People change when they hurt enough that they have to change, learn enough that they want to change, receive enough that they are able to change.
John C. Maxwell – Author
Professionals are being disrupted. Not too many years before the internet, journalists, lawyers, engineers, and doctors were paid large salaries due to their privileged information and special knowledge. These professionals spent many years in school acquiring special knowledge and the ability to apply it for professional problem solving and decision making in their discrete domains.
Then the internet happened. The internet made all this professional data and information available on the web for anyone around the world to access at no cost. So what’s the role of these professionals when every smart phone is connected to the internet. Professionals will have to innovate and develop personal brands to differentiate their abilities and offerings.
As content is commoditized, professionals will have to apply the content in terms of smart problem solving and decision making. These skills are not taught in school where regurgitation of facts is the basis of most education:
“And computers (hardware, software, and networks) are only going to get more powerful and capable in the future, and have an ever-bigger impact on jobs, skills, and the economy. … Our technologies are racing ahead but many of our skills and organizations are lagging behind. So it’s urgent that we understand these phenomena, discuss their implications, and come up with strategies that allow human workers to race ahead with machines instead of racing against them”.[i]
Work Lesson Earned: Professionals are disrupted and disillusionment is setting in among lawyers, doctors, journalists, and engineers. They’re thinking it’s better being the disruptor than being the disruptee. When a famous perp was asked why does he rob banks, the robber said: ‘That’s where the money is’. Doctors want to be engineers. Lawyers want to work in tech. Professionals want to make the move to tech because there’s a universal perception that all work is disrupted and tech is where opportunities and the money are.
[i] Race Against The Machine, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee, 2011.