Agent Boss Mindset
I’ve been laid off before. I sensed it was coming, and luckily, I already had something lined up. I was let go on a Friday, hired on Monday, and started two weeks later. It doesn’t always go that way.
Just recently, 9,000 people I used to work with became former colleagues overnight. These are some of the brightest minds in tech. Their performance didn’t factor into the outcome. Some may have seen signs, but most probably didn’t. In just nine months at Microsoft, I’ve already learned that in tech, abrupt change is the only constant.
We control less than we think, but that doesn’t make it meaningless. We can choose to keep learning, to prioritize bold, high-impact projects, and to embrace this new season of work where every contributor is expected to lead—even without a title.
For me, that looks like building with AI. Not just using it occasionally, but creating agentic tools that help me and my team accelerate, scale, and deliver work that matters. I frame these efforts as the Agent Boss mindset: treating AI not as a novelty, but as an intern I train, supervise, and refine.
I believe this mindset belongs to all of us now. The Agent Boss doesn't wait for permission. They ship useful tools. They offload the repetitive and reclaim time for judgment, creativity, and strategy. That’s how I’ve been working—and it’s how I’ve been recognized. But none of it started with a mandate. It started with a choice to use my time differently.
Work isn’t guaranteed. But working with AI as your personal intern is your best shot at resilience.
What’s one low-priority task you’d bump this week to make room for something bold?