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Cheat Sheet · Free

The Perfect AI Career Strategy

Six steps. One page. The shortest path from "I think AI affects my job" to a structural plan you can actually run. Take the reading, read the band, find your authority ceiling, map the substitutable layer, identify a migration target, build the six-month plan, then audit your moves against the plan and close the gap.

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Roles scored
5 min
To take the reading
$0
To start, no card needed
3 mo
Plan horizon
Why this exists

AI is not a hypothetical. The work is already moving.

Most career advice about AI is either panic or denial. Both are useless. The real question is structural: which parts of your role can AI already do, which parts is it still nowhere near, and which parts will compress in the next twenty-four months. Once you can answer those three questions about your own role, the next move tends to be obvious.

This cheat sheet is the short version of how we recommend professionals use the AI Career Index to plan around it. Six steps, in order, with the on-site tool and dataset doing the analytical work for you. Bookmark it, print it, work through it, then re-read in six months.

The Playbook

Six steps. In order. Each one feeds the next.

The output of step one is the input to step two. The output of step two is the input to step three. Run them in order. Skip a step and the strategy stops being defensible.

01
The reading
Get a real reading, not a vibe check.
Jump to step
02
The band
Read the band, not just the score.
Jump to step
03
Authority
Find your authority ceiling.
Jump to step
04
Map the work
Map your substitutable and durable work.
Jump to step
05
Migration
Identify a migration target.
Jump to step
06
The plan
Build the six-month plan.
Jump to step
The frame

Two lines. The drift line, and the strategic line.

Every role has both. The job of this playbook is to widen the gap between them in your favour, then keep widening it.

DriftStrategicToday

Same starting point. The drift line is what happens if you do nothing. The strategic line is what happens if you work the plan.

The drift line

If you do nothing

The routine layer of your role compresses. AI absorbs the work that pays your salary today. Your seat doesn't disappear; it gets less leverage, less authority, less budget. Promotions slow down. Raises track inflation, not contribution. The role hollows out around you while the title stays the same.

The strategic line

If you work the plan

You delegate the substitutable layer to AI on purpose. You move up the authority ladder one rung. You build a portfolio of durable artifacts. You either deepen or migrate at the right altitude. Six months in, the work that defines your role has shifted, and so has your leverage. AI is a multiplier, not a competitor.

01
Step 01 · The reading

Get a real reading, not a vibe check.

Most career advice about AI is opinion. Your career deserves a number. Take the 10-minute AI Career Index assessment. The same inputs always produce the same score, so the reading is defensible to a manager, a recruiter, or yourself.

  • Deterministic, rule-based scoring. No black-box machine learning.
  • Free for the headline numbers. No credit card to start.
  • Same inputs, same score, every time. No drift between runs.
AI Career Index
642/1000
Sample reading
Risk Band
Medium
Sample reading
24-mo projection
-58pts
Sample reading
How to read this sample
  • AI Career IndexMid-band score. Bimodal: authority and signal decide the track.
  • Risk BandThe role is reshaping, not collapsing. Early action compounds.
  • 24-mo projectionDrift line. The score that's likely if no plan is run.
02
Step 02 · The band

Read the band, not just the score.

The score is the headline. The band is the strategy. Three risk bands tell you which conversation you are actually having with the AI economy, and each band points at a different first move.

  • High exposure: the routine layer of your role is compressing fast.
  • Medium: bimodal. Where you sit in the role decides which track.
  • Low: the role is appreciating because AI absorbs the work around it.
0 – 400
High exposure
The routine layer of your role is compressing fast. Move authority or migrate.
401 – 700
Medium exposure
Bimodal. Authority and signal decide which side of the role gets paid.
701 – 1000
Low exposure
Appreciating. AI absorbs the work around the role and lifts what's left.
The 0 to 1000 score scale
Sample 642
0 – 400 · High
401 – 700 · Medium
701 – 1000 · Low
03
Step 03 · Authority

Find your authority ceiling.

Authority Band measures how high your work sits in the decision stack. Moving up the stack is the single most reliable hedge against AI compression, because the further up you go, the more your role is defined by judgment, accountability, and consequence rather than output volume.

  • Execution and Operator roles bear the most compression risk.
  • Architect and Owner roles set direction, design systems, and own outcomes.
  • Stop competing with AI on output volume. You will lose that contest.
4
Execution
Performs defined tasks. Highest compression risk.
Risk
3
Operator
Owns workflows and throughput inside a defined system.
2
Architect
Designs the system. Decides what runs and why.
1
Owner
Sets direction, holds the outcome. Compounds with AI.
Compounds
Three moves that lift authority
  • OwnTake ownership of one decision you currently escalate.
  • DesignWrite the spec for one process instead of running it.
  • SignPut your name on one outcome, not just the output.
04
Step 04 · Map the work

Map your substitutable and durable work.

