How do we help humans be more human?

In my article last week, I made the case that artificial intelligence isn't replacing us as many of us had feared just a few short years ago. For those of you old enough to remember, back in 2007, researchers at Oxford Economics and the World Economic Forum predicted that more than 45% of jobs would be "eliminated" due to automation. As I pointed out in my article, the exact opposite seems to be happening. Artificial intelligence is creating jobs that only humans can do. So, our economy is evolving where man and machine work together to solve problems. I'll leave the topic of merging man and machine to Elon Musk.

In his article, "We are Becoming a Power Skills Economy," Josh Bersin explains this in detail." It's a must-read. Josh Bersin provides us with a nifty chart. But I can't reproduce it here due to copyright restrictions. You'll have to check the article.

The chart shows that routine cognitive jobs are declining rapidly, and routine manual jobs are declining. These are the jobs that artificial intelligence and automation are eliminating. However, that's not the whole story. As artificial intelligence is adopted more widely in applications, it creates jobs doing only the things humans can do.

So, why don't we invest more in helping humans do what only humans can?

The challenge for leaders is accepting that automation, and its more advanced cousin, artificial intelligence, are not the silver bullets that technologists have hyped. It's not that the technology hasn't created tremendous value. These digital technologies are giving us data and insights. But they've also made the human aspects of the job more important than ever. Executives acting now on this understanding will preserve the goose that lays the golden egg.

Experience meet Wisdom

When I started my entrepreneurial journey, I didn't know who I would need to become to achieve my goals. I was terrible when I was a young attorney and then a young executive. I didn't understand the "people stuff." In my naivete, I was all about getting the work done. But then I worked for an abusive bully of a senior executive. She managed from a place of insecurity, fear, paranoia, and bigotry. She was perfect for me in that season. She helped me to see my shortcomings and to commit to change. I read Leadership and Self-Deception from The Arbinger Institute , which set me on my current path.

Josh Bersin describes the experience that led him to a similar place.

I was an engineer, sales engineer, and analyst for years. My technical skills started with genetics (my father was a physicist) and I always took to technical things easily. But as my career evolved, I kept find [sic] myself “passed over” for bigger jobs by people with more managerial expertise, ambition, or relationship skills. So over time, in my own case, I learned to be a leader, learned how to work well in teams, and learned a lot of things about group dynamics, teamwork, empathy, and development.

I'm sure many senior leaders can relate to hitting this very same roadblock in their careers. How did you overcome it? Wouldn't we learn more about being human if we focused on growing together? Wouldn't our most complex challenges be solved faster if we learned to collaborate with a bias for action?

A Wave Turns into a Tsunami

In his article, Josh points out that CEOs get it. He cites research done by IBM and 彭博资讯 , finding that CEOs desperately seek people who are "creative, can solve complex problems, manage large teams of people, and deal with strategy, time management, and organizational growth." But here's the rub. The new business paradigm requires many more people to have these skills. We need more creative thinkers. We need more empathetic leaders who inspire and motivate. We want people at every level of the organization to contribute to our success. This is not about a select group of senior leaders. It is mission-critical learning that must extend across the whole organization.

The biggest mistake I see people make when new to resistance or weight training is how they train. You can tell they're not thinking about the body as an interconnected system. They haphazardly move about the gym going from machine to machine in no order. They're working on their arms or doing cable exercises and then using dumbbells. That's not where you start weight training. You focus on working the big muscles first: chest, back, and legs. Build up those big muscles first. You're working on the smaller muscles because they support the big muscles. After your muscles grow and you get stronger, focus on the smaller muscles for definition.

That's why I've simplified things to get started. These three activities will be the most valued in the future of work.

Getting started building these three muscles first will support all the other muscles.

What are Power Skills?

So, Josh has come up with Power Skills. Bernard Marr has his Future Skills. Moses had his 15 commandments.

Every organization will be different in terms of the skills they build. But, Get building the most important skills first. Josh recommends continuous skills building. I agree. Workforce transformation at this moment is essential. I do not expect the ongoing talent crisis to abate during an economic slowdown. Josh concurs on this point as well.

We started a movement to encourage executives to invest more in their people for all the reasons we've already stated. As technology adoption accelerates and fades into the fabric of society, it's what makes us human that will stand out. Every organization can be unique and differentiated. It's your people that make the difference. ?