He's being celebrated for firing 4,000 people.

OK, I'm going to do something I almost never do.

You know my emails: they're usually practical. A tool. A technique. Something you can apply today.

Today, it's one news story. Just one. And if I'm taking the time to talk about it, it's because the lesson behind it is probably the most important thing you'll read this week about the future of your job.

Celebration note: there are now 12,000+ of you following the newsletter, thank you for your trust 🎉

Last Thursday, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and CEO of Block (the company behind Square and Cash App), announced he was laying off 4,000 people. Almost half the company. From 10,000 employees to fewer than 6,000. In one day.

And what's striking isn't the number. It's the reason.

Block had just posted 24% growth in gross profit. The company is doing great. Dorsey spelled it out in his letter to shareholders:

"Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company. A significantly smaller team can do more, and do it better."

Jack Dorsey

And most importantly:

"I think most companies are behind. Within a year, the majority will reach the same conclusion."

Jack Dorsey

The market's reaction? Block's stock jumped 24% that same day.

For investors, it's not bad news: it's a signal that the company figured something out before everyone else.

Brutal. But that's where the market is heading.

By the way, if you want to better understand signals like this and what the markets are really telling us, I recommend Lucas Ewig's newsletter. Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., he breaks down what matters in the economy and the stock market in 5 minutes: clear, concrete, no fluff. 8,900+ investors already read it. Sign up here, it's free.

Now, let's be honest: there's a bit of "corporate spin" in this announcement. Block had massively overhired during COVID (3,800 employees in 2019, over 10,000 in 2025). There was some cleaning up to do.

But that doesn't change the bigger picture.

Because Dorsey isn't alone. Salesforce cut its support teams by 4,000 people, saying it "needs fewer heads" thanks to AI. Microsoft's head of AI warned that white-collar workers have 12 to 18 months before a major upheaval.

It's not the least skilled jobs that are going. It's the ones where the work can be automated: whatever the skill level.

"So where does that leave me?"

You've probably heard it 100 times: "You won't be replaced by AI. You'll be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI."

This week, we watched it happen. Block kept ~6,000 people. Not because they're "better" in absolute terms, but because they're positioned where AI isn't enough.

And that brings me back to the 80/20 concept from my last email, which clearly resonated with you.

In more and more jobs, AI already does ~80% of the work. Not perfectly. But well enough.

The real value is in the remaining 20%:

→ Judgment in the face of ambiguity.

→ Asking the right question (not just finding the answer).

→ Connecting what the AI produces with what a client, a patient, a colleague expects.

→ Knowing what to ask the AI, and why.

→ Checking, contextualizing, humanizing what the machine produces.

That 20% is what saved 6,000 jobs at Block. And it's what will define your value in the years to come.

In fact, McKinsey published a major report on this. They measure what they call "AI Fluency": the ability to use and work with AI tools.

Demand has grown 7x in two years.

In 2023, ~1 million workers were in jobs requiring this skill. In 2025? 7 million. It's the fastest-growing skill in US job postings, and not just in tech:

management, finance, healthcare, education too.

AI Fluency is 80/20 in action: not coding an AI model, but knowing how to work with it.

That's also why this newsletter matters so much to me. Sharing all this with you, building this community: that's exactly the kind of thing I put in my "20%".

And I sincerely think everyone should do it: create, share their expertise, build an audience.

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So what's the lesson from Block's 4,000 layoffs? Here's the good news:

you don't need to become an AI engineer. You need to become incredibly good at your 20%.

And know how to use AI for the other 80%.

It's the most important skill of the decade. And it's exactly what we explore here, email after email.

Talk soon,

Salim from GenevIA, in Geneva