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The humble org chart isn\u2019t usually blamed for holding back innovation. But as companies push their employees to adopt AI, LinkedIn executive Aneesh Raman thinks the relationships that structure most workplaces are what\u2019s holding things back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe org chart was built in the industrial age to bring order, predictability, and stability to rapidly growing organizations,\u201d says Raman, LinkedIn\u2019s chief economic opportunity officer and co-author of a new book on the future of work. \u201cCompanies need to let that go, as it\u2019s going to hold back innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of waiting for top-down transformation programs, Raman argues, executives will need to get comfortable with workers figuring out AI on their own, even if those experiments cut across departments and job descriptions. \u201cWhere you\u2019re going to see the real returns on AI isn\u2019t just a new workflow around AI, but rather new work around human capability,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Raman, a former CNN war correspondent and Obama speechwriter, is the co-author of Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI, alongside Linkedin CEO Ryan Roslansky. The book draws on LinkedIn data and case studies of early adopters to offer what he calls a \u201chow-to-human-with-AI\u201d playbook that tries to counter the \u201cfatalism\u201d that dominates most conversations about AI\u2019s effect on employment.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of LinkedIn<\/p>\n
He urges workers to think about their work, and how AI relates to it, in three categories. The first bucket covers activities AI already does today, like generating code, running quick analyses, or writing a first draft to inspire someone else\u2019s writing. The second bucket are experiments to create something new with AI. The final bucket involves using the time saved from the first bucket, and the lessons learned from the second bucket, to start using AI as a group.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you doing with other people?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a worker-led transition, and so companies are going to have to figure out how to let individuals start to move into this new era in their day-to-day work,\u201d Raman says. \u201cWe have more autonomy than we often think in terms of pushing for what we want to do that might push our work to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
What skills will matter in the AI workforce?<\/p>\n
LinkedIn is in the middle of a pivot to what it calls a \u201cskills-first approach\u201d to hiring and employment. In theory, employers are looking for specific skills and capabilities\u2014and proof that potential hires have those skills\u2014instead of just looking at a list of job titles on a resume. LinkedIn is also integrating AI into its own product, such as a new AI agent to help with hiring.<\/p>\n
But as AI\u2019s capacity to automate knowledge work grows, there\u2019s still confusion over what skills employees will need. Take coding: For more than a decade, universities and policymakers told young people that learning to code was the surest path to a high-paying job. That advice looks less certain in the age of \u201cvibe-coding\u201d: Claude developer Anthropic now sees computer and math careers as leading the way in terms of current and possible coverage by AI. <\/p>\n
Raman, for his part, thinks computer science isn\u2019t obsolete. Instead, employers need to look at the broader skills a degree like computer science provides. \u201cA computer science degree doesn\u2019t just teach coding alone. It teaches complex thinking, organizational design, and structures of systems\u201d he points out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Workers, at least in the U.S., aren\u2019t convinced they will come out ahead. A CBS News poll released last week reported that two thirds of Americans believe that AI will decrease the number of jobs; around the same share don\u2019t believe that tech companies will use AI in appropriate ways.<\/p>\n
AI could get more traction in Asia, where populations are more comfortable with AI. A Pew Research Center survey from October found lower rates of concern among Asia-based respondents than Western ones. For example, just 16% of South Koreans reported being \u201cmore concerned than excited\u201d about AI, the lowest share among the 25 countries Pew surveyed; the U.S., in contrast, had the highest share, at 50% reporting concern.<\/p>\n
More recently, Chinese consumers have flocked to install OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent framework, on their devices, and local governments are rushing to support \u201cone-person companies,\u201d or AI startups trying to build new products.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a hunger in Asia, not just among companies but also among workers, to learn about these tools and put them to use,\u201d Raman says. \u201cThere\u2019s an entrepreneurial culture in a lot of countries in Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time to adapt<\/p>\n
Still, Raman is sympathetic to workers concerned about automation. \u201cThere was a career ladder, and there was extreme clarity about what you had to do to get on each rung of that ladder,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
But he\u2019s optimistic that, ultimately, employees will be better off as AI starts to dismantle the ways companies traditionally organize and reward their talent.\u00a0\u201cVery few people have ever had real control over their career,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause of AI, I think we\u2019re about to have the first generations at work that have more control over their career than any who\u2019ve come before.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what if someone doesn\u2019t want to be an innovator at their job? What if someone wants to do their responsibilities and earn a stable wage?<\/p>\n
Raman\u2019s answer to those people is direct: \u201cNobody is coming to save any individual but themselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Change is coming, like it or not. \u201cIt\u2019s just a question of when this change hits you, and how hard it hits you,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
#org #chart #dead #age #LinkedIns #chief #economic #opportunity #officer #thinks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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