My TL;DR on how WPP builds the agent + human workforce

Last week, I sat down with Josh and Josh. That's Josh Newman from WPP and Josh Bersin (yes, that Josh Bersin). We did a live broadcast on how WPP is building their AI-powered workforce.

It was a fantastic conversation. You can fully listen to it and get the insights here.

But here's the TL;DR from my end:

We're not adapting. We're reinventing.

Let me be blunt. We are in the middle of a once-in-a-generation change to work. You're not going to live through this twice in your career. Stop treating it like another transformation program.

Job architecture is completely broken

The systems we've built around jobs and job holders are completely useless in an AI-powered world.

They weren't designed for this pace of change. They weren't built to integrate digital agents. And they weren't designed to keep your people with you as work changes under their feet.

From Job Architecture to Work Architecture.

Most companies don't know what work is actually happening

Seriously. You have no idea. We've seen this over and over. Companies trying to automate, augment, or redesign work. Without actually knowing what that work is.

Job descriptions are not work. They're marketing fluff. If you don't know the task, subtask, and skill profile of a role, you're flying blind. That's irresponsible.

Every enterprise is deploying AI. Almost none can see the work they're deploying it into.

This isn't about cost-cutting. It's about not falling behind.

Yes, companies are chasing efficiency. Yes, budgets are getting reallocated.

But if your CEO hasn't started talking about AI and workforce design, you should be worried. This isn't about hype. It's survival.

Super workers are coming. Get ready.

We're moving from human-only roles to hybrid human-agent teams. If you're still thinking in old-school job titles, you're going to miss the opportunity. And you'll hurt your people in the process.

Our job is to make the invisible visible. Map the real work, the real skills, and the real opportunities for people to grow. Or get left behind.

Let me leave you with this

You don't get to wait for someone else to figure this out. You're in the seat. Do the work. Reinvent. Don't leave people behind.

Time to lead. Boldly.

Siobhan 💜

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