THE DISTORTION II - The Three Change Accelerators Vs The Science of Certainty

Alamy: Additive Manufacturing with the Maker Bot, a 3-D printer.

As technology continues to impact our lives, workers in today's ever-changing labor market need to be prepared with skills to adapt and succeed in the workplace. Job opportunities in technology are growing up to three times faster than other career fields globally, or maybe not yet so in Nigeria – I may need some help ascertaining where Nigeria stands at the moment in the global scheme of things with the crises all over the place over resource (crude oil) control. Long gone are the days of a linear education and career trajectory as technology continues to reshape the world's education and workplace landscapes. Nowadays, the career paths of most individuals resemble a scaffold rather than a conservative straight line.

Changes in the education and workplace landscape not only impact job seekers, but educators and employers as well. It's estimated that by 2025, we could have 20 million jobs without enough qualified people to fill them. Before you start thinking that there will be no jobs for humans to do in the near future, first realize that technology has always eliminated jobs. What we're experiencing now is nothing new. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries, new advancements in everything from textiles to railroads to mail delivery to manufacturing caused jobs to disappear. The difference is that the change used to be slow. It took a long time for those jobs to disappear, so there was time to adapt.

But today, thanks to the three change accelerators of exponential advances in processing power, bandwidth, and storage, we are experiencing rapid change -- or rather, transformation. Because processing power is creating a digital explosion in our tools' ability to do more with less at a faster rate, and bandwidth is increasing exponentially, and storage is moving to the cloud, over the next five short years we will be transforming how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, innovate, train and educate. As a result, we are going to see many jobs disappear, yet at the same time, many current job definitions redefined as technology gives us new and more efficient ways to do our old jobs.

Ask yourself, 'Do I do a repetitive task?' Obviously, advanced automation and robotics is going to take over those jobs quickly, if they haven't already. Similarly, do you have a well-defined procedure that you do every day, or do you have rule-based skills? Intelligent systems are going to be able to do those procedures for you.

Ask yourself, 'What knowledge and skills can I learn that will supplement my current strengths?' What are the new areas of learning that will make me more relevant in a world of rapid change?" It's time to ask new and better questions, because we used to have a lot of time -- in some cases, a lifetime -- to prepare for job and career changes. Today the time frame to prepare for change is extremely short.

The problem is, we live in an uncertain world, and because of the high levels of uncertainty we all face, people of all ages and career levels are finding it difficult to know what new skills to learn, what courses to take, and what degrees to get that will provide them with the most opportunity going forward. Uncertainty keeps us stuck in the present.

Certainty, on the other hand, gives us the confidence to make a decision, to move forward, to invest time and money to learn new things. Studies have shown and proven the power of the science of certainty – which involves a scientific method of separating Hard Trends -- trends that will happen -- from Soft Trends – trends that might happen. This method is currently being used by many Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Deloitte, and Pratt & Whitney to name a few, to provide an accurate road map of the opportunities that are ahead.

That's why in my post on The Distortion (Con't) I stated 12 assertions (Certainties) that will transform every career, and create new ones. By providing an accurate road map for anyone from CEO to educator to auto mechanic who wishes to increase their personal career relevancy in a world of transformative change, you now have a new tool that you can use to make career and education decisions with confidence. The list highlights technologies that are here now, and will continue to transform present and future careers. As you read through the list, ask yourself how each one will play a key role in your industry and your personal career path. 

Better still, you can begin to direct the already awakened consciousness and energies of the kids in those directions as you deem fit. Remember no career nor business is left out in this sweeping change.