Think Like a Futurist: The future of labor

Know What Changes, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next

C E C I LY S O M M E R S

65% of today’s grade school kids will end up at jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

United States Department of LaborFuturework : Trends and Challenges for Workforce in the 21st Century (1999)

By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human.

Gartner Research

Social Networking in the 1600s

What Changes

What Doesn’t What’s Next

THE FOUR FORCESWhat Changes

RESOURCES

TECHNOLOGY

DEMOGRAPHICS

GOVERNANCE

Vistage

GOVERNANCE

DEMOGRAPHICS

TECHNOLOGY

RESOURCES

Hershey Learn to Grow:Connected Classroom

Hershey Launches Innovative Distance Learning Program to Connect Children in U.S. and Rural Ghana

HERSHEY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2012-- The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) has launched a unique distance learning program linking school children in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Ghana through real-time, high-definition technology that creates a common, virtual classroom.

The Climate• The cultural and political shift to the right: structural forces• Celebration of entrepreneurship (vs. temporary workers)• Push for global trade for workers, products, and raw materials• “Cross-sector” partnerships picking up slack for decrease in

government services

PoliciesInside Outside• Commitment to diversity, sustainability,

health

• Internal social networks for mentorship and opportunity

• Non-linear career paths

• Gamification of HR services

• Employee training

• Women in power

• Elite, high-tech workforce

• Us-Them divide hardens

• Social networks are key

• Entry-level jobs shrink

• STEM-focus intensifies

• More camps, internships

• Transition into entrepreneurship

• Young and old affected

• Unemployment soars

The Fertile Delta• What changes: tools and institutions, and values

– Entrepreneurism vs. career employees– Social networks vs. formal organizations– Populism vs. Socialism– A great political divide makes way for a change

• Dig into what doesn’t change: – The need to be seen and heard, to be considered, to have a voice, to fair, safe, moral environments

and policies– The need to connect personally. Bring more high-touch to high-tech

• Create a movement– Study successes: Obama’s elections, gay marriage, medical marijuana, sustainability, climate change– Look for tipping points

Conditions

Needs Role

Solving for X:

Looming Questions• Where are the “Fertile Delta”s?

– Is there an opportunity in providing services that employers, government, and businesses are dropping?

• Where is labor today? Its locus has shifted• How do you make employers fall in love with you?

THANK YOU!cecily@cecilysommers.com