Chris Simmance

Chris Simmance sits on three sides of the AI displacement question, and none of them are comfortable.

He runs Orca, an AI operations platform that does the work of a PA, a social media manager, a CRM administrator, a research analyst and a junior strategist, for a fraction of the cost of any of them. He co-founded Enterprise Skills, an EdTech platform used in UK schools to measure the eight human capabilities employers actually value, through business simulations. And his advisory practice at OMG Center works with professional services principals on AI, strategy and growth, where the honest conclusion is increasingly that they need fewer people.

So he builds the tools that do the displacing, teaches the skills that might outlast it, and advises the firms making the cuts. The Next Rung draws on all three.

It's his first trade book. Four earlier industry titles were self-published alongside the consulting work. This one maps what's coming for mid-career knowledge workers, and what can actually be done about it.