About 80 conversations now. Some patterns that hold consistently:
The most adapted aren't the technologists. The senior leaders who've adapted best aren't engineers or data scientists, they're operators (sales, marketing, ops, customer success) who paired domain expertise with focused AI tool fluency. The technical people often over-engineer; the operators get to value faster.
Two skills compound disproportionately. Synthesis (turning messy inputs into clear outputs) and judgment (calling decisions under ambiguity). AI augments both but can't replace either at senior level. Investment in these compounds for a decade.
The 6-month delay matters more than the 18-month plan. Senior professionals who started repositioning in Q2 2026 are visibly ahead of those who started in Q4. The compounding is fast, content, conversations, skills, network. Six months matters in 2026 in a way it didn't in 2018.
Identity is the hardest part. The skills are learnable. The hard part is being okay describing yourself differently. Senior professionals who've been "the strategy person" for 15 years don't easily become "the AI-augmented strategy person", even when the work has clearly shifted.
The pivot is rarely as far as it feels. Most clients who said "I need to completely reinvent" ended up with a 60-degree shift, not a 180. Their existing skills carried more than they expected once the AI layer was added.
If you're early in this work and want to talk through your situation: DMs are open.
— Dr. Hosney Adel