The future is less

You’ve heard this:

If all you ever do, is all you’ve every done. Then you can only expect all you’ve ever got.

It’s changed slightly, actually it has changed radically:

If all you ever do, is all you’ve ever done. Then you can expect much much less than you used to get.

This is because there are a nearly 2 billion people in the BRIC nations who are prepared to do what you do for around 10% of your price. And in a ‘web everywhere’ world people can find them. Yes this includes nearly all of us – Architects, Engineers, Accountants, Lawyers, Graphic Designers, Coders, Developers, Journalists  – every single task that can be done remotely, and even some that can’t be.

For them 10% of your pay is a 50% pay rise. A pretty good deal from where they sit.

What to do – do more with the stuff that lives around the edges. Make meaning from the seemingly disparate. Add a creative edge by mashing things up in a new and interesting way.  And demand the people near you take notice of your ideas. If they don’t, then find a better place to share your creativity.

The trick to the future is to organise the factors of production, not be them.

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4 thoughts on “The future is less

  1. For our parents, promotion as expected and relied upon. For us it’s a different story, meaning we need to seek ways to do stuff that’s special and not commodity – the sort of things that are outsource-able.

    FWIW – I’m not a big fan of the great dumbing down, coming from outsourcing of most of our societies core skills, including making, customer service and a range of other things.

    I believe makers should earn more than paper shufflers, whom our western society hold in esteem.

    Sam,
    @samotage

  2. Sam, Yep most of the people in our Melb’s entrepreneurial community already get this – it’s about doing stuff that makes a difference…. creation.

    I think we are also seeing the re-emergence of certain ‘Artisan Skills’ that got lost during the industrial revolution, which I really dig. There is a real spectrum emerging – which I reckon the wen if facilitating via teaching and sharing. But in addition to this, skills will always be replaced by outsourcing and technology. It’s just a fact of human evolution – we just need to make sure we are at the pointy end of the evolutionary movement. Which is something we can all do deliberately.

    Steve.

  3. Totally agree with your post. Creativity is definitely how to get an edge and is not easy to come by. What you really need to do is deliver a product or service that is outstanding–the best way to do this is to really understand your customer. You also need to be able to communicate in a way that emphasizes the value you bring to the table and why the “uniqueness” of your solution matters. Good points.

    Lorena
    @npersona

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