Hi, I'm Phnam.
Hi, I'm Mardis.
We're the hosts of Future Future,
where two designers talk about the future of everything.
We're in the business of turning science fiction into reality for a better future.
And today we're going to talk about the future of work.
So, wow. Work's changing a lot these days, right?
Oh yeah! We're in the center of the COVID pandemic:
shelter in place, people are being interrupted by their kids,
we cannot be in the presence of other human beings,
we need to talk to flat screens.
And it's exhausting!
But you know, honestly, it started long before that.
People been talking about changes to their job,
changing to industries, technologies, whatnot, forever!
And we need to be honest.
Your grandfather, grandmother's jobs are not here anymore.
You're not going to spend your whole lifetime working on the railroad
or working on some sort of project or entity just to retire.
People typically change jobs on a regular basis
and oftentimes have to go through many switches in how technology works
and how they work in the industry.
And one of the questions that we get a lot during the interviews that we're
involved with is, "well I have this job right now that I went to college for,
and I see that five, ten years down the line
my job might be replaced by AI or a robot. What do I do?"
One, always believe that your career, regardless of what it is, is going to evolve.
Because that's how history works.
And two, you have to look back at the history of innovation and jobs,
and really understand that jobs get created.
Let's say twenty years ago apps didn't really exist, right?
But today, millions of people are creating apps and using them and testing them and innovating in them.
And the same thing is going to happen in the future.
65% of jobs that the kids today are going to have when they grow up don't exist yet.
We don't have names for them.
We don't know what they are.
So look forward to those.
It's about developing a clear, strong educational foundation where
kids are not just learning things, but they're actually learning how to think critically,
how to take on challenges, how to approach change with a fearless attitude of,
"I am not worried about what industry I used to be in.
I am excited about and engaged about learning something new
and being a power player in the new industry that's evolving."
So, there are a few things that you need to develop
in order to be prepared for the future of work.
We're going to break it down to four categories.
Number one is critical thinking.
You cannot change jobs or adapt to different aspects of a job within an organization,
whether it's a small startup or a very large corporation,
if there's no critical thinking.
You have to walk into a room and understand what people are saying,
even if they're speaking different languages, and really
push the right ideas forward and retain the bad ideas.
And that is how people are going to trust you into evolving into the next step of your career.
And that brings up communication.
So now with the COVID pandemic we're all living through screens,
we're all socially distancing and things like that.
Communication is more valuable than ever.
And how we communicate has changed quite a bit.
You have to be very honest,
very clear in your intention, and not only read the room but read the screen now.
And let's not forget about technology.
Right now we're all on our laptops or iPads and looking at each other's flat version,
and having very limited communication.
But let's not forget about AR, let's not forget about VR, XR,
all those very immersive technologies that can help us really feel like
we're in the presence of others while staying safe and away from each other.
For instance, we're working with companies now that allow us to all enter a room together
- whether through a VR rig or through a computer
or something a little more down to earth that most people have -
and actually collaborate in a very similar environment to sitting next to each other
and collaborating. And it's actually really cool and surprisingly easy.
So we're kind of getting there.
Next, what's important is to create safe and healthy work environments.
So that can engage with the way an office is designed, the space in between people,
whether they're introverts or extroverts.
It can talk about the way people communicate with each other
and get information from each other in order to create great great solutions.
For example, in design there are two skills that are extremely important.
We're typically taught to have one skill. That one skill is to be empathetic.
You have to listen to the human that you're designing for
and to the team that you are developing the solution for.
But another aspect that's equally as important is the opposite:
the sociopathic aspect of design.
You have to be able to be in front of a situation, divorce yourself from it,
and really observe objectively what's going on so you can actually
pull out nuggets that are very very innovative.
I love that because it's really talking about emotional intelligence, right?
How can you interact with people, be respectful, but really tell them what you think
and receive their input and criticisms, if you will, in a positive manner
because I'm pretty pretty sure that most people want success as a team, right?
And emotional intelligence really helps build upon that.
And related to that is leadership, right?
Leadership used to be: there's a boss at the top and
everybody else beyond/below that person just follows the rules.
Leadership is at every level of an organization today.
Good companies understand that.
They understand that people from the internship level all the way to the CEO
have an opportunity to express leadership.
Leadership means that you open yourself to ideas, to what people have to say.
You connect the dots together and you innovate together.
No great idea comes from one person and one person only.
Take it to the next level because right now what we're dealing with is -
again with the pandemic - we're all looking at these screens
and how do you work with leadership, whether you're the leader or you're following leadership,
this sort of barrier, this class barrier between us has really caused a lot of interesting discussions
and I think it really puts everyone in the organization in a role of being very proactive
and having ownership in their project and their ideas
and really sharing these, as we said earlier, sort of in a positive manner
that elevates the community as a whole.
So we encourage you to share with us in the comments section
all the ideas that you may have about the future work and how we can make it better.
And anybody, any company, startup, large corporation that is interested in transforming workplace,
the state of their leadership, their communication tools - we can help.
We have a very deep understanding of how the psychology works.
We have a deep understanding of the technology that can be used to make it easier for everybody.
And we can help.
So thank you for joining us on this short brainstorm and idea sharing.
We look forward to seeing you again. Until then, stay creative.
Bye!
Bye.