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Notes about the Future

Announcement: WDC Establishes Future of Work Collaborative

We are very pleased to announce an important addition to our organization, and a major step forward in WDC's ability to help create the future of work.

We have invited a select group of independent experts to join us as Associates, creating a new Future of Work Collaborative network. That doesn't mean they've made a full-time commitment to work for WDC. Rather, it means they have agreed to work closely with us as we all endeavor to build more effective workplaces and work environments.

In essence, we're forming a small community of independent experts that can serve as a resource to guide and assist organizations that are seriously addressing workplace/workforce issues. The WDC Associates Network includes architects, web designers, change management experts, educators, work-at-home specialists, and others, all dedicated to helping create the future of work.

We just getting organized as a community; look for more information in the near future about the group's activities and capabilities. We are currently developing a new section of our website that will feature our Associates' bios and links to their own websites.

The most important message, however, is that we have become a much stronger, more capability entity with the addition of these Associates. Our "charter" Associates are:

• Paula Bartholome, founder of Parallax
• Glenn Dirks, a principal at Teletrips
• Candace Fitzpatrick, founder of CoreClarity
• Beth Kelly, principal at Connexsource
• Lise LaTorre, web UI developer
• Richard Leyland, a futurist, mobile work specialist, and the founder of WorkSnug
• Kate Lister, co-author of Undress for Success and host of the Undress4Success blog
• David McCarty, founder, Chicago Design Network
• Jen McClure, founder and president, Society for New Communications Research
• Jacob McNulty, president of Orbital RPM
• Michael Shear, a telecommunications expert and founder, Strategic Office Networks
• Cory Williamson, a professional writer and co-author of Corporate Agility

In our humble opinion, this is an incredibly impressive group. If you have any need at all for guidance in designing or implementing a distributed work program, these are the folks you want on your team.

The Future of Technology

Harvard Libraries Adapt to the Digital Age

What is the role of a "traditional" library in the digital age? Does it make any sense to continue acquiring and storing bound books and journals when almost everything is now available digitally? And how should libraries "curate" digital documents? What storage and access challenges do they face?

The May-June 2010 issue of Harvard Magazine included two very informative and thoughtful articles addressing these questions, both written by Jonathan Shaw:

"Gutenberg 2.0: Harvard's Libraries deal with Disruptive Change"

"Digital Preservation: An Unsolved Problem"

Honda Rethinks the Concept of Personal Mobility

Check out this short video on YouTube; it demonstrates a new personal mobility "vehicle" from Honda that makes the Segway look almost old-fashioned. It's really fascinating, even it's practical applications aren't yet all that clear.

The Future of Place and Space

Telecommuting at 32,000 Feet

A short but important blog post by Tom Harnish of "Undress For Success" (a website/blog, as well as a bestselling book by the same name). Tom is reporting on his partner Kate Lister's recent speech at the annual World at Work conference, "Telecommuting: The Bottom Line" (which she delivered together with the CEO of Alpine Access, a virtual call center company). Just as importantly, however, Tom reports on his experience writing and posting the blog article while on an American Airlines flight to San Diego. Yes, you can now be a "Sky Warrior" as well as a Road Warrior.

The Future of People and Organizations

Want Impact? Networks Trump Organizations

For an unusual but insightful lesson on the power of networks (versus traditional, hierarchical organizations), take a look at this blog post from Dreams Indeed International, a global non-profit organization focused on supporting social entrepreneurs in third-world areas. This is a story about a young Egyptian with an absolutely audacious dream: to build 400,000 new homes in Egypt in the next 25 years—with no money, no registered business, and no staff.

Yet it sounds plausible, because he's going to use networks of personal relationships to leverage over two million volunteers. You won't regret reading this one.

The Future of Work Design

The Economics of Social Business

This is a very thoughtful article (on the blog "Every Company is a Media Company," hosted by Tom Foremski, a well-respected chronicler of Silicon Valley news) addressing how social media transforms virtually every business function and fundamentally alters the economics of doing business. Well worth your attention.

Is Technology Destroying our Economy?

We're not sure if this note belongs here or in the Future of Technology section, but there's a really critical long-term economic issue lurking beneath the surface of the daily news about our struggle to create jobs and get back on a growth path.

