Missed Part 2 of the ‘Future Is Now’ series? View it here.

Every day we see headlines about Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, Blockchain (see the 2019 SSON Blockchain Market Report) and many more. Jobs are disappearing and we hear predictions that Gen Z will have four careers. But what does it all mean?

A client gave me a beautiful glimpse into the future by explaining what their product does today. Rather than simply phoning a list of clients who haven’t paid their invoices yet, their AI application runs through all past invoices and checks for irregularities. So once you have turned on your PC and sipped your morning coffee, it tells you that Anna pays 80% of her invoices on time; and that in the 20% of cases where she did not pay on time, there was an irregularity. Now you can phone Anna, ask her if this is indeed the case and discuss how to solve it. After your call, you can get that other cup of coffee you need to wake up, because your AI has already implemented the agreements that were made during the phone conversation.

Global Findings: Division of Labor as Share of Hours Spent (%)

Source: Future of Jobs Report 2018, World Economic Forum  

 This example tells us two things. First, that, unless you like data entry, our work is going to get more exciting; and second, that our human skills like emotional intelligence, empathy and creativity are going to be at the core of our work. Otherwise Anna is not going to listen, co-operate or feel like a valued client. It’s not for nothing that Forbes quotes: “If managers want to survive the challenge of AI, they must embrace EI.”

How do you increase Emotional Intelligence? Empathy? Soft skills? … in other words: 21^st century skills? And how do you apply those in a global environment?

Here are some steps to apply these skills in an intercultural context:

The first key is to understand cultures. Not that there are cultural differences, we all know that, but to truly understand cultures. If Anna was Chinese, she would react differently than if Anna was American. By understanding how people in other countries communicate and collaborate, you grow your own global mindset.  

The next key is to understand yourself. Take a word like proactiveness. What does that mean to you? In some cultures, proactiveness is understood as something time related: finishing tasks before deadlines, etc. While in other cultures, the word is understood differently: it could mean coming up with out-of-the-box ideas, pointing out errors, preventing problems etc. Expectations are culturally influenced, and so are assumptions. Understanding this and reflecting what does and doesn’t work outside your country’s borders will make you a more powerful leader.

The last key is the concept of 21^st century skills. This includes key practical and futuristic skills like self-management, knowledge transfer, true inclusion, strategic planning, alignment of expectations, coping with failures etc. – all of which are required in this era of rapid transformation while working with global teams.

The future is already here. The future is now.

The post The future is now (Part 3): Asia, embrace change! appeared first on Global Business Academy.

In the Netherlands, we like to make jokes about our Belgian neighbours. Usually these jokes are about how Belgians are a little dumb, and the Belgian reply to that would be jokes about how the Dutch are tight – which is not so far from the truth.

We are not unique: every country has jokes about their neighbours. But this is changing. I don’t hear those Belgian jokes so much anymore. These days, we make jokes about people, mostly politicians, around the globe. Our world has become very global.

Whether we live in New York, Shanghai, London or Tokyo, we step out of the local metro, turn on the computer, tune into the world and work together remotely. What we’ve been missing all of this time – and it’s becoming much more apparent with Covid-19 – is that it is a lot harder to make true connections when working remotely. Covid has taught us that we miss our chats by the coffee machines; that it’s harder to connect and keep our culture of collaboration going. But with remote offices, it’s always been this way.

Our tools to connect with each other have vastly improved. I remember my email exchange with China back in 1996. After finally cranking up the modem to connect to the internet, each email exchange would take 4 hours because everything was read by the authorities. While video conferencing was outrageously expensive then, we now have Teams, Whatsapp, Yammer, WeChat, Zoom, social media, you name it … and email is getting outdated.

Whilst the technology has exponentially improved, our skills stayed behind. We expect everyone to voice their opinion, be transparent, be proactive, and raise problems … and we are surprised when they don’t. Then we start stereotyping – as we once did with the Belgians. 

To truly connect, build trust, meet deadlines and increase the quality of work, intercultural differences have to be bridged between global teams. These intercultural skills have finally made it to the list of 21st Century skills.

Accountability, self-management and retrospectives work differently in different cultures. Failing fast requires vulnerability. Understanding these cultural differences in practical, immediately applicable ways means you can hit the ground running.

You can learn from trial and error. But in this age of rapid transformation, why would you waste your time and energy making preventable mistakes that impact success?

It’s time to learn the skills of the future today. The Future is here. The Future is now.

The post The future is now (Part 2): Thrive in a global environment appeared first on Global Business Academy.

In 20 years, Asia is predicted to top half the global GDP according to McKinsey. Yes, you read that right. Already, Asia represents a third of the global economy.

For those born in the 50’s and 60’s, Asia was exotic, yet far away from being a super power. Then the Japanese economy surged, followed by the Asian tigers, followed by China, India and soon Indonesia.

But is it such a sudden rise? Although his research is nowhere near perfect, Angus Maddison created an insightful chart about the historical GDP all the way back to the year zero.

For 1500 years, India and China represented two thirds of the global economy, simply because we were all toiling our fields, earning roughly the same amount of money. China and India just had much larger populations.

Then something big happened in Europe: the industrial revolution. GDP jumped drastically. This was followed by colonialization, which had a terrible impact on both India and China, and many other countries. You can see the crumbling of power just in recent memory.

Today, it’s a different story. Asia is going back to what it feels is its rightful place. We are currently in a transition phase, where the gravity of power is moving from west to east.

But are we prepared? When you talk to western multinationals who are generating fairly hefty revenues out of Asia, they will say ‘yes’.  Yet, apart from a number of large tech companies with Indian CEOs, I see very few Asian-born professionals present in C-level and Boards of Directors. Head office balances between global strengths and local needs but the global strengths often tilt towards western strategies. Asia does not yet have a seat at the table within the center of power.

Every single competitor – both local and global – is vying for the same market share in Asia. You can’t be good – you have to be the best. You have to be smarter, faster, better.

Is your strategy strong enough so that your company will lift off with the rise of Asia? Does your workforce understand this continent well enough to be able to truly balance global vs local needs?  What are you doing to be better than anyone else in this most important continent of the world? Are you getting your company ready for the future?

The post The future is now (Part 1): Asia, the new power appeared first on Global Business Academy.