Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

A lot of times I hear people discussing AI and Automation in a way that makes it seem like once everything is fully automated we will all lose our jobs. But is that the right way to think about it? When you lose something that means you misplaced it, you no longer know where it is. It has an air of carelessness or passiveness.

I don’t think we are that careless or indifferent. The truth is, we don’t lose our jobs, we allow them to be taken from us. There are things we can do to ensure our job security in the future of work.

First of all, we have to be perpetual learners, we have to learn how to learn. We cannot just rely on our companies or schools to teach us the skills we need for the future, we have to actively seek information out and learn things on our own.

Secondly, we have to pay attention to the tangential. We cannot keep our heads down or only look forward. We have to be looking forward, sideways, behind us, etc… We have to broaden our scope so that we are prepared for anything that may come our way.

So what are you going to do to actively make sure your job is taken from you?

Direct download: how_to_keep_ai_and_automation_from_taking_your_job.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 10:11pm PST

Judy Marks is President of Otis Elevator Company, a 165 year old company that helps move over 2 billion people a day. With 27 years of experience serving federal customers across multiple agencies, her experience spans multiple disciplines including positions in systems engineering, engineering management, business development, capture management, subcontract management, program management and executive management. She has also served as the CEO at Siemens.

Additionally, she was the President of Transportation and Security Solutions of Lockheed Martin Corporation. In total, she served 27 years with Lockheed Martin and its predecessor companies.

Otis Elevator Company began in 1853 when Elisha Graves Otis invented the safety elevator. Over the last 165 years they have delivered products and services for 2 million elevators, in 1000 offices found in 200 countries around the world - every day. The 12.5 billion dollar company’s focus of their 68,000 employees is on their customers and working to keep them satisfied and safe day after day. The foundation of the company is to know their values and stay true to them. This is especially critical in this global company.

The population of the world is a little over 7 billion, so in three or four days Otis has the opportunity, and the responsibility to touch the world, and keep it moving safely. That's more people than fly, and so, it's a tremendous life safety responsibility. Of the 68, 000 colleagues, 33, 000 are mechanics who really live at the customer's facilities, who do multiple service visits, and repairs as needed really to keep cities moving, to keep buildings moving, to keep people safe, and having access to their homes, and to hospitals.

There are multiple types of data that is collected and used in elevators. In a typical elevator the data you collect is everything from door mechanism, and door openings, how many times, how many floors it's been to, etc... All of that's pretty standard information, and really as you think about the ability to use that brings you to preventive and predictive maintenance in the future.

But, the more exciting - in some of the elevators you probably see on the West Coast - have something in them called destination dispatch, which allows riders to get to their destination faster. It acts as a virtual concierge, directing passengers where they need to go. The rider enters their destination and then they receive an elevator assignment. The software groups passengers and stops together to ensure the fastest transport possible.

There are 5 culture statements at Otis:

  1. We celebrate imagination, which means we encourage new thinking, and smart risk taking.
  2. We are family. We believe in us.
  3. We're many voices. The greatest ideas come from diverse teams of thinkers with different points of view.
  4. We're better together. We align as one team, and collaborate to serve our customers
  5.  We strive to be the best. We set big goals, we rise to achieve them, and we win together as a team.

What you will learn in this episode:

  • How elevators and escalators have changed over the last 165 years
  • Trends Judy is paying attention to right now
  • How they ensure that Otis has the right people in leadership roles
  • How AI and data is being used in the elevator/escalator space
  • How Otis is upskilling their mechanics
  • What it is like to work at Otis

Links from the episode:

Direct download: Judy20Marks20podcast_done.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 9:40am PST

Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Fake it til you make it”? It is this idea of believing something or telling yourself something even when it’s not necessarily reality yet. I am a big believer in this mindset and I have used it to help me throughout my career.

When I went off to work on my own I struggled in the beginning. I didn’t have many clients and I didn’t have a ton of experience. Instead of looking at myself as a poor, young kid, struggling to find work, I told myself over and over that I was a young entrepreneur building a life for myself--a life that I truly wanted to live. I still repeat that to myself even now, years later.

