To thrive in the age of AI, don’t reinvent yourself. Try this instead

As AI reshapes work, the future will reward people who can connect all of their past experiences to bring more to the table.

Jack Johnson at 2026 SXSW Conference & Festival on March 13, 2026 in Austin, Texas. [Photo: Griffin Lotz/Rolling Stone via Getty Images]

At SXSW this year, artificial intelligence was everywhere. Every panel. Every hallway conversation. Every prediction about the future of work seemed to revolve around the same question: How do we keep up? But the moment that stayed with me wasn’t about AI at all; it was reconnecting with the world of Jack Johnson.

He took the stage not just as a “musician,” but as something far more compelling: a fully integrated human being. Before his success in music, Johnson was a professional surfer, then a filmmaker, and then a globally recognized musician. And in his recent documentary SURFILMUSIC,........

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