The Innovation Ultimatum

9The Future of Work

What to Expect and How to Make Yourself “Robot-Proof”

Technology has always changed work. As businesses deploy the technologies outlined in this book, workplaces will evolve rapidly. To understand the future of work, it's helpful to review how technology changed work in the past.

The History of Work: From the Physical to the Knowledge Era

At the dawn of the industrial revolution, most people survived by working the land. In 1790, about 90% of the U.S. population worked in agriculture (Source: USDA). Workers were measured by the amount of physical work they could do in a day. What mattered was strength, stamina, and technique.

The industrial revolution moved people out of the fields and into factories and offices. Today, less than 3% of U.S. jobs are in farming (Source: USDA). It's a similar situation in much of Western Europe, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Argentina, Australia, and other industrialized nations. This happened because we created mechanical muscles: The steam engine, mechanization, electrification, production lines, and computer control boosted production and created enormous wealth. Mechanical muscles commoditized most physical labor and many workers transitioned to knowledge work.

In the knowledge era, workers are valued for their experience, their knowledge, their creativity, their cognitive abilities, and their capacity to tap into their personal network to get things done. Most of today's knowledge jobs were unimaginable in 1790. ...