I spent a few days hanging out with 17 very smart and accomplished people in the woods of Omaha to talk about the future of work.
The conversation centered around “signals” we think will have an impact on the future of work. It was refreshing and energizing to partner with people from different backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives and hash through possibilities – both positive and maybe not-so-positive.
A signal, as described by Marina Gorbis, is “… anything that makes you want to dig in and say: “Why? What is causing this situation?”
The aggregate list of the signals we discussed covered a wide range of topics – climate change, polarization, politics, declining populations, teacher shortages, biomedical advances, and of course, AI.
We didn’t come to any sound conclusions. (Odd as it sounds, and frustrating as it is for some – ahem, me – arriving at outcomes is not the intended point of the exercise.) What we did do was think about both the certainty of and potential impact of our top agreed-upon topics.
The task was a brain twister for sure. It was a stretch to think about how any of these topics may shift and shape our lives over the next 10 years.
Yet, there is value in going through an exercise in which you consider how current trends will play out in the future. As Marina says:
“Ideally, people in organizations will think about signals and get together to share their observations. I call this sensing. To be a sensing organization, staff need to create some means, formal or informal, of aggregating these signals and working to interpret them. This will allow feedback and direction on what to do next.”
There is no one ‘right’ way to do this. The point is to convene with others, get outside your comfort zone, engage in dialogue, you may not normally, and think about possibilities.
For instance, “What does the increasing lack of privacy, resurrection of unions, declining college enrollments, increase in homeschooling, or any other trends mean for the future?”
And, maybe more importantly, based on your discussions, what do you feel compelled to do about it?
You may or may not land on a definitive answer or course of action. But you will probably stretch your thinking, enhance relationships, break down siloes, and be intellectually stimulated. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
If you’re interested in learning more, Marina Gorbis talks about signals and four other principles to think like a futurist in this article.
