Stop Asking for the Answer. Start Equipping Decision-Makers

Equipping individuals with the self-knowledge and contextual awareness to thrive in a rapidly changing world of work.

by Rentia Landman

As behavioural scientists specialising in workplace psychology and human wellbeing, we are bringing a service to market based on a simple but critical question:

What do human beings actually need in order to navigate career decisions meaningfully, now and into the future?

For years, we described the future as VUCA
Volatile. Uncertain. Complex. Ambiguous.

That language helped us prepare for disruption.

The reality is that what we once called “the future” is now our lived experience. And what lies ahead is even more destabilising.

Today, many futurists describe the emerging context as BANI
Brittle. Anxious. Non-linear. Incomprehensible.

• Brittle systems appear strong but break suddenly.

• Anxious societies operate under constant pressure and information overload.

• Non-linear change means cause and effect are no longer predictable.

• Incomprehensible realities emerge where even experts struggle to explain what is happening.

Add AI advancing at exponential speed. Add industries transforming in months rather than decades. Add global shifts none of us can fully anticipate.

And then ask honestly: How can anyone ethically claim to give a young person a fixed answer about what they should become?

The illusion of the “right answer”

When parents contact us for career guidance support, many still ask for what they call:

“The aptitude tests the medical aid pays for.”

When we explore further, what they are really asking for is this:

• See my child briefly.

• Do a few tests.

• Tell us clearly what they should study or become.

We understand the anxiety behind the request.
The world feels overwhelming.
Parents want certainty.
Young individuals want direction.

But here is the uncomfortable truth.

We do not know what the job market will look like by the time a Grade 11 learner graduates.
We know motivations and values evolve over time.
We know careers are no longer linear.
We know context shifts.

To speak a fixed “career sentence” over a young individual, under the authority society gives us as behavioural scientists, is not only illogical in a brittle and unpredictable world. In our view, it is irresponsible and arguably unethical.

If the old model had worked, we would not be sitting with record levels of burnout and disengagement. We would not hear adults in coaching say:

“I chose this because the aunty who did my career guidance at school said I should.”

If that approach produced these outcomes in a more stable world, how could we possibly believe it will work in an even more complex one?

If you want answers, ask AI

Here is the provocative part.

If you are looking for a quick, definitive answer about what you or your child should become, you may as well ask AI.

It will charge you less.
It will not claim to be an authority.
It can provide reasoning if you ask for it.
You can revisit the advice whenever context changes.

That is a viable option.

But it is not a wise one.

Because the issue is not access to answers.
The issue is the capacity of individuals to make wise decisions based on self-knowledge in changing contexts.

What Career Guidance Should Actually Do

We believe our role as behavioural scientists specialising in career development is not to prescribe futures.

It is to build agency and ownership.

Career guidance in today’s world should support individuals to:

• Discover who they are.

• Understand their interests, motivations, values and strengths.

• Recognise how these evolve over time.

• Learn how to read context and scenario plan in light of it.

• Identify where opportunity and need intersect.

• Develop the confidence to review and adapt their choices repeatedly.

• Take personal ownership and accountability for their careers.

Linear, “traditional” careers are disappearing.

Instead of asking, “What should I become?”

We need to teach young individuals, and adults alike, to ask repeatedly:

• What do I have to offer right now?

• What does the world need?

• Where can I create meaningful value?

• Where are others prepared to pay for that value?

• What needs to shift as context shifts?

That dynamic sweet spot between self and context is not fixed. It moves.

The ability to locate it again and again is the real career skill.

The Invitation

If you are looking for certainty, a single report, or a once-off “final answer”, we are probably not the right partner for you.