The Future-Proof Workplace. Goldsmith Marshall

tomorrow, today.

      The real-life stories and examples they share are fascinating and packed with tips to “future forward” your career. Not only are they serious researchers but they have a wealth of experience as hands-on practitioners.

      We are on the cusp of major change. Many of the paradigms that held true in the twentieth century no longer apply. The way we shape and design our workplaces, develop talent and leaders, including our people practices, must be retooled for this century. And it must begin now.

      This book is a real pay it forward gift to everyone leading organizations today. Whether you are a CEO, senior leader, team leader, aspiring leader, or human resources professional, this book is a must-read for anyone serious about thriving today – and tomorrow.

– Marshall GoldsmithCoach, Speaker, Author, and Professor of Management Practice at Dartmouth Tuck School of Business

      CHAPTER 1

      SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN TURBULENCE

      The future depends on what you do today.

– Mahatma Gandhi

      Look out! In workplaces across the globe, conventional wisdom is being thrown out the window.

      Approaches that were tried and true are being challenged and debunked. Rules that once made sense no longer seem to apply. Everything around us seems to be in flux – from how we conduct ourselves to how companies are functioning.

      For example, just 61 companies that were in the Fortune 500 in 1995 were still on the list in 2015. Only 12 percent remained.1

      Products that were staples are going away forever. Good-bye landline telephones, cable television, and personal computers. The music industry has been changed forever by downloads and streaming. While few use single-tasking cameras, more than 20 million photos are uploaded to social media every minute of every day.

      Information ricochets around the world in mere seconds. Facts are checked instantaneously. Truth can be uncovered quickly, and fiction can be spread just as quickly. As a result, politics in most countries are in a constant state of upheaval.

      It's a strange new world, and all indicators predict it will only get stranger.

      Today, Not Tomorrow

      The future of work is not tomorrow. The future of work is today!

      In our work with business leaders and teams around the world, we see too many companies missing out – still operating according to twentieth-century mind-sets, practices, and technologies.

      We also see the careers of too many gifted individuals needlessly stalled, and ended, because of ignorance or fearful resistance.

      It doesn't have to be this way. We want you, your career, and your company to be future-proof. That's why we're sharing our perspectives with you and your teams.

      There are plenty of writers who give their predictions for the future, and we enjoy many of those books and articles. But this book deliberately avoids the crystal ball. Instead we offer pragmatic business solutions based on our research and experience. Solutions you can, and should, implement today.

      The drivers of change in the workplace are hiding in plain sight. We want to challenge your thinking by exploring six factors, because the way we think about tomorrow influences what we do today.

      Waves of Change

      There are three waves of change that test the limits of human convention and create havoc – and opportunity – in the workplace:

      1. Digital technology – the increasing ability to create new ways of doing things.

      2. Demographics – the changing mix of, and interaction among, people.

      3. Globalization – people's ability to do business in a shrinking world.

      These waves of change are having a profound impact on how society, politics, business relationships, and innovation are shaping the twenty-first century. The ways we created strategy, managed people, and built organizations no longer apply.

      As a result, power is shifting in ways that make many uncomfortable, others exhilarated, and leave some just shaking their heads wishing for the calmer waters of the “good old days.” Of course, change has been wreaking havoc on the status quo since the beginning of mankind. What's new today is the pace of change.

      New technology and globalization, in the broadest sense, have always been around. It's the pace and reach of change that are transforming everything we do in business. Think about how the automobile changed not only transportation but how, when, where, and what people purchased.

      Can you imagine life today without electric light? This invention revolutionized commerce, manufacturing, and almost every industry.

      In their time, just over 100 years ago, these examples were seismic shifts for people. The changes created new business opportunities overnight while destroying other industries. They disrupted whole industries, shifted the skills required for workers, and changed the work environment forever.

      And let's be frank, there will be winners and losers, as there always have been as the world spins into the future.

      Digitization and Change

      Last night, while you were sleeping, white collar jobs were being replaced – by computer algorithms.

      In the financial sector, software can analyze data, reveal trends, and pose probabilities faster than a human analyst can open a spreadsheet. We are able to mine data for predictions that we could never see previously. This analysis enables us to debunk myths and see new solutions to problems that we could not comprehend before.

      These insights will change how we practice medicine, how insurance is sold, and how we transport ourselves to work – or stay home to work.

      Today's 3D printers can create almost anything we can imagine. And our cars want to drive themselves! Robots and artificial intelligence are taking over tasks humans once did. In fact, one hotel in Japan is staffed by robots, with only a skeleton crew of humans.

      But the new discoveries of the twenty-first century are only just beginning to be realized. A 2014 survey of executives by Forrester/Russell Reynolds cited that over 75 percent of those in the finance, health care, and government sectors believe that their business will be significantly disrupted in the next 12 months.

      In the past few years we've seen Netflix go from darling to dumpster – twice! You can bet its executives, and every other media company, is looking to analytics to tailor content by region and by user in order to ride the wave of the future.

      A “me too” strategy is not a strategy. If you're copying a business model, you're building in obsolescence and extinction.

      Established corporations known as manufacturers, like General Electric, are working to reposition themselves as tech companies. GE is moving its headquarters to Boston, a decision we believe is intended to move the company closer to innovation hubs like MIT.

      NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan, president and CEO at Genpact, LLC, recently shared with us that Genpact does not have corporate headquarters and instead spreads its teams around the world in hubs close to their customers. He also noted that their ability to use robots made communication with customers instantaneous.

      Through the robot interface, the customer, sitting in New York, could meet the team – based in Poland – that would work for his organization and understand how its processes would be managed. It is quite revolutionary.

      Changing Demographics

      Much is written today about the millennial generation. And much of it is derisive: “Millennials don't want to work hard. They want to be immediately rewarded with big jobs.”

      Go back 30 or 40 years and read books and articles about the young people coming into the workforce, and you'll see the same criticisms and concerns. In fact, the same themes were a part of social commentary 1,000 years ago.

      Yes,

1

Mark J. Perry, “Fortune 500 Firms in 1955 v. 2015; Only 12 % Remain, Thanks to the Creative Destruction That Fuels Economic Prosperity,” AEIdeas, October 12, 2015, https://www.aei.org/publication/fortune-500-firms-in-1955-vs-2015-only-12-remain-thanks-to-the-creative-destruction-that-fuels-economic-growth.