If you’ve been on LinkedIn lately, you’ve seen the pattern: “I got laid off.” A heartfelt story. A few lessons. A thank-you to colleagues. A call for referrals. Then—sometimes—another post from someone else, then another, until it starts to feel like a seasonal event.
Those posts are honest. They’re human. And for many of us, they’ve been necessary. We constantly post about how it felt when we were laid off for two major reasons:
- We think it’s a new thing. It feels unprecedented because the trigger looks new: “AI efficiency,” “automation,” “restructuring,” “operational excellence,” “cost optimization.” It’s packaged in modern language and delivered through modern platforms.
- We don’t want others to feel despondent and alone. When you lose a job, your mind plays cruel tricks. You start to personalize what is often an economic decision. Public stories are a way to say: You’re not isolated. You’re not uniquely broken. This happened to me too.
That’s the comforting part. The uncomfortable part is this: AI-driven layoffs are not a passing wave. They are becoming the norm. Not because companies are evil, but because companies do what they are structurally designed to do: adapt to competitive pressure by reducing costs and increasing output. When a tool appears that can compress a team’s output into fewer people, leaders will use it.
The Niemöller Reminder: We Mistake “Not Me” for Safety
When I think about this shift, I’m reminded of the warning embedded in Pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
This isn’t a one-to-one comparison of historical events. It’s a pattern reminder: when disruption hits “other people,” we often interpret it as proof of our own stability. “That’s customer support.” “That’s junior dev work.” “That’s content writers.” Until it isn’t “them” anymore. AI-driven displacement will move in waves until it becomes boringly normal. And boredom is where acceptance happens.
We’ve Been Here Before: The Pattern Doesn’t Change
AI is just the fastest force we’ve witnessed, but the pattern is old:
- Bank Tellers: ATMs and apps replaced the manual stamping of bank books.
- Physical Media: Streaming replaced the entire supply chain of vinyl, cassettes, and DVDs. The demand didn’t vanish; the container did.
Pattern Recognition:
- Automation has been trampling roles since the 18th century.
- Leaps in productivity compress labor in certain tasks while creating new, previously impossible categories of work.
What’s different now? It targets “knowledge work”—the very sector we were told was the “safe” career path for the future.
💡 The Bonus Rule: Reduce Time, Eliminate Repetition
I once worked for a company where it took me at least 15 minutes to do something I had to repeat at least 5 times a day. That’s not “work.” That’s friction.
It taught me a simple truth about how performance is really rewarded in modern organizations: To get a bonus, you need to find ways to:
- Reduce that time; and
- Eliminate repetition.
There are no two ways about it. That mindset—cutting cycle time and removing repeatable manual effort—is exactly the mindset that automation and AI amplify. If you don’t do it to your own workflow, someone else will do it to the company’s operating model. And the operating model always wins.
Why This Time Doesn’t “Pass”
This isn’t just about high interest rates or over-hiring. The AI displacement trend depends on capability.
If a company can reduce delivery time, operational cost, and headcount dependency while increasing consistency, they won’t “go back” when the economy improves. They will simply grow with a leaner baseline. In other words: the floor has moved. Once work is augmented by AI at 2–10x productivity, that becomes the new standard operating model.
The Next Decade: The Rise of “Consultantization”
Here is a forecast: In the next decade, layoffs will accelerate to the point that half the human population will be consultants to the other half who are using AI to make an impact.
Work is becoming fractional and project-based because AI makes it easier to:
- Define work as deliverables rather than hours.
- Modularize tasks.
- Spin up and shut down small teams quickly.
The Post-Layoff Behavior Shift
Right now, the response to a layoff is to compete for fewer “permanent” roles. In the future, we will return to the same companies that laid us off as suppliers, partners, and consultants. Companies still need outcomes (security, features, compliance), but they want them with less long-term payroll obligation and more flexibility.
The “Hypermarket Model” Is Coming to IT
The “Supermarket or Hypermarket model,” where you bring your own product and rent a space in the hypermarket, is coming to IT. We see it in marketplaces, API economies, and B2B solution catalogs.
- The Old Model: You join the production line.
- The New Model: You package skills as products (templates, scripts, playbooks) and sell outcomes.
Think of it like this: A hypermarket provides the foot traffic and payment rails, but suppliers compete on value. Companies want to be the hypermarket. Workers need to think like suppliers.
How to Prepare (If You Haven’t Been Laid Off)
Don’t live in paranoia; live in preparedness.
- Innovate for your company: Find leverage points where one tool removes 10 manual steps or one architectural change reduces operational load.
- Develop a future-looking mindset: Ask what part of your job is routine (AI eats this) versus judgment, relationship, and accountability (AI supports this).
- Understand the Corporate Role: Help companies deliver value at scale by becoming someone who increases throughput and reduces risk.
If you are laid off, remember: it’s usually about strategy decks and spreadsheets, not a moral judgment on your worth.
Conclusion: AI Shifts the Building
In the agricultural and industrial revolutions, transitions were brutal and reshaped identity. The AI era is the same, but with a twist: AI does not shut doors; it closes small doors and opens bigger ones.
The bigger doors involve:
- Building products instead of doing tasks.
- Designing systems instead of executing steps.
- Selling outcomes instead of time.
Do you have the muscle to open the bigger door? That muscle requires psychological resilience, learning velocity, and the ability to package your value.
Stop waiting for the “old normal.” This is a climate change in the labor market. Don’t just chase the next job title—build the ability to create leverage and walk through the doors that are already opening.