Tony Arad Felik | Not Just Surviving AI — How to Thrive in It

Description

Tony Arad Felik, a mentor to managers in high-tech and a former R&D Director, on management in an era when roles, hierarchies and expectations are shifting fast. The conversation moves between her personal story — coding, running development, and a professional identity crisis — and the big question: what remains the real job of managers when AI takes over more and more of the technical and reactive work. Along the way she unpacks energy management, managerial courage, finding your "why", working with fear, sensitivity as a superpower, and work rituals that let you be proactive instead of merely reactive.

Key moments

1. 00:00 · Intro and getting to know Tony
2. 03:06 · Why this period is so complex for managers
3. 04:16 · Are middle managers really being cut — and what's still their value
4. 05:10 · AI, IQ tasks and the real job of managers
5. 07:36 · Signal vs. noise inside endless overload
6. 08:35 · Cognitive burnout, notifications and a workday that never ends
7. 11:04 · From dream job to identity crisis
8. 13:03 · How the Adler studies changed how Tony led teams
9. 18:11 · Managerial courage and responsibility through a scale-up story
10. 22:16 · Why someone who only reacts can't lead strategically
11. 23:52 · Plan the Week and energy management
12. 27:27 · How to find your "why"
13. 30:16 · How to break fear into a small step forward
14. 34:15 · The fears that grow with us, and the personal superpower
15. 37:13 · How to identify what we're truly good at
16. 39:47 · AI, role-modeling and the impact of managers
17. 43:00 · What's left for managers when AI does the IQ tasks
18. 47:39 · The energy trail and added value
19. 49:26 · Signs it's time to change course
20. 52:05 · Tony's morning ritual
21. 56:05 · Growing out of a break or a layoff
22. 58:49 · Why you can't always make a change alone
23. 1:00:35 · Who should be around you during a change
24. 1:03:49 · A practical ChatGPT exercise for finding your added value