Steven Fisher on Workforce Restructuring, AI, and the Future of Jobs in the Age of Intelligence
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/09/25
Steven Fisher is a futurist, innovation leader, and design strategist with 30+ years of experience guiding organizations through transformational change. He co-founded McKinsey’s Futures Practice, integrating foresight and speculative design, and pioneered Generative AI adoption at FTI Consulting. As Managing Partner of Revolution Factory and Chief Futurist at the Human Frontier Institute, he drives innovation through AI, foresight, and design thinking. Co-author of The Startup Equation (McGraw Hill, 2016), he is developing SuperShifts (2025) and Designing the Future (2026). A thought leader, speaker, and podcaster, Fisher helps organizations anticipate challenges and embrace future opportunities.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What are the underlying drivers behind significant workforce restructuring in major tech companies, even amidst strong financial performance?
Steven Fisher: The restructuring we’re seeing is not a reflection of crisis. It’s a recalibration for a new era. Even financially strong companies like Microsoft are restructuring because the ground beneath them is shifting. We’re entering what I call the Age of Intelligence, where emerging technologies, changing consumer expectations, and new forms of value creation are redefining what organizations need from their workforce. In many cases, companies are streamlining traditional roles to reinvest in strategic capabilities such as AI, cybersecurity, and platform infrastructure. This is not just cost-cutting. It’s a rebalancing act, trading legacy operational scale for adaptive intelligence and speed.
Jacobsen: What role does Artificial Intelligence play in influencing workforce adjustments and future skill demands?
Fisher: AI is not just influencing the workforce; it’s transforming the DNA of how organizations operate. As AI moves from automation to augmentation, the skills that matter most are also shifting. Technical proficiency is still essential, but equally important are adaptability, systems thinking, and the ability to collaborate with AI as a cognitive partner. This is part of what we call the IntelliFusion SuperShift, where human and artificial intelligence blend into new roles, workflows, and decision-making models. Many of the roles being restructured today are ones that AI can now handle more efficiently. But new roles are also emerging, especially at the intersection of AI, ethics, foresight, and experience design.
Jacobsen: What strategies can organizations adopt to maintain agility and restructure effectively in a dynamic tech environment?
Fisher: The key is to shift from static planning to dynamic foresight. Organizations need a living workforce strategy, one that evolves in tandem with technology and market changes. That starts with scenario planning, skills mapping, and what we call “future-fit” organizational design. Agile organizations invest in cross-functional talent, fluid team structures, and continuous upskilling. They create internal ecosystems where people can rotate, experiment, and grow. Perhaps most importantly, they center strategy around people, not just platforms. AI may drive efficiency, but human adaptability drives long-term resilience.
Jacobsen: What are the broader implications of these shifts for the job market, including changing tech roles and career paths?
Fisher: The tech job market is simultaneously fragmenting and reforming. Traditional tech roles, such as full-stack developers or IT administrators, are being reshaped by AI tooling and no-code platforms. At the same time, entirely new roles are emerging in areas like prompt engineering, algorithmic accountability, and AI-human interface design. We’re moving from siloed careers to modular ones. The new career path is not a ladder, it’s a lattice. People will need to build dynamic portfolios that showcase their skills, projects, and collaborations. In the Age of Intelligence, your value won’t be defined by your job title, but by your capacity to adapt, learn, and synthesize across domains.
Jacobsen: What advice do you have for employees navigating industry transformation and potential job displacement?
Fisher: The most powerful thing you can do is adopt a future-ready mindset. Focus less on protecting your current role and more on expanding your future potential. Start scanning the horizon for weak signals. Where is the industry heading? What emerging skills are becoming more valuable? Upskill intentionally, not reactively. Lean into creativity, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and systems literacy, areas where human strength will remain essential, even in an AI-augmented world. And remember, you are not just a worker inside a system. You are a designer of your own future. The most resilient people I’ve seen treat disruption not as a threat, but as an invitation to evolve.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Steven.
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