Author: Jeremie Averous

Why are we blind to the Fourth Revolution?

Most of us are blind the Fourth Revolution. We see the changes in the world but fail to appreciate that our mindset and understanding of how the world goes needs to change dramatically.

blind man looking for the Fourth Revolution
looking for the Fourth Revolution

Daniel Kahneman, the first noneconomist to win a Nobel Prize in economics, for his work on ways in which humans aren’t rational economic actors, calls this effect “theory-induced blindness”: adherence to a belief about how the world works that prevents you from seeing how the world really works.

Look at the blind man on the left. That is exactly how we are. We are trying to touch things around us, we have a cane to avoid falling if possible, and we listen intently. Still we are blinded by our Industrial Age mindset. By good ol’ TV. By multiple distractions.

Silence…

The change in the world is so loud and so silent at the same time. Precursors are there. Numerous. And most of us still can’t see it.

Probably because we are afraid to see it. To lose our usual marks.

The Fourth Revolution is there. The world has changed forever. Don’t be afraid, take your dark glasses of, and enjoy the sweet warm light!

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How to receive feedback the right way

Giving feedback is easy.

Giving feedback the right way, with the right tone so that it is not felt as an aggression and leads to constructive action is difficult.

Receiving feedback is very difficult emotionally.

So, make it simple. Look at the person who did the feedback in the eye, and say: “Thank you”. Smile (in particular if that was a harsh one). Period. Don’t justify yourself or be inconsiderate in promising something you’ll never do. Just say thank you. Smile.

That’s enough.

That’s very difficult.

That’s so important.

Because by doing that you’ll encourage further feedback. And thus improve your performance much quicker.

 

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How to give feedback the right way

A key process for giving feedback I learnt during my coaching classes. Simple, and so powerful. I use it all the time I want to give feedback.

  1. ask permission to give feedback, and obtain it (get a Yes)
  2. state your positive intent (I want to give you the feedback because I believe it impedes your growth, success, etc – and I care about you)
  3. deliver your feedback along the BOOST guidelines (Balanced, Observed, Owned, Specific, Timely) (make sure it is owned by you by using “I” – it is just your view)
  4. propose an improvement path (if you can’t propose a better solution, don’t feedback!)
  5. stop, shut up and listen actively to the person, let the silence be for a while if needed, be active and present.
  6. propose support if the person states that yes, he/she would like to improve.

Try it. You’ll see, it can get the most difficult feedback across nicely. Try it today.

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The importance of feedback for improvement

It is basic, but so often neglected.
Practice can only improve performance if feedback is provided.
If the right feedback is provided in the right way, it can even greatly accelerate the learning curve towards outstanding, exceptional performance.

feedback keyboard
feedback keyboard

Alas, the occasions to benefit from feedback on our practices of daily life are so few. And when we get feedback it is often delivered in such a manner that we dismiss it (remember the last time someone honked you on the road – that was feedback!).

The key to improving your performance as quickly as possible is hence, to setup an environment where feedback can be provided to you immediately, in a way that encourages you to improve. It is the role of the trainer or coach. We need to make it much more systematic. We need to encourage candid feedback at home and in the workplace. To do that, there are 3 conditions
– demonstrate willingness to give and receive feedback
– use a secure process for delivering feedback the right way
– respond to feedback appropriately to encourage people to give other feedback later.

Used properly, this will create a virtuous circle. When do you start?

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What’s a resume for?

The resume is an outdated concept.

It is at most, just one way to communicate one’s brand. Today it is just one way amongst many others.

resume scrutiny
resume scrutiny

Prospective employers will scrutinize your LinkedIn, Facebook and other Internet-based information. They will google you. The way you communicate your brand overall is more important than your resume.

But then, why do you want to be in a situation where employers scrutinize you? Where you put your bets in how the prospective employer slept last night?

You should already have marketed yourself in your social and professional network, so that they say: I have this problem, get me this guy, I know he knows what to do.

And then nobody should ask you for your resume.

That’s it: you’ll know you are successful in your personal branding when nobody will ask you for your resume any more.

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Get out of the personal commodity trap

In the Industrial Age, people were a commodity. They had a tag given by their diploma, were part of a category and were just inter-changeable.
That started changing with the emergence of the Knowledge Worker, one of the precursors of the Fourth Revolution. Still there were broad categories of Knowledge Workers.

the personal commodity trap
the commodity trap

Beyond the Fourth Revolution, the K.E.E.N will absolutely need to avoid becoming a commodity.

