The Skill That Separates Winners From Everyone Else in 2026
By Faiszal Anwar
Growth Manager & Digital Analyst
If you still define your value by what you do, this one’s for you.
Silicon Valley has a new favorite word: “agentic.” And unlike most tech buzzwords, this one actually matters for the rest of us.
Here’s the shift. AI coding agents like Claude Code and Codex can now handle most of the grunt work. They write code, debug, even refactor entire systems. What’s left for humans? Deciding what they should work on.
That’s agentic thinking.
Akshay Kothari, COO of Notion, put it plainly: “Eventually, the only thing left for humans is agency.” His cofounder Simon Last has taken this to heart. After coding for nearly two decades, he stopped entirely. Now he manages up to four AI agents at once, delegating work and reviewing output like a conductor leading an orchestra.
This isn’t just a developer story.
Kothari believes the same pattern will hit finance, legal, creative industries, and beyond. The question isn’t if AI agents come for your role’s execution tasks. It’s when and whether you’ll be ready to pivot to the work that actually requires a human brain.
What being agentic actually means
Forget the startup-bro definition of “hustle culture” or grinding 24/7. In this context, agentic means:
- You know what needs to happen, even when the how is handled by AI
- You can break down complex problems into steps an agent can execute
- You have the taste and judgment to review AI output and say “this isn’t quite right”
- You’re curious enough to stay on top of new tools and willing to try them
As one investor told Wired, “Knowing how to harness these agents is now the most important skill in the world, and it’s not really something you can train for.”
The uncomfortable part
If you love the act of doing the work itself, this shift is unsettling. Many engineers who enjoyed sitting down and writing code are struggling with this new dynamic. That’s fair. But the market doesn’t care about your comfort.
The companies winning right now aren’t hiring thousands of engineers. They’re hiring a few “super ICs” who can manage agents effectively. Notion’s Kothari put it: “There’s more value in the Valley today to have a few Simons than thousands of engineers.”
What this means for you
You don’t need to become a prompt engineer. You need to become better at thinking in systems and making decisions. Start small:
- Pick one repetitive task in your workflow and find an AI tool to handle it
- Practice explaining what you want clearly, as if onboarding a junior teammate
- Get comfortable reviewing AI output critically, not just accepting it
- Build your “taste” by seeing what great work looks like in your field
The agents aren’t coming for your job. They’re coming for the tasks within your job. The question is whether you’ll be the one directing them, or watching from the sidelines.
References: WIRED - Are You ‘Agentic’ Enough for the AI Era? | WIRED - This AI Agent Is Designed to Not Go Rogue