IS YOUR JOB SAFE FROM AUTOMATION?

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Automation is when a machine does the work that human beings once did. The benefits to employers is obvious. Machines are able to achieve consistent results, work non-stop, and require little, if any, human supervision. Fortune Magazine estimates that by the year 2030, roughly, 20 million manufacturing jobs currently done by human beings will be replaced by robots. However, it is not just the manufacturing industry that will see huge changes.

Not All Tasks Can Be Automated
By now, most people have heard the word algorithm and it has become synonymous with technology. An algorithm can be described as a set of rules programed into a machine to be followed. This why jobs that require mostly routine tasks are the most at risk. If your job consists of you mainly doing the same set of routine tasks then this may affect you.

Who Exactly Is At Work
According to CNBC and a study conducted by Brookings, automation will potentially disrupt about 25% of all jobs in the US. Automation will affect men more than women. African-Americans and Hispanics are at high-risk of losing their jobs to automation because 44-77% of their current jobs can currently be automated. The highest careers fields at risk are:

Food preparation and service 81%
Production operations 79%
Office and administrative support 60%
Farming/fishing and forestry 56%
Transportation and material moving 55%
Construction and extraction 50%
Source: CNBC

Barriers To Entry
Currently, the biggest barrier to entry for automation is price. New technology typically comes with a high price tag that smaller companies cannot afford. Secondly, there is public reception. Even if Uber had the technology today to unleash a fleet of automated vehicles that is not something that the general public may be receptive to yet.

What To Do About It
According to Forbes, MIT Sloan Professor Paul Osterman suggests reeducation. Workers, especially those in high-risk fields, should go to school and be educated in growing fields. We should embrace technology because it is here to stay. If this issue is important to you, make it important to your local government and there may be bills passed that subsidize efforts to reeducate our country.

PERSONAL BRANDING IS FUNDAMENTAL

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Branding is typically synonymous with businesses, but it shouldn’t be according to Forbes contributor Caroline Castrillon. You may be familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) and how that relates to a small business. When you search Apple on Google, what shows up? Before even the definition of the word apple comes up, the very first post is for Apple, Inc.’s website. If someone searched your name, what would appear? If someone searched for professionals within your industry, would you appear?

Source: Google

What Is A Personal Brand
Think of your personal brand as the unique attributes you possess that separate you from the crowd. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is famously quoted as saying, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” If you were applying for a job and were asked, “What makes you different?” Your brand should showcase that!

Okay, But Why Do I Need One
According to a 2018 survey conducted by CareerBuilder, 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates and a whopping 43% of employers regularly check the social media of current employees. By being active online, you have the ability to attract a wider range of customers, create and develop relationships, and showcase your strengths to a potentially global audience. As an employee that makes you an asset and if you are an entrepreneur you are adding value to your business.

Still Not Convinced
If you are not convinced that curating a personal brand here are some examples of some famous personal brands:

Oprah Winfrey – Billionaire television mogul that is best known for inspiring people to be their best self
Richard Branson – Eccentric billionaire and founder of Virgin America, Virgin Records, etc.
Elon Musk – Billionaire founder of Telsa and SpeceX
Bill Gates – Billionaire founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (largest charity in history)

What you think of these leaders and what you see about them in the media is carefully curated to align with each of their personal brands. If you care at all what people think about you it is time to start working on yours. Start by creating a professional online portfolio on website like LinkedIn.

WHY EVERY COMPANY NEEDS A CHIEF ENTREPRENEUR

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Well established companies are at risk. We live in a global society of continuous disruption and innovation. Accepting the status quo in this kind of competitive landscape is more than lazy it can be lethal to the entire company. Of the largest companies in the world by market value, six were founded within the last 40 years and left their competition in bankruptcy court.

Source: Statista

A 2016 KPMG study illustrated that 74% of CEOs are concerned about new entrants to the market, 53% of CEO’s believed they are not disrupting their own industry, 80% believed their business models were at risk, and only 6% of executes were happy with their company’s innovation.

So What Does a Chief Entrepreneur Do?
While the CEO is focused on the company’s current initiatives and growth models the Chief Entrepreneur (CE) is to invent the future of the company. The CE would work with, not for, the CEO and manage his own team of executives and entrepreneurs focused on the organizations future. The CE and his/her team will experiment with new business models and create a portfolio of new initiatives. Once that future is realized the CEO is there to manage the execution of those initiatives and success on health of the business overall.

Who Would the CE Report To
The CE, just like the CEO, would report directly to the company’s Executive Chairman and be responsible for creating accounting practices that measure the success or failure of their initiatives. If the CE reported to the CEO the CEO would have the ability to veto the CE’s initiatives to preserve company resources for current objectives.

What Team Would the CE Lead
The CE would lead an executive team consisting of innovators as clearly defined by Alexander Osterwalder of Strategyzer:

Chief Portfolio Manager: The Chief Portfolio Manager has the interesting role of making sure the company is looking at a range of opportunities and business models that will create future growth. The Chief Portfolio Manager must then adapt the portfolio to that environment so the company is well positioned for the future.

Chief Venture Capitalist: The Chief Venture Capitalist allocates the budget and manages financing rounds, and will have the most direct connection with entrepreneurs conducting experiments. The Chief VC mirrors the role of the CFO.

Chief Risk Officer: Some of the experiments a team will conduct may be detrimental to the brand and could carry legal liabilities. Legal can be a big constraint to experimentation in a company. The Chief Risk Officer is there to enable teams. The CRO is a role that will help entrepreneurs understand how to run experiments without putting the company at risk.

Chief Internal Ambassador: The Chief Internal Ambassador knows everything that’s going on in both sides of the company. The CIA knows all of the resources, activities, and patents that exist on the execution arm of the organization, and also has the trust of the powerful people that manage them. This role is the link between the existing company and its innovative partner.

Entrepreneurs: The Entrepreneurs build the businesses, with each one responsible for a particular business experiment as its leader. This role becomes a lot stronger than your regular product manager: they are real entrepreneurs, with clear incentives, and have a stake in the company.

For more information on this interesting concept head over to Strategyzer.