Human-and-Robot

It’s not about the future of work, but the work of the future

In his new book, Jamie Merisotis says our uniquely human traits will keep us in the workforce
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“We need to prepare people for human work. The work that only humans can do in this era of technology and technology-mediated living and learning. The reality is that automation and AI are really changing how we work and live. And now COVID has really accelerated that process,” says Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation.

WorkingNation listened in during Tuesday’s virtual launch of Merisotis’ new book Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines.

Merisotis says much discussion in recent years has centered on machines taking over jobs. “I started to feel like what we were talking about was some sort of robot zombie apocalypse. That the robots were going to come. They’re going to eat all of our jobs and that none of us would have anything to do. My view is that what we should be talking about is, not the future of work, but the work of the future. This is the work that only humans can do because it underscores our human traits and our human characteristics.”

Several panelists joined Merisotis during the virtual launch, including Francisco Marmolejo, education advisor with the Qatar Foundation. “We have the tendency to think a lot about the need to prepare people with a number of skills that are going to be needed for the future. Critical thinking, openness, flexibility, empathy, et cetera. As you know very well, a great number of those skills are acquired at an earlier age,” says Marmolejo.

“So by the time students arrive in higher education, it is too late. They need to be start preparing for that in the previous levels of education,” adds Marmolejo.

Marmolejo acknowledges the importance of higher education, but notes, “We should recognize that higher education needs to change, needs to go get a little bit out of the ivory tower. The way we dissect knowledge in higher education, does not necessarily reflect the realities of the outside world. And we need to be humble in our higher education institutions.”

Karin Kimbrough is chief economist with LinkedIn. “We know that prosperity coming from capital markets is best when every member of the society can enjoy it and partake. But right now we know that these gaps exist,” says Kimbrough. “The most recent data suggests that the median wealth gap for whites and Asians versus Blacks and Hispanics is like five times.”

“How do we use capital markets to close those gaps?” asks Kimbrough. She says one part of the solution is access to fair lending, but she continues, “I think it also has to do with letting people get access to education and training that doesn’t indebt them for two decades to come, because that’s essentially a barrier to entry for them.”

“It’s always been a race between skills and technology for human capital and for what happens to wages, what happens to jobs, and the relationship of the capital markets with the human capital markets,” says Austan Goolsbee, economist at the University of Chicago.

He says with technology changing so rapidly, the workforce has to keep up with the skills race. “Otherwise you’re going to see the kinds of things that we’ve seen. Large sections of the workforce losing jobs, getting into occupations and onto islands that they kind of can’t get off of with stagnant incomes. Exactly the kind of racial gaps, geographic gaps that we’ve seen develop and get bigger.”

Kimbrough says LinkedIn is seeing “a real time look at what employers are looking for in terms of skills.” She says digital skills are in high demand, but adds employers are also seeking candidates with human skills. “We’re seeing a massive growth in demand in the job postings that we are getting for human skills. For collaboration, for having difficult conversations, for problem solving, and leadership.”

Machines are here to stay doing repetitive work, according to Kimbrough. “But humans are inherently creative. They’re intuitive, they’re empathetic. So I do think there’s opportunities to train and educate our workforce to use machines as complements. Let humans continue to be the ones that solve the tough, intuitive problems, or identify the problems that machines need to solve and let machines do the computational work.”

When asked what he would conjure if he could wave a magic wand, Goolsbee says he would give everyone an extra year of educational or skills attainment. “I actually think the impact of that on those individuals, their families, and their careers, as well as the broader society, would be extremely positive.”

“How much more does that year of attainment earn you in higher earnings for the rest of your life? It adds up into the trillions,” concludes Goolsbee.

Merisotis wrapped his virtual book launch by explaining what he would do if he had a magic wand. He says he would be tempted to end threats like climate change and authoritarianism, but he notes that the human condition is ultimately going to be judged by how people treat one another.

“To me, I think the human work ecosystem ultimately requires equity and justice. If equity is about eliminating differences that exist by race and ethnicity, and if justice is about eradicating the policies, and the practices, and the systems that allow inequity to take place, I think I’d use my wand to achieve true equity and true justice for all. A world where everyone has a chance to learn, to earn and to serve by doing meaningful work.”

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.