J.R. Global

Disruptions and distractions become the two-edged sword of change. Companies and institutions that have been the bastions of culture, society, and civilization are drowning in the flood of technology. Workers that have learned skills and built capacities to last a life find it perplexing, confusing, and frightening that job requirements have moved away from their strengths. Employers in every sector are grappling with new business models filled with technologies, strategies, and fallacies that challenge the comfort of traditions.  

The other edge of the sword, however, has opened a vista filled with opportunity. Change always comes with a bit of pain. Most resist it because it hurts too much to make the change. That reticence is maintained until it hurts less to change than it does to remain the same. It turns out that humans have not changed that much over their existence. 

Building routine builds habits and tools that will manage energy and hence performance. Routine include breaks away from repetitive activities.  Breaks can take various forms, both passive and active. Passive activities have a low energy payoff. Things like watching television, eating, or social media crawling can be energy vampires that add to the problem. Active activities like physical exercise, social interaction, going outside, or group activities like yoga or sports can be energy sources and perfect breaks from work.  

The examination of how society responds to change is complex and confusing. Leaders become the essential component that drives the response. In its simplest form, the solution involves two basic strategies, an inside and an outside strategy.

The internal strategy has to do with control of individual thought, passion, and behaviour. The first examination is internal introspection which helps leaders of all shapes and sizes to identify what is important, what is valued, and what priorities are.

The external strategy stands on the shoulders of the first strategy. It allows leaders to exhibit the wisdom of ages of leaders that have called for a version of truth existent in previous cultures and civilizations. It allows people to be more grounded in themselves. It influences them to find meaning in activity, irrespective of the outcomes, that allows them to derive meaning from action and not possessions. 

The availability of technology has enabled it to become disruptive and distracting through the speed at which it is developed. Availability and access far exceed human or cultural mechanisms to adapt, much less understand the transformation.  The interactive nature of this fast-moving freight train has three basic elements. They are simply humans, technology, and culture.

What seems to be a new and revelatory statement that technology is the cause of the distractive, disruptive and excitingly evolving world, maybe somewhat myopic. The relationship between human beings, culture, and technology has been interwoven since the first caveman picked up a rock.

There is a subtle shift or delineation in universities across the world. The change is in their roles as centres of technology-based education or as centres of cultural conveyance. 

The necessity for leaders, workers, organisations, and individuals to continually learn, un-learning, and relearn is essential for remaining relevant in constant change. The inference is that educational pedagogy falls under the same mandate. 

The business environment across the globe is animated by technology that is evolving at a faster rate than ever. The projection is for it to continue to accelerate, break down global boundaries, change the ways people work, how supply chains work, and how customers are approached. Work no longer has the constraint of geography. Globalization has had its effect on workers anywhere connecting to jobs and projects regardless of location, time zone, language, or culture.

How can workers cope in a highly technological, rapidly changing, and potentially overwhelming environment?

It appears that the future of work will be this dreamland where workers can work from anywhere, be part of globally distributed teams, be valued for contribution, and spend no time commuting. Learning can take place from anywhere and be continuous. Many of these utopian dreams have been delivered, and even more have been promised. 

However, inside every silver lining, there is a grey cloud.  

Does a cognitive cortex and opposable thumbs create a valuable human or just a viable animal?