So, yea … people are nervous.
Robots, neural nets, machine learning, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, package delivery drones, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are all working together with big data analytics to outperform whatever we might be doing for a living. And IoT means sensors embedded in everything (heck, probably even sensors inside other sensors).
I, for one, have good reason to be nervous. Harking way back to the earliest days when I bought a Mac in 1984, and personal computers were basically the equivalent of a four-month-old baby in diapers—I couldn’t even beat the game “Chessmaster 2000”—on the easiest level, no less. The chess game had this highly advanced (cheesy robotic) speech emulator that would announce “checkmate” after its final move of every single game I played. It’s a distant memory, but I recall the feeling of machine intelligence inexorably overtaking human capability. Actually, that’s a wild exaggeration, but the Chessmaster 2000 did convey a tone of smugness each time it announced its win.
Looking at where technology is today, it’s hard to predict how quickly this stuff is advancing. Today I bought a bottle of water from a vending machine, but out dropped a Coca-Cola. Was it a mistake? Or was a machine conspiring to shorten my life? So, where do we go to get answers on successfully navigating our futures within this rapidly evolving, new world? And what exactly are the odds of successfully competing alongside these smart androids?
Like you, I’ve learned from some smart people in my life—including parents, teachers, coworkers, and friends. After some deep thinking, it struck me like a bolt of lightning what they all had in common. They were all humans. Not wanting to limit myself to good ol’ living sapiens, I went straight to the wisest sources I could find—robots.
Here are some lessons from the world’s most famous robots on successfully navigating your future and the odds of doing so.
KITT: Knight Rider “It is essential to your survival that you calm yourself and complete this task.”
Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT) is giving two important lessons here, which will greatly contribute to you having a successful career: to keep cool and to complete your work.
That’s good advice, especially from a talking car. And while keeping emotionally calm is easy for a robot, a lot of people find this to be a challenge at times. Yet, experience shows us that it’s often difficult to make good rational decisions when emotions get the better of us. Keep your RPMs low.
Optimus Prime: Transformers “Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.”
Take it from a robot that transforms from a semi-truck, Optimus Prime is correct. We have to be ready to seize our destiny when opportunity or challenge presents itself.
T-800: Terminator “I’ll be back!”
Everyone is going to have their share of successes and failures. So commit right now to being tenacious and reliable in your pursuits. Repeat the words “I’ll be back” as self-encouragement.
HAL 9000: 2001: A Space Odyssey “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all, I think, that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.”
The heuristically programmed algorithmic (HAL) system wasn’t even really a robot, but more like a supercomputer that spied on everybody and ran the entire spaceship. At some point, HAL 9000 got a little big for his britches (computer talk) and started taking over control of the spaceship. But HAL, nonetheless, doled out some excellent wisdom in this quote. Basically, he’s saying, “Be all you can be.” Plus he’s watching you and knows if you’re trying hard enough.
RoboCop: RoboCop “Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.”
Enough said!
Robot: Lost in Space “He who chickens and runs away will chicken out another day.”
Be courageous! There will always be doubt and uncertainty. Be bold. Be confident. And those habits get strengthened with repeated use. Also, let me point out that this is the only rhyming text I found from any robot.
Bishop: Aliens “Not bad for a … human.”
Keep a sense of humor. Bishop was a loyal friend who kept his head, even when his head was severed by an alien attack.
Data: Star Trek “In the event of a water landing, I have been designed to serve as a flotation device.”
Be adaptable. What’s more, be willing to do some things below your capability at times. Data was a super-rational and intelligent robot, yet he was happy to act as a foam pool noodle, if necessary.
TARS: Interstellar “Absolute honesty isn’t always the most diplomatic nor
the safest form of communication with emotional beings.”
How do I look? What do you think? Do you like the new recipe I tried? Sometimes a little care and kindness in responding goes a long way toward bolstering and supporting another person.
TARS isn’t advocating lying and deception, but rather recognizing the value in maintaining civility and consideration for others.
C-3PO: Star Wars “Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating
an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1.”
I wanted to better understand the odds of successfully navigating our futures within this rapidly unfolding new future world. And based on what C-3PO said about navigating an asteroid field—I decided to take the final lesson on probabilities from a human.
Replying to C-3PO, the inimitable Han Solo said, “ Never tell me the odds.”
Career Path or Ninja Warrior Course?
I’m going to give you some great career advice. Seriously, this probably should be communicated by whispering to you while hidden in a misty fog—so use your imagination. Here goes … When considering career choices, always consult a ninja warrior. You’re welcome.
Jinichi Kawakami is the last ninja warrior and only heir to ninjutsu, which is the strategy and tactics used by ninja warriors. He’s trained in just about everything you could imagine a ninja warrior would be, including swords, pyrotechnics, poisons, throwing weapons, hand-to-hand combat, horsemanship, and concealment. As far as I know, he might be watching me as I write this. Impossible to tell. Maybe he’s somehow disguised himself as the chair I’m sitting on now.
So, what led me to learn from Kawakami? The answer is fear. I was invited to speak to a group of graduate students at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business on the topic of finding their paths. It was an invitation for which I felt like the wrong person.
The truth is, I couldn’t have determined even my own career path. It’s been decades of working in several different functional roles and within different industries. It includes Fortune 100 companies and small entrepreneurial startups. Aerospace, medical devices, software and IT services, giant hovercraft, and more. But, when it comes to the “path”? It’s only in hindsight that I can see what led where.
The path has been continual change, learning, remaining flexible, being collaborative, and leading by example. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the mistakes and the hard work along the way. I’m certainly not alone. The changing workplace over the past decades has a great many professionals continually tackling one challenging obstacle (project) after another.
It’s basically the career equivalent of metaphorically running the course on the American Ninja Warrior television show. It’s a course where participants jump, climb, lift, and balance their way through various (and changing) obstacles like the Salmon Ladder, the Warped Wall, the Cargo Net, and the Cannonball Drop.
The working world has us encountering the Clueless Boss Barrier, Insufficient Resource Reservoir, Quality Quicksand, and Interdepartmental Monkey Bars. That got me thinking about ninjas, and why I include the thoughts from Jinichi Kawakami, the last real ninja warrior.
Here are my ninja-influenced recommendations.
There is no one path.
Your path can’t be known in advance. Just like stealthily sneaking into a compound in the dark of night to rescue a princess (or competing on the American Ninja Warrior course) there will always be new
obstacles. For one thing, the world is rapidly changing. Technology connects everyone, and makes the world a smaller place. There’s massive knowledge sharing, and subsequently things change faster than ever.
There’s disagreement on the estimated number of “different careers” new graduates will have in their lifetimes. But regardless of whatever the number turns out to be, your career will be in flux.
Never stop learning.
We all have many different jobs and meet many different people. The only element that is going to be a constant in each of those situations and projects is each one of us. The way you add more value is by bringing more to the engagement. What will you bring?
The great news is that there are innumerable sources from which you can continue your education. First, there’s the workplace itself, along with those you’ll work alongside. There are books, online and offline courses, Toastmasters for speaking, and Meetup groups for everything.
Never stop training.
The strongest professional I ever met never stopped practicing to get better. Steve Jobs, who you might think could just show up and rock a product presentation, would practice not for hours … but for days, constantly rehearsing, editing, and refining. Are you better than that?
Even competitors on American Ninja Warrior replicate the obstacle courses in their backyards, basements, or garages, and then train for years. That’s what it takes to get better.
How long until you’re superhuman and can run across a pond or disappear in a blink? “That is impossible because no matter how much you train, ninjas were people,” laughs Kawakami.
Nobody cares about your goals.
You’re on your own. That’s a hard truth. And this relates to the importance of the prior advice of continuous learning and training. Yes, a new job will have its initial share of welcoming enthusiasm and interest. But that will quickly dissipate in the wind. The good news (actually the great news) is that you are responsible for your own happiness and goals. Not a parent, or a spouse, or a boss. It’s all you, ninja baby.
