Image: Hugh Macleod
“Go to work and do your job.”
That was the industrial revolution’s prescription for work in the last century.
Because in that era, your value was measured by your ability to conform to a pre-existing system…to be the best cog you could be.
But now in the 21st Century, the way our current Connection Economy rewards value has drastically changed.
We don’t need you to be a cog anymore, because we’ve now got robots, drones and AI neural Networks that can literally out-cog you 24hours a day, 7 days a week…for far less than you’re willing to work for.
But what the Connection Economy does need from you is to upgrade the software you’re running between your ears, and simply answer two questions every single day.
- Who will you choose to lead today?
- What problem are you going to solve today?
That’s it.
The quality of your answers to these 2 questions will be reflected in the value you receive.
And no, following orders or management don’t count.
What does count is the emotional labour of choosing to lead instead of just waiting to be told what to do.
What does count is daring to try something that might not work and might make you look like a fool, instead of just doing what you were trained to do, and being the fool who got replaced by a robot.
“How could you not have seen that coming?” your grandkids will ask you.
What does count is being willing to pick up the tools and opportunities that are outside the doorstep of the identity you’ve locked yourself into…and using them to make a difference.
And what does count is the mistakes you make because of your daily commitment to answering 2 questions:
Who are you going to lead…and what problem are you going to solve today?