I’ve been meeting with clients all month to get a pulse on what they’re facing, and I am consistently hearing about all the uncertainty in the workplace, whether it’s AI-related, the economy, or a potential merger.
Here’s my take on how to navigate uncertainty: We can’t stop change, but we can prepare ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities change will bring. Developing a deeper sense of internal control is the best way to navigate when our external world is filled with so much uncertainty.
In the spring of 1996, when I launched Wisnik Career Enterprises, the internet as we know it today didn’t exist. My primary tools were a desk, phone, paper files, and a fax machine.
Over the course of the thirty years I’ve been in business, I have navigated six recessions, a global pandemic, and numerous technological innovations. I clearly remember when LinkedIn arrived, and I was repeatedly warned that search firms like mine would soon be obsolete.
None of these external factors scared me because I focused on what I could control, which has always been understanding what our clients need next and preparing to serve these needs.
30% of respondents in my recent LinkedIn poll said that external factors, like the economy and AI, are preventing them from seeking their next level of success.
When we let factors outside our control dictate our choices, we surrender our self-agency.
Self-agency fuels our internal certainty. It is the belief that your actions will get you the results you desire and that you have the capacity to handle the challenges life presents. It’s living your life in the driver’s seat, not the passenger seat.
So how do we stay in the driver’s seat and navigate our careers when AI is transforming our workplace and there is so much external uncertainty?
I’ve been teaching partners, associates, and business services professionals how to do this in our Achieving Your Next Level of Success program. The key is to focus on growth and invest daily in expanding your skills, knowledge, and relationships. This could mean learning how to leverage AI to do your work more efficiently or taking on a work project outside your comfort zone.
When we seek out opportunities to master new challenges, we gain new capabilities and confidence. By focusing on growth opportunities, we ensure our marketability for the future and we build our self-agency muscle.
What growth opportunities will you seek out this fall to prepare yourself for our quickly evolving workplace?