Tom Peters’ The (Murky) Future of Employment. Room For Excellence?

1. Tom Peters’ The (Murky) Future of Employment. Room For Excellence? U 3 A/University of the Third Age Takaka, New Zealand 27 March 2013

3. Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his career, was called to the podium and asked,“What were the most important lessons you learned in your long and distinguished career?”His answer …

4. “remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bathtub.”

5. “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.”—Napoleon

6. All Hell Is Breaking Loose

7. “ … but you see, papa …

8. “ … they can’t outsource snow.”

9. Got stuck in Bucharest; sorry I couldn’t be in Takaka this morning …* *“Cisco TelePresence On-stage Experience”(Holographic presence/The Silent Language of Leaders/C.K. Goman)

10. GeneticsRoboticsInformaticsNanotechnology

11. “In some sense you can argue that the science fiction scenario is already starting to happen. The computers are in control. We just live in their world.”—Danny Hillis, Thinking Machines

12. Q3 2011/BLS+3.1/Non-farm productivity growth+3.8/Non-farm output+0.6/Non-farm hours worked+5.4/Manufacturing productivity+4.7/Manufacturing output-0.6 /Manufacturing hours workedSource: Bureau of Labor Statistics/03 November 2011

13. “The median worker is losing the race against the machine.” —Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Race Against the Machine

14. Post-Great Recession: Equipment expenditures +26%; payrolls flat/ “Great Recession … lack of hiring rather than increase in layoffs”/“… breakage of the historic link between value creation and job creation” The “U-shaped Curve” Phenomenon: High-skilled Waaaaay Up!!! Low-skilled: Stable/Up Middle: Down/Down/Down Source: Race AGAINST the Machine, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

15. Median inflation adjusted wages, men 30-50 with jobs, 1969-2009: $33K,-27% Source: “The Slow Disappearance of the American Working Man,”Bloomberg Businessweek/08.11

16. Bachelor’s degree, age 25-34: 40% F; 30% M Graduate degree students: 60% F; 40% M Source: Sydney Morning Herald /26.03.12

17. “I speak to you with a feminine voice. It’s the voice of democracy, of equality. I am certain, ladies and gentlemen, that this will be the women’s century. In the Portuguese language, words such as life, soul, and hope are of the feminine gender, as are other words like courage and sincerity.” —President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, 1st woman to keynote the UN General Assembly

18. China too/Foxconn: 1,000,000 robots in next 3 years Source: Race AGAINST the Machine, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

19. “The root of our problem is not that we’re in a Great Recession or a Great Stagnation, but rather that we are in the early throes of a Great Restructuring. Our technologies are racing ahead, but our skills and organizations are lagging behind.” Source: Race AGAINST the Machine, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

20. “Algorithms have already written symphonies as moving as those composed by Beethoven, picked through legalese with the deftness of a senior law partner, diagnosed patients with more accuracy than a doctor, written news articles with the smooth hand of a seasonedreporter, and driven vehicles on urban highways with far better control than a human driver.” —Christopher Steiner,Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule the World

21. “In some sense you can argue that the science fiction scenario is already starting to happen. The computers are in control. We just live in their world.”—Danny Hillis, Thinking Machines

22. Multiple Choice Examination • You will you lose your job to; • choose one … • An offshore contractor? • A computer? • A robot? • Source: Dan Pink

23. “I believe that ninety percent of white-collar jobs in the U.S. will be either destroyed or altered beyond recognition in the next 10 to 15 years.”(22 May 2000 /cover/Time magazine)

24. I. Manifesto/Polemic: Our People Are Our Only Asset!

25. A 15-Point Human Capital Development Manifesto 1. “Corporate social responsibility” starts at home i.e., inside the enterprise! MAXIMIZING GDD/Gross Domestic Development of the workforce is the primary source of mid-term and beyond growth and profitability—and maximizes national productivity and wealth. Source: World Strategy Forum: The New Rules/ Reframing Capitalism; Seoul, Korea/15.06.12

26. People First! People Second ! People Third! People Third! People Fourth! People Sixth! People Fifth!

27. 7 Steps to Sustaining Success & Excellence You take care of the people. The people take care of the service. The service takes care of the customer. The customer takes care of the profit. The profit takes care of the re-investment. The re-investment takes care of the re-invention. The re-invention takes care of the future. (And at every step the only measure is EXCELLENCE.)

28. 7 Steps to Sustaining Success You take care of the people. The people take care of the service. The service takes care of the customer. The customer takes care of the profit. The profit takes care of the re-investment. The re-investment takes care of the re-invention. The re-invention takes care of the future. (And at every step the only measure is EXCELLENCE.)

