The new talent dilemma: from know-how to know-why
When anyone can do anything, what makes someone valuable? As generative AI outpaces upskilling, the nature of talent is being redefined – from execution to meaning, and from skill to sensemaking
Mastery used to take time. Now, it takes a tool. With the right prompt, anyone can instantly generate code, strategy, or cinematic content. AI has moved beyond simply automating work, it’s now democratising skill. And this forces the emerging question: what does human value look like today?
This builds on the idea that we’ve already entered a post-effort paradigm, where output no longer depends on visible labour, and reward is increasingly decoupled from traditional measures of performance. Now, that same logic is being applied to skill. As AI takes centre stage, the focus has shifted from not just how we work, but why we’re needed at all.
Defining human differentiation
Generative AI has collapsed the traditional learning curve. Tools like Veo 3 can produce near-human video with sound. Claude 4 can write code, parse legal documents, and reason through ethical dilemmas. Gemini can transform dry slide decks into adaptive training experiences tailored to specific audiences.
These aren’t just productivity tools – they’re creative engines. They don’t assist skilled professionals; they replace the need to become one. What once took years to learn can now be achieved in seconds with the right input.
While this shift doesn’t make human capability obsolete, it does make it harder to define. When technical competence becomes a commodity, where does genuine differentiation come from?
Seniority doesn’t guarantee relevance
Organisations often place significant value on experience and longevity in a role, serving as an indicator of credibility, competence, and career progression. But in a world where AI evolves faster than people can reskill, the emphasis on experience as the primary metric for competence is breaking down.
AI doesn’t care how long you’ve worked – it just performs. Tools that summarise, design, and code don’t need a learning curve, and their output isn’t bound by job title or seniority.
This doesn’t mean human expertise no longer matters, but it does mean the traditional signals of it are losing weight. For HR and leadership, the challenge is no longer just attracting talent, but redefining what talent looks like, and how to measure value when experience alone no longer sets people apart.
From mastery to meaning
When anyone can leverage AI to generate high-quality outputs, technical ability stops being the main differentiator. The edge moves into how people interpret complexity, shape decisions, and create shared understanding.
What AI struggles to replicate isn’t skill, but significance. It can write a strategy, but it can’t tell you why it matters now, or how it will land with the team. It can generate ideas, but not always sense their emotional or cultural weight.
That’s where human value is migrating. Skills like judgment, creativity, and emotional intelligence are becoming increasingly more valuable. Not the ability to execute tasks, but to connect dots, demystify ambiguity, and bring purpose to outcomes.
In this new context, culture becomes the performance driver. When technical skills are easily acquired, these are the capabilities that elevate teams and set organisations apart.
From skill to sensemaking
As AI systems deliver ever faster, ever better outputs, the defining human edge is interpretation. What sets people apart now is not what they can produce, but how they make sense of what’s produced.
This is the shift from skill to sensemaking – the ability to navigate complexity, frame decisions, read nuance, and connect actions to meaning. It’s the capacity to ask better questions, not just give faster answers.
Organisations that want to future-proof their talent strategies will need to supplement digital upskilling programs with investment in the human capabilities that AI can’t replicate such as judgment, storytelling, ethics, intuition, emotional intelligence.
In this new landscape, the future of talent isn’t about competing with machines – it’s about complementing them. As skill becomes more democratised, organisations must shift their focus from what people can do to what they uniquely bring. Sensemaking, creativity, and human connection are the foundations of a new kind of expertise.
To explore how emotional intelligence is becoming a strategic advantage in this new era of work, read more here.