The way that you think and the things that you believe shape your behaviors, feelings and actions. It’s kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that you are successful, talented, and that you have something to offer to others you will have a different outcome than if you constantly think negatively about yourself. It’s a choice. When you “Fake it til you make it” it allows you to focus on the work. What you say to yourself and what you believe truly matters.

Direct download: how_to_be_more_successful_in_life_and_business.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 2:58am PST

Maynard Webb is co-founder and board member of Everwise, a talent development startup, and a board member of Visa and Salesforce. Previously, Maynard served as Chairman of the Board of Yahoo!, CEO of LiveOps, COO of eBay, and held executive roles at Gateway, Bay Networks, and Quantum.

Maynard is the founder of the Webb Investment Network (WIN), a seed investment firm dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurs, bringing his experience in developing and leading high-growth companies.

In 2004, he and his wife created the Webb Family Foundation, which provides underprivileged, motivated young individuals access to quality education and supports individuals who are struggling against the odds to make a positive impact on the world through innovation and hard work.

Maynard is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book, Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship . His second book, Dear Founder: Letters of Advice for Anyone Who Leads, Manages, or Wants to Start a Business, was released in September of 2018.

How do we drive/change corporate culture?

  1. It helps to have a higher purpose –be working on something that matters
  2. Be winning at what you are doing
  3. Inspire and grow your team
  4. Treat everyone with dignity and respect
  5. Tackle diversity and inclusion from the outside
  6. Make sure your teams are fired up about what they are doing.

 

How do you get people excited about their work? Maynard believes, that first of all it is important to make sure they understand what they are doing and where it fits with the importance of the company. People want to do meaningful work that makes an impact.

Employees also should know what it will do for them if they do their job well.

As an individual employee you should be aware of who is the best in the world at what you do and aspire to that.

For people that want to quit their jobs and want to know what to do first, Maynard says, “...before you just quit and walk out, what are the pieces that you need to own for your situation, and what your situation is, and why you’re not happy”

If you are itching to be an entrepreneur then go ahead and start while you still have a full time job. Do both at the same time

Maynard believes it is important to have a personal brand and you should know what you want to be known for. The character of who you are and how you walk in the world and how you treat people is important to pay attention to.

Maynard also talks about his 32 year marriage and he says the secret is knowing the difference between rubber ball moments and crystal ball moments. Rubber ball moments are ones you can bounce back from, but if you mess up a crystal ball moment, like missing a high school graduation, that is a once in a lifetime moment that can’t be replaced.

What you will learn in this episode:

  • How to drive corporate culture
  • What the early days of IBM looked like
  • How you know when things are going well as an entrepreneur
  • Maynard’s view of the world of work today
  • How to get people excited about work
  • Maynard’s advice to anyone who wants to quit their job


Contact:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardwebb

This episode of The Future of Work Podcast was made possible by our friends at ServiceNow. Please show your support by checking out the great work they are doing!
 
Give employees the service experience they deserve because everyone deserves great experiences at work. Eliminate frustration and improve employee satisfaction with a single access point for efficient, personalized HR services. ServiceNow helps you put service at the heart of your business. Start today.
Direct download: Maynard20Webb20Podcast_DONE.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 12:49am PST

Technology is cool and it helps us in daily life. But one thing that is cause for concern is that we tend to over rely on technology. We have this scenario in our heads that in the future we will all have robots that will do things for us at home and at work and that software will do the jobs we don’t like to do. We think of all the advancements that are happening in the technology space and what is yet to come and we get this grandiose vision in our minds.

The fact is technology has a lot of issues including the possibility of being hacked and the challenge of glitches and errors that are bound to happen. I fear that we are over relying on technology thinking that in the future we won’t have to do anything for ourselves. The question is, will our over reliance on technology come back to bite us in the future?

