The Economics of Intelligence and Creativity

Intelligence and creativity are the new economy - the knowledge economy.  Individuals who are able to adapt quickly and make use of technologies to build new solutions to old problems while helping to shape the future through innovation are the clear winners. The differentiators are 'what we know', 'who we know' AND 'how quickly we can adapt'. The combination of know-how, social media, and technology is lethal for individuals who are stuck in the industrial age.

Intelligence and creativity are driving the new economy at hyper-connected speeds where being average is no longer viable. Everyone has to step up and redefine their own 'How-To' in order to interact with this new world. Knowledge is the key.

Strong knowledge economies contain:

• Appropriate economic incentives and institutional regimes
• Skilled, flexible, and creative people
• Dynamic information structure
• Efficient innovation systems

Some tasks for knowledge workers include:

• Information gathering and data mining
• Data analysis and trend identification
• Understanding cause and effect
• Brainstorming or modifying strategies

Reinforcing the knowledge economy requires schools that are able to respond - and many traditional institutions are not even close.

...as Peter Drucker and others have demonstrated forcefully, workers at all levels in the 21st century economy will need to be lifelong learners, adapting continuously to changed opportunities, work practices, business models, and forms of economic and social organization. Education systems will have to adapt accordingly...

Building Knowledge Economies

Final Report of the Knowledge Economy Forum

World Bank and OECD 

Do schools kill creativity? Take a few minutes to listen to Sir Ken Robinson's humorous examination of this very serious topic.




If schools kill creativity, then Destination Imagination (DI) is the type of organization that brings it back to life. DI nurtures teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving which are essential ingredients in the knowledge economy.

Destination Imagination encourages teams of learners to have fun, take risks, focus, and frame challenges while incorporating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), the arts, and service learning. Our participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem solving process. Teams may showcase their solutions at a tournament.

My daughter is in her second year with DI thanks to a tremendous and tireless Team Manager. After watching her team work through various scenarios and serving as a tournament appraiser this year, I'm inspired to ask the question - 'should DI challenge elements be used to help screen job candidates?'

Humans and Technologies Collide When It Comes to Jobs

 

For years I searched for details that would show the rate of change between technology innovations and the rate of decline or shift in the number of jobs. I had seen information or predictions circulating about IT jobs, but what I was looking for was an in-depth scientific study that would reveal substantive results across industries. At the time I wasn't in a position to do the research myself. Well - I should be careful of what I ask for.

A recent study by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne (September 2013) examined interactions between 702 job types as defined in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2010 data set, Machine Learning (ML), and Mobile Robotics (MR). Their results are shocking, but realistic.

According to our estimates, about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk.  We further provide evidence that wages and educational attainment exhibit a strong negative relationship with an occupation's probability of computerization. 

The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization?

 C. Frey, M. Osborne; Oxford University (September 2013)

Probability of Computerization

Technology innovations such as industrial robots, friendly robots, data analytics, low cost sensors, vehicle automation, and prefabrication will continue to impact jobs in transportation, manufacturing, farming, construction, administration, sales, and services in the near term.  These are the areas of greatest concern - the 47%. One has to simply catch snips from daily news feeds to confirm the facts. The study cites a plethora of examples showing that the world as we know it has already changed - past tense.

How do we navigate this type of significant shift? By rapidly defining and gaining new skills - skills that aren't in the cross-hairs of ML or MR. The 10,000-Hour Rule (Gladwell, M. (2008); Outliers pp. 35-68) is a challenge but we have time if we start now - right now - to figure out what new skills are required to maintain a sufficient standard of living as the world continues its transformation. Areas requiring a high degree of social and creative intelligence have yet to be conquered by technology. However, it may simply be a matter of time - and human ingenuity - before jobs in these areas also become computerized.

There's a bit of humor in the infographic below, but consider it well. The world has changed.

Everyone Will Become an Entrepreneur [INFOGRAPHIC]

A. Vital, A. Unak; Funders and Founders (September 2013)