The Rethinking Work Show
Work is central to the human experience and along with health and relationships is a key to happiness.
Work is in the midst of the greatest change in decades and is expected to change more between 2020 and 2029 than it has in the past five decades,
This change is driven by five intertwined forces including 1) demographic shifts of declining and aging populations as well as multiple generations with different mindsets, 2) technological changes including AI, 3) the rise of marketplaces such as Shopify, 4) new types of working where free-lance employment is overtaking full-time employment and 5) the long term implications of Covid on not just where one works but who one works for and why one works.
Four months ago my book Rethinking Work was published in the US and India and is now available in the UK and a few other countries in print and everywhere also as an Audible or Kindle download. The book is filled with blueprints and frameworks and steps every individual, leader and team can utilize anywhere in the world to thrive rather than be surprised with what is coming.
The book has resonated not just with individuals trying to prepare and be forewarned and forearmed as jobs decline but work opportunities rise but also by CEO’s who realize that as every aspect of work shifts the strategies and organizational designs of their have to reinvented in a hurry.
Universities have taken to the book to prepare students for the new work places, and HR societies including SHRM have had me discuss how this is the best and worst time for HR and Learning and Development teams. The best of times because training, organizational design and leadership rethinking will be central but the worst of times because it will require HR to reinvent itself first and fast for a world where employees will both be human and ai, where most workers will not be full time employees and in fact most of the work force will not just work from anywhere but in completely new ways.
Recently I spoke with the leadership of a major company and they asked that since it had been a year since I last edited the book what had I got wrong?
One thing.
Things are moving much faster than I anticipated.
The last five chapters of my book describe what companies will look like in 2029 and the specific changes every individual and firm should prepare for. Because of AI doubling in capability every 7 months vs 12 months when I wrote the book, as well as other shifts, I expect the new world order to happen by the end of 2027.
To better illuminate, illustrate and inspire people to re-imagine the incredible world of work I launched a YouTube show earlier this week ( also available as a podcast on Apple and Spotify) called The Rethinking Work Show where the best people in the world from CEO’s to Academics to HR leaders to Architects to Technologists to Entrepreneurs will share their best learnings from all over the world.
Ria Tobaccowala our elder daughter who is an accomplished film maker is side-gigging a project for her dad and has plans to make this far more visually and well produced but we had to get started and then begin refining.
If you watch (or listen) to the first episode where I speak with Raj Choudhury of Harvard Business School and the author of the recently released book “The World is Your Office” you will see what we are aiming at. Basically amazing people with data backed perspectives to help each of us completely rethink where work is going.
Like this Substack and my podcast What Next? the show is a gift with no cost and no advertising.
Episode 1: Work From Anywhere.
Here are some of the key points made by Dr Choudhury:
1. The future will be work from anywhere (where one chooses where one want to live ) which is even more flexible than remote and hybrid. Data shows that it is allowing companies to hire the best talent, replace fixed costs with variable costs, and align with the AI age where digital twinning and generative AI will turbocharge knowledge sharing, asynchronous work and bring work and factory to the person versus the person to the work.
2. Despite the headlines of companies insisting people return to work the real flow is in the opposite direction. Research does not prove that RTO changes a companies success metrics but it does result in a 10 percent attrition which is probably what most companies are trying to do ( reduce head count without severance). In fact there is data that the more flexible companies are growing faster and more flexibly!
3. In the episode Dr Choudhury shares case after case all over the world from Unilever in Brazil, to Power Companies in Turkey to Hospitals in New York where digital twinning is separating location from expertise as well as companies.
4. We discuss the three pushbacks that work from anywhere enthusiasts need to deal with which are knowledge sharing, communication and culture and every one of these are turned on their head. For instance research shows that unless you work within 75 feet of somebody all this serendipity of water cooler conversations will not happen. Today with generative AI knowledge sharing is no longer an issue and we will all have little Yoda’s and ET’s to talk with. Also in most cases communication that is asynchronous allows for more diverse perspectives, better ideas and deep thinking. Just take a listen and you will forever think differently.
5. Most importantly Dr Choudhury shows how firms do not have to go all in on a new way of working but shows how companies can phase in different ways of working which need to be customized for different teams. The key is a one size fits all model that many companies are trying is probably the worst of all worlds.
In less than 40 minutes you will come away different. Take a listen to Episode 1. Subscribe and every week there will be another world class person providing you ways to truly grow and transform and rethink work.
The Rethinking Work Show can also be streamed as a podcast on Apple or Spotify
Here is Apple:
Here Spotify:
All the ways and places you can get the book: https://rethinking-work.io/whats-inside-2
