Technology trends are touted now as so significant that they will "transform our world and how we live in it". Bernard Marr offered 9 Technology Mega Trends that will change our world in 2018 (Forbes, 12/4/17), and four of them are listed below along with a way to stay sane with each.
Trend 1: The increasing datafication of our lives. Marr says "In the average minute, Facebook receives 900,000 logins, more than 450,000 Tweets are posted, and 156 million emails and 15 million texts are sent." This doesn't point out that we are contributing to these numbers, and points to a quasi-addiction to communicating this way. The antidote: monitor our time on screens and have two-way conversations in addition to the one-way communication these vehicles offer.
Trend 2: The incredible rise of artificial intelligence. AI has advanced so quickly over the last couple of years that the more data an AI system has, the quicker it can learn and the more accurate it becomes. This means computers can undertake more and more human tasks (facial recognition software, analyzing social media messages, listening, speak and even gauging our emotions). Our task here is to collectively decide for whom and what should this serve and to monitor unethical use of them.
Trend 3: The unstoppable freight train that is automation. Marr predicts that humans will no longer be needed to do the jobs that machines can do faster, safer, cheaper and more accurately, and cites an estimate that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are at risk of automation. What this means for us is to stay ahead of this trend by being sure we have the skills to either manage that automation or develop skills for jobs that will not be automated.
Trend 4: We're interacting with technology in very different ways. Thanks to smart phones and tablets, we can carry out a whole range of tasks on the move simply by touching a screen. Google has confirmed that searches on mobile devices now outstrip desktop searches. And virtual reality and augmented reality are the next wave in interface innovation, transforming how businesses interact with customers. This requires learning, learning, learning so we can add value to those functions.
Would you benefit from any of these things in your hiring process?
- getting a clear picture of the candidate's thinking style, behaviors, and interests
- asking questions that are tailored to the job and the candidate's relative fit with that job
- once the candidate is hired, identify ways to enhance performance and maximize their contribution to your organization
- match people with positions where they'll perform well and enjoy what they do
- reduce unwanted turnover and boost employee engagement
Ask us about PXT SelectTM. It is a unique selection assessment that does all these things. The candidate takes the assessment once, then you get a library of reports you can use throughout their tenure at your organization.
Why Women Working across Race Together is a Compelling Necessity
I have been observing for a long time that our shared gender does not assume we share perspectives or similar life experiences. And I spent time studying this to understand the nuances of how our respective races experience different realities. But now I see this is much less an academic interest and a compelling need for action. The recent analysis of the voting patterns for Roy Moore told me we are not there yet. Our political order is in peril now, and history warns us that the expansion of global trade produces expectations of progress but also the apparent helplessness of democracies to address inequalities and fascism. It is time for us to learn from our experiences, act together, and preserve the ideals of our democratic society.
Here are some ways White women can work to create a unified political force with women of Color. There is more complete coverage in an article I co-wrote with a colleague of Color (Geiger & Jordan, 2014). As a White woman I am imperfectly working on everything written here, and have chosen to only focus on those of us who live in “the bubble of privilege” because I think we have the most work to do. I hope this stimulates cross-race conversations including reactions and challenges for you.
For those with societal privilege:
1. Make privilege a problem. Our narrative often focuses on the hardships created for the recipients of racism, not on the practices of those with privilege that create those inequalities. We can change this narrative.
2. Become an ally for social justice. This is a big one: it means seeking critique from others about our unconscious racist behaviors, paying attention to our public interactions with other White people, trying but knowing we can never truly succeed in seeing and hearing other vantage points, respecting and appreciating cultural differences instead of simply erasing or ignoring them, challenging each other assuming that change is possible even when it seems overwhelming, and creating discomfort for other White people.
3. Redefine what it means to be White. We can redefine our identities in ways that don’t depend on the subordination of people of Color, and explore how race has affected us before engaging in building cross-race relationships.
4. Use empathy cautiously. White women often want solidarity without realizing they haven’t really listened to how racial power dynamics have affected their partners of Color. Relationships across race by definition include dynamics of power in them and cultural difference is at some level unknowable. Therefore, empathy and this unknowing must be moderated – we can have a common purpose without understanding the complete experience of the other and should resist saying “I understand” when we may not.
5. Create a “third culture”. We can create a new space between us called a “third culture” Casrnir (1999). This is when we create interactions that benefit all involved (and check to be sure that’s the case), that focus on communications between human beings instead of racial bodies, and that assumes this third culture is continuously evolving vs. achieved quickly. This will be new and unfamiliar but is important work.
6. Balance our individual, social and organizational identities. There is a tension that emerges in cross-race relationships: our individual need for identification and our need to identify with the group. We can notice our discomfort with being excluded from conversations about the experiences of women of Color and also welcome the expression of difference. This requires time, trust, and faith.
So, creating an alliance of women means that we seek to know, respect and commit to women who are in essential ways different from us, but whose interests are in essential ways the same. For White women, alliance is a process of sharing power and resources with others in society in order to create structures equally responsive to the needs and interests of all people. This process requires giving up our tendency to be politically correct, avoid conflict, and perpetuate dominance. It requires us to experience disequilibrium and expect resistance, demonstrate patience and courage, manage our emotions, negotiate agendas, surface and manage power dynamics and hold the paradox of belonging and uniqueness.
We can do this and it may mean that our society survives as a result.
References
Casrnir, F.L. (1999), Foundations for the study of intercultural communication based on
a third-culture building model, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 23
No. 1, pp. 91-116.
Geiger, K. and Jordan, C. (2014). The role of societal privilege in the definitions and practices
of inclusion. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Vol. 33, No. 3. pp. 261–274.
How to stay sane in our times
May we live in interesting times!
Given the popularity of social media; we now are confronted with
- fake news designed to cause divisiveness,
- a vehicle to put out our opinions in the absence of a supportive, constructive community dialogue,
- increasing feelings of isolation while we are more connected technologically than ever.
Here are 2 things to do and 2 things to avoid to save our mental health and our civil society.
Here are two things to do:
1. Realize that our attention is a choice and be conscious about where we focus it.
2. In conversation, be curious about what experiences have led to someone having a different opinion.
Here are two things to avoid:
Here are two things to avoid:
1. Reading headlines and news (real or fake) that we know will agitate us, and instead figure out how to learn the whole story.
2. Feeding our outrage and helplessness by reading things that are incomplete and/or designed to outrage us.
