Working It: Disruption Rules was written in October 2019 with the assumption that Artificial Intelligence and robotics would be the change drivers of the future at work. As we all know COVID hit the world in January 2020. The world collectively has been struggling with COVID since it was indiscriminate, contagious, deadly, and often seemed to be winning.
In the Working It: Disruption Rules – 2020 Edition, we focused on technology, specifically AI, robotics, and automation being the drivers for change. Now, COVID is the major disruptor of most if not all paradigm shifts. Little did we anticipate COVID, the global virus, would be the prime mover of disruption causing a paradigm shift in the future of work. No one expected it. The world was not prepared. COVID is now going to reshape the future work for many years in unexpected ways.
COVID velocity and ferocity were totally unexpected. Markets were paralyzed. Companies with business continuity plans never expected and addressed the pandemic. Workers weren’t prepared with little savings. The global economy wasn’t ready. It had been expanding for over 12 years. Globalization and free-trade were the results of expansion. Companies and people were simply not prepared.
Some futurists now say that the basic understandings and assumptions that underpin all work are now changing. Some of these fundamental societal changes include the role of government, individual freedoms, open borders, access to services, equality, and globalization.
Disruption rules are a double entendre. On one level, disruption rules says the disruption has a set of rules. On another level, disruption rules is a statement that there are ‘new normal’ rules for work and frankly for everything.
Work Lesson Earned: What’s Working It: Disruption Rules? It’s all about making work work out for you. During COVID, work, careers, and jobs are all going to be redesigned. In the COVID edition, we’re going to look at these changes from the 7P’s perspectives. Tell us what you think?