Make Your Career Robot Proof!

Sometime back in the late 1970’s, I was on a plane traveling from Detroit to Baltimore. A fellow roughly my age was assigned the seat next to me, sat down, and we talked a bit. He told that he worked in a General Motors (GM) plant in Michigan as a welder. When he asked what I did, I told him that I worked in advertising. He said that was a bad choice as someday I could get fired, maybe more than once. He, on the other hand, did a vital job at GM and had job security forever. At the time, I did not think much of what he said until perhaps 10 years later, I began to read about how automation was slowly taking hold at auto plants all over the world. So, it is a good bet that my seat mate never made it to retirement as industrial robots can always outperform a human, no matter how skilled, when doing a REPETITIVE task.

I bring this up as I firmly believe that there is a serious misconception going on among many regarding the future of robotics and employment. In recent months, I have read dozens of articles and viewed countless interviews about the automation revolution. All too often, the “expert” talks about how thousands of cashiers at supermarkets and Wal*Mart will disappear. Some project that six-nine million blue collar jobs will evaporate in a decade. Others discuss how driverless cars and trucks will smash the job security of taxi drivers and truckers and things will be delivered safely and on time as insurance rates for companies plummet. And Amazon Go stores scheduled to sweep across America will eliminate all but a small staff at thousands of locations. I do not have a serious issue with any of these forecasts.

What I do find disturbing, and a tremendous oversight, is that several million “white collar” jobs will evaporate as well as Artificial Intelligence and Robotics take hold. If I had to find the most vulnerable area a decade or so from now, I would bet that it would be “middle management.” Yes, the role of a middle manager can be complicated at times, but, be honest, much of it is routine and repetitive. Software has steadily improved over the last 20 years that is making these roles obsolete at worst and far less important at best. Remember, companies are always looking for ways to cut expenses. Imagine the profit windfall to organizations if a substantial number of their staffers earning low six figures could be eliminated with no decline in product quality or service. Enterprise software is getting databases together than can look at precedent and historical data and cut the number of people needed for a firm to function smoothly.

Changes have been going on for years but, as they do not happen overnight, many are blind to them. Remember travel agents? How about your friendly stockbroker? Millions now trade online and young upscales are piling billions into low cost index mutual funds and by-passing brokers forever. The cost savings over 40 years often will total well over six figures in most cases. We are over lawyered in the US and people are brushing and flossing more aggressively these days and a dental practice is no longer a sure thing. New sensors can spot macular degeneration and cataracts and the tests are run by a technician. Yes, ophthalmology will still exist but we will need far fewer eye surgeons going forward as a variety of programs can handle routine exams and spot trouble. This will be true across all medical areas.

What to do? Some people suggest that everyone should be prepared to become entrepreneurs. Sounds great but remember that most entrepreneurs make it on the third or fourth try and most fail. And, roughly one in seven people ever go out on their own. Some are simply not psychologically equipped or physically able to handle the pressures and challenges of being a one person band. Mathematically, everyone cannot be a chief.

So wither does one flee? Sometimes staying where you are may be a viable option but with a twist. For years, I have read very carefully everything that Berkshire Hathaway mavens Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger say and write. Both have said when you buy shares in a company, view yourself as a part owner of the enterprise (even if you merely have a few hundred shares). Well, the same thing can help you at your place of work. If you think like an owner, you mindset changes. You eschew politics and look at efficiency and take a long term perspective. Also, you may start to come up with creative solutions to many problems (some very small) at your place of work. Higher ups who are not asleep at the switch will likely take notice and, over time, you may become indispensable to the enterprise in top management’s eyes. You are an entrepreneur with the confines of your company.

We are at a transformational stage in our economy. I know, people have said this since the steam engine arrived two hundred years ago. Now, the difference is that no new industry appears to be emerging to sop up the lost jobs due to robotics and artificial intelligence growing at a rapid pace. Interestingly, if you look at economic history, unconventional characters always seem to be the ones who survive and prosper during times of industrial or market upheaval.

Anyone who has survived in the business world for decades has always needed to shift gears and reinvent themselves decade to decade. Now, with robotics et al on the march for real, the change will likely need to be more dramatic. We are not all visionaries. Yet, we can all be more organized, better communicators, and courageous. Robots lack courage and imagination and human kindness. It takes courage to deal with changing conditions and that is what you will likely need.

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com