Visionaries Wanted! The Dr. Wisdom Challenge. One more Week to go!

Many have already shared with us how they envisage the future of work as part of the Dr. Wisdom 2019 Challenge which I′ve started here on LinkedIN two weeks ago (see below).

The good news: There is still one more week to go and the opportunity for you to post 3 ideas about how in your opinion the future of work could look like in seven years! If you are ready to demonstrate your visionary capabilities as a futurist then you should participate at the challenge.

To take part at the Dr. Wisdom 2019 Challenge, you just have to tell us your thoughts on how the future of work might look like in seven years! Specifically, share with us 3 ideas that you believe are essential for transforming our work and workplaces. Post your 3 ideas here.

There are no rules other than you coming up with innovative ideas, concepts, etc. The bolder and more visionary, the better! Last day of submission is October 31, 2019. We will jointly choose the best ideas here on LinkedIN via public voting by November 10, 2019.

Some selected, stimulating examples of recent posts by participants of the Dr. Wisdom Challenge:

Jagriti Kapoor

1. LEADERSHIP & EMPLOYEES MUST ADOPT A GROWTH MINDSET – Leaders but learn to have a growth mindset which impact's an individual’s intrinsic motivation levels and in turn leads to innovation ; but this is possible when leaders provide psychological safety for people to fail(learn), thereby creating an environment where innovation will happen. Every employee must acknowledge , what research has actively proven that intelligence and skills are not fixed, they evolve if you put thought and effort. Top-down and Bottom-up, we must change our workplaces to evolve into incubators for healthy work and personal life. Hire not for a fit and skills alone but look for candidates with a growth mindset. Don’t lead as a dictator but as a leader who works to achieve a vision through co-creation, collaboration, influence, empathy, coaching and integrity. Manage the system not the people. 
2. FLATTER HIERARCHY – It′s time we look at how our organization is structured. Does this hierarchy support faster & effective decision making, empathy for stakeholders, collaboration & interaction with people, Customer centricity, employee satisfaction, self-organization ? If not help leaders get closer to the employee and the customer, co-creating value together.  
3. MACHINE & HUMAN COLLABORATION- technology is helping us create machines and algorithms that can solve so many problems, there is work that machines can perform, there is software that reduces the effort and defects; what does this mean? it clearly means that we may be at that point in history where if we utilize software/machines to do the mundane, repetitive, simple/complicated tasks, we as humans with an intellect and emotional intelligence can focus on solving complex problems, problems that may need human touch , thinking , research . This would result in not only effective and efficient solutions but may also reduce the time we spend possible working and rather spend more time on perusing hobbies, creating new things and spending quality time with family/friends, in the distant future. There are greater things man is meant to achieve.

Katherina Fiege

1. Eliminate exclusively open space offices, as it does not enhance productivity and efficiency. The ability to concentrate (silence) is key for many people that suffer in such environments. There needs to be the possibility to shut doors (backed by research!) Communication and socializing is equally important-it should be possible with flexibility in designated areas that are inviting. 
2. Do not discard fundamental research for more applied research. We need more unique inventions for new times ahead. Help fund fundamental research. 
3. More focus on individualization, less on “stars” and “unicorns”. Talent can be found and developed in the silent and dim lit realms. Not everybody necessarily sparkles (or wants to). Plus, youth is not everything, experience matters greatly in terms of context and future!

Daniel Friedlaender

1. Flip the approach to higher education. After high school, young people should first start with targeted internships and work experience to understand the workplace and the skills needed to succeed. Only then would college applications be possible. This would fundamentally change the approach to work and education and create new motivations and understanding. With longer lifespans we no longer need to be in such a rush. 
2. Mandatory second (or more) language lessons and training in all schools from the start of primary education. 
3. All employees to be given a choice from the most lowly position in a company to swap 10% of their salary for equity. This immediate buy in would change the nature of offices and the workforce and empower all employees to feel ownership throughout their careers.

