It could’ve easily won the best book of the month if it wasn’t for other great ones I also read this month.
It goes deep into the changes we will see in the workforce and how we can adapt to these.
The book will give you insights into how is it that we can make the most out of the advances in technology that we are seeing in the context of our jobs.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 4/5
Mindset: 5/5
Some of My Highlights:
“Unemployment rates for young college graduates have been running for years now in the neighborhood of 10 percent and underemployment rates near 20 percent.”
“Today’s iPhone would have been the most powerful computer in the world as recently as 1985.”
“That means humans with strong math and analytic skills, humans who are comfortable working with computers because they understand their operation, and humans who intuitively grasp how computers can be used for marketing and for other non-techie tasks.”
“Computer nerds will indeed do well, but not everyone will have to become a computer nerd.”
“The ability to mix technical knowledge with solving real-world problems is the key, not sheer number-crunching or programming for its own sake.”
“This will mean maids, chauffeurs, and gardeners for the high earners, but a lot of the service jobs won’t fall under the service category as traditionally construed.”
“It sounds a little silly, but making high earners feel better in just about every part of their lives will be a major source of job growth in the future.”
“But getting attention will continue to be a critical function in the new world of work and is likely to require ever-greater effort and sophistication.”
“If you have an unusual ability to spot, recruit, and direct those who work well with computers, even if you don’t work well with computers yourself, the contemporary world will make you rich.”
“At the same time, Facebook, Google, and Zynga are now so desperate for talent that they will buy out other companies, not for their products, but rather to keep their employees.”
“To hire a risky and iffy worker, without a competent overseer, simply isn’t worth it, no matter how low the wage.”
“Team production makes the quality of ‘conscientiousness’ a more important quality in laborers. Managers need workers who are reliable.”
“The growing value of conscientiousness in the workplace helps women do better than men at work and in colleges and universities.”
“They are more likely to follow instructions and orders with exactness and without resentment.”
“The premium is on conscientiousness, namely whether the worker can follow some straightforward requests with extreme reliability and basic competence.”
“The world is demanding more in the way of credentials, more in the way of ability, and it is passing along most of the high rewards to a relatively small cognitive elite.”
“In poker, the very best players are still humans, because the computers don’t know how to psych out the opponent, bluff, or read the ‘tells’ from the guy sitting across the table.”
“There are also more than two million Americans in jail, in percentage terms the highest rate in the world.”
“In essence, the American economy is learning that – for structural reasons – it can’t afford as many mid-wage jobs as it used to.”
“…many American workers are turning to self-employment. For instance, in 2012 an average of 565,000 Americans a month started businesses, the highest rate of the last decade.”
“The US economy has seen a freelancing explosion, including contractors, sole proprietors, consultants, steps, and the self-employed.”
“I do not presume the limbo generation consists entirely or even mostly of unhappy individuals. They have freedoms and flexibilities that older generations might have envied, and they have the chance to spend lots of time with friends and family.”