For me the most valuable insights came from the chapter titled People Matter. The trigger for economic growth lies in a 2% increase in working population. In the next decade from 2020-2030 only one will grow at that rate - Nigeria.The political leaders have to create the economic conditions necessary to attract investment and generate jobs. The recent influx of refugees may actually be an answer to Germany’s depleting working-age population. But is it enough to have people without their having the necessary skills? A dropping population does not bode well for the world says Ruchir.
Will HR be replaced by chatbots and machines? The answer is nuanced. The machines are not good at understanding shades of emotions, sarcasm, humor etc. Machines are good at doing “mindless” repetitive tasks. These are the tasks that humans can do without giving it any thought. Routine, repetitive tasks that machines can be trained to do more efficiently than humans will be done by machines. But jobs that depend on social skills and involve complex human interactions will stay with humans. Those who learn to work WITH machines will thrive. HR will certainly need to learn to work with robots who will be part of every workforce. But that is not all. HR will need to be reimagined...
Leadership Development experts often talk about going through a “crucible experience”. One of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is an individual’s ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from even the most trying circumstances. The skills required to conquer adversity and emerge stronger and more committed than ever are the same ones that make for extraordinary leaders.My review of I Have A Voice by Tyler Williams
The Digital Transformation Playbook talks of the five domains which need to be transformed if the organizations have to succeed in the digital world – how the businesses view customers, their competition, how they leverage data, innovate and create value for customers. 1) customers are part of a network, 2) competition comes from platforms more than products, 3) data is a strategic asset, 4) innovation is driven by small experiments and scaling, 5) value is dynamic and adaptable. That makes these 5 areas very different from what they have been traditionally. This shift is hard for leaders in the analog world to fathom.My review of The Digital Transformation Playbook by David Rogers
Kevin Kelly - the editor of Wired magazine has had a ringside view of the way technology has evolved. In this book he talks about the twelve forces that are shaping our future. For example, adding artificial intelligence to any service can change it in amazing ways.Every major digital company has been using more and more of it. Facebook uses it to recognize faces with almost the same degree of accuracy as a human. Netflix knows everything about your movie viewing habit and can predict the movies (that have not yet been made) that you will like in future. Yes, they knew that you will love the House of Cards even before you saw it.
The decisions that happen as people wait for their loved ones who are battling their odds of survival are beautifully sketched out. Should she let the doctors operate on her comatose husband? What if he dies on the table? What if he lives but in a vegetative state? Everyone around seems to be so unhelpful. The snippets of conversations between Shiv and Tara are ever so natural and spontaneous.“Do people dream when they are in coma?” Tara asks Shiv and then adds, “He better be dreaming about me.”
Work is increasingly becoming complex. In fact, it is becoming too complex for any one individual to do it. We need to work in teams. The time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has exploded by 50% or more. We watch great examples of teamwork in movies that fill us with a warm glow and then we come back to the teams we are a part of and wonder why they are not as committed as the people you saw on screen. This is the book for you.
