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From Corporate to Portfolio Career: How to Future-Proof Your Work in the Age of AI
- StevenMiyao
- Aug 18
- 5 min read
On paper, Yogesh Chavda had the kind of marketing career people dream about: global brands like Procter & Gamble, leadership roles, and the corporate safety net. But in 2014, he walked away. Not for a better title or a bigger paycheck, but because he wanted something corporate life could no longer give him: freedom, focus, and work that lit him up.
He rebuilt his career as a portfolio of roles: consulting provided stability, teaching gave him joy, and experimenting with emerging technologies stretched his curiosity and kept him future-ready. In every era, there is a “curve” leaders must learn to ride, and today that curve is AI. It is moving faster than most of us can process, and it is already redrawing the boundaries of entire professions. The same curiosity that pushed Yogesh to walk away from corporate life is now making him, and those he teaches and advises, confront a more complicated question: how do we design careers that do not just survive technological disruption, but are strengthened by it?
So here’s the question: if your industry were reinvented by AI tomorrow, could you still create a livelihood that gives you both financial security and personal fulfillment? In this blog post and the podcast, we’ll look at how Yogesh navigated that exact challenge, the risks of going independent, the skills AI cannot replace, and how to future-proof your career before the future decides for you.
The Reality of Going Independent
When Yogesh left corporate life, he quickly learned that independence comes with its weight. In a global company, infrastructure surrounds you: contracts are vetted by legal, invoices handled by finance, and branding developed by marketing. As a solo consultant, he had to become all of those departments at once. One week, he was negotiating a master services agreement with a client, the next, he was teaching himself invoicing software, and in between, he was chasing down a website designer.
It was humbling, but it forced him to grow. And it forced him to focus. A mentor’s advice
“Pick a swim lane. Be known for something specific.”
eventually changed the trajectory of his business.
In my coaching work with executives, I often see the opposite. People try to keep doors open by saying yes to everything. They think breadth makes them safer. In reality, it dilutes their impact and confuses the market. Yogesh’s story is proof: the moment he got specific, opportunities expanded.
Reflection prompt: If you had to pick one lane to be known for in your field, what would it be?
Future-Proofing in an AI World
For Yogesh, AI is not a looming threat but a tool. His advice is straightforward:
Don’t dabble. Dive in. Learn the tools, experiment, and define for yourself how AI can fit into your work before someone else decides for you.
Start with the repetitive. Identify the recurring tasks in your job and test whether AI can take the first draft, freeing you to focus on higher-value work. Imagine replacing hours of staring at a blank screen with a structured draft waiting in your inbox before your coffee cools.
Use AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement. Tools like custom GPT agents can critique presentations, spark ideas, or streamline research, but the judgment and direction still come from you.
I have watched this dynamic play out with clients. The ones who benefit most are not the ones automating everything, but the ones who treat AI like an apprentice they are training. They invest the time to guide, correct, and shape it. The result is more leverage without losing ownership of the work.
Reflection prompt: Which of your weekly tasks could AI take the first draft on tomorrow?
The portfolio mindset helps here as well. Just as Yogesh balanced consulting for income, teaching for joy, and experimentation for growth, you can use AI to shift energy away from tasks that drain you and toward the parts of work that genuinely engage you.
What AI Can’t Replace
The obvious question is: what remains distinctly human?
For Yogesh, it is the ability to tackle problems that do not yet have a map. He points to challenges like building communities on Mars or reimagining interstellar travel, problems where established knowledge runs out and new thinking has to begin. For me, it is also compassion: the ability not just to understand someone else’s needs but to care enough to act on them.
In coaching, I see that the leaders who thrive are not those who have mastered the tools but those who continue to develop the habits of critical thinking and judgment. This is where my concern lies: over-reliance on AI can erode those habits. The temptation to outsource hard thinking is real. I have felt it myself, hovering over a prompt box, ready to hand off a creative challenge that I knew I needed to wrestle with.
Reflection prompt: When was the last time your own creativity solved something AI could not?
Defining the New Paradigm
The shift we are living through is not the first of its kind. When cars replaced horses, skills once considered essential, like fitting a horseshoe, disappeared. Entire industries collapsed while others emerged. What makes today different is the speed. The cycles are compressing, and the space to adapt is shrinking.
Yogesh puts it bluntly:
“Either you define the new paradigm, or somebody else will define it for you.”
In my coaching with executives, this is the inflection point where many get stuck. They wait for certainty before moving. The ones who move forward are those willing to define the rules themselves, even without all the answers. They choose a direction, build momentum, and adjust along the way.
That brings us back to the question we started with: if your industry were reinvented by AI tomorrow, what would remain that is unmistakably you? That is the foundation of your portfolio, the skill set and perspective that no machine can replicate. That is where the work of future-proofing begins.
Want the full story? Hear the complete conversation with Yogesh Chavda, including real-world examples, lessons learned, and practical tips for navigating AI’s impact on your career: YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Substack
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