22-04-2025
Brains Over Bots: A Billionaire's Guide To Future-proofing Your Career
Imagine you turn 18 when artificial general intelligence (AGI) arrives. Already you felt the same vexing anxieties so many of your peers share. For years now, you've wondered what you should study—or if you should study at all. More and more you worry that AI will take all the good jobs, making you question just what to do with your adult life.
And now? AGI is here—and shaking up the whole world. To appreciate the seismic change this breakthrough portends, let's review McKinsey & Company's definition of the term: 'AGI is AI with capabilities that rival those of a human.' This is the moment when we may approach The Singularity described this way by IBM: '… A theoretical scenario where technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, culminating in profound and unpredictable changes to human civilization.'
Talk about dramatic change!
It's unknown if reaching AGI is possible. Yet even without accomplishing this feat, we can expect vast societal shifts due to advancing technology in the coming years. As one more example, we must discuss robotics. As I described in this recent Forbes article, hospitality robotics are coming to a bar, restaurant, or hotel near you. Some tech visionaries, like Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis, predict we will have billions of humanoid robots by the year 2040.
With so much change on the horizon, it's fitting that we consult a self-made billionaire for his advice to that 18-year-old uncertain as to how to navigate so much uncertainty. To explore how to think clearly through so much disruption, I sat down with John P. Calamos, Sr., founder of Calamos Investments. As of today, it now manages over $40 billion in assets on behalf of institutions and individual investors worldwide.
Ahead of his new biography, written by New York Times bestselling author Joe Garner, The Sky's the Limit: Lessons in Service, Entrepreneurship and Achieving the American Dream (Wiley) I thought I'd pick the mogul's brain. Here's what I wished to know: in a world increasingly dominated by automation, AI, and now algorithmic efficiency, how does one stay ahead—not just short-term, but perennially?
Calamos has a surprising answer: study philosophy. His advice is vindicating. Philosophy happens to be the subject I earned my B.A. in at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Back then, friends and peers alike teased me for my academic focus. 'What are you gonna do with that?' they asked.
Unlike those naysayers, Calamos views such a degree as practical, especially in a time when higher education is pricing out would-be students. 'I tell young people all the time: You don't go to college to learn what to think. You go to college to learn how to think,' Calamos says.
Calamos is well situated to offer such advice. Publicly known for his financial acumen, his intellectual roots reside in the tenets underlying Western Civilization. As a student at Illinois Institute of Technology, he was captivated not just by numbers, but by the ideas that shaped human destiny. 'Studying philosophy taught me the value of critical thinking, of challenging conventional wisdom and cultivating opinions based on deep inquiry,' he says.
In decades past, college campuses championed spirited debates. Students could disagree—and remain friends. Today, polarization has stifled that openness, replacing critical inquiry with cautious conformity. As an introspective business leader, Calamos sees the loss of such intellectual openness as a threat to progress. 'Without the ability to debate, to challenge, and to explore, creativity dries up. Innovation is stifled,' says Calamos.
He should know. Innovation is the very thing that kept his business alive through endless technological disruption. An 18-year-old living in 2025 may be surprised to know that when Calamos first launched his investment career in the late 1970s, he relied on primitive technology: a pencil and graph paper. Over the decades, he embraced each new tool that came along—from calculators to spreadsheets to computers to the Internet and eventually AI.
'Throughout, I kept asking: What's out there that can improve productivity?' he says. 'Technology helps us move forward—but only if we're willing to adapt. That comes from possessing a curious mind, one that's constantly questioning assumptions and biases.'
It's little wonder Calamos credits intellectual agility as critical for staying one step ahead. To him, running a business is like riding a bike uphill. The moment you stop pedaling, you end up going backward. Cultivating such a growth mindset—one that values constant improvement—is what allowed him to continually reinvent his approach.
In a time when so many youngsters outsource their cognitive abilities to ChatGPT so it can write their papers and do their thinking, Calamos' advice is a breath of fresh air. Just because AI is available doesn't mean anyone should stop using their brains. The opposite is true. He recommends cultivating curiosity and endless learning habits. After all, technology is helpful, but it's not the source of greatness. That comes from the person wielding such tools.
Passion is another quality Calamos recommends young people develop. 'Do the inner work to discover what moves you, what inspires you.' Reflecting on what it took to build his own financial empire, Calamos credits grit as the main driver. Growing up poor lit a fire in him to get ahead. Raised in relative comfort, many Gen Z and Gen Alpha professionals unfortunately lack the same urgency to find their why.
When asked what other trait an 18-year-old needs to thrive in a volatile landscape, Calamos doesn't hesitate: 'Selflessness.' This is why he's dismayed to see so many young professionals myopically focused on themselves. They approach life asking, What will you give me? instead of What can I give?
'All these years later, JFK's famous words have stayed with me,' he says. ''Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.'' That quote shaped Calamos' decision to join the Air Force after college, where he served for over 15 years. It also formed the foundation of his leadership philosophy: lead with service. Provide value. The rewards will follow.
Returning to our 18-year-old, Calamos has some final advice on becoming a billionaire. And no, it's not about creating a unicorn company of one. It's also not about building a robot fleet to become ever more productive. It's not even about pursuing endless dollars. 'You don't chase money,' Calamos says. 'You chase excellence. Money is just a byproduct.'
Being of service to others is paramount to Calamos' business philosophy. Yes, embracing tech gave him an edge. But really, it was his commitment to client relationships that brought him lasting market power. 'I knew if we took care of our people and did good work, the rest would follow,' he says.
And it did.
As AI reshapes our brave new world at a dizzying clip, the one constant we can expect is more change. Thankfully, Calamos' legacy offers a viable roadmap for future-proofing success. Though we live in a time of thinking machines, the importance of human thought cannot be overstated. As Calamos aptly suggests, life's perennial race to get ahead—and stay ahead—won't be won by ever more sophisticated algorithms or newfangled technology. No. The future belongs to those who value the sanctity of their minds, the most prized tool of all. Especially when it is directed to the noblest of ends—serving humankind.
