When these billionaire tech heavyweights speak, it’s worth a listen.
We’ve all heard of the impending Robot-pocalypse, where robots come and steal everyone’s job.
A sample of some fear-mongering headlines:
- JP Morgan just outsourced finance and legal work to a robot that can complete 360,000 hours of billable work in a few seconds.
- Mark Cuban predicts robots will soon be able to write better computer code than humans.
- Even some doctors may get displaced by smart toilets and other sensors that provide a more accurate diagnosis.
Imagine that…
Doctors, lawyers, accountants and engineers being displaced by Robots…it’s every Tiger Mom’s worst nightmare!
Hold up! So what’s this all mean?
Mark Cuban, the billionaire software developer and owner of the Dallas Mavericks says:
“I personally think there’s going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering.”
In other words, in a world where Robots will increasingly displace jobs, creative thinking will become the new in-demand skill. When you have Robots calculating and crunching millions of data points, you’ll still need a human with creative thinking to interpret the data and generate insights and assertions.
McKinsey seems to agree, stating that the hardest activities to displace are people management and creative work. Classic hallmarks of any liberal arts education.
Bill Gates opts for the glass half full perspective, pointing out that job displacement will free up labor to…
“Do a better job of reaching out to the elderly, having smaller class sizes, helping kids with special needs. You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique.”
Missing that liberal arts education?
Here’s a tip from Mark Zuckerberg:
“The world needs purpose. It’s up to you to create it. Taking on big meaningful projects is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.”
Robots can NOT create projects with meaning and a sense of purpose. Doing this requires a level of creative thinking and human empathy that are far out of reach for even the most advanced Robots.
So how do you take on big, meaningful projects?
Just like how you’d eat an elephant: one bite at a time.
Started on the Side, Now We’re Here
Facebook was originally a simple “Hot or Not” for Harvard.
Microsoft originally logged traffic counter data.
Even the Internet itself, started off as an unofficial side project.
And Drake…actually, let’s skip Drake.
Today’s heavyweights didn’t become titans of industry overnight. Even for them, it all started with a Side Fling.
Why Everyone needs a Side Fling…
…aka a side hustle, side gig, side project.
As Mark Cuban, Bill Gates and Zuck described, thriving in tomorrow’s economy will require creative thinking, human empathy, and projects with a sense of purpose. These are all common to a liberal arts education, but not exclusive to one. In fact,
A side hustle, side gig, side fling, passion project, whatever you wanna call it…is bar-none, the best training regimen for your future.
Maybe you’re a corporate rockstar looking to break out of the box and work for yourself.
Or maybe you plan to keep your day job, and just enjoy having a Side Fling for fun and creative expression.
Regardless of your career goals, putting in work on your Side Fling will help you level up and be well-positioned for tomorrow’s economy.
Let’s get to it!