Why every employee should be thinking like a creator

Microsoft. Meta. Google. Salesforce. Amazon.

All cutting thousands of people - even while reporting record revenues.

And I think that's the part that really gets me.

These aren't struggling companies desperately trying to stay afloat.

Profitable corporations are deciding that even good employees are expendable.

And it's the clearest signal yet that the old playbook of "get a good job, stay safe, move up" just doesn't work the way it used to.

Tech companies have cut over 150,000 jobs just last year.

The corner office, the equity package, the "we're a family here" all-hands meetings - none of it provides the security it once promised.

No position is untouchable. No amount of company loyalty matters.

And I keep coming back to this thought: the "stable job" is no longer the safety net.

The person is.

Look closely at the people who walk out of a layoff and don't spiral into crisis mode.

They're not refreshing LinkedIn jobs every five minutes.

They're not panic-applying to everything with a pulse.

They seem almost... fine?

And it's not because they're delusional or independently wealthy.

It's because they weren't waiting for the company to define their value in the first place.

These are the people who were already building assets that live outside a payroll system.

They'd been documenting their work publicly for years. Maybe building little communities around their ideas. Creating content that compounds over time.

So when the job ends, their visibility and opportunities don't.

They've got inbound messages before they've even updated their LinkedIn to "open to work."

People already know what they're capable of, because they've been showing it - not telling it - for years.

They built their careers thinking like creators.

And now that way of thinking is paying off in ways they probably didn't even anticipate.

Being a creator used to look like a hobby, didn't it?

Something you did on the side if you wanted to be famous, or if you were one of those people who enjoyed talking to a camera for some reason.

Not a serious career move. Certainly not something a "real professional" would prioritise.

But something's changed.

The creator mindset - documenting, teaching, building audience, building leverage - has become the difference between waiting to be picked and never needing to be picked again.

The point is understanding that your value can't just live inside a company's systems anymore.

It needs to exist somewhere that you control.

Somewhere that doesn't get deleted when HR sends that ominous calendar invite titled "Quick Chat" with no agenda.

In a world where companies feel absolutely no guilt about cutting 10,000 people at once, I've been thinking a lot about what provides security now.

And I think it comes down to a handful of things.

A reputation that precedes you - so people know your name before they see your CV.

A community that values your perspective - people who care what you think, not just what company you work for.

A digital body of work that proves your expertise - something tangible that shows what you can do, not just bullet points about "responsibilities" and "stakeholder management."

A network that knows what you're capable of - and I mean real relationships, not just 2,000 LinkedIn connections you've never spoken to.

An audience that outlives any job title - people who will follow your work regardless of where you're employed or whether you're employed at all.

This is how modern careers work now, whether we like it or not.

To wrap this up…

Everyone needs leverage.

A job can disappear overnight. You can do everything right - hit your targets, get glowing reviews, be genuinely well-liked by your team - and still find yourself on a spreadsheet that someone in finance decided needed to be smaller. That's just the reality now.

But a personal brand doesn't disappear like that. An audience doesn't get restructured. A body of work doesn't get made redundant because the stock price dipped or some executive decided to "streamline operations."

Obviously, you don't need to quit your job and become a full-time creator.

That's not what I'm suggesting here, and honestly that path isn't right for most people anyway.

But I do think everyone needs to understand the principles now.

Build something around your expertise. Document what you're learning. Show up consistently, even if it's just on LinkedIn. Create things that add value to people.

Even if it feels awkward at first. Even if you're not sure anyone's paying attention.

Because the opportunity is bigger than it's ever been.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

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