Recent studies in the UK and the US suggest that somewhere between 1,5 and 3,5 jobs are lost to every new robot / piece of technology that takes over the job. Although this is a net figure (it takes into account new service jobs that are created to look after the new robot / tech) it is not clear whether or not there was enough research conducted into new jobs that were created within the new space of technology that had just emerged. If this was taken into account, perhaps the job loss would have been less. But no matter how you look at it, the concept of job loss due to technology is here and it will accelerate.

What we also know with fair probability is that most of the jobs of the future (more than 5 years’ time) don’t exist today. So that means new opportunities, new learning, new skills and new value.

Sticking to the Programme means staying abreast of new technology, upskilling as often as you can and accepting that change is accelerating. There have been numerous studies conducted over the years to track this growth in change but one study, known as The Knowledge Doubling Curve, suggests that human knowledge is growing really quickly. How quickly you may ask? Well, it’s exponential and at first glance is truly mind blowing.

Here is roughly what I mean when I say mind blowing:

In around 1955 human knowledge doubled every 12 years.

By 2013, human knowledge was doubling every 12 months.

By 2020, it was doubling every 12 hours.

Think about that. That means in a day, human knowledge has grown by a factor of 4. We have roughly 30 times more knowledge today than what we had the same time last week.

It seems quite daunting but here is a key takeaway from this. While knowledge is increasing, the useful lifespan of knowledge is decreasing. So we need to be constantly replacing out-of-date knowledge with new knowledge in a continuous process of unlearning and learning. And we need to know how to filter useful knowledge from useless knowledge.

Knowledge alone is not as important as the ability to apply good judgement based on knowledge – something we call wisdom. It is knowledge and wisdom put into action that gives us insight. And insight reveals behaviour and points to solutions and ideas. And because insights are grounded in human needs and desires, they lead to ideas that create value in people’s lives. And that is what matters in the end to us – adding value to the individual, communities, industries and society.

And it all starts with passion, aptitude, drive, consistency and purpose – something that forms the building blocks of our Tri-Smart process at FutureProofMe.

So let’s keep an open mind, accept change and keep an eye open for those opportunities – it’s all going to get very exciting!