I have found a funny thing about superhero movies. And specifically the various iterations of SpiderMan. This particular superhero has been rebooted several times, to the point of an animated movie series, a multi-verse version, and a handful of different actors who have each taken their spin of the web crusader.
And what I have found in watching these SpiderMan films is I always enjoy watching SpiderMan first discover his powers, and his practice at trying to get better at slinging webs, swinging through the streets of Manhattan, and jumping and often failing and flailing along the way.
That fish out of water while trying on new powers is somehow relatable. We root for Peter Parker because Peter is us in many ways - overlooked, bullied, and nothing special, until an extraordinary circumstance happens and the story rises or falls on how Peter responds.
We root for Peter and it always feels great as he figures out his powers and his superhero name and his costume and seeing him in the end with a really legit costume and operating his skills at peak performance is the crescendo we need as the lights come back up.
Putting on that costume and that costume becoming the person or the persona of the superhero’s journey is something that resonates with our core. And the memories of a flailing and failing hero wannabe are quickly a distant memory as Peter and Spiderman become one and the same.
Any good story takes their hero on a journey and they change in the process. They are quite simply different at the end of the story than at the beginning - this is their character arc, where they have changed and risen to the occasion.
And in this emergence of AI, we stand at the precipice of our own hero’s journey. And our initial forays into using AI and trying to get effective use out of these new and mysterious abilities that generative ai affords feels foreign and like an ill-fitting costume.
But over time, if we are willing, the transformation can take place.
And it feels good to do something well. In fact, doing something well is how passions are born. You can finally put to rest the excuses and procrastination and waiting and waiting for inspiration to finally strike in order to take action. When you do things well, you are inspired and you want to take action. It is actually fun and you see that you are making an impact.
You do what you do in order to make an impact, to make a difference, to matter. And when you are stepping into your skills-powered persona, you will accomplish all of the above and then some!
The key is to be able to rapidly reskill. And it goes without saying that you will have to embrace the lifelong learning mindset. Staying resistant to change or learning new skills is the losers path and no superhero got to where they were by just relying on their powers - they worked on their skills and got better and better with time and practice and use. And for your own hero’s journey, you will learn a lot by getting up when you fall or fail and sometimes that’s the best way to learn - because as they say, there’s no failure, just opportunities to learn that which doesn’t work and to learn from your mistakes and to improve. That’s it.
And you will need to rapidly reskill as the landscape of work continually changes and evolves. This will entail the trifecta of the Skills-Powered Advantage framework of AI Skills, soft or durable skills and business skills, all orchestrated to your advantage
And you will want to have a strategic reserve of skills. These will be skills that are likely to rise in importance and that you will be called upon to possess sooner rather than later. Those that have a strategic reserve of skills in increasing numbers will find their marketability, relevance and opportunities increasing at a faster rate than obsolescence can devour.