Martin Ford, the author of Lights in The Tunnel, which we reviewed in this newsletter in March, just sent us a link to a May 12 New York Times article, "In Job Market Shift, Some Workers are Left Behind," that highlights the way this recession is knocking millions of well-qualified people out of the workforce because their jobs can be done more cheaply with technology. Lights in The Tunnel is all about the grim prospect that this continuing replacement of jobs with technology could go on for decades, eventually putting just about all of us out of work. And what happens then?

Martin also told us that he's made a pdf version of the book available for free downloading from his website, at http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/. This is a must-read!

Stuff We're Reading — and You Should Too

We've been soaking in a lot of good reads lately, so this month we're going to offer you almost a whole bookshelf for your summer reading. It may not be the kind of beach reading you want to do when you're on vacation, but these four books are an important way to stay on top of your professional game (links will take you either to Amazon.com or to an author's own website; we have no financial interest in any purchases you make).

Lights in the Tunnel, by Martin Ford

As noted just above, we reviewed this one in some detail in March (at this link). However, we're so convinced it's worthy of your attention that we wanted to mention it again. In one sentence: Martin Ford is very worried that continued technology innovation is someday going to put almost every single one of us out of work. He's got some "radical" and very thought-provoking suggestions for new kinds of policies to deal with that eventuality. And the book is available on his website as a free downloadable pdf file.

The New HR Analytics, by Dr. Jac Fitz-Enz

"Dr. Jac" is one of the most significant contributors to the HR profession over the last three decades. He has almost single-handedly taught the world how to measure the productivity and performance of human talent, and how to track the bottom-line contributions of the HR function. Now he's produced a new methodology for predictive management—including principles, practices, and even worksheets to enable you to determine the monetary value of future human capital investments.

The book also includes contributed essays and commentary from an impressive group of HR academics, researchers, and practitioners (full disclosure: one so-called expert contributor is Jim Ware, who wrote about how to use scenario planning to think about highly uncertain futures). Make an investment in your own human capital by getting a copy of this book as quickly as you can.

The Design of Business, by Roger Martin

The subtitle is "Why design thinking is the next competitive advantage." This very entertaining read is full of stories and case studies that serve to teach us how to apply the principles (and, more importantly, the mindset) of designers to basic business challenges like product development, customer relationships, marketing, and even basic strategic thinking.

Roger Martin is the Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. The book is really a story of his own search for new ways to think about knowledge. He both defines and illustrates a "knowledge funnel" that leads from mystery to heuristics to algorithms . Once you understand that cycle you'll be far better equipped to think about your own future.

Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and Drive, The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us (two more really good reads, by the way), calls The Design of Business "essential reading." We completely agree.

The Way We're Working isn't Working, by Tony Schwartz

Start with this reality: more than 75 percent of employees feel turned off and disengaged at work every day. Tony Schwartz has created a guidebook that will take you out of that dismal state of being.

This just-published book comes recommended by none less than Daniel Goleman, the well-known author of Emotional Intelligence, who calls it "an engaging, thorough, and authoritative manual for optimal performance and for a rewarding life." Tony Schwartz is also the founder and president of The Energy Project, which helps individuals and organizations move towards high performance, engagement, and focus on their strategic goals.

This is a very personally-oriented book; it will help you sort out your own strengths, preferences, and objectives, as well as the barriers to success that you erect to stifle yourself. It's an exciting and potentially transformative way of thinking about your own career—and life.

What's Happened/Happening?

Future of Work Private Client Network

We previously announced the formation of a new Future of Work Private Client Network (see the December 2009 newsletter at this link for the full announcement)

In brief, we have launched a new, private network of clients and expert resources whose mission is to make practical sense of the future. We'd love to talk to you about becoming part of this new community. If you are interested, please contact us directly for a detailed prospectus and research agenda.

Getting Out and About

We're currently spending time with clients in southern California several times a month.

If we're in your area and have a few minutes, we'd love to see you for breakfast, lunch, dinner (depending on our other commitments), or "refreshments" any time after 5 PM local time (and you know what that means).

We're doing our best to publish our travel schedule, including both public appearances and private client work, on our new online calendar that's embedded in our website at:

http://www.thefutureofwork.net/news_events.html

And please follow us on Twitter for more current updates on the future of work and our travel plans: http://www.twitter.com/thefutureofwork

Give us a shout or send us a note, and if we can squeeze out some time, we'd love to say hello and share some good ideas the old-fashioned way: face-to-face, glass in hand.

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