These times are being called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This name is meant to capture the transformative impact of artificial intelligence, machine learning/deep learning, robotics, bio hacking and other transformative technologies. From self driving vehicles, which will eventually replace the need for long haul trucking, to decision science giving each person what they may or may not know they want, our world has changed.
This shift is replacing jobs at the grocery store and on the assembly line. Marketing was once primarily a visual medium and is now data driven down to the last element. The artistry of marketing remains a tool to test and design to match biases. All done by computers. One might think we should be concerned about the future of work. I say no.
Why?
This free’s us humans up to relearn what it means to be human. For the better part of the last century, business has been measuring, often poorly, our productivity, output, and satisfaction. Mind you, all with a dehumanizing quality. Sadly, some use data to support their interests while others simply don’t know that they are looking at inaccurate or incomplete data. Regardless of how leaders have come to missing the mark, its time to change.
We are in dire need of Wisdom! And it couldn’t have come at a better time. The future of work will give over half the workforce of today their lives back. Employees don’t have to be owned by an employer any longer. Or are you thinking you like the security and are comfortable being under the radar? I say you will fall in love with this new you once you and the market meet.
This new future of work plays to everyone skilled or highly skilled in a few specific areas. Now employers get to engage you for 10 hours a week versus owning you. You get to work with several companies doing what you do best and making more in total while giving employers more value in fractions.
We are a ways off from this working due to our misguided beliefs about free markets and grabbing power versus understanding the “gig” economy. Our current reality is that businesses are driving down the cost to get more value that is sustainably there for the taking and using it as a transaction. This will change.
As names go, “gig” has to change to something worth creating. I suggest using fractional as a pointer to an enduring solutoins at a fraction of the cost.
Sense making 