John Kennedy

1. I see day to day workflow shifting from a 9-5 to a more fluid integration where employees come and go from the office to home to a child's play all while being able to self regulate and manage their personal workflow and deliverables (e.g. if I want to start at 10 am work for 4 hours, take a 2 hour nap, pick up my kid from school and do some work for an 1-2 hours while I am at my kids sport game/practice so long as my general workflow is complete no questions get asked).
2. Improvements to education that removes grade limitations allowing passionate entrants regardless of prior educational slips. Failure or Mistakes are rarely permanent in life our education should reflect this level of tolerance if not totally embrace it as an inevitability by providing new opportunities to grow assuming the prerequisite competencies are met regardless of grade. Teaching people that failure is a teacher not a consequence can help them move beyond a state of fear and inaction to one of fail fast recover quickly pushing new creative boundary. 
3. Corporate engagement actually asking employees what opportunities they see and giving them ample resources to act on it and deliver based on an Opportunity Costs instead of focusing on Sunk Cost fallacy

Jennifer Link

1. Governments/ leaders/ organizations, local or world, will invest more in the quality of how students learn. This will foster a sense of group efforts and inclusivity, collaborations driven by curiosity with diverse outcomes, and project work to prepare our youth to challenge old ideas of what boundaries exist our current workforce climate. Social skills will play an integral role a successful outcome of this investment. 
2. Technology plays a large role in the changing workforce of today. I imagine this is not slowing anytime soon. With the expansion of the IoT(Internet of things), the evolution of the need for human skills in utilizing this technology is prevalent today and will be even more later on . As of today, some obstacles in expanding the human knowledge base of technology is: time, money, and awareness of what specific skills need to be obtained to perform a job. Over the next 7 years, I see more of an action to grow urgent needed skills with keeping IoT in the forefront, to generate awareness of the opportunities to be afforded from this action. 
3. The productivity of the workforce depends on cultivating talents in individuals, thus creating better leaders. This requires redefining what great leaders look like. In 7 years, I believe many countries will afford more opportunities to become a leader, emphasizing focus on helping with issues of inequalities in gender, race, or other identifiable constraints we place on a person. A part of the transformation our human workforce is the need to redefine what it means to be a leader, as well as what it means to be human. 

Simon Decker

1. Transformation of the educational sector including individualized teaching approaches in early education and a significant increase of "valuing" "non-master" degrees; therefore bridging therapy gap between occupations.
2. A drastic change in company valuation with a significant focus on sustainability and social responsibility. Quarterly results cannot remain the driver. This could lead to truly sustainable acting. 
3. While one and two are framework changes (by the way, under number 2 I would include the combating of fake news) I do see a significant advancement in A.I. driven "white board realization". I believe many ideas are not pursued by creative minds due to fear of failure, lack of core business function knowledge, or e.g. lack of technology knowledge. Voice directed assistance will help and supplement. 

What do you think about these ideas and concepts? Please share your thoughts with us and/or participate at the Dr. Wisdom Challenge here.

What you can win at the “Dr. Wisdom” Challenge: The best three contributors will each receive:

? A lot of exposure! I′ll be posting multiple times your ideas and comments across LinkedIN, Twitter, and Facebook with mentioning you as the creator.

? An Amazon gift card valued US$ 25.

? A signed copy of my latest book.

Looking very much forward to your participation and your ideas! Let′s get started!

Many thanks,

Andreas von der Heydt 

Disclaimer: The Dr. Wisdom Challenge has nothing to do with Amazon nor with my work at Amazon. It′s a pure private initiative and pet project driven by passion and curiosity.

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Andreas von der Heydt is Director of Talent Acquisition & Recruiting at Amazon. Before he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Currently he lives with his wife and daughters in Seattle, USA. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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Other recent and popular articles by Andreas:

How to Lead with Vision, Speed, and Empathy

Why Organizational Culture matters and how best to Decipher it!

Meet the Most Influential and Unknown Prophet of Management

Photo credit: prill via istockphoto

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