Adaptation Advantage

HEATHER E. MCGOWAN (www.heathermcgowan.com) is an in-demand, internationally known speaker and Future of Work Strategist. She assists corporate clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies in rethinking their business models, teams, and organizational structures to become resilient in changing markets. CHRIS SHIPLEY (www.cshipley.com) spent thirty years entrenched in the technology industry as a journalist and technology analyst, observing and predicting business and social transformations brought about by digital innovation. She advises companies on positioning, business modeling, and innovation practices, and serves on the boards of several startups and advisory panels.

• Foreword xivIntroduction xixBreaking with Identity to Seize the Adaptation Advantage xixSo What’s Changing? xxHow Did We Get Here? xxiHow Big is the Challenge? xxiiThe Adaptability Gap xxvAmid Rapid Change, Keep Calm and Adapt On xxviSo What’s in This Book? xviiiWho is This Book For? xxixNotes xxxPart I: Adapting at the Speed of Change 11 The World is Fast: Technology is Changing Everything and Planting Opportunity Everywhere 3Wait a Second 3Technological Climate Change 5Environmental Climate Change 8Climate Change of the Market 10The Force of Three Amplifying and Interlocking Climate Changes 12Notes 152 The Only Things Moving Faster Than Technology are Cultural and Social Norms 17Shifting Ground Beneath Our Feet 17From Linear and Local to Exponential and Global 19Race 20Religion 22Age 23Family 25Gender Identity 25Truth and Trust 26Consent and Power Shifts 28Death of Distance Reshapes Human Relationships 30So, Who are You? Occupational Identity and Expertise 30Notes 323 You’re Already Adapting and Not Even Noticing 35We’ve Already Begun to Outsource Our Memory 35People Aren’t Horses 37Atomization, Automation, and Augmentation 38Atomization in Action 39Automation in Action 39Augmentation in Action 41Putting Atomization, Automation, and Augmentation Together 41Notes 464 Getting Comfortable with Adaptation: The Slowest Rate of Change is Happening Now 47The Power of Pause 47From Scalable Efficiency to Scalable Learning 48From Stocks to Flows of Knowledge 53From Learning to Work to Working to Learn Continuously 54Identifying Patterns to Build Bridges 56Notes 60Part II: Letting Go and Learning Fast to Thrive 635 What Do You Do for a Living? The Question That Traps Us in the Past 65The Questions That Limit Our Identity 65The Identity Trap 71How Identity is Formed 71Narratives Can Trap Us in the Past and Limit Our Future 73Gender, Narratives, and Identity 73The Confidence Gap 74Identity is Never Done 77An Occupational Identity Crisis Isn’t Limited to Job Loss 78Notes 806 Finding the Courage to Let Go of Occupational Identity 83What Does the Parable of the Three Stonecutters Have to Do with You? 83The Day 1 Mindset: You are a Prototype; Start with Why 85How Job Loss Can Be a Gain 89Modeling Vulnerability: We Share Our Hard Lessons 91What Do You Do Now? 95Notes 957 Learning Fast: Why an Agile Learning Mindset is Essential 97Learn Fast—What Does That Even Mean? 97What Do We Mean by Learning? First-, Second-, and Third-Generation Learning Organizations 98The S-Curve of Learning: Explore, Experiment, Execute, Expand 99The Curse of Expertise: The Challenge of Unlearning 102The Iceberg: The Substance Beneath the Surface 102Identity: The Core of the Adaptive Mind 103The Agile Learning Mindset 104The Enablers: Uniquely Human Skills 108Why We Need the Agile Mindset: The Broken Education-to-Work Pipeline 111ABL: Always Be Learning 114Notes 1148 Rise of the Humans: Developing Your Creativity, Empathy, and Other Uniquely Human Capabilities 117Play is the Way Forward 117The Uniqueness of the Human Drive to Learn and Create 119The Predictive Markets Declare Future Skills Favor Humans 122Understanding Uniquely Human Skills 127Chasing STEM at Our Peril 128The Skills Battleground: Humans Need Apply 132The Return on Being Human 133Return on Humans for All Jobs: The Special Power of Empathy 134Evolving Beyond Shareholder Value: The Purpose of a Company 135To Maximize Human Potential, Place the Human in the Center 137Notes 139Part III: Leading People and Organizations in the Evolution of Work 1439 Leading in Continuous Change: Modeling Vulnerability, Learning from Failure, and Providing the Psychological Safety that Builds Trusting Teams 145You are at the Wheel 146Leadership, Power, Cookies, and Chickens 146What Makes a Modern Leader? 153Transformational Leadership 167Transformational Leadership and Change Management Models 168Leading with Fear: The Burning Platform 170Putting It All Together 173Notes 17310 The Adaptive Organization: Creating the Capacity to Change at the Speed of Technology, Market, and Social Evolution 175What Should We Measure? 175The Power of the Culture and Capacity Focus 177Culture at the Core 177Capacity: Culture’s Partner 184Capability and Context: The Scissors Metaphor 186In Accelerated Change, Focus on the Inputs Rather Than the Outputs 187Becoming a Learning Company 190Notes 19311 Capability is King: Looking Beyond the Resume to Design Your Adaptive Team 195No More Little Boxes 195The Job Description is History 197Job Descriptions Become Traps 198Fire Your Job Description 200Hire for Cultural Alignment 205Hire Adults and Let Them Do Their Jobs 208Turn the Right People into Great Teams 209Embrace Cognitive Diversity 212Get Comfortable with Failure 214Live in a State of Continuous Learning 215Manage a Multigenerational Workforce 216How Do We Get from Here to There? 217The New Leadership Imperative 218Notes 21912 Getting Ready to Seize Your Adaptation Advantage 221Notes 223Additional Resources 225Books 225Videos 226Acknowledgments 227About the Authors 229Index 231