The Future of Work: Humans' Strategic Advantage & Emerging Roles
“Technology is making skills and knowledge the only sources of sustainable strategic advantage”
Lester Thurow, Former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management
Empowering Human Expertise
In today’s automated world, Human Expert Work is crucial. Expert work, as I define it, involves applying knowledge, experience, judgment and ethical considerations to solve valuable, specific problems. While AI can process vast amounts of data and perform repetitive tasks efficiently, it falls short in areas requiring nuanced judgment and creative problem-solving. The opportunity lies in using AI to enhance human expert work, creativity, knowledge, and emotional intelligence. As David Autor from MIT highlights, the future question isn't about job availability, but the kinds of jobs we will have. Below, we explore the essential seven human skills and future roles that require our inherent human intelligence.
Seven Human Skills for the Future
Critical Thinking: Analyzing complex problems and making reasoned decisions.
Emotional Intelligence: Managing emotions and showing empathy in human interactions, inspiring and providing guidance and leadership.
Inquiry & Delegation: In an age where AI can provide answers and complete tasks, the ability to ask the right questions, clearly define objectives, and effectively delegate tasks to AI is essential.
Adaptability: Quickly learning and applying new skills, especially with emerging technologies.
Communication: Clearly explaining complex ideas, collaborating, and influencing decisions.
Creativity & Imagination: Generating innovative ideas and solutions, is crucial for original thinking and problem-solving.
Technical Literacy: Science and technology are the engines of prosperity, if you don’t master the latest, your competitors will.
Roles for Humans in AI-Enabled Corporations
As we identify the key skills necessary to remain relevant in an AI-enhanced world, it's equally important to recognize the evolving roles humans will play within corporations. While not exhaustive, some roles include:
1. Strategic Leadership, Change Management & Integration
Human leaders are essential for setting vision, planning strategically, and integrating insights from various disciplines. While AI can provide data-driven insights, envisioning and clearly articulating that change will rest with humans.
Future Roles:
Chief AI Officers (CAIO): Align AI strategies with the company's vision and ensure AI initiatives drive business value.
Strategic Integrators: Ensure effective integration of AI into business strategies, bridging the gap between human vision and AI capabilities. They focus on defining objectives, delegating tasks, and monitoring progress across humans and AI.
Change Management Leaders: Facilitate the transition to AI-enabled processes, ensuring smooth integration and adoption across the organization.
2. Collaboration and Adaptability
Enhancing teamwork between humans and AI, and training the workforce to adapt to new technologies will be critical.
Future Roles:
Human-Machine Collaboration Specialists: Optimize collaboration between human workers and AI systems, ensuring AI augments human labour and helps employees adapt to changing environments.
Adaptability Coaches: Train employees to embrace and use AI tools effectively.
3. Technical Development and Innovation
Humans will lead in creating, implementing, fixing, and maintaining AI systems. Innovation often stems from human creativity and curiosity, driving new advancements and improvements.
Future Roles:
AI Engineers: Develop, implement, and maintain AI systems, ensuring robust, scalable technology that aligns with business objectives.
AI Trainers: Teach AI systems by providing training data and refining algorithms, ensuring accurate and effective model development.
Analysts: Analyze and interpret complex data to provide actionable insights, crucial for AI development and application.
Research Scientists: Conduct cutting-edge research to drive AI advancements and discover new applications.
Product Managers: Oversee the development and lifecycle of AI products, ensuring they meet user needs and business goals.
4. Customer and Stakeholder Engagement
Managing relationships with customers and stakeholders to understand their needs and ensure satisfaction is a distinctly human role.
Future Roles:
Customer Success Managers: Ensure customer satisfaction by understanding needs and delivering personalized solutions.
Stakeholder Engagement Officers: Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders to align business strategies with their expectations.
5. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
Navigating legal and regulatory landscapes requires human oversight to ensure compliance and understand nuances.
Future Roles:
Compliance Officers: Ensure AI applications comply with regulations.
Regulatory Affairs Specialists: Guide AI development according to evolving laws.
6. Ethical and Risk Oversight
Human oversight is crucial to ensure AI aligns with ethical standards, current social norms, and manages associated risks.
Future Roles:
Ethical AI Managers/Specialists: Ensure AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly, addressing ethical considerations and mitigating risks.
Risk Management Advisors: Assess and manage AI-related risks.
7. Crisis Management
Handling crises related to “AI fails” with human intuition and emotional intelligence is essential.
Future Roles:
Crisis Managers: Lead organizations through crises, applying human intuition and emotional intelligence to make quick, effective decisions.
Resilience Coordinators: Develop strategies and fail-safes to enhance organizational resilience to shutdowns/breakdowns in automated and AI systems.
Conclusion
AI will take over routine tasks, allowing humans to excel in areas requiring creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and strategic leadership. To thrive in this evolving landscape, organizations should:
Create strategic roles that integrate AI and human expertise.
Invest in continuous learning and adaptability programs.
Develop roles to control the worst-case scenarios & align with societal norms and laws
As AI reshapes the job market, displacement agencies will be crucial in helping the workforce transition smoothly. In the next post, we will explore what Displacement Agencies are and how they can help retool and re-skill the future workforce.