If we rely solely on technology for things like automating farming or operating autonomous cars, what happens when the technology breaks down or it gets hacked? If we put too much reliance on technology alone I worry that it will make us less human or distort our reality. We don’t take things at face value anymore, we are moving away from making judgements and decisions on our own by using our senses and thoughts. Instead we are looking at the world through the eyes of data and algorithms and basing our decisions on what technology tells us.

If we continue this way, will the humanity aspect disappear altogether?

Direct download: What_Happens_When_We_Rely_Too_Much_On_Technology.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 10:11pm PST

Seth Godin is a bestselling writer, with 18 books and another one coming out on November 13, 2018. His books address various aspects of marketing, advertising, business venturing and leadership. He is also a successful entrepreneur, marketer and public speaker, who became well-known for public speaking when he uploaded his e-book ‘Unleashing the Ideavirus’ and made it available for free.

He obtained his MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business and worked as a software brand manager before he started ‘Yoyodyne’, one of the first Internet-based direct-marketing firms. The publicity of his firm compelled big companies like Volvo, Microsoft, Sony Music, etc. to associate with it and in a few years ‘Yahoo!’ bought the company, keeping  Godin on as a vice president of permission marketing. Since Seth was last here his altMBA program has graduated over 1000 people. He has also written a new book, This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See, which will be available on November 13.

Whether you realize it or not, you are always marketing yourself. You will be judged by everyone who interacts with you. Based on your appearance, your attitude, how you tackle a project, etc... This is why it is so important to market yourself intentionally.

Historically, people worked at the same location for 40 years and you could get to know people slowly over the years. Now, people are on various social media platforms, they are working virtually with people around the world. This requires people to constantly be aware of how they are perceived.

Seth says it is the wrong approach for organizations to tell their employees to be authentic and transparent, because essentially it is a lie. He says, “We make choices all the time of things we can and cannot do. I don’t even know what authentic means. I know what consistent means – you made a promise of how you will behave.  But you really can’t do whatever you want.” For example, you can’t just show up to work wearing footie pjs and take a nap from 11am-1:00pm, even if that is authentically you.

What is a better approach rather than saying ‘be authentic’? Seth says it is about making promises and keeping them. Remove the ‘marketing language’ of be authentic because it doesn’t work. “It’s not a family, it’s work.” Be clear– words matter because they remind us of other things.  One example, people have different interpretations of the term ‘family’ so it might not be best to use the word family to describe the workplace environment.

How do you start how to market yourself? First you need to answer the question, what promise are you willing to keep? Make a promise to a partner or boss that you are eager to keep and consistently live up to it. This guarantees you a successful career - or relationship.

What you will learn in this episode:

  • What Seth has been up to in the year since he was last on the show
  • Why he has 233 Grateful Dead albums
  • Why telling employees to be authentic is not the right approach for organizations
  • How we market ourselves
  • Seth’s experience working with science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov

Contact:

sethgodin.com

This episode of The Future of Work Podcast was made possible by our friends at ServiceNow. Please show your support by checking out the great work they are doing!
 
Give employees the service experience they deserve because everyone deserves great experiences at work. Eliminate frustration and improve employee satisfaction with a single access point for efficient, personalized HR services. ServiceNow helps you put service at the heart of your business. Start today.
Direct download: Seth_Godin_Podcast_DONE.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 8:53am PST

There is a story of a man who walks into a construction site and as he walks into the site he passes by a worker and asks, “What are you doing?” and the worker says, “I’m laying bricks”. The man continues on his way and runs into a second worker and again asks, “What are you doing?” and this time the worker says, “I’m building a wall”.

The man continues on once again and runs into one final worker and again asks the question, “What are you doing?”, but this time the worker answers, “I’m building a cathedral”.

All three workers were doing the same job, the difference was the way they thought about their work. The moral of the story is that you have the ability to affect the way you think about your job and work in general. It doesn’t matter if you are a cashier, a teacher or a CEO, it’s all about what you tell yourself and the attitude you choose to have.

So, are you laying bricks or are you creating a cathedral?

