There’s a conversation happening right now in boardrooms, universities, and at kitchen tables across the country. It goes something like this: What happens to people when AI is reshaping the future of work?

We spend a lot of time on our podcast AI & the Future of Work talking about that question from the top down. Policy. Strategy. Workforce transformation at scale. And those conversations matter.

But sometimes the most important answer to that question comes from a single person’s story.

From Louisiana to Leidos

Kourtney Cross grew up in a small town in Louisiana. His family relocated to Houston just before Hurricane Katrina. He was ambitious from the start, the kind of kid who told his mom he wanted to be a neurosurgeon. And she believed him. Every single time.

He ended up studying accounting at Stephen F. Austin State University, graduated with his BBA, and built a career in operations. A solid path, by any measure.

But Kourtney was watching something bigger unfold around him. He saw the cloud computing wave arrive and pass. AWS. Google Cloud. He told Dan during their conversation: “I knew I missed the wave for AWS when that was new. I saw ServiceNow. I said, I’m not missing this one.”

So he didn’t.

A Door That Was Actually Open

Kourtney found RiseUp with ServiceNow, a program designed to skill one million people on the ServiceNow platform, with a specific focus on making access real for those who don’t come from traditional tech backgrounds.

He applied. He got in. He attended every single session. He earned multiple certifications, including his CSA, for free—credentials that would have cost him $400 each outside the program.

And then he did something most graduates don’t think to do. He built his own project and linked it directly on his resume, so that any employer who opened his application could click through and actually watch him work. Not just read about what he could do. See it.

That detail matters. Because the hardest part of RiseUp, Kourtney told Dan, isn’t the coursework. It’s what comes after. It’s walking into a job interview with certifications and no years of enterprise experience and convincing someone that you are ready.

He found a way to close that gap himself.

Already Ahead of the Curve

Today, Kourtney is a Business Analyst at Leidos, one of the largest defense and technology contractors in the country. He holds a security clearance. He writes requirements, gathers customer needs, and uses AI every single day to do his job better.

His company’s CEO has publicly encouraged every employee to embrace AI. There’s a company-wide rollout coming. And when it arrives, Kourtney will already know how to use it.

That’s not luck. That’s what it looks like when someone chooses to run toward change instead of away from it.

When Dan asked him how his peers feel about AI, Kourtney didn’t sugarcoat it. “Some people love it. Some people feel threatened. But what I would say is: learn how to leverage it. Use AI to make your job easier and your life better.”

The Real Future of Work

At PeopleReign, we believe AI should make humans better, not replace them. That belief is at the heart of every episode of AI & the Future of Work, and it’s exactly what Kourtney Cross represents.

He’s not a cautionary tale about disruption. He’s proof that when people have access to the right tools, the right training, and the right opportunity, they don’t just survive the AI economy. They lead it.

Kourtney put it best himself: “Compounded effort will always yield success. You may not see it. It may be underground right now. But keep working. The plant is going to grow.”

Programs like RiseUp with ServiceNow exist because talent is everywhere. The work is making sure opportunity is too. Through free certification paths, structured cohorts, and direct connections to employers, RiseUp is how that belief becomes action, one person at a time.

We’re proud to help tell that story.

 

🎙️ Listen to Kourtney’s full episode on AI & the Future of Work, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

Have a story about reskilling, career pivots, or AI in the workplace? We’d love to hear it.