The Future of Work is how this young child is shaped by the society that is bereft of bias and based on equitable justice. “Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.” Voltaire "What do you want to be when you grow up"? This is one of the first questions people ask children. Isn't what we are really asking is "What do you think you will BECOME" rather than "What do you want to BE". You won't hear a child say "I want to be an Uber driver, will you?", no matter which social strata of society they come from! BE is the ability of just BEING; finding expression for one's latent as Talent. And that expression comes from the inherent understanding of the excellence required in a specific field of work making a contribution to life.
BECOMING on the other hand is the ability to execute what others expect from you and are explicit and / or implicit in their instructions. The social inequities in our societies has biased and limited the choices that life has to offer for an individual to make a decision which determines what one can BECOME more than what one can BE; isn't it? And suddenly, we are faced with an existential crisis of how we sustain what we have become; which is no longer tenable for the societies or the enterprise that can keep the economy ticking. But then, there is also the avenue of new learning, that can renew the idea of who we want to be. The sweet spot of "The Future of Work" is in this intersection of the divide between Be & Being; encompassing both.
For it is not human to leave anyone behind, can we? So it is important to now find a uniform understanding on "The Future of Work". If we were to value each life as we keep saying through any of the movements; #Blacklivesmatter #Metoo #Poverty ; and / or #diversity , where would we start? The answer is embedded well within the question; asking ourselves what is the value of each life and how valuable it can be for the society in its contributions? This is not about selling the dream of being one's own boss or making more money than what a conventional job would offer. This is about pursuing a calling that would truly enable a person to express and showcase talent. Even when one chooses to be an Uber driver, how can a day at work be joyful?
Or if one is a masseuse, how can the delivery of a massage service be safe and respectful? Or when a software developer contributes a brilliant algorithm, how can the business growth value that contribution? How can one find dignity in one's work and at the same time learn to find creativity in it to deliver a higher value? Technology is still a point solution today that first of needs harmonizing between hardware and software and further connection to other systems before it can be widely perceived as a disruption to human existence. To the contrary, humans have a great chance to ally with technology to transform life.
These connection of dots needs to be designed, transformed commercialized as innovation for growth to sprout again from the waste of the our current pandemic and economic crisis. It starts for me with the question on whether we are in a position today to offer better choices to people; whether they are in they have lost their jobs; or in fear of losing them; or are just about to enter the workforce? This is a cross generational question simply because none of the above three demographics is actually equipped to handle the real needs of what the future of work demands of them. If an entire surgery were to be performed digitally, it doesn't mean humans are not involved.
To the contrary, humans are involved in tuning, training and twisting them to combine with different systems to create a cohesive outcome. Please refer to the following illustration that points to how Seven Technologies are altering life as we know. Before the dialog on The Future of Work can become a meandering and meaningless one, there is a great need to transform workforce; depending on where they would be relevant; Within the seven technologies (Point Solutions) of Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, 3D/4D Printing, Nanotechnology, Wireless Mesh Networks, Robotics and / or Pervasive Computing.
Where a doctor would know how to perform a surgery with robotic assistance or a biotechnologist would have automation to support research or a mechanic would have the ability to test, train, twist, maintain and manage a self driving truck. Connecting the Customer Universe of enterprise adapting to the above technologies. Developing code to connect digitally in real time or developing new engines or developing connectors between hardware and software or between security data endpoints. Connecting to the extended ecosystem that represents life management including Environment, Education, Governance, Health, Wealth, Mobility and Technology.
Developing and Publishing Content, or developing new recipes or creating unique ways of creating and distributing music. Jobs are not being taken over by robots or disappearing. They are just morphing into something new and different from what we have known. And while there is still time,