The fate of Jobs in the 4th Industrial Revolution
We had this “fear” before, of humans getting replaced with machines. It’s not new, a lot of people in the 19th and 20th century was afraid as machines replaced them in agriculture & industries. But, it didn’t completely take away their jobs. As new jobs disappeared during the post-industrial revolution, new jobs came in to replace them in different sectors. Thus, in a country like the U.S or UK, the workforce in agriculture diminished to 2% unlike 90% before the industrial revolution.
The same thing which had happened during the past will not happen again — because humans have two kinds of abilities: physical & mental or cognitive abilities. Post, the advent of industrial revolution machines competed and outperformed humans in physical abilities. Humans smartly moved to the service industry where their mental & cognitive abilities were in need!
Now, machines have started to compete & outperform us in mental or cognitive abilities. We are prone to checkmate from machines — as we aren’t aware of any 3rd kind of ability where we can smartly move and work in that field.
Another big obstacle is — even if any new job appears — the pace of change is so quick that humans need to reinvent themselves throughout their lifetime. The process of reinvention turns out to be a nightmare beyond a certain age for human beings!
Earning a qualification for carving livelihood for whole life through occupation is no more relevant. Technology is changing at an exponential rate and the only way to swim against the tide is to learn a new skill which is relevant as quickly as possible.
Each part of the globe as its own worries. The West is worried about A.I. , automation & robotics taking away a lot their jobs than the handful of it getting compensated. The Eastern countries like India have a huge disparity between the skills possessed and needed to thrive in this economy. To make things worse India also has an unprecedented population of 18–32 years to stuff them into meaningful jobs.
One of the timeless skills which help to sail past this tide is Learning Agility.
Learning Agility is the ability to learn and renew yourself continuously. With the world around us changing faster and faster, there is a very high risk that we will become obsolete and left behind. Psychologists and HR experts increasingly use the term “learning agility” and see it as one of the strongest predictors of long term success in a VUCA world. Learning agility is not just the ability to learn new skills like repairing a robot or a new programming language. Rather, it encapsulates a person’s ability to quickly size up a new situation or problem and decide what to do. Learning agile individuals are curious, have an open mind, enjoy taking on new and big challenges, learn quickly from experience, and are able to grasp new concepts and complex issues. They thrive in ambiguous, changing situations and are tenacious in the face of obstacles and setbacks. In short, “learning agility is about knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do”. (Korn-Ferry)
Again the good news is that developing learning agility is like building a muscle-–the more you use it, the stronger and better you become. The more you start observing things and try to understand why the more curious you become.
The survival hope in the job market can be summed it up by quoting Alvin Toffler “The illiterate of the 21st century is not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”
