Ankur Warikoo Shares 3 Skills to Become Harder to Replace

How to become indispensable at work: In an increasingly AI-driven workplace, being good at your job may no longer be enough to build a lasting career advantage. As automation takes over more routine tasks, professionals may need to develop a combination of skills that makes their contribution distinctive. Entrepreneur and content creator Ankur Warikoo has shared a three-layer approach to Career Growth, suggesting that people combine an anchor skill, an adjacent skill and a creative amplifier to become harder to replace.

Warikoo recently shared the strategy in a LinkedIn post, explaining how professionals can build an edge by combining different abilities instead of relying on a single area of expertise. His message shifts the focus from constantly chasing new tools or trending skills to identifying what additional capability can make a person more valuable in their existing role.

The idea also connects with a broader workplace conversation about Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and the future of employment. As organisations adopt AI-powered tools, professionals are increasingly being encouraged to develop skills that complement technology rather than compete with it.

Career growth, therefore, may depend not only on how well someone performs a particular task but also on how effectively they combine technical knowledge, judgement, creativity and interpersonal abilities.

Ankur Warikoo’s three-skill strategy to become harder to replace

According to Warikoo, professionals who want to build a stronger career advantage should think beyond one major talent. Instead, they can combine three layers of skills that strengthen their existing expertise and expand the value they bring to an organisation.

Explaining the approach in his LinkedIn post, Warikoo said, “This is the strategy that the fastest-growing professionals are using (Which also AI-proofs their career) as they build their edge by blending three layers of skill.”

The three layers he identifies are:

• Anchor skill: The core professional ability or area of expertise for which a person is already known.
• Adjacent skill: An additional capability that complements the person’s existing expertise and allows them to contribute in more ways.
• Creative amplifier: A skill or ability that changes how a person thinks, approaches problems and develops new ideas.

The strategy is based on combining strengths rather than collecting unrelated qualifications. A professional does not necessarily need to move into a completely different career or learn every new technology. Instead, the aim is to build on an established area of expertise by adding capabilities that make their work more distinctive.

Warikoo suggests changing the question professionals ask themselves when planning their next career move. Instead of asking, ‘Which new tool should I learn?’ or ‘Which is the fastest-growing skill today?’, they should ask, ‘Which new skill makes me harder to replace?’

This distinction is important because the popularity of a particular tool or technology does not automatically translate into long-term career value. A skill becomes more useful when it strengthens a person’s ability to solve problems, make decisions or contribute to outcomes that matter to their organisation.

What is an anchor skill and why does it matter?

An anchor skill is the primary professional ability that forms the foundation of a person’s career. It is the expertise colleagues, managers or clients associate with that individual.

For example, an accountant may be recognised for financial reporting, a marketer for campaign strategy, a software developer for coding, or a journalist for research and storytelling. These core capabilities help professionals establish credibility in their respective fields.

Developing an anchor skill requires consistent practice, experience and a strong understanding of the work. It gives professionals a reliable foundation on which they can build additional capabilities.

However, relying only on an anchor skill may not always be enough to stand out. In many workplaces, several employees have similar qualifications and perform comparable tasks. As automation becomes more common, certain routine activities within established roles may also become easier to complete using AI tools.

This does not make core expertise irrelevant. Instead, it highlights the importance of combining it with other abilities. A strong anchor skill helps a person establish what they can do, while complementary skills can demonstrate what makes their contribution different.

How can an adjacent skill increase your professional value?

An adjacent skill is an additional capability that complements a person’s main area of expertise. It allows professionals to approach their work from a wider perspective and contribute beyond the boundaries of their primary role.

For instance, an accountant who develops strong communication and team-building abilities may be better equipped to explain financial information, coordinate with different departments and support business decisions. Similarly, a marketer with analytical skills can combine creative campaign ideas with data-based evaluation.

A software developer who understands client relationships and creative problem-solving may be able to contribute more effectively to product discussions and customer-focused solutions.

The advantage of an adjacent skill is that it strengthens an existing professional identity rather than replacing it. It creates a combination of abilities that may be less common among people working in the same field.

These skills can also improve collaboration. Professionals who understand more than one aspect of a business may be better positioned to communicate across teams, identify gaps and connect technical work with organisational goals.

For someone planning career growth, the practical question is not simply which additional skill is popular. It is which capability would make their current expertise more useful to colleagues, clients and decision-makers.

What is a creative amplifier?

The third layer in Warikoo’s approach is the creative amplifier. Unlike a conventional technical qualification, this refers to an ability that changes how a person thinks, interprets information and approaches challenges.

