There is a dangerous assumption quietly sabotaging your career right now. It’s the belief that being great at your job is still a competitive advantage.
Believe me, it isn’t anymore.
In this new world of generative AI, being good at what you do is just the entry fee. It gets you into the room, but it no longer gets you the seat at the table.
The solution to the rise of AI? Stop trying to be better. Start trying to be different.
This time, I’m showing you why your distinctiveness is now your primary career (and life) currency, and how to start amplifying it before everyone else catches on.
The Session Musician v Artist
In the music industry there are “Session Musicians” and there are “Artists.”
A Session Musician is technically perfect. They can play any scale, read any sheet music, and make zero mistakes. But they are interchangeable. If one is busy, you just hire another one who sounds exactly the same.
AI is the ultimate Session Musician. It is technically perfect, infinitely available, and cheap.
Then there is the Artist. They might not be technically perfect. Maybe they have a raspy voice or an unusual style. But they are irreplaceable.
You can’t swap Beyoncé for Adele. You don’t pay them for their technical perfection; you pay them for their signature sound, look and opinions.
For years, the corporate ladder taught you to be a Session Musician.
To stand out in an AI age, you need to become The Artist. What are you right now?
You’re Competing in the Wrong Game
Information is now free. AI is faster and smarter than ever.
As Ethan Mollick, a professor at Wharton, discovered in his “Jagged Frontier” research, AI acts as a massive “leveler.” It raises the baseline performance of everyone to a “B+” standard.
When everyone can produce “B+” work instantly with AI, being an “A-” student is no longer a competitive advantage. The gap between “good” and “great” has collapsed.
This means the technical skills you spent years perfecting are depreciating assets. The only asset that is appreciating? Your human distinctiveness.
It’s not about what you know anymore. It’s about what you THINK about what you know.
Scott Belsky, Ex-Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe, puts it perfectly: “Taste is the new skill.”
When AI can generate 100 options in seconds, the value shifts to the human who has the “taste” (the intuition, the cultural context, and the wisdom) to choose the right one.
An algorithm can give you options, but it cannot give you a point of view.
AI Has Levelled the Playing Field—Now What?
So if AI can handle the execution, what is left for you?
Everything AI can’t touch. Your…
- Lived experiences
- Unique combination of perspectives
- Ability to connect emotionally
- Originality in speech, looks and body language
Recent data from LinkedIn confirms this shift: 92% of US executives agree that “people skills” (communication, empathy, strategic narrative) are now more important than ever.
In an AI world, your “soft” skills are becoming your “hard” currency.
How to Amplify Your Originality This Week
Stop trying to be the best version of what everyone else is doing.
Start becoming the only version of what you do.
1. Identify Your “Signature Sound”. You don’t need to invent a whole new you. You already have originality—you’ve just been trained to suppress it to fit in.
Do you approach client problems with a directness others avoid?
Do you combine data with storytelling in a weird way?
That difference isn’t a flaw. It’s your hook.
2. Stop Adapting. Most women spend their careers trying to smooth out their edges. Stop. Your difference is not a liability; it is your asset. When you feel the urge to “blend in” or ‘play the game’ during a meeting this week, resist it.
3. Test It Publicly (Just Once) Choose one small way to showcase your distinctive perspective this week:
Share an opinion on LinkedIn that reflects your real take (not the ‘safe’ corporate version).
Bring up your unconventional approach in a meeting.
Be the Artist, not the Session Musician.
The Bottom Line is…
The career ladder rewarded being better. The new world will reward being different.
The women who will thrive in the next few years won’t be the ones with the most impressive CVs.
They’ll be the ones who dared to be unmistakably themselves—and built their professional presence around what makes them impossible to replicate.
You have time to get ahead of this shift. But not much.
So get started now.
All my best,
Nichola
P.S. If you found this valuable, forward this to another ambitious, savvy woman who needs to hear it.
We rise together.
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