High agency as the most critical trait for professional success

The career playbook most of us inherited is becoming obsolete.

For decades, the formula was pretty straightforward. You get a degree, land an entry level job, learn the ropes, climb the ladder. Each promotion validated your progress. The system was slow but predictable.

That predictability is gone.

Entry level hiring at major tech companies has dropped over 50% since 2019 (more stats and graphs here). The tasks that used to train newcomers (summarizing, drafting, data cleaning) are now well handled by AI.

The bottom rungs of the ladder are being rapidly removed. Find out more here: Measuring AI Ability to Complete Long Tasks

While most people see this as a career crisis (understandably), a specific type of person might see it as an opening. The difference isn't intelligence, connections, not even credentials.

It's high agency.

What High Agency Actually Means

Psychologists call it "internal locus of control", the belief that you control your outcomes rather than external forces controlling them.

⚠️ Take a 3 min. test to find out where you sit.

High agency is not about confidence per se. It's not optimism. It's not hustle culture rebranded.

It's a fundamental orientation towards reality. Specifically, where you place the locus of control for your outcomes.

Picture drawing a circle on a piece of paper. Inside the circle is everything you believe you can influence. Outside is everything you believe happens to you.

High agency people place almost everything inside the circle. Low agency people place the same things, be it career progression, learning opportunities, professional growth, outside of it.

When a high agency person hits an obstacle, their instinct isn't to blame circumstances. It's most often that not to simply ask: What skill am I missing? What haven't I learned yet? What action haven't I taken?

I’m not saying these people go about ignoring real constraints, that’s delusional. Systemic barriers exist. But adopting an internal locus of control is the most effective strategy for navigating that reality. Especially when you have less margin for error.

The obstacle doesn't stop being an obstacle. It just stops being a verdict.

Why AI Changes the Equation (yes, again)

AI is systematically dismantling the barriers that once gatekept entire career paths.

Think about what used to stand between someone with an idea and someone who could execute that idea

• Expensive education

• Years of specialized training

• Exclusive professional networks

• Access to capital and resources

AI collapses these gaps. A marketer can now prototype a technical solution (and even ship it to prod 😉). A writer can conduct sophisticated data analysis. A solo founder can test and iterate at a pace that previously required entire teams.

Consider Maor Shlomo for instance, he built Base44 as a side project with no VC funding and no full-time employees. He scaled it and sold to Wix for $80 million in six months. At one point, he was pushing to production 13 times a day… alone.

This is what happens when high agency meets radical capability expansion. AI is a jet engine. But it only works if you're willing to strap in.

The uncomfortable implication is that the performance gap that used to take decades to open now happens in months. You can't coast anymore. The timeline has compressed way too much.

Because high agency people can now use AI to accomplish orders of magnitude more, the career trajectory divergence that used to take decades now happens in a few months. The people being tapped for senior roles aren't just experienced, they're experienced and AI-native in their thinking.

The inverse is equally true. Career stagnation that used to take a decade to set in now manifests in a year or two.

So, how do you measure your own agency?

It’s pretty easy actually.

There's a simple metric that reveals actual agency: the gap between saying you'll do something and doing it.

Most people have a poor say-do ratio. They want to learn a skill but spend weeks researching courses. They want to build something but spend months choosing tools. Intention drifts further and further from action.

High agency people collapse this gap. They're biased toward shipping something imperfect rather than perfecting something theoretical. AI accelerates this collapse. It gets you from abstract idea to tangible first step almost immediately.

What I Believe Actually Matters Now

Job titles are becoming meaningless.

Low agency people cling to them. The promotion sought for the LinkedIn update, the new business card treated as the achievement itself.

High agency people increasingly ignore them. They understand that titles are labels applied by organizations that are always changing. Their focus is on generating outcomes, pushing value, building things that matter.

My bet is that titles, compensation, and recognition will follow the value they create. Not the other way around. The old ladder rewarded patience. The new landscape rewards builders.

Your capacity to generate results is your actual career capital. Everything else is a trailing indicator.

One question worth asking yourself is what goal do you currently place outside your circle of control? What would it look like to bring it inside?

Not theoretically. Today.

Or even better, start now…