You would have to be living under a rock not to realise that one of the big things that will change in our workplaces is the coming ubiquitousness of robotics and the extensive use of artificial intelligence. IBM´s Watson, Google´s Deep Mind and, no doubt, countless others in garages and the sights of venture capitalists are all interested in commercialising these inventions as quickly and as widely as they can.
In his book Mapping Innovation, Mr Satell speaks of collaboration not only in terms of other humans, but also our ability to collaborate in a work environment populated with non-human actors. Those who understand what those actors are likely to be and do, will stay in the game. Those that do not, will not.
Many in support functions have felt the breeze of change with offshoring, outsourcing and the rise of shared service centres. But now, any support function work needing knowledge that can be answered using Google, or documented as a routine process, will be at risk, not just work that can be sent to be done cheaper elsewhere by other humans. I foresee much of the HR department, vast swathes of Finance, and leagues of lawyers as likely to go first. Procurement will also be affected. But there is going to be a lot of buying going on in the next decade so it may take a little longer.
As global firms frantically seek to innovate (or to learn how) to just stay in business, it behooves us as individuals to be thinking about what innovations we personally need, to stay relevant and viable, in a workplace that emerging technologies will transform.
Constant renewal is the way of life. But I suspect that, for many white-collared workers, the realisation that the boom the 20th Century was for the species may about to go bang may not yet have dawned. So personal renewal may not be on the list of things to do right now.