Nexttech

Nexttech
Creating Generational Legacies

Monday, May 3, 2021

Inspiration at the same firm for 40 years - is it possible in the Nexttech Revolution




Congratulations Hazel Lerman 

It is very seldom these days for someone to be at the same firm for 40 years!

There is some serious magic in this video!

What is the magic formula that will enable a firm to continually enthuse, engage and inspire their biggest asset.... the right people .... to stay and grow with them?

The average millennial will now have 20-30 jobs and a number of career changes over hos/her/their life! 

What do you need to do  to stay relevant in the #nexttechrevolution ?

You need to be up to date with the rapid changes that are happenning - 

  • You need to continually learn.
  • You need to build your network of alliance partners that you know like and trust
  • You need to give back
  • You need to have a spirit of generosity
You need to be a lifelong learner

Saturday, April 24, 2021

The Nexttech Revolution in the Financial Services Sector



The financial services is in the process of major disruption - where those that will survive will need to shift from being  product-centric to customer-centric. 


Maybe a solution is for them to  partner with data-centric tech firms whose core focus is on the customer.


These data-centric tech firms (DCTF) lack the legacy, invest in new technologies, and understand how best to manipulate data to deliver positive commercial outcomes for the customer.


They can hold and process volumes of data far more efficiently than financial institutions, with this efficiency increasing exponentially - faster than Moore’s law!


The banks have something that DCTFs want -  strong existing customer bases, which trust them to safely and securely hold their money and their most sensitive data. 


A financial institution working with a DCTF to combine elements of the traditional supply chain into a single integrated delivery platform will be deadly and potentially solve a wicked problem! 


Let’s create the “Nexttech  Financial Services  Forum” which will explore strategies to connect DCTFs with financial institutions and help negotiate this positive change - to  shift them from a product-centric to a customer-centric delivery model, and investigate new ways to provide personalized services for clients and customers.


What banks need to do to add massive value 


  • Have a mindset of collaboration and Embrace partnership. Hyperscales have the funding, scale and capacity to support and accelerate the transformation of legacy businesses. They focus on a frictionless customer experiences
  • Educate senior leadership. The financial institutions’ C-suite leaders must develop an understanding of new and evolving technologies, such as cloud. Only with this clarity of knowledge around critical technologies can leaders best evaluate the opportunities that these technologies present, their potential impacts to business and operating models, and the best strategic direction for the organization.
  • Consider the impacts and implications of new technologies on the business model, the financial institutions will have to disrupt and transform - this will be done through collaboration with hyperscales. Maybe create financial services and technology forums - where they cam intersect and explore  new services, products and markets, empowered by access to the right data and APIs and a focus on the customer 
  • Improve the storage of legacy data by working with technology firms or collaborating with fintech cloud providers. Maybe Blockchain solutions to avoid holding data? 

Inspired by a KPMG article https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2018/02/tech-giants-in-financial-services-fs.htmlwritten by Anton Ruddenklau - global co-leader of fintech at KPMG 

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Sense of Belonging

Kala Phillips talks to Desi Australia - a multicultural magazine for the Indi- Australian community 

 https://www.desiaustralia.com/sense-of-belonging/



Every day I continue to navigate a world that has been both fundamentally changed by recent events and is now making a more intentional effort to end systemic racism, discrimination by religion, colour, race, gender or sexual orientation, social injustice, and inequality. It is my hope that we start thinking of ourselves as global citizens and as a human race.


There are millions of languages, religions, races, castes, cultures but the common thread between us all no matter where we come from is that we are human. Diversity leads to differences, some of us make the effort to tolerate and accept, others work on inclusive practices, but we need to enable a sense of belonging.


As migrants and now citizens, we live in a lucky country where endless opportunities lead to life changing journeys. We have the ability to do what we love, learn without limitations and adapt what is authentic and inspirational to us. We bring with us our rich tradition and heritage, and we also embrace the new future, its wonderful history and where we will be forming our next generations.


The last 16 years, I have tried to learn new cultures, walked a mile in someone else’s shoes and listened to someone else’s story that changed my perception of a whole community. It has made me see others through a different lens, given me peace and purpose, made me more grateful for my life and family, and allowed me to give back to the less fortunate.


I am part of a forum called “The Yarning Circle ” where we founding members are from all walks of life – First Australians, LGBTQI+, women, migrants, refugees, or physically challenged. We work for the community and for change. One of my projects is to listen to the stories of some incarcerated women, who suffered years of domestic violence and out of desperation they committed crime. I found purpose in helping them to find a job, to be financially independent and gain their dignity. 


My perception of them changed when I walked a mile in their shoes. I knew I had to UNLEARN my presumptions and hear their stories.


“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”—Max de Pree

Friday, March 12, 2021

It’s all about lifelong learning in the Nexttech Revolution





An article by Marc Tucker. What “Building Back Better” Might Mean for Education and Job Training in the United States - NCEE has given us food for thought and initiated some interesting discussion amongst our “i4j brains trust!” Initiated by Miriam Freedman and Curt Carlson 

Summary 

  • The education system has to change to accomodate Nexttech Revolution
  • The winners and losers of the post covid era
  • Other countries overtaken USA in quality of education 
  • Where to from here - what we need to do to change this paradigm 



Some Questions


Is the attack on merit, hard work, and achievement. universities and all K-12 schools killing our country? 


Is the USA fiddling while the world is moving forward? 


Is the existing education system adequate? 


Do we need a New education system designed to providing competence and meet the needs for the Nexttech Revolution - and not the  industrial economy for which it was designed a century ago? 


Does the USA have a problem - and does it start at building competence at schools? Is the USA “losing the war” or merely destroying itself? 


What is competence in the Nexttech Revolution?


What do we have to teach our kids and our existing workforce? 


Is the education system of our schools that have been optimised for the industrial Revolution still relevant? 


Does our existing system achieve this competence during the precious few hours that we have in school for about 180 days a year (pre-COVID. Now, so many fewer....)?


The Solution - cater for the lifelong learners (all of us) - make them competent 


We have a choice. Advance globalization and automation and increase the skills of our workforce or have a lower standard of living.


Upskilling and reskilling our Students, Citizens and Nation  - and “making them competent” should br front and centre” when forming our educational policy.


We know there will be and continue to be massive changes in the way we do things - and what we know now will be redundant soon .... and that the average millennial will probably have 17 different jobs in a variety of “different professions”  - so what do we need to do to educate ourselves - how do we equip ourselves and make us competent for the future .


The answer , my friends, is to make you competent to become a lifelong learner . 


Teaching and learning real knowledge and skills so students become competent to cope in the Nexttech Revolution - should be a primary focus for all students--we need to get back to our roots of teaching,  learning and competence.


Doing a 4 year course at university learning a trade or profession  - when that competence will be different and superseded in a few years - needs to change


Do we need to learn how to learn?



Marc Tucker talks about the winners and the losers in the Nexttech Revolution - which will be beyond borders .


2 types of workers post pandemic the winners and the losers 


The winners


Those that work from home - seamlessly - with computers snd tech - highly educated and technically adept


Productivity up - time saved commuting 

Pollution down

Traffic better

Moving to holiday homes in country and working remotely ;from anywhere on the world)


Automation will increase the demand for the educated 


Those with a high degree of technical skill to their jobs Will  be using automation and intelligent technologies to make them  more productive. 


Health care workers, caregivers,  hair stylist—are not going to be replaced anytime soon by someone at the other end of an internet connection.


The losers 


Those with minimal education and little technical education - decimated by covid 19 


  • Workers in  restaurants as cooks, servers and dishwashers; 
  • clerks and cashiers; inventory takers, pitchers and packers, stickers and fitters; n malls and department stores as stockers 
  • Assembly line workers in factories 
  • cruise ships - bar keepers,  cleaners, crew and entertainers. 
  •  Drivers - trucks, limos, Uber’s  and taxis, 
  •  Carers of our kids in child care centers
  • Miners 
  • Farmers 
  • Pickers and packers on farms 
  • Butchers 


Many of these humans have been decimated by COVID-19, many lost their jobs and can’t find other ones.  


Many of the jobs they lost will not be coming back, now or ever.  


The truth of it is that this was always going to happen and covid-19 just accelerated the process - Automation , AI VR and machine learning , outsourcing to other countries - for more efficient production 


Restaurants will come back, but a growing number will have iPad terminals for customers to place their orders and automated machines preparing the food. 


Machines don’t require social distancing and special air conditioning and will not sue if the company is not strictly following CDC recommendations. 


Many that served the commuters will simply disappear. We will get self-driving trucks and self-driving cars,


Millions of workers will be put out of work by automated machines.


Will companies invest in hiring people back to do the work or buy machines that will do it?


Education and learning in the USA and the global stat of play 


According to an analysis of data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) done by the Educational Testing Service, the basic skills of millennials in the American workforce are the lowest or tied for lowest among all the countries they surveyed. 


Workers in the United States are now competing with countries in Asia whose workforces were largely illiterate 40 years ago, but whose high school graduates leave high school now with the equivalent of as much as two-and-one-half years more education than our high school graduates. 


The USA high school vocational education system has almost vanished. 


The USA community colleges have adjusted to the poor performance of their  high school graduates by offering a curriculum that would be regarded as a high school curriculum by the standards of any country leading the OECD league tables. 


The quality of the technical training available in most of USA community colleges is far behind the quality of vocational education in Switzerland, Singapore and many other countries.  


USA firms are investing much less in staff training than they used to. 


The US Army, which was once a major source of middle-level technical skills for the whole country when young people were being drafted, now keeps the people it trains, so they are no longer available to the civilian economy.


Competition from off shore 


Young people in countries on the other side of the world are better educated and more than willing to work for much less, because their wages will go much farther there than they will here. 


The internet has made  it possible for well-educated people in those countries to work for American firms without leaving either their country or their home. 


Those people in those other countries who are better educated will be coming for USA  jobs - And they won’t have to move.


Competition from automation 


There have been stunning advances in natural language processing, machine learning, sensing, the ability of the machines to handle things that are fragile and more. 


Machines  can now write music, stories, and news reports and invest money and destroy military targets and drive trucks and mine ore and cook food in ways that rival the best that humans can do


But the American education and job training system. And the performance metrics has stayed the same  while one country after another plows right past us.


What the USA needs to do to change this paradigm 

Marc Tucker’s conclusion


“My message to the Biden administration - 


Make it possible for millions of unemployed people to get the training from the nations’ community colleges and other providers that will make them more attractive to employers offering jobs and, while you are doing it, give them the income support they and their families will need to stay afloat while they are in training.”


Almost all the growth in employment from now on will be in high- skill, high-wage jobs. That is impossible to do with the education and job training system we have.  


We need to create the kind of education and training system the country needs in the long-term to build widely shared prosperity for everyone.


Put in place the  key elements of the continuous lifelong learning system that we will need to move forward. 


Tags: education policyglobalizationpoliticssystem designworkforce

Saturday, March 6, 2021

So Why is it so important to have a culture of learning in your organisation

I was reading the latest mckinsey newsletter - and the theme threading through is the future of work, capability and the importance of lifelong learning - 

This is some of the  takeouts 

Developing talent is job one for every leader in an organisation. 


Why is Capability Building so important for an organisation? 


The winning organisation needs to create a culture of continuous improvement and capability building and should be aligned to a university or a learning institution . 


This will be a major factor of why the brightest and best would want to work in your organisation! 


When you’re talking about the war for talent, when you talk about talent being a differentiator for companies and their performance, what’s the investment you’re putting into people? 


Lifelong learning and capability building is a key piece of the puzzle in the #nexttech Revolution and the #futureofwork 


The successful organizations will be those that capability build as part of their core values - making talent development a CEO-level priority. 


Building capability builds value and grows your asset base . 


So what is capability building 


Capability building - (learning in an organisation ) is about continuous reinforcement and constant application of the new skill, so that it’s not just something that’s understood but it becomes part of their behavior and DNA 


Capability  building is about building  resilience and adaptability, topical training, executive coaching, and a whole swath of things that makes your workforce a lot more effective.


How to capability build 


Michael Park - a partner at  McKenzie say learning should not only be event based training - but needs to be blended and continuous  - with  technology, remote learning, more microlearning as well as event-based learning - learning needs to include  more simulations that truly immerse the learner as they do their job versus as a separate action.


Instead of flying all the way to see a plant, you’ll have AR/VR [augmented/virtual reality] technology that will help you do virtual visits.


The courses and the capability-building workshops of the future are going to feel a lot more tailored to the person, a lot more captivating to the audience, and a lot more effective as a result.


Liz Hilton Segal says that  Capability building and Learning needs to be incorporated into employees’ daily routines and made relevant to their day-to-day success. 


Instead of taking place in a separate classroom, make learning part of continuous routines , sometimes in small huddles of ten or 15 people, with a snack-size lesson, maybe 15 minutes. People could share information with one another and then combine that with things they learned through working one-on-one with their supervisor or manager.

(Our BBG knowledge share and thinktank )


It’s about bringing the skill to their day-to-day jobs—


The benefits of Capability building in an Organisation 

Employees directly and tangibly saw 

  • their own performance improve, 
  • their compensation increase as a result. 
  • that they had grown in terms of personal fulfillment and enrichment; 
  • they believed they were able to live up to more of their potential. 
  • that they increased their overall sense of happiness and their loyalty to the organization. 
  • that they felt a sense of personal growth—feeling equipped to do the best possible job they can.
  • that it has a direct result on your financial performance, on your ability to compete more effectively for customers, and on employee satisfaction

Spending too much time in the classroom - Is there a better way ? 

