My ex — let’s call him my wuzband — was nearing retirement as a brilliant Hallmark photographer when the age of digital photography dawned. (I hurry to assure you that he is much, much older than me!)
Phil could easily have coasted through the rest of his career on his laurels, clinging desperately to his Hasselblad 503CW. His colleagues who were nearing retirement certainly did.
But instead, Phil took every class offered; practiced, practiced, practiced; talked digital with the cool kids — and mastered digital photography like the pro that he was. He ended his career on a creative high, with the best and most interesting work of his life.
Be like Phil.
Here’s how:
- Pivot.
One in four PR professionals doesn’t use AI in their work, according to a new Muck Rack report.
What are we waiting for?
Folks, AI a tool, like any other. We need to learn to use it. It’s (beyond) time to make this pivot.
You don’t want to be the last grumpy old person on your team who refuses to use social media, the Internet, or Post-It notes.
How are you using AI to enhance your daily writing or save time and effort that you can apply to more important pieces?
- Plumb.
However. It’s hard not to feel as if AI is gunning for our jobs.
Writing jobs are the fifth most vulnerable to being lost to AI, according to a new Microsoft report.
So, what value can you bring to your writing that AI can’t?
Being human is “our superpower,” wrote Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, in a recent op-ed in the Financial Times.
That means every day is Bring Your Humanity to Work Day.
So plumb your humanity. Tell more stories. (See how I started this piece? ChatGPT can’t do that.) Drop more personal examples and observations. Write more human-interest pieces.
- Plan.
Of course, AI will create new jobs as well as eliminate some. The New York Times recently listed 22 future AI-driven jobs.
How might your role evolve as you and the world adapt to AI?
As for me, I’m currently developing an AI bot trained on all of my writing techniques. I’m teaching communicators to use AI in writing. And I’m helping writers bring human intelligence to artificial intelligence in their communications.
What about you?
What’s next?
I’m now the age my wuzband was when he adopted digital photography.
My work has evolved so much in my 40-year career. Today, I don’t do a single thing I used to do or the way I used to do it when I was starting out.
Change is growth. I like to grow, so I like change.
What’s next? I don’t know.
But I’m excited to find out.
Ann Wylie (WylieComm.com) helps PR professionals Catch Your Readers through writing training. Her workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators in organizations like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Eli Lilly and Salesforce draw readers in and move them to act. Never miss a tip: FreeWritingTips.wyliecomm.com.
Copyright © 2025 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Illustration credit: thibnh