As the excellent illustration says – make sure not a lot of ordinary people understand what you are doing. Invent a fancy job title, an unexpected tag line to describe what you are doing.

Develop a unique personal brand. And market yourself.

Commodities are easily replaced. Commodities’ price gets down with competition from low cost countries.

Above all, don’t stay a commodity. Get out of the commodity trap. Start now to build your identity, your brand, and to market yourself.

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The ‘international workers’ day’ should be called the ‘cognitive surplus day’

The international workers’ day is a celebration of the struggle for the 8 hours work day. The corresponding Wikipedia article on the international workers’ day gives an excellent historical account of the events leading to its creation.

The concept of the international workers’ day is fundamentally an Industrial Age concept. It is the symbol of the struggle of the Unions against the Corporations. It is the symbol of the struggle of the manufacturing worker for better conditions – a struggle that was finally successful as available workers became scarce when the countryside got depleted of its population at the beginning of the 20th century.

Why would we continue to celebrate this outdated celebration?

Still the 8 hours workday was the beginning of something else. It was the beginning of the availability of time for one’s recreation, of the creation of the conditions of the collaborative surplus of humankind. The 8 hours workday, and later the paid leave, gave the opportunity to many more people to have free time. Most of this time got used to receive passively broadcasted material, but a few people started to use this time to contribute to the world.

And, with the Fourth Revolution, that has now become an epidemics.

Let’s celebrate the ‘international workers’ day’ as the ‘cognitive surplus day’!

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The dawn of the World Dream

After the Fourth Revolution, the World Dream will be the dream of billions of individuals.

It will replace the American Dream.

What will be the World Dream?

First, it will state that whatever your origin, color, ethnicity, and wherever you live, you have a chance to be successful. You have a chance to become part of the leadership of the Collaborative Age. And this apply to the entire World, thanks to cheap, long distance interactive communication. This is a revolution for 80% of Humankind!

Second, what will make you successful is not what made you successful in the Industrial Age. In the Industrial Age, compliance, hard work, career, diploma, were crucial. What is important in the Collaborative Age is to develop a unique personal brand, to get noticed on the virtual collaborative universe, to produce a unique contribution to the world, to connect emotionally with many individuals.

Third, the outcome of the World Dream will not only be the materialistic comfort of home –  although a minimum satisfaction of basic material needs is still crucial. It will be the feeling to have contributed usefully to the life of a number of other people, to have created a new way of looking at the world, of having opened the eye of a community on a particular issue. Instead of discretion it will be, a strong public presence.

Are we ready to dream the World Dream? Many young people in developing and emerging countries already dream it. Let’s joint them. And act accordingly.

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The end of the materialistic American Dream.

This is the end of the American Dream.

classical american dream picture
classical american dream picture

At least part of it. The part that was materialistic. The part where middle class workers, if working hard and persistently, could pretend to all the materialistic belongings that the consumption society would offer: a house, a car, a fridge, a TV…

That’s because, being a middle class employee of a large manufacturing company is a concept that is disappearing with the end of the Industrial Age.

That’s because we are not any more in an Age of materialistic scarcity. We are now an era of abundance. Material belongings define much less our identity.

Still so many people are fond of the image of the “American dream”, possibly because it is a secure life of lifelong employment, where plans could be made over decades in a stable environment, where progressive savings would buy the belongings of your dreams.

Stop dreaming. That’s over.
Don’t live in delusion. The world has changed.

It is not getting more unsafe. It is getting different. The Fourth Revolution is there. It will change our image of success.
Tomorrow, the World Dream will be ours.

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Change the way you see yourself

Every so often I bump into Anais Nin famous quote, and every time I find it inspiring anew, and so true.

the world inside us
the world inside us

Let us quote it in its full extent here:
“The way you see yourself shapes your life. How you define life determines your destiny. Your perspective will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents and value your relationships.

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin

 

Take 5 mins. Meditate that sentence. The easiest way to find whether we have a strong perspective which excessively distorts our view of reality is to get an external feedback. Get someone you trust, if possible living a very different life. Ask whether they believe your view reality is distorted. And then investigate why. And change. And get free.

The picture is from Dan Mountford, great photos to be discovered on Flicker

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Bonus: how to market oneself in the Collaborative Age

Now that we’ve ascertained that personal marketing is necessary for the K.E.E.N. in the Collaborative Age, this great post from Mitch Joel about “Personal branding is not an option – it is the recipe to success” is a good place to start to know how to market oneself on the Internet.

Enjoy your first personal marketing steps!

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