A Future for All: How to save jobs and safeguard data

Is it our responsibility to build an inclusive and representative future? If so, who’s actually accountable for ensuring that all of society is engaged in the future economy?

These were some of the questions posed to me at the Stanford New York Alumni panel I was invited to on July 11th. The topic was ‘The Future of Cities’, and I was joined on stage by an impressive trio of thought leaders: Ravi Srinivasan, MD, Bay Capital Advisors; Daniel Burstein, co-founder of Millennium Technology Value Partners and a 14X New York Times best-selling author; and moderator and organizer Mitchell S. Kominsky, co-founder of Venture Smarter.

Two questions threaded the discussion: How do we ensure that the decisions we make and the technology we create are in the interests of society as a whole? And amid this rapid technological advancement we’re currently experiencing, how can we safeguard our most private information?

Here, as on the panel, I offer three solutions to address these questions:

1) We need to prepare: While automation is inevitable, it is possible to stymie negative consequences while promoting positive outcomes if people are trained sooner rather than later.

Here’s one of those “original” doomsday stats: “30% of ‘work activities’ could be automated by 2030 and up to 375 million workers worldwide could be affected by emerging technologies,” according to “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained”, a McKinsey report.

Whether or not the shift is this drastic, there’s no doubt that change is afoot, and I firmly believe we must begin to train society as a whole on how to be an engaged participant in this new economy.  

• First, we identify the main industries that will be displaced by automation, and implement training there. For example, we can have autonomous trucks, but not without first understanding how those jobs will be replaced. Industries that will be affected include: Transportation (trucking, ride-sharing, airline), customer service, healthcare (more specifically, pharmaceutical), legal (most affected would likely be paralegals), and service industry workers (especially food industry workers).
• Training should not only focus on hard skills (like programming and design) but also soft skills such as strategy and product development. As Paul Daugherty and James Wilson of Accenture state in their book Human + Machine, we must focus on where a machine’s job starts and ends, and where a human’s begins.
• Those allowing and profiting from automation must bear the responsibility of funding retraining initiatives. This includes corporations and governments. In corporations, training should come in the form of internal retraining, while the government should provide public training and skill development for the general public.

2) We need clear policies on how data can and cannot be used. In addressing the topic of privacy, it is imperative that governments act in favor of individuals over companies.

In the modern world, data is leverage — leverage a company has over competitors and users they seek to acquire. For this reason, governments must assign resources to crafting policies that preserve the core pillars of capitalism while securing the privacy of its citizens. Laws such as GDPR in Europe and, to a lesser degree SHIELD in New York, are two examples of models other governments can explore.

3) Finally, consumers must vote with their power — money. It is imperative that if a buyer or constituent does not agree with an organization’s stance or policy, they must withhold their support from the organization. When enough customers stop buying or using certain products because they don’t support a data policy, that affects an organization's bottom line which, in turn, affects change.

Our voice, and the services/products we use (or don’t), represent the true power that we have, and this is what we must wield to drive the results we hope to see.

Only collectively do we have enough power to find ways for the majority to flourish within the future a few of us have a hand in creating. For those fortunate enough to be architects of this future, it's our responsibility to make sure we work in the interests of all society.

Personally, I'll be figuring out ways to get the regular person ready for what's to come.

Some thoughts I have include retraining around new systems, which have humans working alongside intelligent agents; enterprise training strategy; and a live event discussing technologies that touch us all (AI, blockchain, etc). Email me ([email protected]) if you’re interested in discussing any of these initiatives to build an inclusive future.

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Thank you to my colleagues and friends, Diah Mehera, Steven Kuyan, and Jonathan Awad for their feedback and edits.