S13 Ep2: Your 2025 Performance Review Will Decide If AI Replaces You (What HR Won't Tell You)
Influential VisionsShow Notes
Year-end HR is chaos. Right now, professionals are facing performance reviews, retention battles, and high-stakes compensation decisions in what Nathaniel Schooler describes as the toughest time in workplace history. With monitoring systems becoming draconian and jobs not just changing but disappearing, the risk of becoming obsolete is no longer a theory—it is a reality. In this episode, Steven J. Manning, a veteran leader who built a billion-dollar business, joins ex-IBM Futurist Nathaniel Schooler to reveal exactly how to stay relevant when AI is rewriting the rules of business. This isn’t about technical complexity; it’s about the "soft skills" and tactical maneuvers that make you a "must-save" asset during any corporate downsizing. In this episode, you will discover: • The 3-Minute Survival Strategy: A simple, casual tactic to put your face on the leadership radar and prove your commitment before your review even begins. • The "Ivory Tower" Trap: Why the most motivating thing you can do is get into the trenches with your team, and how this human connection is your shield against automation. • The "Good User" Rule: Why you don’t need to be a technologist to survive. AI won’t replace you, but a professional who uses AI better than you will. • The Power of Diversity of Thought: The incredible story of how a head janitor became a Creative Director by understanding the customer better than the executives. • Fixing Failed Expectations: Why most bad reviews are actually a failure of communication, and how to reposition yourself if you’re currently on the "obsolete list". Stop dragging your heels. If you are resisting the tools of the future, you are becoming a "Luddite" with a shelf-life. This episode provides the proven strategies to ensure that while the workplace shrinks, your value only grows. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🚀 READY TO BECOME AI-PROOF? Influential Visions is the definitive blueprint for career success and survival. Subscribe to protect your professional future and start your $1 trial to MONDAY INFLUENCER® for weekly strategies to stay irreplaceable: 👉 www.mondayinfluencer.com
More from Influential Visions
The old rules of business did not just change, they vanished. Whether you run a company or manage your own career, relying on past playbooks in an AI-driven economy is a fast track to obsolescence. Revenue advisor Kristin Zhivago, who has led turnarounds for companies from start-ups to IBM, explains why letting go of past pride is the first step of any pivot, why relying on AI alone leads to false confidence, and how listening to real customers shows you where to invest next. Connect with Kristin: zhivagopartners.com
Breaking news: AI just got a body. In this episode of Influential Visions, host Nat Schooler sits down with AI Robotics expert and EU Digital Ambassador Nicolas Babin to explore the rapid transition from Large Language Models (software/text) to Physical AI and Embodied Robotics (hardware/machines). From the record-breaking $16 Billion venture capital surge in Q1 to China’s World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, machines are moving rapidly from task-coded scripts to anticipatory, demonstration-based learning. We dive into real-world factory pilots at Hyundai, Audi, and BMW, the realities of autonomous warfare, EU liability legislation, and how to navigate public fear as physical robots enter our daily lives. What We Cover in This Episode:
The traditional 9-to-5 is disappearing, and with AI automating up to 70% of daily work activities, simply protecting your current role is no longer a viable strategy. In this episode, we break down a step-by-step framework showing you exactly how to prompt AI to design your next promotion and build massive leverage within your company. In this episode, you will learn:
Are your encrypted messages actually private, or is mass surveillance becoming the new normal? In this episode, host Nat Schooler is joined by business strategist Steven J. Manning to dissect EU Chat Control 2.0—the controversial legislative proposal that would force messaging platforms to use client-side scanning directly on smartphones, effectively breaking end-to-end encryption (E2EE) before messages even leave your device. Together, they examine the hidden realities of modern surveillance—from 300,000 mobile apps silently feeding location databases to CCTV networks and retina scanning—while weighing the delicate balance between public safety, child protection, and corporate privacy. What does this mean for executives, business operations, trade secrets, and everyday digital freedom? Episode Timestamps:
Meta just disclosed in federal court that it faces up to $1.4 trillion in penalties for building addictive algorithms. If you lead a team, this is not a tech story — it is an operating cost you are already paying. Twenty-three minutes and fifteen seconds: that is how long it takes your best people to fully recover from one interruption, according to two decades of research from UC Irvine. This episode breaks down the court case, the regulatory risk to your content strategy, and what an operator actually does about it. Full written breakdown: https://www.natschooler.com/metas-court-confession-1-4-trillion-and-counting/