Inside every role there are two layers. The substitutable layer is the work AI can already do, or will be able to do within a year. The durable layer is the work that requires judgment, taste, accountability, or relationships. The strategy is to delegate one and double down on the other.

  • Every role page lists what AI can already do, and what it cannot.
  • Delegate the substitutable to AI. Stop performing it manually.
  • Double down on the durable. Use AI as a multiplier, not a peer.
Substitutable layer
Delegate to AI
  • Drafting first-pass copy, briefs, and summaries.
  • Producing routine reports from structured inputs.
  • Translating, transcribing, formatting, reformatting.
  • Looking up, retrieving, and consolidating known answers.
Durable layer
Double down
  • Judgment calls under uncertainty and ambiguity.
  • Owning the decision, the tradeoff, the accountability.
  • Taste, point of view, calibrated dissent.
  • Relationship work, trust, negotiation, persuasion.
Run this audit once a week
  • Q1Which task did I do this week that AI could have done in 10 minutes?
  • Q2Which task did I do this week that only I could have done?
  • Q3How do I do more of the second and less of the first next week?
05
Step 05 · Migration

Identify a migration target.

When the routine layer of a role compresses faster than you can move up the authority ladder, sideways migration is the right answer. The role pages already publish adjacent durable roles in the same category, with the skill overlap mapped, so the move is a calibrated jump rather than a guess.

  • At-risk roles list adjacent durable roles in the same category.
  • Skills compound when you migrate sideways at the right altitude.
  • Operator to architect. Executor to advisor. Producer to director.
From
Operator
To
Architect
Move from running the system to designing it.
From
Executor
To
Advisor
Move from doing the work to shaping what work gets done.
From
Producer
To
Director
Move from output volume to creative direction and taste.
From
Generalist
To
Specialist
Move from broad-shallow to deep-narrow durable expertise.
06
Step 06 · The plan

Build the six-month plan.

Once the structural reading is in, the moves become obvious. Premium turns those moves into a sequenced six-month plan, anchored to the dimensions that actually moved your score, with reflection prompts at the end of every month so you know whether the plan is working.

  • Premium unlocks a week-by-week plan tied to your reading.
  • One concrete move per month. Reflection prompts at the end of each.
  • $49 one-time unlock. No subscription, no renewal.
M1
Audit your substitutable layer.
List every task you do weekly. Mark the ones AI can already do.
M2
Pick one durable lever.
Choose the dimension your score said matters most. Commit to lifting it.
M3
Make one authority move.
Take ownership of one decision you used to escalate.
M4
Ship a portfolio artifact.
Produce the one deliverable that proves your durable layer.
M5
Open a migration door.
Have one conversation with someone in your migration target role.
M6
Audit and recalibrate.
Re-read the dashboard against the moves you actually made. Track what shifted on the projection. Re-plan from there.
Then: audit at the six-month mark

Compare the drift line to the strategic line. Close the gap.

The drift line is what happens to your role if you do nothing. The strategic line is what happens if you work the plan. Closing the gap between them is the actual job. Audit your moves against the plan at the six-month mark, look at what shifted on the projection and what didn't, and adjust from there. The score moving is the proof the plan worked.

Cheat sheet

Print it. Read it. Share it with your team.

A printable PDF of the six-step playbook, formatted for A4. Free with any AI Career Index account. Use it for yourself, share it with the team you manage, hand it to anyone in your network trying to figure out what AI means for their role.

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What's inside the PDF
  • Cover page with the playbook framing.
  • All six steps with the same bullets you read above.
  • The drift line vs strategic line frame on a single panel.
  • Direct links back to /start, /methodology, /roles, /pricing.
Articles in this guide

Go deeper on every step

44 long-form articles, grouped by which of the six steps above they expand on. Click a step to see its articles.

Testimonials

What Professionals Are Saying

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"Our L&D budget is always under pressure because leadership asks the same question: does training actually move the needle. The workforce-level structural reading gave me a defensible answer. Training that moves a specific dimension score produces measurable Authority Band shifts over 12 to 18 months. I finally have a quantitative case."

Julia Novak
Julia Novak
Learning and Development Director · Prague, Czech Republic

"The structural framing of this AI career assessment made it immediately clear where my leverage bottleneck was. I had assumed the issue was capability. The index revealed it was income architecture."

Sarah Mitchell
Sarah Mitchell
Marketing Director · London, UK

"The authority band classification reframed my growth strategy completely. I was optimising for the wrong layer of the market entirely."

Daniel Koen
Daniel Koen
Strategy Consultant · Cape Town, South Africa

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