Be Iconic before you're sure [I'm going first]

This time I’m sharing my bet on where the future of work is going.

I’m also going to tell you what I’m doing to get ahead of the curve.

And what that means for you.

Here it is…

Nobody can prove what wins in the AI age yet. It's too new.

Anyone who sounds certain about it is making it up.

But you can already see which way it's going. PwC read a billion job ads and discovered that people who use AI well, and still bring their own judgement, now get paid 62% more. Two years ago that gap was 25%.

And at the other end, companies have been cutting managers for 3 years. Gartner expects 1 in 5 of them to use AI to cut more than half their middle managers by the end of this year. (I read that one twice)

So the ladder is losing its middle, and the pay is moving. That much is fact.

Here's my bet. I don't believe what's in front of you will be the classic ladder at all. I think it'll be a mix: employment, project work, consulting, income from a variety of sources, in proportions that shift as the world does.

The single career for life went a long time ago. My bet is that the long contract with one employer will go the same way.

I believe that the women who will succeed in the future, will be the ones who OWN things that travel with them. Whatever happens.

A name people know, a perspective they’ve identified with you, intellectual assets, and income from more than one place.

None of this comes with a date on it, and no one will tell you when it's coming.

What you can know is this.

Everything your security rests on right now is rented.

The job title, the platform, the reputation, the income. All of it issued by an employer, and all of it is handed back when your contract ends.

The answer to rented is an edge that's yours.

A name that's distinctive, a stage of your own to stand on, and income that doesn't stop when the job does. With AI running through all of it.

That's what I mean by an Iconic Edge.

Not long ago, building one would have taken a team, a budget, and time the job had already spent. AI hands you all three. The barriers are still there. You've now got what you need to get past them.

Proof will come, and quickly, because everything about this moves fast. Which is exactly why waiting for it loses.

But, by the time it's proven, the women who moved early are already ahead and winning.

So I'm going first, where you can watch, and I'll show you how, step by step.

I believe in what I've just told you. It comes from running career development inside big companies, from the research I read every week, from people I know in the industry and from building my own thing since I left.

I'm confident enough to put my name on it, in front of you, and let you see if I'm right.

What I'm building is my own iconic edge. The same three things, for the same reason.

Because I know the same shift is coming for people who work for themselves, and I'd rather be ahead of it than caught by it.

So from this edition on, you get to see behind the scenes. Every week I'll show you a piece of what I'm actually doing. What I did, what it cost me, what worked, what didn't.

And to be straight about where I'm standing. You're coming at this from a job, I'm coming at it from a business, and we're heading for the same place. I'm just further down the road.

For you, the job stays, and it becomes one of several things holding you up. What changes is where your expertise can work: across more than one opportunity, on a stage that's yours, built ahead of the day you need it.

I'm doing the same from the other end, building a name that works beyond my own clients and income that comes from more than one place, using my own methodology. The same method I’ve spoken about here for months.

I'm betting on this, and I'm betting on myself.

You get to watch it happen before you try it. I'll be the one finding out what works, what's harder than it looks, and what I'd skip if I started again.

So when you start building your own iconic edge, you're not guessing. You'll have seen it done, including the parts that went wrong.

Right now I'm working on how I want to be seen: what my LinkedIn says about me, and using AI to work it out.

I'll show you that next time how it goes.

All my best,

Nichola

P.S. Tell me what you make of my bet. Agree with me, argue with me, or just tell me what it made you think. I'd like to know either way, and I read every reply.

PwC 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, one billion job adverts across 27 countries. AI-skills wage premium at 62%, up from 25% in 2024. pwc.com

The Great Flattening: manager headcount at public companies down 6.1% May 2022 to May 2025. Gartner projects 1 in 5 organisations will use AI to eliminate more than half their middle-management positions through 2026. fortune.com  ·  forbes.com