My Job (and Yours) Is Threatened by Digital Technologies

And, This Isn’t Due to Automation

Bondi Beach in Sydney (February 2018)

We live in uncertain times. The world is changing rapidly, offering opportunities that never existed in the analogue world.

For instance, social media and other online platforms provide “unlimited” opportunities to “create a community”, “have a conversation” and “build a legacy”.

Decentralized networks, based on blockchain and artificial intelligence, will only increase the opportunities to “get noticed”.

And yet, I still love giving presentations to a live audience.

Giving presentations builds confidence, visibility, and provides exposure. It also helps “build a network”, “grow your personal brand” and “get the word out”.

It is a fantastic way to explore new ideas and tighten a story. To me, one of the oldest means of interacting is probably still one of the best ways to instantly reach an audience and start a dialogue.

This became again clear to me last week, when I gave presentations in Sydney on “Doing Business in a Digital Age” and “The Role of Consultants in a Digital Age”.

These presentations highlighted once again how new technologies cannot be ignored.

Everybody (both companies and individuals) needs to study, experiment and embrace new digital technologies.

The “Digital Threat”: Employment is Disrupted by Innovation

There is a lot of talk about automation and how many people will lose their jobs to artificially intelligent and connected machines and devices.

These worries are probably correct. It seems obvious that, over the next few decades, many aspects of our work will be taken over by smart machines and robots.

And yet, this change will not happen overnight. We will see a gradual transformation, as the disruptive effects of new technologies creep up on us.

But my presentations in Sydney focused my attention on a different aspect of the “digital threat”. An issue that receives much less attention.

Too many people seem to be in denial of the current digital changes. Or, they simply don’t realize what is happening.

These are the people I worry about.

And not because they will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence any time soon. They will simply be replaced by other people who master the digital working technologies.

And this trend will only be accelerated by companies that struggle to survive the digital age (and are threatened to be displaced by younger more agile companies). The only way for these companies to remain relevant is finding people (employees, advisors and partners) who are able to help them deal with the challenges of the digital world.

The biggest threat is thus that people who don’t understand (or want to understand) the digital age (and its opportunities and challenges) will not be able to adapt their performance quickly enough to the fast-changing realities of a digital world. They won’t have the skills or mind-set to flourish in a new world.

Because in the new world of digitization what is really going to matter is the capacity to perform “high value” activities.

The “deniers” of today will be replaced by “tech-savvy” individuals who are better able to add value in the digital workplace of today and the future.

In a world of automated machines, humans will need to add value through their creativity. And it is this change that threatens our jobs and will happen much more suddenly than many people realize.

A New World of “High Value” Activities

Take the example of lawyers.

Technology in law will automate the routine work of lawyers and other legal advisors. That work will disappear. But this doesn’t mean the “end of lawyers”.

Rather, digital technologies will free lawyers to work on different “high value” and more creative activities.

For instance, legal solutions, regulations and trust will increasingly be embedded in the technology of the future. As a result, lawyers will need to be more and more involved in the “development of technology” (i.e., co-creating with technologists).

The “best” lawyers will be those that understand how centralized and decentralized platforms have changed and are changing the way we work and innovate.

A premium will be placed on the capacity to communicate a compelling vision and story of how law can be embedded in technology.

So, What Should Be Done?

The “digital pressures” on businesses and individuals are increasing. We cannot ignore technological change. Everyone needs to study and learn the new technologies (such as artificial intelligence and blockchain) in order to avoid becoming irrelevant and replaced by those that are more “tech-savvy”.

In order not be surprised, we have to prepare ourselves.

The good news is that the digital age offers plenty of learning opportunities. Particularly, blogs, videos and podcasts are a fantastic source of knowledge and inspiration.

Getting up to speed is not a terribly difficult task.

But what is more effective is experimenting with the digital technologies and building your own community.

Of course, presenting and directly interacting with people on stage is still an effective means to learn, reflect, tell a story and build a network.

But these “old world” means of communicating need to be supplemented by newer platforms.

After all, it cannot be denied that those individuals that have embraced social media and other digital technologies have become the real darlings of the global audience and media.

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