Career Expert Weighs In on Surviving and Thriving in an AI-Driven Workplace
For a lot of Black professionals, the conversation around AI is starting to feel less like innovation and more like a threat to employees everywhere. As workplaces rapidly shift toward automation, Black folks are facing growing anxiety, burnout, and uncertainty about their future. Before Mental Health Awareness Month wraps up, it’s important we address those AI-driven workplace changes and what can be done, both physically and mentally, to clap back against those disparities before they deepen even further.
The Root caught up with career and workforce expert and Career Thrivers founder Brittany N. Cole, to unpack how an automated workplace disproportionally impacts Black professionals. Having supported more than 130,000 professionals across major companies including Amazon, UPS, Abbott, HCA Healthcare, and The Clorox Company, Cole — bestselling author of “Thrive Through It” — says it may be time for Black folks to “futureproof” their careers and reassess what it means to achieve success in the AI era altogether.
Tips to Navigate the AI Workforce
Per a recent study conducted by McKinsey, Black workers are overrepresented in industries and roles most vulnerable to automation and AI disruption, posing a grave threat to their economic mobility. So what does “futureproofing” your career actually look like in real time — and how can Black professionals protect their careers while the ground is still shifting?
According to the expert, your value lies in the “audit of your experience.” This includes the way you lead, the way you execute and the results you consistently deliver.
“The skills that AI cannot replace are the skills that Black professionals already have in abundance,” Cole told The Root. “We’ve led through adversity, we’ve built trust in environments that weren’t designed for us. We’ve adapted, we’ve codeswitched, we’ve problem-solved in real time and delivered results under conditions that most have never had to face.
“That lived experience that Black professionals have, is the new competitive advantage,” she explained. “AI can’t replicate those specific results, failures, or that specific trust. And that is now the product.”
Visibility Is Currency in Today’s Market: “Build visible proof. Document your outcomes. Create content — I cannot stress enough how important this is,” Cole expressed. “Especially on platforms like LinkedIn, share what you know. Your visibility is valued in this market. It’s not vanity. Stop thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what are they gonna think? How should I proceed? It doesn’t matter. People need to know you and your experiences.”
Trade Your Resume for a Solid Portfolio: “Start building a portfolio career mindset, instead of a resume career mindset,” Cole stated. “The future of work will prioritize portfolios over resumes. In many cases 1099 talent costs less — especially for corporations — and so the independent workforce is projected to reach over 50 percent next year in 2027,” she warned. “You wanna get ahead of that shift, you wanna position yourself for those fractional opportunities.”
Prioritize Your Leadership Brand: “You have to take seriously what we call ‘Career Thrive.’ It’s not just your personal brand — but your leadership brand. How do you think? How are you positioning yourself? What have your experiences been? We’ve created an assessment for this at score my leadership brand, and it’ll help you see the gap between your impact and visibility.
Working Through the Emotional Toll of Career Grief
As we’ve previously told you, over 300,000 Black women lost jobs last year, and the number is growing more everyday. These workers are experiencing career grief on a daily basis due to widespread layoffs, job displacement, career instability and barriers to advancement. This isn’t just a blow to your goals, it’s also a major hit to your ego, potentially resulting in self doubt — or even worse, depression. The workforce expert encourages folks to prioritize physical and mental health, emphasizing that survival mode is simply unsustainable.
“Resilience is equivalent to your ability to bounce back,” Cole expressed. “The faster you can bounce back like nothing happened, get over it and move on, that is fundamental to our mental and emotional well being. This is how so many end up with heart disease earlier than we should have it,” she warned. “What I am a proponent of, is placing well being and wellness at the core of your resilience and recognizing that you don’t have to stay in survival mode.
“Survival mode is necessary, but it is not sustainable,” Cole reiterated. “It is meant to protect us, but we are not meant to live there. And oftentimes it’s Black people — particularly in white spaces — who live in this constant state, when we’re meant to thrive. We were destined to thrive. And we can thrive, even through adversity.”
