organizational effectiveness
Artificial and
Human Intelligence
THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
By Brian Byrne
We’re bombarded by the headlines: record low movie
attendance in theatres, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin
Spacey and the news goes on and on. Where will it
all end?
Meanwhile, streaming subscription media such as Netflix, HBO
and Amazon are spending more on content production than the
traditional Hollywood studios earned in top-line box office revenue
in all of 2017!
The lessons are clear: linear thinking that the status quo can go
on forever is simply wrong. Aside from technology, the way motion
pictures are made has not fundamentally changed in almost
100 years.
New technology and social constructs have ignited massive
change in the future of society and work. Who will pull the strings
behind the curtain to shape this new future? A handful of tech titans,
or “we the people”? Who will lose? Who will gain?
A trip to the Scotia Theatre complex in Toronto illustrates how
work is changing. In the entry hall, where almost a dozen human
beings used to sell tickets, provide information and interact with
theatregoers, human workers have vanished, replaced by ATMlike
self-serve kiosks dispensing pre-ordered and on-demand
tickets. Ironically, this transition preceded the opening of Blade
Runner 2049, a movie about a dystopic artificially intelligent future
where humans are subordinate to technology.
Is such a future inevitable? What if you were given a blank
canvas and asked to design the world that you and your friends
and family would like to live in? A blank canvas that was rendered
into a Renaissance painting, “Salvator Mundi,” sold for
$450 million to a Middle Eastern investor. Besides being painted
by Leonardo da Vinci, what made this artistic design so incredibly
valuable?
Design thinking is the answer. Our modern era of linear
thinking is giving way to a “Renaissance 2.0.” There are three competencies
that drive this change:
■■ Empathy: The ability to put oneself in the shoes of the enduser
and understand what are their jobs to be done
■■ Problem-framing: Asking powerful questions to determine
what, at a deep level of insight, is the real problem
■■ Agile thinking: The ability to flex and think holistically to
solve a problem
A good example of work that will grow in importance in the future
is that of curators. Traditionally the domain of museums and
art galleries, the skill of curation has now become valuable in event
management, fashion and beauty and industrial design. In another
case, the demand for data scientists has outstripped supply in just
about every major economy worldwide. Some of these positions
command starting salaries of $500,000.
The future is in your hands: there are many blank canvases
awaiting the power of your human intelligence to create a future
that everyone wants to live in. n
Brian Byrne is the founder of Aviador Group Inc. Attend Byrne’s
presentation at #HRPAAC, “Fourth to the Fourth Power: Leading
the Way to AI + HI = Renaissance,” with co-presenter Mark
Polson, on Feb. 2 at 12:00 p.m.
Liu zishan / Shutterstock.com
60 ❚ CONFERENCE ISSUE 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL