How future-ready am I? Answers to LEAP Academy’s Website Quiz

I was recently asked to give a talk to a group of postgraduate business students on the need for change interventions in response to our unparalleled changing times. While preparing for the talk, I remembered a striking TV ad of the South African insurance company, Santam, in which they contemplate the interesting times we live in and ask the question “What could go wrong?”. By showing that things can actually go wrong, they ask “When things go wrong, wouldn’t you want to be with the insurer that makes it right?”. The ad triggered an idea for putting together a quiz that could serve as a reality check for my audience and indeed for all of us living in these changing times. The quiz wants you to think about the question “Do I have the skills to navigate the changes brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and succeed in the new world of work?”. Failing to give a satisfactory response most likely demands a self-change intervention to become future-ready.

As we get closer to a better understanding of the new world of work, we recognise the potential of new technologies, including automation and algorithms, to create new high-quality jobs, and vastly improve the job quality and productivity of existing work. As has been the case throughout economic history, such augmentation of existing jobs through technology is expected to create wholly new tasks – from app development to piloting drones to remotely monitoring patient health – opening up opportunities for entirely new kinds of jobs. At the same time, however, it is also clear that the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s wave of technological advancement is set to reduce the number of workers required for certain work tasks. The increased demand for new roles will offset the decreasing demand for others. However, these net gains are not a foregone conclusion. They entail difficult transitions for millions of workers and the need for proactive investment in developing a new surge of agile learners and skilled talent globally (World Economic Forum, 2018).

To prevent an undesirable lose-lose scenario – technological change accompanied by talent shortages, mass unemployment and growing inequality – it is critical that businesses and governments take an active role in supporting their existing workforces through reskilling and upskilling, but also that individuals themselves take a proactive approach to their own lifelong learning (World Economic Forum, 2018). In fact, at LEAP Academy we advocate that instead of waiting for organisations and systems to prescribe how you should adapt, you should take the lead, dig deep and create your own future path.

The LEAP Journey® is created specifically to enable you as an individual to navigate your own transformation by growing your capability so that you can move forward quickly and stay ahead, whilst remaining true to yourself. Transforming yourself in order to be ready for the new world of work requires that you address these four questions:

1. How am I going to make sense of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and my role in the new world of work?
2. How am I going to learn more about who I am so that I can be the best leader of my own life and career?
3. How am I going to interact with others and the greater community to grow optimally and make my unique contribution?
4. How am I going to transform myself in order to stay relevant?

These four questions speak directly to the four higher-order (meta) competencies that are developed on The LEAP Journey®, namely existential, intrapersonal, interpersonal and professional competence. Existential competence in this context means to have the ability to pose questions and reflect on the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the subsequent new world of work and to interpret it maturely. Intrapersonal competence means to have the ability to gain self-knowledge and take decisions to stay relevant in the new world of work. Interpersonal competence means to have the ability to receive and interpret the concerns and feelings of others in the new world of work and to build effective relationship to take each other forward. Professional competence means to have the ability to transform yourself and to act responsibility in the new world of work. At LEAP Academy, future-ready means that you possess all four of these competencies.

The quiz, tests your readiness in terms of the four competencies developed on The LEAP Journey®. These are the answers to the quiz questions and how you could use it to decide a way forward:

1. Do I have a say in how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will turn out?

Yes. You do have a say in how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will turn out, but you do not have a choice in whether it will happen or not.

There is no consensus about whether the forces unleashed by technology will destroy more jobs than they create or whether the historic pattern of human upskilling will prevail as new, more valuable jobs replace those supplanted by technology. The next advancements in machines are clear, but the human response is not. The future of work is in our hands and will largely depend on the participation of ordinary citizens and the policy decisions countries make.

Currently, society is mainly divided into two big categories. Those who ignore the fact that revolution has already arrived to stay and those who fear it so much that they would waste their energy trying to eliminate a reality that should rather be addressed for the common good. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution humanity will face questions it hasn’t had to answer yet. We need to start having the conversation now. If we do not prepare in advance, we face several risks. We risk losing tremendous power to machines. We risk altering the course of humanity without fully understanding the consequences. It is possible that we risk creating massive inequality between the “techno super-rich” and a large underclass.

You, as a person, citizen, employee, investor, and social influencer, are a critical stakeholder in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Sharing your thoughts on the technologies and what you value as this revolution unfolds, is essential. The world we create through technologies can shape our lives, and is the one we pass on to the next generation. The onus is on us, as individuals, to grab every opportunity we can to direct the course of the future, while learning and developing our skills. Freedom to choose is a trait the machines can’t take from us – and we all need to choose to make a difference and adopt a growth mindset, i.e. to be proactive, to seek out learning opportunities, to make ourselves indispensable.

2. Which category of workers will have the most “transition opportunities” in the new world of work?

Blue-collar workers. Blue-collar workers perform mostly less complex routine-based work that is going to be increasingly automated leaving them no choice but to transition to other jobs. Automation is already starting to replace thousands of low-skilled jobs, and it will eventually replace millions more.

However, contrary to traditional assumptions, jobs that require high-level thinking skills are easier to automate than jobs that require low-level thinking skills – the Moravec’s Paradox. Framing this differently, this means jobs which require skills that have evolved for a longer time are much more difficult to automate than jobs that have evolved for a shorter time. For example, it is more difficult to automate a robot to throw a ball than it is to automate a robot to look at the demographic and financial data of a customer and give him or her a credit score. It is more difficult to automate kindness, which has been around for a long time, than to automate driving, which is a relatively new skill in human history. Generally, jobs that require gross motor skills are easier to automate than those that require fine motor skills. The jobs that will remain will be those that require a human touch. From this analysis, it’s clear that not only blue-collar, but also white-collar jobs will be affected by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Additionally, focusing on short-term job losses alone is largely to miss a far more important point. The research and advisory firm, Forester, predicts that by 2019, a quarter of all job tasks will be offloaded to software or robots. But according to the same report, these technologies will create a further 14 million jobs in the same period. Like every tech revolution before them, Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will create new and higher-paid jobs. We’ll still need humans to operate these machines, to programme them and tell them what to do, after all. And the productivity gains they create could be harnessed for the benefit of all. We’ll need humans to create bigger, better robots and to make sense of the data the machines churn out. The organisation of the future can’t operate without humans. Rather, it will be a safer, more efficient space where machines and AI augment the abilities and skills of humans, to increase output and reduce human error and injury.

The problem is not that robots will steal our jobs in the future: it is that humans have been wasting their talents and abilities on tedious tasks that are much better performed by AI or software, such as re-keying data or answering routine queries. Digitalisation offers individuals the opportunity to re-evaluate, re-skill and take up tasks that are more fulfilling, more sustainable and ultimately of more value in the long-term. The reality is that automation is going to impact every job in some way. Impact, not replace. That impact will be the ability to do our jobs better and faster, taking away the growing epidemic of “busyness” and giving us more time to be more human. Personal transformation is no longer an option – it’s the imperative.

3. Which countries will have the most “transition opportunities” due to the fourth industrial revolution?

Emerging economies. The problems of emerging economies are major compared to those experienced by leading economies. Currently many emerging economies are successful precisely because of the low cost of labour in their factories (e.g. China). This state of affairs cannot last, as their low wages will never be able to compete with the next generation of robots. Nations around the world aren’t only at quite different phases of digital evolution, they’re also moving at quite different speeds. However, for emerging economies – the so-called latecomers – the fourth industrial revolution can also be a window of opportunity to leapfrog into new economic sectors.

The term ‘leapfrogging’ was first proposed by Schumpeterian economists, together with the concept of the ‘windows of opportunity as a technologically well-informed strategy of catch-up’. Perez and Soete (1988) proposed that emerging technological paradigms may serve as a window of opportunity for the latecomer or emerging economies; not being locked into the existing technological system, they may seize the opportunity to leapfrog into emerging or new industries. Perez and Soete pointed out that there exists, during a time of paradigm shift, certain advantages in seeking early entry into the new industries, such as low entry barriers in terms of intellectual property rights (IPRs). The early mover (leapfrogging) advantage derives from the fact that knowledge tends to reside in the public domain during its early days, while there are no firmly-established market leaders. Therefore, with a certain level of technological and human resources that could access the sources of knowledge and create new additional knowledge, entry into emerging technology sectors can turn out to be easier than during the later stages of technological evolution. How the latecomer economies ride well and respond well with new technology will determine their future economic fortune. Depending on these, the new technology can be a new window of opportunity or may turn out to be means of further falling behind.

Ageing will also have a direct impact on skills demands and the types of jobs available as consumption shifts from durable goods (such as cars) towards services (such as health care). In some emerging economies, the challenge is to integrate large numbers of young people into the workforce. They will need to take advantage of this demographic dividend to boost growth and prepare for the transition to a much older population (Lagarde & Bluedorn, 2019).

We know that young people in emerging markets and developing economies are essential to economic development and growth (Lagarde & Bluedorn, 2019). They make up approximately one-third of the working-age population in the average emerging market and developing economy. We also know that globally, youth face tough labour markets and job shortages in countries all over the world. Approximately 20 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds in the average emerging market and developing economy are neither in work nor in school. Compare that to advanced economies where the average rate is 10 percent. The social and economic costs of this gap are significant.

Trust in society tends to be lower in countries with higher levels of youth inactivity, raising their chances of social conflict. A new International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff study shows that, if youth underemployment in the typical emerging market and developing economy was brought in line with the average advanced economy, the working-age employment rate would rise by 3 percentage points and economic output would get a 5 percent boost. That is the kind of game change that young people – and all countries – desperately need. How can we get there? More and better education is part of the solution. But this alone will not be enough. Too many well-educated young people struggle to find good jobs in emerging and developing economies. IMF research points to a series of policies that can help close the gap with advanced economies.

4. Which factor is most important in determining whether I will keep my job in the new world of work?

My skillset. The new working world is causing widespread disruption to the job market and the lives of many. Many jobs will disappear. At the same time, entirely new categories of jobs are emerging to replace those lost to the dramatic shift in work. By one estimate, 65% of children entering primary school today will have jobs in categories that don’t yet exist. People will need to find their way into these new jobs. For this, a large number of people may need to shift occupational categories and learn new skills in the years ahead. Many people may have to re-train several times during their working life.

While robots may be better at quickly, efficiently and safely completing physical, predictable tasks, robots aren’t better at everything. Currently, most robots lack social and cognitive skills. They might be able to work as chatbots to answer customer questions and complaints within a given framework, but they generally lack enough empathy to adequately support or care for customers and patients. As a result, roles that involve recognising cultural sensitivities, caring for others, creative or complex reasoning or perception and manipulation are unlikely to be automated. So, social workers, nurses, nuclear engineers, teachers and writers can rest assured that they won’t be replaced by robots any time soon. In short, for those looking to future proof their careers, building competencies in areas that machines will be unlikely to tackle effectively (i.e. complex problem solving, creativity) is likely the best recipe for success.

The World Economic Forum (2019) says that ”the skill sets required in both old and new occupations will change in most industries and transform how and where people work”. They list the following 10 essential skills in order of importance: Complex Problem Solving; Critical Thinking; Creativity; People Management; Coordinating with others; Emotional Intelligence; Judgement and decision making; Service orientation; Negotiation; and Cognitive flexibility.

What we are witnessing, is the battle for our futures. Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”. In the new age of rapid-fire change we have to be able to move forward without having all the answers, i.e. to feel our way in the dark, and do it at full speed. To be agile is of critical importance in the new world of work.

5. What about myself will change the most in the new world of work?

My identity. The innovations in AI, biotechnology, robotics, and other emerging technologies are going to redefine what it means to be human and how we engage with one another and the planet. Our identities, our capabilities, and our potential will all evolve along with the technologies we create.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the technological advances it brings will potentially threaten people’s identity and change their psychology when they are left without formal jobs. After all, work occupies many, if not most, of our waking hours. We are taught to grow up that working hard is the only way to succeed in life. ‘What do you do?’ is the second most common question asked when we meet someone, second only to asking someone’s name.

In the first and second industrial revolutions, people spent their entire lives working for one employer. People did not have much choice in the kind of jobs they ended up with, but this was decided by the circumstances and the interplay of market forces. In the third and fourth industrial revolutions, job-hopping is increasingly common and socially acceptable. Gone are the days of the traditional three-stage career. A portfolio career that implies taking on many jobs has taken its place. The idea of long-term jobs is dying. What will increasingly happen is that jobs will be shared among people and machines. Thus, jobs will be more fragmented. There will be more piece jobs, jobs on demand, less stable, less secure and less predictable jobs. Holding multiple jobs at the same time will become the norm, rather than the exception.

There has been a steady rise in voluntary activities. With AI replacing jobs, humans will increasingly be challenged to focus on what matters, beyond the traditional boundaries of the workplace or the notion of work itself, and pay more attention to important matters. It will force us to re-examine what we know and believe about ourselves as well as how we relate to the world and other people through work. When money no longer defines work and professions, perhaps core values and meaning might become more important. When we can no longer claim one central professional identity any more, we might gain multiple and more fluid identities. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will unlock the meaning of work and change our identities.

As Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum concurs: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution, finally, will change not only what we do but also who we are. It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships”.

6. What kind of thinking is most important in the new world of work?

Thinking about the collective good in the future. In a working world categorised by unprecedented disruption, the most important thing to ask ourselves is, “What kind of society do we want to build, and what kind of happiness do we want to achieve?”. In this sense, technology represents both the bright and dark sides of our potential future. It is a source of human progress that can free us to be more productive, strengthen our economies and align our global interests. Or, through our failure to distribute and share it properly, technology can further expand the disparity of wealth between the haves and the have-nots, contributing to the rise of populism and serving as a source for conflicts.

The only solution will be to focus on pursuing the “common good” of the society, not our individual interests. An approach to shape a society that addresses the “dark side” of disruption and ensures that during a period of enormous change, no one is left behind. This is not easy, for as Amy Edmondson Novartis, Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School says, “Two things that human beings don’t do well are thinking about the future and thinking about the collective”.

Traditionally, technological progress outpaces the political process; we already missed drafting the moral charter for the internet, and continue to play catch up to this day. We cannot afford to be blind-sided by the next frontiers, be it in biotechnology or AI. Our future is increasingly being scripted by engineers and entrepreneurs, who are not necessarily being held to account. As Bill Gates put it, “technology is amoral”. It is up to us to decide how to use it and where to draw the line.

7. Which consideration is most important in preparing myself for the new world of work?

Find a job that best aligns with who I am. The only certainty we have in a constantly changing world, is what lays at the core of our being, i.e. who we truly are.

Some worry that the Fourth Industrial Revolution could create a dystopian world where robots have taken our jobs and there’s a massive wealth disparity between those that own the robots and those that don’t. However, automating key tasks could eradicate the more tedious aspects of our jobs and allow human employees to focus on more meaningful, fulfilling tasks. This, however, requires that we know ourselves and know what gives us meaning.

With new jobs and opportunities emerging, we have a unique chance to find our purpose and find the role we can uniquely play. This is only possible through deep self-work; something a program such as The LEAP Journey® will help you to do.

8. Which skill is most important in the new world of work?

Coding and programming. From a technical perspective, being a coder or programmer is still the most important skill in the new world of work. Humans are needed to programme machines and tell them what to do. They are needed to create bigger, better robots and to make sense of the data the machines churn out. But where does that leave the rest of us who didn’t study robotics and don’t know how to code software?

Ironically, we’re being forced to be more human, to embrace the skills and attributes that robots can’t yet replicate or do better than us. As more robots enter the workplace, we’ll crave face-to-face interaction, authenticity and human connection more than ever. While we leave the repetitive, time-consuming back-office and shop-floor tasks to the machines, we’ll be gifted with more time to focus on what’s becoming key for every industry: the customer experience and human interaction. Managers will have more time to interact with team members. Colleagues will have more time to speak to customers and really understand their needs. Human resources will have more time to focus on upskilling team members rather than spending hours on on-boarding and payroll. And when we understand and can relate to each other better, we come up with new solutions, new products and better ways of doing things. We create and innovate. This means that people skills such as communication, emotional intelligence, strategy, people management, stakeholder interactions, leadership, creativity, entrepreneurship, analysis and decision-making will become more in demand, across all industries.

At LEAP Academy we advocate for the development of self-leadership skills, as we view leadership differently. In the scientific view of management, leadership is a mere function of management together with planning, organising and control. Planning, organising and controlling are all functions that can easily be automated. But leadership is a uniquely human skill. Machines cannot perform people skills. They cannot motivate, empower, or inspire. Today, the ability to work with people is in many ways more important than to be an expert in something. This is also why ‘holacracies’ (i.e. self-organising teams) are replacing the conventional management hierarchy. What the world needs today is a different kind of leader and for you to be the leader of your own life.

Now that you have assessed your future-readiness, how did you do?

In summary, to be future-ready you should do the following:

1. Take charge and be responsible for your own future. In other words, be a self-leader!
2. Think differently about your career. Learn to be agile.
3. Be a life-long learner.
4. Find out who you truly are and what gives you meaning.
5. Put people first. Care for and involve others in your world and in your decisions.
6. Focus your learning on developing critical skills, especially the so-called ‘soft’ skills.

While others are scratching their heads and wondering what to do, the smartest people are putting things in place to help manage change so that they can begin to explore the more fundamental questions of how to remain relevant in the new world of work. They are putting one foot in front of the other, setting out a vision for the future and planning the journey ahead. For those that have made this transition, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is opening up endless possibilities.

Just as insurance protects you and your assets from the financial risk of something going wrong, signing up for The LEAP Journey® as a self-change intervention can safeguard you in a radically changing world. Taking care of your development all by yourself is probably not going to be that fruitful. And even though you may be a self-leader armed with great ideas, some investment, an innovative culture and an army of millennial talent; well-positioned to ride the digital wave and make hay while the sun shines, traditional companies and the powers that be are not quite ready to roll over and give up their control just yet. Your future is in your hands. Wouldn’t you want someone who understands the new world of work to walk with you and nudge you, but also help you to learn the right stuff to leap forward and stay ahead, simply because things that can go wrong, often do?

References:

1. (2019). The Future Of Work Is Dynamic And Adaptive. Available online at: https://go.forrester.com/press-newsroom/future-of-work/
2. Hamer, A. (2018). Moravec’s Paradox is why the easy stuff is hardest for artificial intelligence. Curiosity, June 2018. Available online at: https://curiosity.com/topics/moravecs-paradox-is-why-the-easy-stuff-is-hardest-for-artificial-intelligence-curiosity/
3. Lagarde, C. & Bluedorn, J. (2019). Unlimited Opportunities: Creating More Jobs for Young People in Emerging Market and Developing Economies. Available online at: https://blogs.imf.org/2019/01/22/unlimited-opportunities-creating-more-jobs-for-young-people-in-emerging-market-and-developing-economies/
4. MF staff study. (2019). Work In Progress: Improving Youth Labor Market Outcomes in Emerging Market and Developing Economies. Available online at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2019/01/18/Work-In-Progress-Improving-Youth-Labor-Market-Outcomes-in-Emerging-Market-and-Developing-45130
5. (2019). The Future Of Work OECD Employment Outlook 2019. Available online at: https://www.oecd.org/employment/Employment-Outlook-2019-Highlight-EN.pdf
6. Perez, C. & Soete, L. (1988). Catching up in technology: Entry barriers and windows of opportunity. Maastricht University: Open Access publications from Maastricht University.
7. Santam Insurance. (2017). TV advert: “What Could Go Wrong?”. Available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GbgXUYXGRQ
8. Schwab, K. (2016). The Fourth Industrial Revolution. New York: Penguin Books.
9. Weforum.org. (2019). Various articles. Available online at: https://www.weforum.org/reports/
10. World Economic Forum. (2018). The Future of Jobs Report. Available online at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf