How have you reinvented yourself in the past year while grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic?

One morning during the lockdown period, I had a long conversation with my daughters. We discussed career, success, and happiness. I could sense the tension with all uncertainty around us. Could I offer them words of wisdom?

A Day of Drucker 2021

This article is one in the “shape the debate” series relating to A Day of Drucker on June 30, 2021.

Irrespective of what career you have chosen (or will choose), which advice would stand the test of time? How could I support young professionals who are taking the first steps in their careers? I have often found answers in Peter Drucker’s work that spans several decades of research. His thoughts about Managing Oneself were top of my mind and helped me during challenging moments of my professional life.

After being sensitized by their concerns and by many other young professionals, I decided to put time and effort into rethinking and reflect on how life and career have changed. As part of my volunteer work, I recorded four episodes of the What Matters video series, sharing what I learned from my career spanning 25 years.

I started my working experience in a company of three employees in Brazil. Over time, we grew and diversified the business from traditional software sales into IT services. Since then, the company has grown into one of the country’s leading technology groups, with more than 25,000 employees.

And you may ask about my decision to leave that company, AeC, in 2006. It was hard, really hard. But I wanted to dedicate myself to my passion: connecting ideas to reality by delivering successful projects.

This decision opened a unique window of opportunity: to have the chance to serve society as director for project management and infrastructure at the United Nations (UNOPS). It was life-changing. I led several missions in more than 120 countries, and, as a team, we delivered more than 1,000 projects worth $1.2 billion. We built camps, roads, maternity clinics, and housing efforts. For the first time, I was doing something that would have a massive impact on the lives of those who had nothing.

To achieve both success and fulfillment at work and in life, these are the three lessons that I want to share with you humbly.

Own Your Career Journey

I learned that everyone has a different starting point and a different journey. Comparing your life to others is not only unfair but also not valuable for progress ahead. I find joy in fulfilling my passion, building my own roadmap, and staying focused.

Focus to Find a Deeper Purpose

What if you did not have to choose between passion and your livelihood? What would you do? I learned how a sense of purpose associated with planning could help you create options, your best insurance.

Keep Learning to Challenge the Status Quo

I also thought of the advice that Peter Drucker would provide if he were still around. What would he say to us about reinventing our career paths?

Drucker encouraged us to be lifelong learners.

What are we doing to keep learning? Are we exposing ourselves to new ideas and new approaches? Are we challenging yesterday’s processes and ways of doing things?

Learning a new skill is not only reserved for further professional success. Being focused is great. But a deep focus can make us too entrenched in a specific field. It may not help you apply to another one when needed. Skills take time to master, so make sure you create options and mind-space for new concepts.

It makes me more aware and expands my horizon about different concepts.

Our experience with COVID-19 has taught us a lot about the fragility of life. Over the years, I have realized that while we plan, life happens. Unforeseen events can disrupt and distract. It is easy to fall into the trap that we must only think about the short-term.

We should not be paranoid about change. Yet we must be ready to adapt and equip ourselves with new skills that will allow the development of options.

And options are everything in an ever-changing world.

About the Author:
Ricardo Vargas specialized in implementing global initiatives, capital projects and product development. He created and led the Brightline Initiative from 2016 to 2020 and is a former director of project management and infrastructure at the United Nations. He is author of 15 books in the field

This article is one in the “shape the debate” series relating to the  A Day of Drucker on June 30, 2021.
#DruckerForum

Barely a day goes by without some new claim made on behalf of smart machines. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are already changing our lives. In future they will automate many of our everyday tasks – from driverless cars to shopping drones.

We take for granted many of these technological advances. We barely raise an eyebrow, for example, when our favorite stores target us with offers that seem almost telepathic in their accuracy, using matching techniques that rely on machine learning.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named this era “the 4th Industrial Revolution” because many of the technologies available today (virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, robotics, blockchain, to name a few) represent a new paradigm, changing productivity through automation. WEF founder Klaus Schwab described it as a culmination of emerging technologies, arguing that today’s revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before.

The 4th industrial revolution is characterized by a range of new technologies that are integrating the physical, digital and biological worlds, affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Already, they are changing how we live, work and consume through new industry processes, smart cities, connected homes, driverless cars, wearable devices, and new approaches to healthcare. In the future, they will disrupt and reinvent business, jobs and every other aspect of our lives.

So, what does this brave new world mean for strategy, management and leadership? It is already clear that smarter machines will have a profound effect on how organizations are structured and how they operate.

“A number of industries have been automated for years, and that automation continues at pace,” observes Maja Korika, an associate professor at Warwick Business School who carries out research in this area. “What is perhaps most concerning is the speed at which the biggest players are introducing these changes. If you take a company like Amazon, for instance, in 2017 it introduced over 50,000 new robots, a 100 per cent increase from the previous year. Estimates suggest some 20 per cent of its workforce may already be made up of robots.”

This shift is highly visible, and of course highly effective. After all, robots can work 24/7, 365 days a year, they do not have unions, they do not complain, there are less associatedcosts of providing an acceptable working environment, and they come with great efficiencies. As such, they present a powerful incentive for other firms to follow in Amazon’s robotic footsteps.

In one important regard, however, machines can never replace human beings – and that is because machines are not consumers of goods and services. Without people, machines would have no purpose.

Think about it. Machines are only as good as the tasks they are given. Without humans to direct them and to serve they are redundant. Robots can already build cars, for example, and it won’t be long before AI systems can drive them. But machines do not buy cars or have any need for them other than the transportation of people.

Similarly, when it comes to strategy execution it is the human element that is vital. Machines are very efficient at answering questions; but it is human beings who must pose the questions. Asking the right questions is at the heart of good strategy.

Take Amazon once again: we are all amazed at the ability of machines to track our preferences and suggest other purchases that match our selection criteria. Or the ability of Spotify to tune into our musical tastes and find similar artists to those we like.

At the 10th Global Peter Drucker Forum we will discuss the role of robots in our society and organizations, and try to answer questions such as:  Do leaders in the 21st century need to become as good in understanding the human dimension as they are in grasping the latest scientific discovery, technology or management technique? Do we want a machine-driven rather than a human-driven world?

My own feeling is that the discussion about how AI and machines will control our world and lives is in danger of becoming buried in hyperbole. Organizations and leaders are actually discussing how machines should do the work, instead of how to become better humans to work with other humans to solve the most complex and challenging problems our societies face today and in the years to come. The surprising challenge of our times is the need to focus on us and our humanity. Remember that machines, whether they be robots or 3D printers, are simply tools.  The big question is: how can we best put these new tools to work so that they help and maximize the potential of the most people?

About the author:

Ricardo Viana Vargas is Executive Director of the Brightline Initiative (brightline.org)

This article is one in a series related to the 10th Global Peter Drucker Forum, with the theme management. the human dimension, taking place on November 29 & 30, 2018 in Vienna, Austria #GPDF18

This article was first published on Linkedin.