The Post-AI World of Career Sculpting

Ian Dyason, 23 Nov 2025

Since the last time we published a blog on this site (more than 2 years ago!), lots of things have happened; not least the advent of AI. LLMs stormed into the scene with massive capabilities that, in one fell swoop, threaten to make many middle level jobs redundant. Any role that requires amassing and analysing data can now be done by AI - and for free (or at least a minimal monthly subscription!) The images that adorn this post were created by CanvaAI. With just a prompt made up of a few lines of instruction, AI creates an output far better than any we can produce on our own. These days, our power lies in the ability to engineer better and more accurate prompts, rather than actually doing the job - of design, of copywriting, of publishing! (This blog post, thankfully, is still written by a human, warts and all!)

The disruptions in the past 5 years are proof that the old world order is no more; and in its place is a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible) environment!

With that as a reality, there is a need for us to change the way we build a resilient and healthy career. What we once knew as a fact no longer holds true. The magic career formula for the first 60 years of our nationhood no longer holds true for the next 60! Where we were once exhorted to study hard, graduate well, seek a good job, work hard, stay loyal and retire wealthy no longer applies. The disruptions in the past 5 years are proof that the old world order is no more; and in its place is a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible) environment! Jobs come and go at record pace. Redundancies are a norm. And what you learnt in school is no longer valid once you graduate! What is one to do in such an scenario?

First off, don't panic. It is not the end of the world. It may be the end of the OLD world that we knew, but with that comes the beginning of a new one. We have to accept that what we had done previously may not even return any outcome. Time to let that go. What you don't want to be doing is holding on to loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy. The sooner we excise (or to some, exorcize!) the past without regret, the better it is for us. It is like saying goodbye to an old friend who has passed on; we will miss him, but we also need to continue living for ourselves! Acknowledge that we had a good run with the past construct, but turn your attention to building a better run now.

It is not enough just to read and remember; it is more important to be able to apply the knowledge, analyse the outcome of that application, decide which parts of those areas of knowledge can be retained, synthesise them with your current knowledge base, and then with that, create new (and original) knowledge.

That leads us to the next step, identifying what the new world order offers us. Amidst every disruption lies opportunity. We need to view that with an open mind (the growth mindset!) We may not be able to participate in that opportunity TODAY, but it does not mean that we cannot participate AT ALL. What we need to do is to understand the mechanics of this new order, and learn to operate within them. This requires you to expand your repertoire; your knowledge base. You certainly cannot approach knowledge as a collection of certifications that did not even move the needle in your expertise. (You'll be surprised by how many people there are who took the Establishment's suggestion to take up courses only to find out that they have no aptitude for them or there is no opportunity in it for them!) So don't learn for the sake of learning; instead learn for the sake of building a brighter future. This means that you need a strategy for your knowledge acquisition; scaffold your expertise along Bloom's taxonomy It is not enough just to read and remember; it is more important to be able to apply the knowledge, analyse the outcome of that application, decide which parts of those areas of knowledge can be retained, synthesise them with your current knowledge base, and then with that, create new (and original) knowledge. THIS cannot be done by AI at the moment, and THIS must be your new modus operandi for building skills and competencies.

If indeed creating of new ideas is the domain of natural intelligence (and given that this is in notoriously limited supply), then it will stand you in good stead that develop this capability to rise above the sameness of mediocrity.

Of course, this means you need to take some risks at being wrong; after all, the new knowledge that you create could very well be unsubstantiated. You therefore need to apply some hypothesis-driven process in putting forward that new idea and subject that to testing. You might well be wrong; but the learning is not in being right, but in adopting a process that allows you to CONTINUOUSLY create new ideas. If indeed creating of new ideas is the domain of natural intelligence (and given that this is in notoriously limited supply), then it will stand you in good stead to develop this capability to rise above the sameness of mediocrity. This means that you need to take a discovery journey to uncover what works for you and what does not, and embody that as your new VALUE PROPOSITION.

Career Sculpting, therefore, requires you to chisel away what no longer works, building a new work of art that showcases your upward progression. It requires that you adopt a mindset that supports such journey. It does not mean that every Dimension of the growth mindset is in the growth zone, but it certainly means that know what the "Optimal" mindset profile is, and how your current mindset fits that. Uncovering that gap allows you to focus your development. Because you need to start right - building the right mindset before building your right career.

So if you want to be aware of where you may succeed in and where you may need more focus on in your mindset, check out our latest Premium Report on Career Health. Go to www.5dgm.net to do your assessment. It costs S$108; and you will find that it will be the BEST investment on your future today!