Four mega trends making your life harder
- Date: August 23rd, 2008
- Author: John McKee
- Category: General
- Tags: Job, Decision Tree, Worker, 3.Leadership, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, John McKee
John McKee doesn’t paint a rosy picture for American employees. He says that in most industries, and in all locations, U.S. workers and leaders are going to feel the impacts of four mega trends. Here are those trends.
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Winners and Losers Status Report:
- There are now 3.2 million fewer jobs in this country than in 2000.
- 1 in 5 US workers have been laid off since 2004.
- About 15 million workers are unemployed or underemployed because they can’t get a job
like they’ve had in the past.
And the evidence indicates that, very likely, the worst is yet to come.
I believe that, in the near future, people at all levels are going to find it harder than ever to have a successful, fulfilling career. In most industries, and in all locations, U.S. workers and leaders are going to feel the impacts of four mega trends:
1. Those who depend on decision tree logic are in trouble. It doesn’t matter what occupations either. Even if you’re in medicine, marketing, law, accounting, IT, or any other role considered previously to be safe from economic effects; you’re at risk if you use decision tree logic to do your job.
Others, those who are doing more “creative” work, or doing in-person jobs, remain fairly safe at this stage. It’s still pretty hard for software to reproduce creative thinking.
2. Change will occur much more quickly in the business communities.
Everyone knows that several countries of Asia are continuing to take market share away from the U.S. , and other western countries are using better trained and less expensive approaches.
However, if you were to travel to Brazil or East Germany you’d see that countries in South America and Eastern Europe are moving quickly to get a slice of the action in manufacturing, customer service, and even hi-tech. With younger workers, and good schools, they all want in on the action dominated up till now by North America and Europe to a great extent.
It’s going to much harder for most individuals to maintain a good standard of living in the older countries like the US, or France, or England.
3. Leadership demands will become greater. And you thought it was tough now!
As world markets come more into everyone’s jobs and lives we will experience working in organizations with:
- more distance between team members (locations and telecommuting)
- cultural differences (international teams with different backgrounds)
- demographic challenges between countries (no longer just
Babyboomers, GenXers, and Millennials as new, younger groups
are showing up)
- continuous upgrading required (new tools, new methods)
4. More frequent job / employment changes. Most people will have seven or eight jobs of
about five years each. This as:
- companies appear and disappear more frequently
- corporate ownership changes result in other changes such as leadership style,
vendors + technology used, locations of home offices switch countries
- uniligualism is unacceptable
And, if you think a change of president or shifts in Congress will stop these trends, you are wrong. In a global marketplace, the U.S. can no longer control every game, every time. We are far too interwoven into the worldwide economy to change the rules and “fix” everything.
Loading ...Act accordingly.
john
Leadership Coach
