Ascent: The Future of Work

Where do we go from here?

As anyone reading this on LinkedIn in 2021 would have to concede, technology has profoundly transformed how we work over the last fifty years. Whether you want to cite the rise of software, the spread of portable computers, the Internet, mobile, or the emergence of the cloud as the most impactful, in each case the pattern has been the same. First we have the innovation (the technological “breakthrough” that makes a new behavior possible), and then later (perhaps years later) we observe the adoption at scale which reveals the true impact of the underlying innovation. 

The speed and breadth of adoption of new technologies (particularly by business) is determined by a complex calculus of factors. Persistently among those key factors is the “inertia” of pre-existing behaviors, the ways of working that were already in place, along with the beliefs and the perspectives that sustained them. This type of inertia in business can be incredibly difficult to overcome. Just ask anyone in IT at a government institution how their digital transformation is going.

Back in April of 2020 (when the pandemic was only unfolding and we announced the seed funding of Oyster), I expressed a sentiment of hopefulness. That sentiment was based on the intellectual idea that disruption can be good because (if nothing else) it gives us a chance to rethink long-held assumptions, to shift our perspectives forward, and to forge new behaviors.

Fourteen months later, my hopeful sentiment has matured into a passionate conviction. This unprecedented global event will absolutely become a catalyst for evolution in the world of work comparable to the impact of software, personal computers, the Internet, mobile, and the cloud. What is different about this event, unlike the advent of software, computers, the Internet, mobile, or the cloud, is that this event is not itself a technology innovation. The pandemic of 2020 was a different kind of influence on the evolution of work than we have ever seen before.

A Quantum Torpedo to Behavioral Inertia

In terms of its long-term impact on the evolution of knowledge work, the pandemic of 2020 will be recorded by history as a quantum torpedo to the behavioral inertia that was still attached to older ways of working. Many of those outdated ways of working were a residue from the Office Era, and were acting as a systemic constraint on our potential, even in 2021. In a reversal of the customary pattern described above where technology innovation first opens the door to new behavior which follows later, in this case we will see that the expedited adoption of new behaviors is what will lead to a fuller utilization of the technologies we already had at our disposal, and from that, to new heights of knowledge work productivity in the future. 

The pandemic nuked behavioral inertia in knowledge work.

The last fourteen months have done more than convince us here at Oyster that we are at the beginning of a new chapter in the world of work. We have heard from our incredible customers what their aspirations are. We’ve had a chance to talk to a bunch of smart innovators and thinkers in the world of work. We’ve listened, with particular interest, to the opinions of HR leaders at innovative companies that want to seize the opportunity to evolve how they work. The implications of thinking and working differently are staggering.

Venue is not the Point

The change that is happening goes much deeper than just “remote working”. The focus and attention given in the last year to the “remote working” aspect of the next era of work story is understandable. That’s been the most observable change. But this view is shortsighted and woefully incomplete. What’s happening now in the evolution of knowledge work goes much deeper than simply where people work. 

Let us imagine the status of knowledge work in the year 1867 (the year that James Clerk Maxwell unwittingly imagined a bridge between thermodynamics and information theory), when the Office Era was in its fragile infancy in only a tiny number of cities around the world. Imagine if in a matter of weeks (rather than over a century and a half) all of the knowledge-work-capable people in the world in 1867 were hired into knowledge work jobs to come work (in offices) on the most opportune and pressing problems of the time. If such a thing had occurred in 1867, it’s clear (to us in 2021) that the big picture story would be much, much bigger than “Millions of talented people around the world are going to work in offices for the first time”. And yet the location aspect of knowledge work has been the dominant headline of the last year. In our thought experiment of 1867 it would be as myopic to focus on the fact of the office as the venue of knowledge work as it is myopic for us in 2021 to focus on the removal of the office. Changing our perspective and behavior about the where of work is only one part of the evolution of knowledge work. (For more on that topic listen here from 29:00).

The Renaissance of HR

HR is poised for a renaissance. Just as the office itself has been the butt of jokes for decades, Human Resources has long been characterized as a stodgy, pro forma aspect of company life that does little to create value and often stands in the way of agility. That is all over now. HR is going to become the most transformed business function of the next decade. This transformation of HR will be comparable to the transformation of IT we saw over the last decade. The post-pandemic has clearly established that Human Resources will be the architect of the employment experience and will now be tasked with designing how talent and corporate strategy come together to create value. This new mandate, together with the many new challenges that HR will face in the context of globally-distributed organizations, will drive the transformation of human resources as we have known it.

Talent is the new Data

Talent is the new gold of the 2020’s. It is a bit odd to come around again in 2021 to the realization that talent is the most valuable corporate asset. The idea has been around for a long time and cannot be argued against. And yet we have not had many new narratives to describe the value of talent nor any new strategic formulas through which to increase the value of talent. Compare that to what we did with data over the last decade. During the next decade we’re going to see as much or more focus on innovation in the domain of talent as we saw invested in data during the 2010s.

Access Changes Everything

Democratization of access to opportunities and resources will be a macro game changer.

The Oyster mission is rooted in the idea “What if the talent of every person on the planet could be put to productive use, irrespective of their location?” To help us assess the impact of a “fully-utilized” global talent pool, we’ve relied on existing data about the global “talent gap”. This gap is estimated to reach $10 Trillion GDP, and 85 million knowledge workers by 2030 (according to BCG and Korn Ferry, respectively). But that is a rather bottoms-up approach. It could be more useful to assess the long-term economic effects potential (and much more exciting) to think in terms of a Kardashev scale but applied to the utilization of talent on Earth. If 100% means that every knowledge-work-capable person on earth is engaged in productive knowledge work, where would you estimate we are in 2021? What do you imagine could be accomplished in a world where the majority of the available talent is utilized?

Democratization of access to talent and capital also changes everything for prospective entrepreneurs. The removal of location as a requirement to starting a new company doesn’t just expand access to more entrepreneurs (and by extension to a greater diversity of ideas). The removal of location as a meaningful variable also changes the dynamics through which startups will compete for talent and investment capital.

An Invitation to the Future of Work

With these unprecedented opportunities in mind, we are extremely excited to invite you to Ascent by Oyster. 

Ascent by Oyster is a first of its kind virtual conference about the future of work, focused on the opportunities for elevated organizational performance afforded by geographic diversity.

Scheduled over two days, our unique program brings together a diverse assortment of speakers that will richly feed your interest in the next chapter of work.

Ascent by Oyster is not to be missed. Reserve your seat here.