from using datasets to build code from no code by selecting interesting charts from datasets and dealing with open-ended questions by trawling huge databases to formulate answers that open up new areas of inquiry.
to helping find new drugs using predictions about how proteins fold in three dimensions
Creating tech (could be a chip in your brain accessing datasets ) that can finish your sentences, using a better turn of phrase; or use a snatch of melody to compose music that sounds as if you wrote it (though you never would have); or solve a problem by creating hundreds of lines of computer code—leaving you to focus on something even harder. (Cure for alzheimers perhaps ??)
Is this AI tech is merely the descendant of the power looms and steam engines that hastened the Industrial Revolution.
This new technology grasps the symbols in language, music and programming and uses them in ways that seem more creative.
Should we fear AI
Will Chinese- and American-trained ais be recruited to an ideological struggle to bend minds and influence elections ? What will happen to cultures that are poorly represented online?
Who has access to this data and this ability to make exponential changes to systems?
Can we build monsters? Like “the terminator” (shark music)
The fear is that AI and the machine will replace humanity
Automation poses a threat to people who have repetitive, routine jobs - BUT everything is pointing to these people being reemployed as lifelong learners - artists, writers , programmers and human to human careers
A massive boost to productivity that won’t replace the human but will complement us
Jeff McKeon shares with us his 5 books that can change your mindset and let you live an intentional life.
Author of "Atomic Habits" James Clear said "Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice." I have read every single one of these books numerous times and as I've grown so to has my perspective, so each read I learn something new.
1. "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl describes his survival on the holocaust and how his choice to find happiness was his greatest power. Ironically his famous quote "Between stimulus and response is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom" does not appear in the book but the meaning and framework is there.
2. "7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey gives you a way of looking at life intentionally and asking some important questions. Chapter 2 - Begin With The End In Mind starts with you imagining your own eulogy. That one chapter changed my life.
3. "Limitless" by Jim Kwik was a game changer for me as it allowed me to read and listen to more books. Chapter 14 page 237 teaches you to double the speed of your reading just by using a visual pacer like your finger, pen or cursor. You can also, with training, increase the speed you listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I can now listen at 2-3 times normal speed with full comprehension.
4. "Tiny Habits" by BJ Fogg, PhD showed me how to change anything by starting small. This has been the greatest habit book that I have read as it gives you the formula, the psychology and the neuroscience of how, what, why of change. Read this book before you start anything new, this one book can help you change the world.
5. "Chatter" by Ethan Kross silenced that stupid, toxic, negative voice in my head that has haunted me for so long. Such simple and practical tools using science and psychology to silence the chatter of our daily lives. Imagine being able to make a mistake and not hear that inner critic that often says things worse than you could possibly say out loud to someone else. I wish this book was around when I was younger.
Then once you have finished go back and read "Man's Search For Meaning" again. It is such a powerful tool for perspective. How are you going to live you life?
What's your favourite 5 books?
Stay Awesome 🙏
NeuroCapability – using the latest in Neuroscience to improve your capabilities as a leader.
Jeff works with Linda Ray and Penny Curnow on a mission of changing the world one brain at a time by rewiring the brains of 100,000,000 leaders and emerging leaders to lead with the brain in mind.
To learn more go to www.neurocapability.com.au
#innovation #management #leadership and #neuroscience
Mr Albanese mentioned some amazing policies and strategies covering climate, foreign workers , women in business, indigenous and medical .
Climate
"Together, we can end the climate wars," he said, adding that Australia had the possibility to be "a renewable energy superpower".
Some commitments made in Prime Minister Albanese’s speech:-
investment of$20 billion towards upgrading the electricity grid so it can handle more renewable energy.
remove taxes on electric vehicles to make them between $2,000 and $12,000 cheaper
install hundreds of community batteries across the country that will be charged by rooftop solar and provide shared energy storage for up to 100,000 households.
install 85 solar banks to benefit more than 25,000 who can't access rooftop solar, such as renters and low-income households.
public service sector would be required to reach net-zero emissions by 2030, although the Australian Defence Force, Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and security agencies would be exempt from this.
