Yesterday was a brilliant day. We got invited to present to members from the Institute of Directors (IOD) in Birmingham, having done a similar session on Workforce Evolution back in May. The guys we presented to yesterday made the session a real success and I want to thank everyone who attended for their input. When I think about it, we didn’t really present yesterday we discussed instead. So instead of two people having their say and sharing their insights we had around 20 different people from different industries express their thoughts on technology and the future. We talked about everything from search engines to education.
One thing I have realised is that businesses are becoming more demanding of technology. They aren’t interested in technology that “does the job” they want and expect technology that will push their business and drive the company forward. This is fantastic as it will force the technology industry to push the boundaries of innovation much further. When I say we talked about technology, I don’t mean products and specifications, but rather what technology enables us to do. One of the most interesting discussions was the need for office buildings. Do we really need them? Think about it, would it be possible to get rid of your office building and still run your business? One suggestion was to have team meetings in Barbados, attendance would almost certainly be at 100 %.
We all agreed that the education system will be incredibly important over the next decade or so as we need to ensure that the youngest Millennials can fill the huge gap that Baby Boomers will leave as they start to retire. And is it really true that all Millennials are tech savvy? definitely not. There are still a lot of young people in this country that do not have access to the internet which is something the government will have to improve drastically over the next couple of years.
Sessions like the one yesterday are very thought provoking and in our modern society there isn’t always time for that, but there should be. Thinking is crucial and it’s something we should make more time for, so I hope we made some people think about the workforce evolution and the change it will bring about.
Another thing that made my day yesterday was watching this video with Seth Godin presenting at the TED (Technology Entertainment Design).I think the guy is one of the best presenters on the planet. And in this video he talks about the internet and the way it is ending mass marketing, awesome stuff.
