Learning in times of disruption.

On Friday afternoon, I was doing what many of us do when the week is winding down and our energy is thinning out. I was scrolling LinkedIn, half distracted, half curious, when a post snagged my attention. I didn’t know the person who wrote it, and unfortunately I clicked away before saving it, but I've been thinking about the post all weekend.

The author was reflecting on the wave of mergers happening across advertising and creative agencies, and the layoffs following close behind. She wrote candidly about colleagues and friends now facing job loss, and then offered a suggestion that many people found uncomfortable: that some professionals might want to consider leaving the industry altogether. The comments quickly filled with frustration and pushback. For many readers, the idea felt dismissive, unrealistic, or even disloyal to work they cared deeply about.

For me, though, the post landed differently. It didn’t feel like a provocation. It felt like recognition.

My Time on Michigan Avenue

From 2013 to 2017, I worked at the Chicago Tribune. And in that time, it was easy to understand why people stayed there for decades. Publishing mattered. Journalism mattered. The institution itself felt permanent, woven into the fabric of the city. Many of my colleagues had spent thirty years or more in 'Trib Tower', and not because they lacked career ambition, but because the work felt meaningful and stable in a way that justified long tenure.

I felt it too. There was something thrilling about walking into that iconic downtown building, forming friendships that spilled into happy hours, and being part of work that felt larger than any one role. It made sense to imagine a long career there. It made sense to anchor my identity in that work.

Then the layoffs came.

When I was laid off, I wasn’t alone. Others with far longer tenures were impacted as well, and when they began their job searches, many naturally focused on other local or regional newspapers. It was what they knew. It was where their experience fit cleanly. I didn’t blame them for that instinct at all. But what I sensed, even then, was that the disruption wasn’t isolated to one company. The entire industry was shifting, and doing so at an accelerating pace.

The roles they were targeting existed, but they felt increasingly fragile. Even if someone landed the next job, there was a known possibility that they would be facing the same disruption again, just a few years down the road.

Two Ways to Pivot

Looking back, that period taught me something fundamental about career pivots, especially in moments of disruption. There are essentially two ways to move into a new industry, even when pursuing a similar role. One is to position your existing skills as transferable, showing how what you’ve already done applies cleanly in a different context. The other is to deliberately develop new skills that showcase relevance for the industry you want to move into.

Neither path is inherently better. They simply require different kinds of effort.

In my case, I was fortunate. I landed at UScellular (telecom) largely because I had a strong referral into the company and could clearly translate my experience into that job description. The bridge already existed. But I watched others from the Tribune take a different route. One colleagued pursued an MBA to get into sports tech, and another pivoted into AI after immersing in the topic. Others leaned into entrepreneurship, embracing the steepest learning curves of all.

Relevance is Not Fixed What stands out to me is that none of those transitions happened overnight. They weren’t accidental. They were the result of sustained learning and development.

This is why that LinkedIn post resonated... Your relevance is far more within your control than it may feel in the aftermath of a layoff. Of course, that doesn’t remove the uncertainty or the fear, but it does shift your agency over your outcomes. Instead of waiting for the market to validate you, you begin actively shaping how you show up within it.

A clear commitment to growth doesn’t eliminate bias from others about where you've been, but it does weaken it. It introduces doubt into assumptions about rigidity. It signals curiosity, adaptability, and forward motion, which matter across any industry.

Turning Learning into Leverage

This is why I think about learning not as an abstract self-improvement goal, but as a practical lever in the job search. It helps to have a working hypothesis about where you want to go next, even if it isn’t fully formed. From there, it's easier to assess objectively... What gaps exist between where you are and where you’re aiming? And which of those gaps can be measurably closed through self-directed learning over the next few weeks or months?

Not every gap requires an MBA or a formal certification. In many cases, targeted learning done consistently carries more signal than a credential pursued passively. A learning roadmap, built around daily or weekly effort, creates traction. Over time, that effort spotlights relevance that hiring managers can see.

If you’ve been laid off from a role inside an industry that’s actively being disrupted, this may be a good moment to audit your relevance. Don't abandon what you’ve built, but ask whether doubling down on the same path truly reduces risk, or simply feels familiar. Creating a learning plan doesn’t force a pivot. It creates the option for one.

And options create leverage.