Is AI Creating a Crisis of Purpose in IT? With Luke Clifton | Ep. 14

The IT industry is shedding jobs to cost-cutting, AI restructuring and the usual business cycles, and the man who chairs the Australian Men's Shed Association thinks the real cost, what it does to people's identity and purpose, is the thing nobody is talking about honestly.

About the guest

Luke Clifton spent nearly 15 years in senior leadership at Macquarie Technology Group, more than a decade of it running Macquarie Telecom, where he drove the SD-WAN transition and built out the cyber security and cloud practice for the mid-market. He stepped back from the operational role in late 2025 and is now Director of Macquarie Technology Operations, focused on governance, risk, partnerships and strategy. He also chairs the Australian Men's Shed Association, which is where his thinking on purpose, identity and men's mental health comes from.

What this episode covers

• Why Luke stepped out of a decade-long operational role, and why he frames it as retiring into something rather than retiring from work.

• What it actually takes to move into board and NED work: more responsibility, less control, less pay, and a completely different skill set from running a P&L.

• The crisis of purpose Luke sees coming as AI restructures the IT workforce, and why men in particular tie too much of their identity to a title.

• Inside the Men's Shed movement: the origin story, the scale, and the Spanner in the Works health checks that have caught men mid heart attack.

• Practical advice for navigating AI disruption: more than one iron in the fire, broadening beyond a single specialism, and starting while you are still employed.

• Confessions of an IT Professional: a listener's story of a change in Washington DC that kept a US President's plane in the air for ten minutes, plus Luke's own confession.

• Quick Fire Three: dedicating people to a tech change, why results are the wrong thing to manage by, and the one gut check Luke uses on every partner.

Why now

The IT industry is shedding jobs through a mix of cost pressure, AI restructuring and ordinary business cycles, and the human cost is not being discussed honestly. Releasing during Men's Health Week, with its See Your GP theme, gives the show a reason to put the men's health thread front and centre. The board and NED angle is just as current, with a generation of senior tech leaders weighing up what their next decade looks like.

Who this episode is for

• CIOs, CTOs and senior IT leaders thinking about board and NED roles as their next move.

• Technology executives navigating AI-driven restructures, in their own teams or their own careers.

• Anyone in tech leadership who has tied their identity to a title and is starting to wonder what comes next.

• Listeners who care about men's mental health and want a candid take from inside the industry.

Hosts: Naran McClung & Jono Staff.

Follow Naran McClung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naranmcclung/

Follow Jono Staff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstaff/

Follow Things. Reasons.: https://www.linkedin.com/company/things-reasons/

Instagram / TikTok: @things.reasons

Enquiries: pru@thingsreasons.show