The world is changing fast.
And with it, we should, too.
Or we wake up one day seeing that the skills possessed by us equip us beautifully for a world which no longer exists.
The world once danced to the beat of a slow waltz and has now switched completely to a samba like rhythm.
The working field witnessed changes from the Agricultural Age where wealth was defined as ownership of land. Followed by the Industrial Age, where most workers had to function well within factories. Currently we are in the Knowledge Age, Information age or even Design Age.
These terms were once created by Peter Drucker or Daniel H. Pink and since then there has been even more change.
So now the working field is no longer defined by static machine defined processes, but the majority of workers deliver their output in an office or anywhere in the world using a laptop or other electronic devices. Their work is not based on predefined systems and drilled working habits, but need creativity, individuality and the capacity to bear uncertainty for “sailing untested waters”.
Obviously that demands different management styles, too.
A leader often does not know the answer and has to trust his knowledge workers to come up with new creative solutions.
New Age to be announced?
Many people seem to maintain a sit and wait position to be informed by the government or any other authority that we now officially are shifting to another epoch, where other skills are demanded.
Or to find a sign somewhere, which officially proclaims the start of a new era.
The sign is here
The sign is here already. It only comes with a different inscription at fast growing pace.
It is the downsizing of big corporations, the disappearance of old industries with the emergence of new working areas. At the same time new working fields like the startup industry, crowdfunding, digital nomads and the countless digital app developers arise. Areas springing up everywhere like flowers in the spring.
Therefore, in reality, we often see a slow death of old systems and cultural habits, while new systems are on the rise.
It is up to anybody to witness these changes early, to be a first mover or a pioneer.
Not a settler who arrives when most claims are already taken, metaphorically speaking.
While in earlier ages we could expect our college degree or education to carry us through our complete work life with us having to adapt and change only here and there.
Faster Pace
Nowadays the pace is growing faster daily and the best we can do to keep pace is to watch developments carefully and master the skill of learning new expertise, which is on demand in any given future.
It is about techniques, which allow us to adapt any topic easier.
We need to get fit for the future now.
And as Joel Barker stated, “the best way to predict the future is to create it”, we even have the advantage nowadays to be the conductor and musician in one person.
From a „little drummer boy“ to a master conductor drummer.
We do not need to keep pace with companions anymore, because we do not only listen to another drummer – as Henry David Thoreau suggested – but play our own drums.
It is time to step up from a “little drummer boy” to a master conductor and Charlie Watts like drummer.
To your learning success,
FutureandMinds