$3 billion to invest in clean energy technologies like green metals (minerals used in green energy technologies), and seek to adjust the government's so-called "Safeguard Mechanism".The Safeguard Mechanism would make heavy emitters pay for their emissions, by gradually reducing, over time, the eligibility threshold from 100,000 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes
phasing out coal and gas
sign up toUS President Joe Biden's Global Methane Pledge to phase out methane gas, which is the second biggest contributor to human-caused global warming, after carbon dioxide.
Foreign workers
granting foreign workers permanent residency m- given they are already living in the community and paying taxes.
Mr Albanese said he committed to "the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full".
To be proud to have the oldest living continuous culture in the world - We will allow First Nations people to have a say in policies that affect health, education and housing.
Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney would be the government's Indigenous Affairs minister.
Women into work and Childcare
Get more women into work by making the childcare subsidy universal Mr Albanese claims the policy will make childcare cheaper for 96 per cent of families.
Medical
Solve busy hospital emergency departments and cut down wait times through implementation of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics —
The clinics — will treat patients needing urgent medical attention, including broken bones, minor burns and stitches for cuts, to free up congested emergency departments.
They will be based at GP surgeries and community health centres nationwide and cost more than $135 million over four years.
A few Suggestions that come to mind
Higher pay for essential workers - Education,daycare providers and nurses - increase the base rate - these people are key to our future
Education - more public high schools
GP remuneration - Medicare rebate improve -funded by Stoppinguniversal bulk billing - people need to inderstand cost of going to gp - so they have an idea how much they paid for Medicare
Get rid of Payroll Tax - and rather incentivise employersto employ more people
Support Exporters and Innovators through EMDG and R&D Tax Concessions
I read an interesting report based on a a Salesforce survey on Dec 21 on “digital readiness and capability” across 19 countries - with a view to close the skills gap and succeed in the workplace.
The global index score for digital readiness (the average) is 33 out of 100. New Zealand scored 28 and Australia scored 21.
Of the surveyed Australian respondents for the report, 55% are only somewhat digital ready and 19% are not ready at all. In New Zealand, those figures are 57% and 16%.
Digital reskilling and upskilling is clearly now a worldwide priority, particularly in ANZ - some say as important as reading , writing and arithmetic!
Salesforce ANZ Sustainability, Skills & Reconciliation Lead, Alexandra McDonald points out that Australia has produced the likes of Canva, Afterpay, Atlassian , MYOb , Referron , Redbubble, Aconex , myOB , my Recruitment Plus, Rhipe , Netreturn and Xero
And yet
The digital readiness of our workforce and the shortage of digital skills - has presented a big problem - and for those who are keen to reskill and upskill - this presents a big opportunity!
Alexandra says it’s time to take action with #digitallearning as the digital skills shortage takes hold !!!
According to the report the top five skills that are now most desirable for organisations are:
Collaboration technology: Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat
Digital administrative: Digitising and filing paperwork, virtual stakeholder meetings, digital-first processes, digitally presented pressing information
Encryption and cyber security: Skills to protect data and systems from unauthorised parties
Ecommerce and digital trade: Sales order management, payments to shipping and fulfilment processes
Project management technology: Utilising project management software to manage projects, processes, people, timelines, and more
59% of Australian respondents and 64% of New Zealand respondents say digital collaboration skills are of the utmost importance now and will be over the next five years, yet only 17% (Australia) and 22% (New Zealand) rate themselves as advanced in that department.
For a business and indeed our economy to survive and thrive in this #nexttechrevolution - a future-minded, digitally fluent workforce needs to be nurtured.
How do we reskill and upskill our population to take advantage of these employment opportunities ?
How can we upskill and reskill our communities in the top 5 digital skills
In an all-digital world, we need to invest more in enabling our workforce to reskill - and University degrees won’t cut the mustard
How can Schools, Governments and Organisationsin the Private and Public Sector train, reskill and upskillour population to match the digital skills demand?
How can we develop ‘real world’ digital skills in the workplace so we are ready for the #nexttechrevolution ?
How can organisations partner with learning facilities with a view todevelop internal upskilling/cross-skilling programs?
How can you as an individual or corporate - overcome digital overwhelm?
Maybe - understanding the digital world through training and learning is part of the solution .
How can we get people to engage ?
- An increase in the number of digital skills-specific micro-credentials and courses .
- An easy seamless way for people to do these courses - (maybe Duolingo or Nexttech for Digital Learning)
- Broadening the awareness of training options.
- Supporting employers to create a portal to help provide a way for their employees in their quest for lifelong learning
- Empowering them to drive digitisation within an organisation and
- Providing targeted support for underserved communities (Prisons maybe?)
Research conducted by AlphaBeta in Australia for AWS has shown that companies which had invested in digital skills training have seen increased revenue and improved employee productivity, PLUS higher employee retention and satisfaction amongst those interviewed .1
Digital skills training will not only boost productivity, but will help retain your staff.
Over 80 percent of NZ and Australian companies surveyed who had implemented training say that digital skills training helped with a higher employee retention - but not more than 30% have a digital skills training plan in place.
Fraser Thompson, co-founder and principal of AlphaBeta, says the survey shows implementing digital skills training has ‘really important’ impacts on employee engagement and retention.
“A huge portion of the reason people work for us is actually learning and development opportunities.”
Learning is not only a 5 year stint at university - it is Lifelong journey .” Says Cassandra Parton - CEO of Nexttech Learning
The opportunity to learn and grow was one of the top two key attractions for employees in a survey of Datacom staff last year. 2.
Greg Davidson, Group CEO of Datacom - who invests heavily in learning says the importance of fostering continued growth in the workforce can’t be understated.
“There’s no point just doing academic learning without applying it to project oriented activity. We have a really conscious program that follows up any training people do with reassignment to work that is relevant to help cement the skills”
A strong mentor culture is also required , he says
“Everyone in leadership in our company is encouraged to help connect there teams to development opportunities and career pathways.”
Simon Dewar of BSI Digital Learning talks about the danger of digital overwhelm!
- When we’re unable to focus because of competition for our attention from multiple sources causing stress and anxiety
- COVID-related uncertainty and unpredictability. The end of the pandemic won’t be well defined, and we won’t ‘get back to normal’ but will have to find a new sense of equilibrium.
- Environmental factors such as a lack of physical and social structures around work and learning – no training room or office.
- Social factors causing more distractions than usual – Children at home, mobile phones with notifications, apps specifically designed to give dopamine rewards for our attention.
How can you as an individual or corporate - overcome digital overwhelm .
Obviously - understanding the digital world through training and learning is part of the solution .
Best practice to get people to engage
An increase in the number of digital skills-specific micro-credentials and courses .
An easy seamless way for people to do these courses - (maybe Duolingo for Digital Learning)
Broadening the awareness of training options.
Examples of Portals Available
Australia’s Skill Finder portal, a one-stop portal for digital skills, suggesting similar is needed in New Zealand.
Singapore’s Industry Transformation Maps creating the digital skills frameworks. It takes a holistic approach, looking at a sector, key trends for the sector and works backwards to understand the skills and training required to support that, and wrap it into the education framework.
Thomson recommends a 3 pronged approach
Supporting employers to create a portal to help provide a way for their employees in their quest for lifelong learning
Empowering them to drive digitisation within an organisation and
Providing targeted support for underserved communities
References
The research surveyed 7,193 workers and 2,166 employers across seven countries: Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Singapore.
In a McKinsey article - the stats are validating what we all seen to be feeling …… it’s harder to recruit, retain and maintain the right people and if you want to win the war on talent - you’ve gotta come to the party!
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 4.3 million people voluntarily quit their jobs in December 2021, slightly below a record high in November 2021.
Their departures have left a huge hole in the labor market.
The number of current job openings (10.9 million) exceeds the number of new hires (6.3 million). At a recent survey at Mckinseys recent survey of almost 600 workers who voluntarily left a job without another in hand, 44 percent said that they have little to no interest in returning to traditional jobs in the next six months.
The rules of the game have changed.
you need to pay higher compensation,
offer flexibility,
community, and
an inclusive culture
The cost of switching jobs has gone down significantly.
There is less of a stigma associated with showing a gap in your résumé.
Employees in many industries are confident that they can find work anywhere, whenever they are ready - They have seen friends and colleagues depart and survive, and they are confident that they can, too.
You need to redefine your attraction and retention strategies and build a value proposition that takes employees’ whole lives into account.
Why they left
uncaring leaders,
unsustainable expectations of work performance,
lack of career advancement
Overwork with less staff
Those that took new jobs cited
Professional development - ability to learn
workplace flexibility,
adequate compensation and
reasonable expectations about performance as top factors in taking a position
What can you do to retain your team . How do you bring them back—and keep them?
Paul Findlay of Reach shared some interesting insights at our Nexttech Transformation forum facilitated by Bill Mclellan
life balance - maybe offer subsidised cleaning services, gym memberships, free learning or on-site childcare services that would allow employees to eat lunch with their children
Have a reason that makes them feel they are adding value and making a difference
providing extra days off for professional development or mental-health breaks
Bonuses for great work
Recognition and create a feeling that your team is being listened to
Pay 100 percent of the tuition costs for employees seeking higher education.
The bottom line is that companies must take a different approach, focused on the following core principles.
Doing something bigger than yourself
Fostering psychological safety and a sense of community, and measuring outcomes. Rather than conducting only exit interviews, adopt “stay” interviews, asking people how they are doing and what they need to continue in those roles?
As Mark Purbrick of Peoplogica said - have a joining party instead of a leaving party!
Stack the deck in your favour - Expand your talent pool
Think more creatively about candidates:
What about the nontraditional workers who aren’t even on their radars?
Bring in Diverse groups
As Fiona Love says - being innovative without Diversity and Inclusion is like playing sport with one hand tied behind your back!
Based on Mckinseys research , this untapped source of labor could be as many as 23 million people.
Lower the barriers to entry and rethink requirements for certain roles.
Remove bias from the recruitment process!!
Consider students , those doing part-time or contract work , people you can train .
Consider ex inmates - remove any questions about convictions or arrest records from job applications and to delay background checks until later in the hiring process.
Use Referron and encourage your team to find their friends using referral programs—for instance, launching a personalized “refer two friends” campaign, asking existing employees to recruit within their networks—and acknowledge that the best candidates may be outside the immediate radius of the company’s headquarters.
Use AI or overseas assistants to augment your team members skills Could functions be outsourced or automated ?
In one company it was found that salespeople were spending the bulk of their days processing orders and managing documents rather than pursuing actual sales.
How can you create more value for both employer and employee using AI VR and BPO (business process outsourcing )
Thanks to the team at Mckinseys
Aaron De Smet , Bonnie Dowling , Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, Laura Pineault, and Nicolette Rainone at Mckinseys for their article
The team at the Nexttech Transformation Forum - Cassandra Parton, Bill Mclellan, Mark Purbrick, Craig Saphin , Jane Valmadre, Paul Findlay , Ayon and Emma Sidney for their contribution at the Nexttech transformation forum
The team at the BSI Diversity Equity and Inclusion Yarning Circle - Martin Stark, Kala Philip , Bindi Kuroz, Arthur Backouche, Peter Mousaferiadis, Imy Banaken , Ivan Schwartz, Anne Marie Elias, Scott Hoskin and Ivan Kaye