Creative thinking can help professionals look at familiar problems from different angles, question existing processes and develop alternative solutions. It can be useful across industries, whether someone works in finance, technology, marketing, education or management.

A creative amplifier does not necessarily mean working in an artistic profession. It can include curiosity, storytelling, strategic thinking, experimentation, design thinking or the ability to connect ideas from different fields.

For example, a finance professional who can explain complicated numbers through clear storytelling may make information easier for business leaders to understand. A technical specialist who can think creatively may identify a simpler way to solve a recurring problem. A manager who combines analytical thinking with empathy may be better equipped to handle team challenges.

These abilities can help professionals move beyond completing assigned tasks. They can contribute to how problems are defined, how solutions are developed and how teams make decisions.

When an anchor skill, an adjacent skill and a creative amplifier work together, a professional can build a combination of strengths that is more distinctive than any one skill in isolation.

How to make yourself indispensable at work?

Being competent at a job is important, but becoming difficult to replace requires a clearer understanding of what makes an individual’s contribution valuable. This involves recognising personal strengths and finding ways to apply them in the workplace.

Jitin Thapar, Creator of the EPICC Reinvention ‘Inside-Out’ Philosophy and Global Strategic Advisor, believes professionals should begin by understanding their natural strengths rather than simply copying what successful colleagues are doing.

Explaining his approach, Thapar said, “The solution is to work from the inside out, where you first need to figure out what your natural strengths are, and then bring those strengths to work.”

His perspective places self-awareness at the centre of career development. Instead of starting with a list of trending skills, professionals should identify the abilities they already possess and consider how those strengths can be used more effectively in their roles.

For example, two employees may have similar educational qualifications and perform the same technical responsibilities. However, one may be particularly good at building relationships, while the other may excel at analysing complex information. Recognising and developing these differences can help each person create a distinctive professional contribution.

Why combining different strengths can set you apart

Thapar points out that having expertise in a particular field does not automatically make someone different from other professionals working in the same domain. The distinction often comes from additional strengths that influence how a person performs their work.

He gives examples of how these combinations can create an individual advantage:

• Accountants with team-building skills: A strong accountant who can also coordinate people and build effective teams may contribute beyond financial calculations and reporting.
• Marketers with analytical abilities: A marketer who understands data and can interpret performance trends may connect creative ideas with measurable business objectives.
• Coders with creative thinking: A software developer who combines technical expertise with creativity may approach problems differently and identify alternative solutions.
• Technical professionals with relationship-building skills: Someone who can communicate effectively with clients may be better positioned to understand requirements and connect technical solutions with customer needs.

Thapar describes these combinations as an individual’s ‘inside edge’ skills. The idea is that professional value is not determined only by the tasks someone completes, but also by the distinctive strengths they bring to those tasks.

He says the goal should not be to work more, but to enhance one’s value in a way that creates an impact that others can notice.

This is an important distinction in career planning. Longer working hours do not necessarily translate into greater professional influence. Being able to solve a difficult problem, improve a process, support a team or communicate an important insight can make a person’s contribution more visible.

What should professionals focus on in the age of AI?

Artificial intelligence is changing how organisations approach routine work, information processing and decision-making. AI-powered tools can assist with activities such as drafting content, analysing data, generating code, summarising information and automating repetitive processes.

As these tools become more widely used, professionals may need to reconsider which parts of their work require uniquely human judgement and which can be supported by automation.

Thapar believes the focus should not be on competing directly with AI. Instead, professionals should use their technical knowledge alongside capabilities that involve judgement, creativity and flexibility.

“In the world of AI, where routine activities and tasks can be automated, the focus shouldn’t be to outdo AI. Instead, we should leverage our skills in areas that combine judgement, creativity, and flexibility with our technical skills. AI will likely not bring those skills to the table as we can,” he said.

His point is that technology can become a tool for improving productivity, but professionals still need to understand the context in which that technology is being used. A generated report, for instance, may provide information, but a person may still need to assess its accuracy, understand the business situation and decide what action should follow.

Similarly, AI can support communication and creative work, but professionals need to evaluate whether the output is appropriate, relevant and aligned with the intended purpose.

This makes critical thinking, adaptability, communication and problem-solving important complements to technical expertise. Rather than treating AI as a substitute for professional development, employees can learn to use it while strengthening the capabilities that help them interpret and apply its output.

Why simply learning the latest AI tool may not be enough

New technologies and workplace tools appear regularly, making it tempting for professionals to keep adding certifications and technical skills to their resumes. While learning new tools can be useful, the ability to use them does not automatically create a lasting competitive advantage.