29. 2. Regardless of the transient external situation, development of “human capital” is always the #1 priority. This is true n general, in particular in difficult times which demand resilience—and uniquely true in this age in which IMAGINATIVE brainwork is de facto the only plausible survival strategy for higher wage nations.

30. “Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives …or it's simply not worth doing.” —Richard Branson

31. 5. The training budget takes precedence over the capital budget. PERIOD. It’s easier fun to get you picture taken next to a hew machine. But how do you get a photo of a new and much improved attitude in a key distribution center? But the odds are 25:1 that the new attitude will add more to the bottom line than will the glorious state-of-the-art machine. 6. Human capital development should routinely sit atop any agenda or document associated with enterprise strategy. Most any initiative you undertake should formally address implications for and contributions to human capital asset development.

32. I would hazard a guess that most CEOs see IT investments as a “strategic necessity,” but see training expenses as “a necessary evil.”

33. 7. Every individual on the payroll should have a benchmarked professional growth strategy. Every leader at every level should be evaluated in no small measure on the collective effectiveness of individual growth strategies—that is, each individual’s absolute growth is of direct relevance to every leader’s assessed performance.

34. “An organization can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that the people who drive that organization are striving to become better-versions-of-themselves. … When a company forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly goes out of business. Our employees are our first customers, and our most important customers.” —Matthew Kelly

35. II. Manifesto/Polemic: Best Teacher Corps As Bedrock!

36. Manifesto/Polemic: Best Teacher Corps Flourish! “The most effectively educated nations flourish.” Or: “The most effectively educatedand most entrepreneurial nations flourish.”

37. The very best and the very brightest and the most energetic and enthusiastic and entrepreneurial and tech-savvy of our university graduates must—must, not should—be lured into teaching.

38. “Every child is born an artist. The trick is to remain an artist.”—Picasso

39. III. Manifesto/Polemic: Value Through Creativity!

40. “Human creativity is the ultimate economic resource.”—Richard Florida

41. Design Rules!APPLE market capitalization > Exxon Mobil**August 2011

42. “Only one company can be the cheapest. All others must use design.”—Rodney Fitch, Fitch & Co.Source: Insights, definitions of design, the Design Council [UK]

43. Better By Design*: The Design49 46. DESIGN MANIA IS A NATIONAL ECONOMIC ISSUE OF THE FIRST ORDER. 47. “Small” is no disadvantage in an Age of Creativity! 48. There is no such thing as a “National Design Advantage” unless the current school system is Destroyed & Re-imagined—to emphasize creativity and risk-taking and acceptance of failure. (Design Mindfulness … the suppression thereof … typically begins at Age 4.) 49.How sweet it is! (If your head is screwed on right.) *Auckland/30 March 2005

44. IV. Manifesto/Polemic: Entrepreneurial Pre-eminence! Entrepreneurial Ubiquity!

45. “We are in no danger of running out of new combinations try. Even if technology froze today, we have more possible ways of configuring the different applications, machines, tasks, and distribution channels to create new processes and products than we could ever exhaust.”—Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy

46. Jim’s Mowing Canada Jim’s Mowing UK Jim’s Antennas Jim’s Bookkeeping Jim’s Building Maintenance Jim’s Carpet Cleaning Jim’s Car Cleaning Jim’s Computer Services Jim’s Dog Wash Jim’s Driving School Jim’s Fencing Jim’s Floors Jim’s Painting Jim’s Paving Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos] Jim’s Pool Care Jim’s Pressure Cleaning Jim’s Roofing Jim’s Security Doors Jim’s Trees Jim’s Window Cleaning Jim’s Windscreens Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book: What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group(3,200 franchisees)

47. Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America—by George Whalin

48. Jungle Jim’s International Market, Fairfield, Ohio: “An adventure in ‘shoppertainment,’as Jungle Jim’s calls it, begins in the parking lot and goes on to 1,600 cheeses and, yes, 1,400 varieties of hot sauce —not to mention 12,000 wines priced from $8 to $8,000 a bottle; all this is brought to you by 4,000 vendors. Customers come from every corner of the globe.” Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Michigan, pop 5,000:98,000-square-foot “shop” features the likes of 6,000 Christmas ornaments, 50,000 trims, and anything else you can name if it pertains to Christmas. Source: George Whalin, Retail Superstars

49. etc.PRSX/Paragon Railcar Salvage**Salvaged railcars into bridges, etc.

50. Muhammad Yunus:“All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves we were all self-employed . . . finding our food, feeding ourselves. That’s where human history began . . . As civilization came we suppressed it. We became labor because they stamped us, ‘You are labor.’ We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.”—Muhammad Yunus/ The News Hour/PBS/1122.2006