Direct download: how_your_mindset_can_impact_your_work.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 10:57am PST

Andy Lee founded Alorica Inc. in 1999 and serves as its Chairman and CEO. Guided by his desire to improve customer experiences and his entrepreneurial talents, he has become one of the leaders in the service and support outsourcing industry. He conceptualized and developed one of the original cloud-based Software-as-a-Service customer contact management applications that integrated contact center operations, returns management, and e-commerce. Andy has also served as an executive at Advanced Membrane Technology, CTX Data Services, and Gateway. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Finance from the University of Southern California.

Alorica is a “BPO - ‘Business Process Outsourcing’ company or ‘a customer experience provider’. Alorica specializes in attracting, developing and performance managing people.” Regardless of the work, they can put more effort into these areas on a large scale. With over 100,000 employees, you may find yourself talking with one of them often. For example, if you call a wireless provider to discuss the bill or if you call an online company, then you might be talking with them. Calling a healthcare plan, you are probably speaking with someone from Alorica.

Companies do not provide this service themselves because as they evolve they find that they want to focus on what they do best – so they employ Alorica to handle their companies’ clients through multiple modes – staffing, technology and a general provider of skilled labor to solve problems.  Alorica has “chosen to be great at the science and the practice of attracting, developing and performance managing people.

What are the skills set needed for the future?

  • You need to be able to study work flows to be able to apply logic, process and engineering
  • The part of the workforce that are currently on the phones, in the future will need to be able to answer more complex questions. This will require people to listen carefully and understand the context to the situation and apply logic to the context. They will have to use critical thinking.

How does Alorica teach?

  • Micro learning – 5 – 10 minute bursts of learning
  • People retain 20% more information and they eliminate retraining by 80% by using these short burst videos with higher retention and less retraining
  • Role playing  - the ability to talk through scenarios in group settings
  • Alorica Academy teaches leadership skills
  • Alorica language institute teaches people English and cultural context

What you will learn in this episode:

  • How organizations can use Alorica
  • The impact AI and Automation will have on businesses like Alorica
  • Why Andy feels the AI hype is not based in reality
  • Andy's perspective on Glassdoor ratings, along with internal surveys
  • How Alorica is investing in microlearning
  • What skillsets are needed for the future

Contact:

Andy Lee on LinkedIn


Website: http://www.alorica.com/

 

This episode of The Future of Work Podcast was made possible by our friends at ServiceNow. Please show your support by checking out the great work they are doing!
 
Give employees the service experience they deserve because everyone deserves great experiences at work. Eliminate frustration and improve employee satisfaction with a single access point for efficient, personalized HR services. ServiceNow helps you put service at the heart of your business. Start today.
Direct download: Andy20Lee20Podcast_done.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 7:57am PST

We have all heard it before, the advice that many people have given when asked for career advice or when talking to college students entering the workforce--”Follow your passion”. But there are some challenges with that statement.

First of all, telling people to follow their passion assumes that the passion is something that lives outside of them and they have to chase it. The second issue is that we assume it is a static thing, that there is one passion it is in a certain location and that’s where you have to go. The truth is our passions change-- as we get older, as we go through experiences in life and as we expand our horizons.

Thirdly, the problem is that often we are not able to identify a passion before we choose to pursue something. It happens all the time, someone tries something new and that sparks a new passion. So to think that we have to simply follow a passion would take away the possibility of finding a new passion in something we didn’t think of before.

The real question is: how can we bring our passion with us to everything that we do. It is better to bring that passion with you instead of trying to chase it.

This episode of The Future of Work Podcast was made possible by our friends at ServiceNow. Please show your support by checking out the great work they are doing!

Give employees the service experience they deserve because everyone deserves great experiences at work. Eliminate frustration and improve employee satisfaction with a single access point for efficient, personalized HR services. ServiceNow helps you put service at the heart of your business. Start today.

 

Direct download: why_following_your_passion_is_terrible_career_advice.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 12:01am PST

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