The  physical classroom where people come in for a week or two to learn in a concentrated way that is separate from their day-to-day job - is not time well spent; It’s not an efficient way to have someone absorb new skills and new content and then directly apply them. Nor is it necessary. 


We’ve surveyed people about their level of satisfaction with virtual programs. More than 80 percent said they found the virtual programs as successful as an in-person experience. 


Another benefit of digital programs, of course, is flexibility—there’s no need for a physical location, and companies can make any of their domain experts accessible to any employee in the world at any time.


What’s next in capability building


Leveraging virtual reality [VR]—for example, using VR to practice dealing with a difficult customer. 


Adaptive learning, where the digital curriculum unfolds differently for each participant based on how that participant performs on quizzes or tests offered along the way. 


User-generated content: participants add their ideas and the curriculum is constantly updated to incorporate those ideas, making the learning curriculum more emotionally engaging and more relevant to each person.



Here’s a thought for the Accounting profession 


Should investment in human capital be capitalised over a period or written off in the year it is incurred ?

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Does The tech industry need to be disrupted ?


Why does the tech industry suffer from a  lack of diversity among employees, executives, venture-backed founders, venture capital firms and board members which still remains predominantly white and male.


Is it because  there is not enough qualified talent from diverse backgrounds? A pipeline problem?






Just this month, Facebook’s global head of diversity once again blamed the company’s meager amount of black and brown employees on a lack of available talent. This was met with criticism and anger among diversity and inclusion advocates across the tech industry


Is it a recruiting process challenge? Asks Uber Chief Diversity Officer Bo Young Lee told TechCrunch.


Do we need to change the narrative in tech when it comes to to diversity, equity and inclusion ?


Is the lack of diversity in tech 

A. because of a lack of what is in the recruitment pipeline 

or 

B. because of a deep seated prejudice or preconceived ideas on who should be controlling the industry?


Catriona Wallace suggests that this needs to change by removing inequalities, structural racism, mysoginy and micro-inequities from the tech companies themselves.


https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drcatrionawallace_examining-the-pipeline-problem-activity-6769363797011501056-4m9z



Courri Brady, director at diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm Paradigm, suggests that there are preconceived ideas that  only certain schools, programs or other companies are the only places that produce good talent, and those people are not diverse, causing “narrowcasting”  in the recruitment process 


It’s all starts with  the equality of education says 

Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin, a research lead for gender, race and power in artificial intelligence at the AI Now Institute, suggests that it is not about getting a SAT score or a GRE -  but that it’s about privilige and “credentialing”


Decades of research have shown SATs correlate in no way with how you’re going to do in college or how you might be as a student, but correlate everything with how wealthy your family is, which also then correlates with race and access to all other sorts of things like tutoring and etc. 


The education system seems to have functioned as a gatekeeper to knowledge through credentialing, she said


“Credentialing is a form of gatekeeping and protecting who has access to power and who doesn’t,” she said. “There’s this term that I think was coined a few years ago about how Silicon Valley tech companies are not meritocracies, but ‘mirrortocracies,’ so you’re hiring people who have similar credentials to you, had the same sort of schooling, etcetera. 


There is evidence that diversity often yields better work and better outcomes in a variety of situations. 

 Focusing on certain types of qualifications and credentials, prevent diversity from happenning.


Is it because computing is so economically and politically important that computing has become so exclusive to the priviliged ? 


Disrupting for good


How do we rechannel the pipeline to allow a more diverse group of humans to collaborate, learn and grow together? 


There seems to be pipelines to prosperity 

And 

Pipelines to prison 


We have a criminal justice system that is inherently infected with racial bias







The number of black people under the control of the correctional system is staggering.


The lack of legitimate job opportunities in low-income black neighborhoods, combined with the infusion of illegal drugs into these neighborhoods, created an incentive to sell drugs.


Getting more technology and the tech industry involved in criminal justice efforts pays dividends. On so many levels — Justin Erlich, special assistant attorney general, office of AG Kamala Harris


how do we change this paradigm? 

Hoe do we channel the pipeline - from prisons to prosperity ? 


https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/31/the-other-pipeline/


Instead of relying on the pipeline as an excuse, 

Let’s work to make education truly equitable 


People who are interested in this -  from Dr Catriona Wallace post 


Courri Brady (he/him/his), MBA Joy Lisi Rankin, PhD Ifeoma Ozoma TechCrunch Meredith Whittaker Aerica Shimizu Banks Kate Crawford Tim Heasley

Ethical AI Advisory Dr Joy Townsend 

Roslyn Hames Andrew Lai Matthew Clunies-Ross Boab 


https://lnkd.in/gVCRD6M