A tool can become widely available, and other professionals in the same field may quickly learn to use it. What makes a person more valuable is often how effectively they apply that tool to solve a specific problem.

Consider a marketing professional who learns to use an AI content-generation platform. The tool may help produce drafts faster, but the professional still needs to understand the audience, identify the right message, assess the quality of the output and decide whether the content supports the organisation’s goals.

Similarly, an accountant may use automation to process information more efficiently, but interpreting financial patterns and explaining their implications can require additional judgement and communication skills.

The larger lesson is that technology knowledge is useful when it strengthens the quality of a person’s contribution. Learning a new tool should be connected to a clear professional purpose rather than being treated as an achievement in itself.

How to identify the skills that make you different

Building a distinctive professional profile begins with understanding the strengths that already exist. Professionals can use a few practical steps to identify where they can add value.

• Identify your core expertise: Understand which responsibilities you perform well and what colleagues or managers regularly rely on you for. This will help define your anchor skill.
• Recognise your natural strengths: Consider whether you are particularly good at communication, organisation, analysis, creativity, relationship-building or problem-solving.
• Look for complementary abilities: Identify a skill that could make your existing expertise more useful. A technical professional may benefit from communication skills, while a creative professional may gain from analytical knowledge.
• Develop creative thinking: Practise approaching problems from different perspectives, questioning assumptions and exploring alternative solutions.
• Use AI as a support tool: Learn how technology can improve your productivity while retaining responsibility for checking information, applying judgement and making decisions.
• Demonstrate your impact: Look for opportunities to show how your combination of skills improves a process, helps a team or solves a meaningful problem.

These steps can help turn skill development into a deliberate career strategy. Instead of collecting abilities without a clear direction, professionals can focus on combinations that strengthen their existing roles and support future opportunities.

Why being harder to replace is about differentiation, not working harder

The central idea shared by Warikoo and Thapar is that career value comes from differentiation. Professionals cannot build a long-term advantage simply by doing the same things as everyone else or increasing the number of hours they work.

An anchor skill establishes credibility. An adjacent skill expands the ways a person can contribute. A creative amplifier influences how they think and solve problems. Together, these capabilities can create a professional profile that is more difficult to replicate.

Thapar’s inside-out approach adds another dimension to this strategy: professionals should understand their natural strengths before deciding which capabilities to develop further. This can help them build a career around abilities they can apply meaningfully rather than following every new workplace trend.

In an AI-driven workplace, the goal is not to prove that humans can perform every task faster than machines. It is to combine technical knowledge with judgement, creativity, flexibility and the ability to understand people and problems.

Ultimately, becoming harder to replace is not about being indispensable in the sense of being the only person who can do a job. It is about developing a distinctive combination of skills, applying them consistently and making a contribution that creates visible value for an organisation.

Frequently asked questions about skills that make you harder to replace at work

1. What are the three skills Ankur Warikoo says professionals should develop?

Ankur Warikoo recommends combining an anchor skill, an adjacent skill and a creative amplifier. Together, these skills can help professionals strengthen their existing expertise and build a more distinctive career profile.

2. What is an anchor skill?

An anchor skill is a person’s core professional ability or area of expertise. It is the skill for which colleagues, managers or clients already recognise them, such as accounting, marketing, coding or financial analysis.

3. What is an adjacent skill in career development?

An adjacent skill is an additional ability that complements a person’s main expertise. For example, a marketer may develop analytical skills, while a software developer may strengthen communication and client relationship-building abilities.

4. What does a creative amplifier mean?

A creative amplifier is an ability that changes how a person thinks and approaches problems. It may include creativity, curiosity, storytelling, strategic thinking or the ability to connect ideas from different fields.

5. How can I become indispensable at work?

Start by identifying your core expertise and natural strengths. Then develop complementary abilities, improve problem-solving and communication, and demonstrate how your skills create measurable value for your team or organisation.

6. Which skills are important in the age of AI?

Technical knowledge remains useful, but it can be strengthened by critical thinking, judgement, creativity, flexibility, communication and problem-solving. These abilities help professionals evaluate and apply AI-generated information effectively.

7. Why is learning new tools not enough to protect a career?

Many tools become widely available, allowing other professionals to learn them as well. Long-term career value also depends on how effectively someone uses technology, understands problems, makes decisions and contributes to meaningful outcomes.

8. What is Jitin Thapar’s advice for building a distinctive career?

Jitin Thapar recommends an inside-out approach. Professionals should first identify their natural strengths and then bring those abilities into their work to create a distinctive contribution rather than simply trying to work more.

Disclaimer: This article is based on information from the public domain and/or the experts we spoke to.