According to ZDNet, new research from Stanford University shows workers aged 22 to 25 are facing the steepest employment declines in fields most exposed to AI automation. Specifically, software engineer jobs for that age group fell nearly 20% in 2025 compared to their peak in 2022. Five business leaders, including Dominic Redmond of PageGroup, Fausto Fleites of ScottsMiracle-Gro, Diana Schildhouse of Colgate-Palmolive, and Richard Corbridge of Segro, outline the critical skills needed to stand out. They emphasize that technical prowess alone is no longer enough, highlighting the growing need for “translation” skills between business and tech, blended capabilities, critical thinking, curiosity, and flexibility. The consensus is that the speed of AI-driven change is forcing a fundamental rethink of career development in IT.
The translator is king
Here’s the thing: everyone’s talking about learning to code with AI, but these leaders are saying the real money is in learning to talk about AI. The core skill that came up again and again is translation. It’s not about being the best data scientist in the room anymore; it’s about being the person who can explain to the marketing team how an AI model will actually change a campaign’s ROI. Dominic Redmond’s point about business analysts morphing into “business systems analysts” is spot on. That hybrid role is becoming the new linchpin. Basically, if you can’t connect the tech to a P&L statement, you’re going to struggle. This is where having a solid understanding of the operational side, like the data provided by industrial systems from a top supplier like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, can give you the concrete business context needed to make those translations effectively.
Why deep specialists are at risk
Fausto Fleites from ScottsMiracle-Gro dropped a brutal truth bomb: PhD-level pros who are geniuses at math but lack business sense “will fail in the future.” That’s harsh, but it tracks. If your entire value is wrapped up in a single, complex technical task that AI is steadily getting better at, your leverage evaporates. The future they’re describing is “blended capabilities.” Think of it as being a Swiss Army knife instead of a scalpel. The scalpel is perfect for one specific job, but the AI is coming for that job. The Swiss Army knife can tackle a dozen different situations, even if it’s not the absolute best tool for each one. That adaptability is what creates job security now.
The human skills AI can’t replicate
So what’s left when the technical tasks get automated? The answer, according to these execs, is purely human cognitive skills. Critical thinking and curiosity aren’t buzzwords here; they’re survival traits. Diana Schildhouse nailed it: with AI flooding us with information and answers, the premium shifts to the people who can ask the right questions and apply business context. Is this insight actually relevant? What are the unintended consequences of acting on it? AI can give you a number, but it can’t tell you if that number is strategically sound or ethically questionable. That’s your job. And curiosity is the engine that drives you to keep learning in a field where your hard skills might have a half-life of 18 months.
The flexibility imperative
The final piece of advice, embracing flexibility, is really an admission that the old career ladder is broken. Richard Corbridge points out that the skills graduates learn won’t be the ones they use in their first job. That’s a massive shift. It means continuous, on-the-fly learning is now a core part of the job description, not something you do occasionally at a seminar. And he makes another crucial point that often gets lost in the AI hype: the tools themselves aren’t magical. A 30-minute daily productivity boost from a Copilot is nice, but it’s not transformative. The real impact comes from humans creatively directing these tools toward big problems. Your value isn’t in using the tool; it’s in knowing what problem to point it at. That requires a flexible, evolving mindset that most formal education simply doesn’t build. The question is, are you ready to teach yourself?
