How we work is changing. AI isn't just reshaping tasks. It's reshaping entire teams. So how do we plan for this shift? What does it mean, and how can we lead with intention?
For most of my career, I’ve noticed org charts tend to follow a familiar shape: the pyramid. At the base, there’s a broad foundation of employees, often junior hires fresh out of school. They bring energy, curiosity, and a hunger to grow. In the middle sits a smaller group of high-performing managers and seasoned contributors. At the top are senior leaders shaping vision, culture, and strategy.
This pyramid was my experience, too. I started at Monotype about 10 years ago, answering technical emails in a support role. That job taught me how our systems worked and what our partners needed. I learned to find inefficiencies, take initiative, fix my mistakes, and grow. It laid the groundwork for every role since.
Today, I lead Partner Experience and Inventory Lifecycle at Monotype. My team works with over 5,000 global type design partners and helps millions of customers find the fonts they love. I’m proud of the results, but even more proud of the people achieving them.
In creative industries, career paths are often less linear. Freelancers, independent studios, and nontraditional training are common. It makes planning for the future (and intentionally building opportunities for the next generation) even more essential. There's more potential for growth to be lost in the reshuffle.
And the reshuffle is real. As my team is exploring leveraging AI, I’m also thinking about how it changes the structure of work. If AI is powerful enough to take on the foundational tasks that once fell to junior team members, the shape of the pyramid begins to shift. We’re headed toward a diamond: fewer entry-level roles, a broader middle, and a lean top.
This isn’t theoretical. AI tools are already accelerating workflows, reducing manual work, and delivering impressive results. Tasks that were once passed to interns or junior team members are now being handled by tools. The opportunity to learn by doing – by sitting in the room, asking questions, making mistakes – is shrinking. So where do future leaders come from?
How we hire, train, and nurture talent has to evolve alongside our tools. Right now, I’m focusing on my team’s development by expanding responsibilities, encouraging experimentation, and ensuring my team is aligned and communicating effectively with other teams. Succession planning is a big focus: identifying future needs, mapping growth paths, and thinking about who we need to hire or develop today to meet tomorrow’s challenges.
In the short term, this means giving team members more ownership, more strategic exposure, and more chances to grow while also creating spaces to fail and learn. It means hiring not just for skills, but for potential. It also means thinking about broader organizational design: creating team structures where communication across functions is as natural as possible to reduce silos. The human ability to collaborate is what makes us special.
In the long term, it’s less clear. With fewer entry-level roles, how do we still offer the exposure and mentorship that builds judgment? How do we develop traits like persistence, resilience, and long-term thinking... the ones that often come from repetitive or less glamorous work?
This challenge isn't new. Internships used to be about coffee runs and note-taking. I remember one internship where I sat at a desk tucked into a corner next to the printer, hand-writing thank you notes and manually updating spreadsheets for three months. Over time, internships have become more structured and educational. Maybe this next shift is another opportunity to rethink how we support early careers. Can we bake learning, responsibility, and messy exploration into the everyday work of our newest coworkers? Can we replace manual work with ownership to develop the qualities we need?
Even in type design, a field already filled with self-starters and nonlinear paths, the shift is happening. Designers are using AI to spark ideas, automate spacing, and test faster. It’s exciting and uncertain. The drudgery of hand-kerned type built mental fortitude. With automation, we need new ways to build those same muscles.
This diamond model doesn’t have to mean less opportunity. But it does require more intention. AI is changing what early careers look like. With foresight and planning, we can still grow junior talent into exceptional, resilient leaders.
That future is still deeply human. It's up to us to make it so.
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