From Trend Hunting to World Building: Preparing for the Workforce of the Future — from linkedin.com by Yvette Montero Salvatico
Excerpt:
In this increasingly complex landscape, nothing exists in a vacuum. Isolated trends can be your worst enemy because they tie you to what is taking place right now, leaving you blind to what’s ahead. For this reason, reports and annual “top 10” lists of trends are of limited usefulness.
Instead, we must study the intersection of trends, making sense of the patterns formed from these unique collisions; explore the shifting values that act like fault lines undergirding the trends; and envision the new narratives which these trends, patterns, and values will create.
These world-building narratives act as maps, allowing us to test our current strategies and discover new opportunities, while avoiding threats. By painting immersive pictures of possible future worlds, we can be prepared no matter what future unfolds.
…
We want to pursue our passions and desire a calling rather than a career.
The Rise of the On-Demand Economy — from blogs.wsj.com by Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Excerpt:
This corporate capitalism era, characterized by hierarchically organized institutions, reached its height in the U.S. in the period following World War II, when the country craved a sense of stability following the pain and chaos of the Great Depression and the war years. But those days are long gone. In the more recent past, these relatively slow moving organizations were not able to keep up with fast changing technologies and markets, nor could individuals assume that being loyal to a company would translate into a secure job with good benefits.
In its stead, we are seeing the rise of what The Economist called the On-Demand Economy in a recent article. “Ever since the 1970s… Manufacturing jobs have been automated out of existence or outsourced abroad, while big companies have abandoned lifetime employment. Some 53m American workers already work as freelances.”
But now the sharing economy is evolving into something new. Ubiquitous communications, freelance work forces and low transaction costs are giving rise to the on-demand company, which aims to apply the principles of Uber or Airbnb to a much broader range of markets.
How HR can prepare for the future of work — from shrm.org by Roy Maurer
Excerpt:
Amazon Home Services — reminds me of the Economist’s article, “Workers on tap”