We're entering the Great Unravelling
It's time to rethink everything we know about work.
Approximately one hundred years ago I studied ‘Macroeconomics 101’ at University. I use the term studied loosely because, if my century-old memory serves me correctly, I opened the textbook for the first time on the morning of the exam.
It’s no surprise then that I don’t fully understand what’s happened in global markets over the last week. Although in my defence, actual economists are scratching their heads while the leader of the free world is apparently drunk behind the wheel.
The economy is in free-fall and so am I.
Everything I thought I knew about the world feels like it’s coming undone. The job market. Political structures. Global supply chains. It appears that we’re bearing witness to a Great Unravelling as structures and institutions start to tear at the seams.
It feels rather existential and I find myself questioning everything. How we work. Why we work. What work even is.
In economic terms, work is defined as the ‘exchange of labour for compensation’. It’s a system that assumes your value lies in the output you produce with your time and effort. In this post-industrial model, the company holds the cards and defines the rules. It asserts its power to determine your role, your worth and how you fit inside its system.
As individuals, we shape shift because we must. We contort to fit within a job description. We specialise. We compartmentalise. We leave the best parts of ourselves - our capabilities, our skills, our passions, our creativity - at home.
This model made sense for a while but in 2025 it feels archaic.
Call me delusional, call me crazy, but I think we’re on the precipice of a full blown shakeup. A collective shift in how we see ourselves; no longer as producers but as independent creators of value who can deliver impact in many ways, across many contexts. As people who initiate, instead of waiting to be chosen. As solvers of problems rather than performers of tasks.
What if work wasn't something assigned to you, but a set of opportunities you crafted?
What if your ability to provide value was unencumbered, not constrained?
What would happen if we collectively ejected ourselves from the system and learned to fly while mid-air?
These questions keep me up at night. They send me free-falling in my dreams.
🎙️A few thoughts on having high agency, accessing the hidden job market and uncovering opportunities to deploy your value
✍🏼 Next week I’m writing about ‘Why generalists are built for portfolio careers’
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I definitely want to learn more about what you talk about in The Chat, Anna. In my case, how to move towards the portfolio career when being employed.
Resonating with this big time !