New developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the face of work forever. According to global futurist, business strategist, and best-selling author John Sanei, the key to thriving in this unfamiliar environment isn’t your intelligence quotient (IQ).

It’s your adaptability quotient (AQ).

“There was massive panic in the world where we had to move from physical labor to intelligent labor, and now we’re moving to adaptive labor, which is a totally different type of labor again,” said Sanei. “And this is what really I try and do, is simplify it and empower people to understand the process, but also to have the tools to understand what to do.”

Sanei transforms anxiety into confidence, confusion into clarity, conformity into creativity, and hesitation into action through a combination of neuroscience, psychology, and strategy. He presented those tools as “The Future of Work and Pay” General Session keynote speaker, sponsored by ADP, today, during the 43rd Annual Payroll Congress in Orlando, Florida. Sanei taught attendees how to adopt the potential benefits and challenges that AI may bring and provided a better understanding of how to prepare for and adapt to these changes.

"The future doesn't require you to work harder," said Sanei. "It requires you to elevate your level of creativity."

 

The Early Adopter

Learning how to adapt and evolve was a challenge for Sanei himself. Raised in financially difficult circumstances by a single mother in South Africa, Sanei discovered early in life that he possessed a talent for being what he calls “an early adopter.”

“From about five or six years old, I had this inclination of what brands were going to be cool or not cool,” he said. “In my third book, I wrote about the fact that all of us have a genius, and our job in life is to access this genius. Because when you access this genius, you set yourself apart from other people, because it’s your own very unique fingerprint of the world.”

This talent led to success early in life but also to the personal crisis that made him rethink everything and set him on his current career as a futures strategist and transformation specialist.

“I became very successful, very young, but there was a problem,” said Sanei. “When you’re suffering from anxiousness trying to be successful, what you do is you create miserable success. There always has to be more, and it’s fueled by adrenaline and anxiousness, rather than excitement and curiosity. I lost everything because I was never trying to be wealthy or successful. I was always trying not to be poor.”

“That really put me into a deep sort of depression. It also set me on a journey of self-discovery. When I popped out of it on the other side, I was well versed in the subject of neuroscience and psychology. I then combined that deep curiosity about my psyche with my natural early adoption ability.”

In the decades since his transformative self-examination, Sanei has flourished as a futures strategist and transformation specialist. He has published 11 bestselling books (with two more due this year) and launched the award-winning podcast “The Expansive Podcast.” He has helped hundreds of organizations worldwide to develop future-focused strategies that position them for high success for decades. Sanei has worked with governments, royal families, and Fortune 100 companies—including some familiar to payroll professionals like Oracle, PwC, and Workday.

Key to Sanei’s insights into the future of work is the role of curiosity and creativity in driving success, recognizing the importance of developing an adaptive mindset to navigate an uncertain future, and breaking free from the pre-conditioned surplus society psychology.

"We can't think our way through this change," said Sanei. "We have to feel our way through this change, which is a very different skill that we've been trained for and celebrated."

 

Adapting for Tomorrow

More and more, change becomes the only certainty about the future—and how we work is a prominent factor in those changes. The Industrial Revolution saw a shift from most people living and working on farms to the explosive growth of cities and manufacturing. That change intensified with the arrival of the Information Age in the mid-20th century, as information technology—computer systems and software, data and information processing, and telecommunication systems—became central to every office job.

Nowhere can this be seen better than in payroll’s shift from hand-calculating stacks of timecards to the proliferation of payroll computer programs and digital services. Intelligence was the key to success. Mastery of processes was the requisite for a payroll subject matter expert. Now, AI can automate tasks, improve decision-making, and enhance customer experiences.

How do we adapt to that? The AI revolution demands something uniquely human—our AQ. Our adaptability quotient measures our ability to reinvent ourselves, to see opportunities in chaos, to thrive in uncertainty, and to imagine possibilities that have never existed before.

“It was a very uncomfortable switch from being physical beings to intelligent beings,” said Sanei. “Now we’re going from intelligent beings to adaptable beings.”

“It’s a very big switch, but it’s a new way for us to express our value to the world. The ones that are going to win are the ones that are adaptable and the ones that are optimistic about adventure, not the ones that are holding on to an old identity that they don’t want to let go of. When you do that then you’re stuck; you’re not improving or evolving,”

Sanei admits that the pace of AI development can be challenging.

“I will always do my best to simplify AI so it doesn’t scare anybody,” he said. “I’ll give you the analogies that allow you to realize that we live in a very disrupted world.”

“Look, I think the three words to sum it up are: simplify, elevate, restructure. You want to simplify your understanding of the future, you want to elevate your awareness, and you want to restructure your life and your business. And if you keep doing this over and over and over, you are now always ready for whatever comes.”

 

A New Vision

In a world where human adaptability trumps machine efficiency, the traditional focus on outcome-based thinking and algorithmic intelligence holds us back. Sanei exhorts us to break free from old patterns and celebrate uncertainty as a pathway to discovering innovative solutions for the future. By understanding the neuroscience of change and embracing the art of unlearning, we can develop more adaptable minds and unlock our AQ.

“John’s remarks about unlearning and relearning and meditation really resonated," said attendee Sheila Widener, CPP. "It was wonderful to hear about ways we can take ourselves out of our everyday hustle and find ways to be grateful, advance our education and give back to the companies we work for.”

“I just got off of a two-week cruise, and I could see what he was talking about as far as alpha and beta brainwaves," said Andy Garboden, CPP. "I could feel the change in myself and realize that’s something I need to figure out how to carry with me. It will improve every area of my life, from my relationships with my kids and grandkids, to my career, and everything in between.”

As Sanei says, “I think AI is forcing us to become more human than we’ve ever been.”

Sean Tait Bircher is Writer and Editor of Membership Publications for PayrollOrg. Holly V. Kapherr is a freelance writer based in Orlando, Florida.