[ I’m shifting to video. Sharing my first one today — transcript below for those who prefer to read ]
I want to show you a photograph. Look at this carefully.
This is a real photograph from the early 1900s. Someone saw an automobile — a machine with an engine, capable of moving on its own — and their instinct was to hitch horses to the front of it.
That’s not stupidity. That’s what happens when a new technology arrives and the human operating it hasn’t made the mental shift yet. They took the most sophisticated transportation technology in the world and turned it into a very expensive carriage.
I want you to keep that image in your mind for the next eight minutes. Because I’m going to argue that most professionals are doing the exact same thing with AI right now.
THE ANALOGY
Think about what it would have been like to be a skilled carriage driver in 1905.
You’d spent years mastering your craft. You understood horses — their temperament, their endurance, how to read the road ahead, how to manage a turn. You were genuinely excellent at moving people from Point A to Point B. And then someone comes along and starts talking about cars.
Your first instinct is reasonable: this is a faster horse. So you start learning the parts of it that feel familiar. The seat. The wheels. The body.
But you can’t imagine the steering wheel — because you’ve never needed one. You can’t imagine three pedals — because your feet were never part of driving. You can’t imagine filling a tank with fuel — because horses fed themselves.
The frame of reference you’ve spent your career building actively prevents you from seeing the full extent of the change.
And here’s the part that should make you uncomfortable:
That is exactly where most professionals are sitting with AI today.
They’re learning the parts that feel familiar — automating a workflow here, generating a draft there — and calling it transformation. But they haven’t made the deeper shift. And that deeper shift is the only thing that actually protects a career.
THE FRAMEWORK
So what does the shift actually look like? I think about it in three moves.
Move One: Unlearn.
The carriage driver needs to stop thinking about horses. Completely. There is no concept from horse-drawn transportation that transfers to driving a car. The steering logic is different. The power source is different. The failure modes are different. Everything.
For you, this means letting go of the mental models that made you successful before AI. The idea that expertise means knowing more than others. The notion that productivity means writing more code per unit time than the next person. That value means producing outputs faster. That seniority means having the answers.
Those models are dissolving. And I know that sounds threatening. But here’s the reframe: everyone is starting from zero on this. The professional who unlearns fastest has an enormous advantage.
Move Two: Learn what actually matters.
The carriage driver needs to learn the steering wheel, the pedals, the fuel system. Not because those things are intrinsically interesting — but because they’re what the new tool requires.
For you, this means being intentional about which AI capabilities you invest in learning — not chasing every new release, but deeply understanding the capabilities most relevant to the value you want to create. There’s a difference between tool familiarity and tool fluency. Most people stop at familiarity.
Move Three: Rebuild your mental model around the objective — not the tool.
This is the one most people miss. And it’s the most important.
The carriage driver’s job was never to manage horses. It was to move passengers from Point A to Point B. The horses were just the mechanism. Once you internalize that — once your identity is tied to the outcome rather than the method — switching to a car becomes obvious.
For you, this means asking a different question. Not “how do I use AI to do my current job better?” — but “what outcome am I fundamentally here to create, and how does AI change the best path to get there?”
That reframe is an identity shift. It’s uncomfortable. It takes time. And it is the only thing that builds a career position that AI cannot automate away.
The professionals who make this shift become strategic leaders. The ones who don’t become very proficient tool operators — right up until the tool changes again.
THE MODERN PROOF POINT
In case you think this is theoretical — here’s Kodak.
Kodak’s own engineers invented the digital camera in 1975. They had the technology before anyone else. But Kodak’s entire identity was built around film — the chemistry, the manufacturing, the retail relationships, the revenue model. Leadership couldn’t make the shift. Not because they lacked intelligence. Because they couldn’t unlearn who they were.
Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The technology wasn’t the problem. The identity was.
Which side of this are you on?
FREE LIGHTNING LESSON
I’ve spent 25 years navigating technology disruptions — from software, to SaaS, to mobile, to AI. And the pattern is always the same. The people who thrive aren’t the ones who adopt the fastest. They’re the ones who make the identity shift first. If this resonated with you — if you’re sitting with the honest question of whether you’re the carriage driver or the automobile driver — I want to go deeper with you.
I’m running a free live session on Maven called How To Make The Career Move AI Can’t Automate. You can sign up for it here.
In 45 minutes, we’ll get into the specific mental models, the structured frameworks, and the concrete steps to build career positioning that compounds over time — instead of eroding every time a new model drops. It’s free.
It’s live. And it’s built for professionals who are ready to make the shift.
I’m going to keep sharing frameworks, stories, and honest conversations about what it actually takes to build a career that holds up as AI advances. Not hype. Not tool reviews. The deeper shift. If that’s useful to you, please subscribe.
And one question for the comments: when you look at your career right now — are you the carriage driver learning to use a car, or are you still hitching horses to the front of it?
I read every response. See you in the next one.
