Riding the 100-Foot Wave: Adaptability in the Age of AI

By Anthea Roberts

"Big wave surfing," my husband said, referencing HBO's 100 Foot Wave. I had just wondered aloud about what my next career act might be after my unexpected pivot into making AI tools. My brother, overhearing us from the kitchen, called out with perfect timing: "Maybe see how you go with little wave surfing first."

We all laughed, but the metaphor lingered in my mind. There was something intuitively right about it—not as a literal suggestion for my next career, but as a framework for understanding the patterns of professional reinvention we need to embrace in an era of accelerating change. The image of facing a towering wall of water—equal parts terrifying and thrilling—captures something about what it feels like to navigate today's technological disruption.

Catching the Wave: A Career in Motion

I've always tended to get deeply engrossed in a field, only to feel increasingly bored after 5-7 years, seeking a new learning curve. From international dispute resolution at a New York law firm to legal academia in the UK and US, then to an interdisciplinary professorship back in Australia, and most recently to building AI tools—each transition has been like paddling for a different set of waves. Some smaller, some larger. Some I've ridden gracefully; others have sent me tumbling in whitewater.

But this latest pivot into technology feels different. It's like being in the lineup at Nazaré, watching 100-foot walls of water roll toward you with increasing frequency and power. Many technologists describe working with generative AI as more than an adjustment—watching an AI system produce in minutes what previously took hours is like seeing a wave break with force that fundamentally changes your relationship to the ocean. How can we learn to ride such waves?

The Wipeout and the Paddle Back: Krabach's Story

Microsoft engineer Brian Krabach's journey illustrates this transformation vividly. When OpenAI's Codex coding agent automated tasks he'd spent days building, fear set in. He felt like "a wagon maker in the age of the automobile" watching new technology make his decades of expertise suddenly questionable. Projects that once required teams now needed just one person with the right AI.

But here's where the surfing metaphor becomes instructive. Like a surfer who must paddle back out after a wipeout, Krabach found a way to reposition himself. Instead of seeing automation as a threat, he started treating it as "raw material—powerful, but shapeable." His mindset shifted from asking "What have I lost?" to "What can I do now that I couldn't before?"

His transformation is remarkable—indeed, I've heard him described not merely as a 10x engineer but potentially a 100x one. He moved from writing code line by line to sketching entire systems through AI automation. As he puts it, "I'm tackling bigger ideas, faster, with less friction than ever before"—evolving from "laying every brick [himself] to sketching the blueprints of entire structures."

This shift—from seeing AI as a threat to treating it as a powerful collaborator—exemplifies the resilient mindset needed to thrive in our changing landscape. It's about developing comfort with uncertainty, the ability to read shifting conditions, and the courage to change one’s approach in response.

The Adaptability Quotient: Our Secret Weapon

Just as surfers who wipe out must paddle back to position for the next set, professionals navigating technological shifts need what work futurist Andrea Clarke calls an "adaptive quotient."

"Traditionally, IQ got us the job, and EQ helped us work well with others," Clarke observes. "But it's AQ—our adaptive quotient—that gives us staying power across our career." She adds, " It’s adaptability that allows us to recognise the signals of change, adjust to new conditions and apply new thinking to new problems."

The evidence for AQ's importance is compelling. According to Humanova research, mid-sized SMEs are leading AI adoption, with 35% of workers using it daily compared to just 25% in larger firms. These "power users" don't just perform higher-value work—two-thirds actively share their AI knowledge, creating informal learning networks that amplify impact.

Yet fewer than 12% of Australian SMEs have formal AI training or clear strategies. The barrier isn't technological; it's human. As Clarke notes, "When teams resist new technologies, the problem often isn't the tool—it's our relationship with change itself. The truth is, we don't like change. We're wired for sameness, addicted to our routine."

This resistance manifests as "change fatigue"—the exhaustion from being asked to handle more adaptation while running on diminished reserves. "One leader told me privately," Clarke writes, "'I have 5000 employees who won't open the new AI tool.'"

Little Waves, Big Waves: Building Adaptability

This brings us back to my brother's suggestion to "try little wave surfing first." His wisdom wasn't just about caution—it was about progression. Big wave surfers don't start at Nazaré. They begin on smaller swells, building their skills incrementally: reading wave patterns, understanding water dynamics, developing muscle memory for recovery.

In the professional realm, this means starting with smaller experiments before tackling larger transformations. Organizations that successfully navigate technological change often begin with experimental labs or pilot projects, allowing teams to develop AI literacy on manageable problems before applying these tools to mission-critical work. Individuals who thrive approach new technologies with similar progression: starting with simple applications, experimenting with different approaches, learning from failures, and gradually expanding their scope.

This incremental approach builds not just technical skills, but the psychological resilience needed for bigger challenges. Each successful navigation of a smaller change builds confidence and capability for the next disruption. It's how we develop our AQ through practice rather than theory.

The Future is Already Here, Just Unevenly Distributed

Science fiction author William Gibson famously observed that "the future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed." While some professionals, like Krabach, are already engaging with the impact of AI on knowledge work, others remain in fields that appear less affected so far.

But the swell is building for all knowledge workers, though the timing remains uncertain. The platforms that today transform software development are likely to reshape medicine, law, education, and countless other domains in the future. The question isn't whether the wave will arrive, but how big it is, how fast it is coming and how prepared we'll be to paddle when it does.

Those navigating these early changes are building adaptability skills others will soon require. They're learning to adjust their position rather than resist, to engage creatively with constraints rather than withdraw, to define their value by capabilities rather than specific tasks.

Those thriving in this period of technological change aren't just maintaining relevance—they're finding ways to expand their impact and creativity in unprecedented ways. They're asking not "What tasks can I still do that AI can't?" but rather "What can we accomplish together that neither of us could achieve alone?"

The Next Wave

So perhaps my husband's suggestion wasn't so outlandish after all. Not as a literal career move—I have no plans to relocate to Portugal and paddle out at Nazaré—but as a metaphorical frame for understanding what comes next.

My earlier career waves followed a pattern: fascination, uncertainty, learning, setbacks, absorption, mastery, plateau, then the paddle back out for the next set. The next wave, whatever form it takes, will likely continue this evolutionary/revolutionary pattern. It will draw on my accumulated capacities while requiring new ones.

More importantly, it will require the same qualities that define both big wave surfers and AQ-driven professionals: courage to face formidable challenges, patience to wait for the right conditions, resilience to recover from inevitable wipeouts, and above all, the adaptability to adjust stance and strategy as conditions evolve beneath your feet.

Adaptability, like any skill, develops through progressive challenges. We build our AQ through small daily practices, building our capacity to cope with greater change. Ultimately, the future belongs not to those who predict it perfectly, but to those who read the horizon, position themselves accordingly, and maintain balance as conditions shift.