This element of the 7P’s framework deals with Paradigms. Paradigms focus on the COVID disruptive shifts in government, companies, professions and people. Joel Barker in Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future defined a paradigm as:
… “set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things: 1. It establishes or defines boundaries; and 2. It tells you how to behave inside the boundaries in order to be successful.”[i]
The Working It: Disruption Rules pretty much frames the discussion around the Future of Work. So in this section, we focus on how paradigm shifts including COVID and automation will disrupt work, business models, and professions. We discuss new work rules and regulations, new boundary conditions, and changes in work, jobs, and businesses.
IBM ad has the tagline: “Let’s rethink how the world works. COVID is both an opportunity (upside risk) and a curse (downside risk). We all know the curse. Corona is exposing all our problems. … It’s an opportunity to rethink our schools and experiment.” [ii]
Paradigm shifts create both COVID work disruption and risks. In this book, we look at risks in terms of two components: 1. Downside consequence and 2. Upside opportunity. While most of us focus on the former, the latter drives change, innovation, value, and growth. We focus on the latter.
[i] Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, Joel Barker, 1993.
[ii] ‘Let’s Rethink How the World Works’, Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2020.