Insights
AI, Job Security, and Productivity Theatre
Fewer than 1 in 4 workers feel their job is safe from AI.
But I don’t think they’re afraid of the right thing.
I consult with companies navigating this exact moment. I sit across from VPs and directors who tell me they’re worried about “displacement.” But when I dig deeper, the fear isn’t really about a machine doing their work.
The fear is that a machine will reveal how little of their work was ever necessary.
The Real Crisis Nobody Is Naming
That’s the real crisis nobody’s naming. It’s not FOBO — fear of becoming obsolete. It’s fear of being exposed.
For years, entire roles have been padded with Productivity Theatre. The person who spends 20 hours “preparing” a deck that delivers one decision. The manager whose primary function is forwarding emails with “thoughts?” attached. The analyst who reformats the same report every Monday so leadership can glance at it and nod.
Productivity Theatre
AI doesn’t threaten these people because it can do their job. AI threatens them because it does in 30 seconds what took them 30 hours — and everyone can see it now.
Here’s what I’ve noticed in the companies getting this right: The people who aren’t afraid? They never had anything to hide. They were the ones doing the real thinking, building genuine relationships, making the calls that actually moved the business. The theatre was always in their way.
Measuring Hours Instead Of Impact
AI didn’t create this problem. Decades of measuring hours instead of impact did. AI just made it impossible to ignore.
The question isn’t whether AI will take your job.
It’s whether you were doing the job — or performing it.