The Future-Proof Workplace

Chapter 7TechnologyResistance Is Futile

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

—The Borg Collective

Could we run a business without Post-it notes? Perhaps.

But can anyone run a business, or a career, without technology? Not a chance. The time for us to opt out, or use it selectively, is long past. Technology is ever present, ever advancing, and ever pernicious.

We are firmly in the embrace of the fourth industrial revolution, a digital revolution that impacts every aspect of our lives—at work, at play, and at home.

The boundaries between historically diverse disciplines, health care and IT, for example, have become increasing blurred and intertwined. It's almost a chicken and egg situation, prompting the question, which came first—the technology or the intertwining?

When Morag and Linda entered the twentieth-century workforce, their bosses were down the hall. Now the boss is often in a different city or another country.

In the past, if you wanted an answer to a medical question, you consulted a local expert or a textbook. Now you can look at a hologram image of a patient while consulting with an expert in another country.

Technology will continue to both disrupt industries and create new opportunities. You can be a casualty of the disruption or reap the benefits of applied innovation. It's your choice.

Be clear: no job, no company, and no industry is immune from the impact of technology.

Look at the publishing industry as one example of technological change. The early ...