“For untold generations work was simply a matter of maintaining the status quo.”
Across the world, the debates on productivity, reduced work hours, 4 day work weeks, DND after work hours etc are intensifying. Add to this the narratives of “the end of employment” and the “gig economy”, (and therefore the case against full time employment) and the signs of an upheaval of our concept of work seems imminent. I can vouch for that from my own experience as well – expressed to a certain extent in earlier posts – The Entrepreneur & the Professional, and Re-skill. My posts on AI and its impact on employment are also related to this in a “bigger picture” way.
It is personal in a different way too, because it’s increasingly an application of a broader life framework and worldview. In fact, I was accusing myself of over thinking this, until I read this fantastic piece – How Not to Let Work Explode Your Life. That’s where the quote at the start has been taken from. It traces the origin of the clashes we are facing in our work-life environments now to trends that have been forming for centuries. Long, fascinating read, and a confirmation of many of my complicated thoughts!
In The Real Unemployment Innovation Challenge, John Hagel explores the contemporary aspects of this subject in detail, and among other things, points to the flaws in our scalable efficiency models and its task centred view of work. (Remember my recent post on AI, money and the future? Again, glad to know that I’m not alone in these thoughts!) He also presents “scalable learning” as an alternative, and puts the onus on employers to create an environment for this. I agree on the first, but don’t really expect much of the second. Later in the post, he writes about reframing our mindset about the nature of work, and bringing passion into it. On that, I vehemently agree.
That’s something I am increasingly applying in my professional context. A few perspectives have emerged in the last few months
1. Evolutionary Context: I don’t think we’re wired for such huge information flows and the processing power it requires. Technology is our crutch because it can move much faster than evolution. That means we have to structure our lives (and work) to the extent we can cope, even given technology aids. Incidentally, Taleb has an interesting view on this – take up a job far away from your passion area, and one that takes up minimal brain power. Focus on your passion in your own time. Though I have seen a few people operate this way, I don’t know if this can work in the future.
2. Skill Calibration: I have seen both specialist and generalist trends in the relatively short time I have been working. I have also realised that the “containers of the past” we have built for ourselves in terms of roles, designations, structure of work, work relationships etc need not work going forward. Given point #1, I am now relatively more subtractive than additive in terms of my skill sets. As I focus on acquiring new ones, I de-prioritise older ones internally and underplay them externally.
3. Choices: Point #2 puts a lot of importance on the choices I make in terms of the jobs I take up as well as the nature of the roles. The better I think this through, the more effective I get. But there are also no standard answers or guaranteed correct answers even if one applies all available mind power and external perspectives to it. A balance of persistence and agility to course correct is what I seek. The framework for that is what I am working on, for myself.
If there is one man who has understood all this a long while ago, it would be Scott Adams. He nails it with “Work can be defined as anything you’d rather not be doing. Productivity is a different matter.” (via) Going forward, I think productivity should be our focus when we talk of employment. Not the traditional factory/office narrative but one that’s human centric and defines the what, (the skill offering) for whom, as well as how, and how long for each individual.
