cultures?

This is the era of interdisciplinary, emotionally intelligent generalists. The perception of value in industries shifts toward meta-skills – creativity, critical judgment, storytelling, and orchestration of human-AI teams.

How many of these skills do you possess?

Question 5: How am I communicating my value to the world?

We’ve been told all our lives to be faster, smarter, prettier, cooler… basically, better than others. But it’s the trap! We get caught chasing an endless arms race to outdo everyone else. And no matter how good you are, someone will always be “better.”

In the age of AI-generated sameness, human storytelling becomes a currency of trust. The only way you tell your stories that communicate how your value in a meaningfully different way?

Here are some further guiding questions to help you figure this out:

• What do people consistently thank me for?
• What kind of energy do I bring into a room?
• What makes people lean in when I speak?
• Where did I develop these powerful skills?
• What life experiences did I have that made me develop such a spirit?

AI is Not an End. It's an Invitation

The future of work is uncertain, yes. But here’s the truth: value has always been created by people who dared to see differently, connect deeply, and act courageously.

Every structural shift in history has created both casualties and creators. The car ended the age of carriages, but it also built cities, highways, and new industries we couldn’t imagine before.

The invitation is to stop proving your worth in outdated ways… and start expressing your value in human, WholeHearted ways that no algorithm can replace. So don’t ask: “Will AI replace me?” Ask instead: “What is the unique value only I can bring to the table of tomorrow?”

Because the world doesn’t just need more efficiency. It needs more meaning. And that meaning begins with you.

Your Magnetic Stories

Your Wisdom Stack.

Your WholeHearted Presence.