Talk delivered at Singularity University's inaugural Exponential Manufacturing conference, May 2016, by Gary A. Bolles, o-founder, eParachute.com, and Partner, Charrette LLC

1. Unbundling (Your) Work:
Our Careers in a Future of Robots & AI
Gary A. Bolles
Co-founder, eParachute.com
Partner, Charrette LLC

2. Careering Into the Future.
What’s a career, in the age of exponentials?
What’s work, in the age of exponentials?
How are exponentials changing how we work?
What’s “unbundling,” and why does it matter?
What strategies do we need going forward - as
individuals, and as employers?

6. The Three Boxes of Life

7. The Three Boxes of Life
Education Work Leisure

8. The Three Boxes of Life
Education Work Leisure

10. Career

15. Career

16. So, what’s “work”?

17. So, what’s “work”?
Problems
???????
???????
???????

18. So, what’s “work”?
ProblemsTasks
???????
???????
???????
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>

19. So, what’s “work”?
ProblemsTasksSkills
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
???????
???????
???????
!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!

20. Let’s talk about skills.

21. Let’s talk about skills.
Everything you know about skills is wrong.

22. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable Self-Management

23. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable Self-Management

24. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable Self-Management

25. 264 Transferable Skills

26. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable
Self-
Management

27. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable Self-Management

28. What’s a skill?
Knowledges Transferable Self-Management
What you
KNOW
What you
CAN DO
HOW
you do it

29. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e

30. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment

31. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment
!

32. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment
!

33. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment
!
X X

34. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment
!
X X

35. What about “ability”?
Performanc
e
Enjoyment
!
X X
?

36. Performanc
e
Fit
Cultural
Fit

37. Performanc
e
Fit
Cultural
Fit
X X
?

38. What skills are prized now?

39. What skills are prized now?

40. What skills are prized now?

41. Intuitive
Analytic
Repetitive Adaptive

42. Intuitive
Analytic
Repetitive Adaptive
● Top down
● Scale efficiency
● Process efficiency
● Excising creativity

43. The new arms race
Courtesy of Adafruit

45. Intuitive
Analytic
Repetitive Adaptive

46. Intuitive
Analytic
Repetitive Adaptive

47. Intuitive
Analytic
Repetitive Adaptive
● Top down
● Scale efficiency
● Process efficiency
● Excising creativity
● (No top or bottom)
● Scalable learning
● Design thinking
● Collaborative solutions

48. What’s most important today?
Knowledges Transferable &
Self-
Management

49. What’s most important today?
Knowledges Transferable &
Self-
Management

50. What’s most important today?
Knowledges Transferable &
Self-
Management

51. T Skills

52. Your
work
You and Your Work: A Matching Process
Your best-
loved
skills & other
attributes

53. Your
work
You and Your Work: A Matching Process
Your best-
loved
skills & other
attributes

54. We’re entering into the era of
Self-directing
Self-optimizing
Self-organizing

55. We’re entering into the era of
Self-directing
Self-optimizing
Self-organizing
And this will change the job market. Forever.

56. The job market in the age of Exponentials.

57. The job market in the age of Exponentials.

58. The job market in the age of Exponentials.

59. The job market in the age of Exponentials.
?

60. This is the problem.
?

61. The reason? We’re unbundling work.

62. Understanding Unbundling.

63. Understanding Unbundling.

64. Understanding Unbundling.

65. Understanding Unbundling.

66. Understanding Unbundling.

67. Understanding Unbundling.
“Abstraction
Layers”

68. Understanding Unbundling.

69. Understanding Unbundling.
How did industries become disrupted?

70. Understanding Unbundling.
How did industries become disrupted?
?

73. Understanding Unbundling

74. Understanding Unbundling

75. Understanding Unbundling

76. Understanding Unbundling

77. Understanding Unbundling

78. Music
Magazines
Newspapers
Books
TV
Movies
Videos
Understanding Unbundling

79. What industry is next?

80. What industry is next?

81. What industry is next?

82. Unbundling Higher Ed

84. “[Schools should be places]...in which
raw products, children, are to be shaped
and formed into finished products…
manufactured like nails, and the
specifications for manufacturing will
come from government and industry.”

85. Elwood Cubberley,Teachers College, Columbia
University, 1905
“[Schools should be places]...in which
raw products, children, are to be shaped
and formed into finished products…
manufactured like nails, and the
specifications for manufacturing will
come from government and industry.”

86. Elwood Cubberley,Teachers College, Columbia
University, 1905
Dean, Stanford School of Education, 1917-1933
“[Schools should be places]...in which
raw products, children, are to be shaped
and formed into finished products…
manufactured like nails, and the
specifications for manufacturing will
come from government and industry.”

87. Unbundling Higher Ed

88. Unbundling Higher Ed
? X

89. Gap Year
(free range)
Gap Year
Program
Travel
Abroad
Two-Year
College
First Two
Years
Online
Gap
Semester
Structured
Internship
Nano-
Degree
Four-Year
College
Long
Degree
Certificate

90. What’s next?
Transportation - chauffeured
Transportation - self-driving
Hospitality
Healthcare
Financial Services

91. How do exponentials affect these industries?

92. Exponentials evaporate the middle.

93. Exponentials evaporate the middle.

94. Exponentials evaporate the middle...

95. ...Leading to a fat-bottomed world

97. Exponentials evaporate the middle.

98. Exponentials evaporate the middle.
X

99. Exponentials evaporate the middle.

100. What about the economy?

101. What about the economy?

104. What about our jobs?

105. What about our jobs?
And what about those robots?

106. It’s not just skills and knowledges.

107. 7 Characteristics of You & Your Work

108. For example: Preferred People Environment

109. Exponentials are unbundling work.
Customers

110. Exponentials are unbundling work.
Customers

111. What are the results….
...For the employer?
Skills applied to tasks & problems as needed
Minimal commitment to worker
AND
Hiring challenges for top skills

112. What are the results….
...For the worker?
Skills applied to tasks & problems as needed
Minimal commitment to employer
AND
Hiring challenges if you don’t have top skills
Wage compression

113. We are shifting from 3 Boxes...
Education Work Leisure

114. ...to a lifelong model.

115. Strategies for the Individual
Self-inventory - on an ongoing basis
Identify and drive toward interests/passions/purpose
Take full responsibility for your own learning
Develop collaborative skills
???

116. Strategies for the Employer
Increase emphasis on hiring for cultural fit over “performance fit”
Stop “up-skilling” job requirements
Design processes to involve workers in defining the problems to be
solved - and in creating the solutions
Give workers autonomy and responsibility
Study “manager-less” companies
Take responsibility for creating an ongoing, dynamic learning
environment
???

117. Thanks.
Gary A. Bolles
gbolles@gmail.com
On Medium.com: gbolles