Things are happening so fast that our language hasn’t caught up. Things are evolving so quickly that our emerging concept of what it means to be a leader hasn’t caught up either.
An Entirely New Way to Think About Work
When your office space is outsourced, when your software is rented by the month, when your computers are leased, when yesterday’s meeting was uploaded and transformed into a presentation overnight by an independent team that you have never met, when 50% plus of those who do the work don’t actually work for the company … the term “temporary” seems inadequate.
Transient, dynamic, partnering, gig workforce, virtual employment doesn’t really cover it either. Things are happening so fast that our language hasn’t caught up. Things are evolving so quickly that our emerging concept of what it means to be a leader hasn’t caught up either.
For the first time in history, intelligence – self-organising, learning systems – sits outside of the human brain. When computers write science fiction scripts, when companies open warehouse and distribution systems without any employees, when your new car drives itself home, we are describing not just a new way for society to create wealth but an entirely new way to think about work.
John O. Burdett is founder of Orxestra® Inc. He has extensive international experience as a senior executive. As a consultant he has worked in more than 40 countries for organisations that are household names. John has worked on organisation culture for some of the world’s largest organisations. His ongoing partnership with TRANSEARCH International means that his thought leading intellectual property, in any one year, supports talent management in many hundreds of organisations around the world.