Be selfless.
Approach your job with the questions, “What can I contribute? Who can I help?” Even the competitors on American Ninja Warrior are all cheering for one another. They realize their only real competition is with themselves. As in the working world, there is no limit to the number of people who could conquer the course.
Pay attention to the why.
Every leader (or ninja warrior) has a “why.” It’s the essence of why they do what they do. For Bono, the lead singer of U2, it’s to make meaningful music and better the world, which led him to persuade global leaders to write-off debt owed by impoverished countries and to enlist companies and millions of people in the fight against AIDS. Bono is probably a ninja.
When describing the origination of ninjas in ancient Japan, Kawakami explains the ninjaswere committed to bettering the community. The harmony of all the residents in the village as a whole, became more important than individual needs. A true ninja tries to create harmony in the community.
Be collaborative.
Great work happens when people come together, cooperate, and collaborate. According to Kawakami, Japanese people developed the ability to hide their feelings and learned to read other people and act accordingly.
Graduating is the beginning.
You know this already.
And here’s the opportunity for you. Despite having many students, Kawakami has decided he will not appoint anyone as the next ninja grandmaster. Kawakami now spends much of his time teaching ninja history part-time at Mie University.
So, there’s no sense in waiting to be appointed. Go become a ninja warrior. That was said to you like a whisper from beyond the tall grass. And … poof … I’ve vanished!
Half Your New Goals Will Fail (If You’re a Badass)
My first manager was a badass, and he was the smartest person I’d ever met. Bill Briggs was so much smarter than me, that it took me decades (of life and work), to realize that the one thing he said—that seemed obviously wrong at the time—was actually obviously right.
Bill grew up in northern California, had a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a beard with a little gray that added to him being a cool, laid-back, brilliant guy. He was always in a good mood. He hired me as a new engineer straight out of Purdue University, and I eagerly moved to join him at a large technology company in California. We designed and built advanced equipment used by US Navy ships, planes, and submarines.
One day, we were talking in his office about effort and success. It was probably about a new project at work, but Bill’s answer was intended generally. To this day, I remember exactly what he said. “I try to always get things right,” Bill said, “but on average, if I can get just more than about half of my new things to work out—that’s good.” Bill was kind of laughing when he said it, but he wasn’t joking.
I was dumbstruck. This guy was the smartest person I knew, and he said nearly half his endeavors didn’t work out as planned? What the hell! I thought he was going to say, “maybe 1 or 2 percent of the time he was wrong.” I stood there looking at him. Bill took out a stick of gum from his desk and offered it to me. It was Juicy Fruit.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the decades since then.
Let’s say you work to develop a product that utilizes some emerging technology,
or you launch a new service into the market,
or you start a new venture,
or you strive to set a personal best time for a 5K run,
or you write an article that resonates with people,
or whatever.
If, on average, you can get more than half of your stuff to work out—that’s exceptionally good. Seriously, you are a rock star of getting new stuff to work out.
Here’s a billion-dollar example of someone who got only one-third of his new stuff to succeed. Turns out it’s someone else named Bill, and it involves the gum my manager gave me that day.
Bill Wrigley arrived in Chicago in 1891 with only $32. His idea was to start a business selling scouring soap. Sales of his soap were slow, so he did what many marketers do and tried to entice customers by including something else—in this case a small can of baking powder. It turned out Wrigley’s baking powder was more popular with customers—so he switched his business to selling baking powder.
Then to encourage his customers to buy more baking powder, he decided to include some chewing gum. And this time, he learned his chewing gum was more popular with customers than the baking powder. So Wrigley switched businesses again—this time to selling gum.
Switching from scouring soap to baking powder and finally to gum was Wrigley’s third pivot to a new business. Even a success ratio of 33 percent can result in world-class achievement. By comparison, approximately 85 percent of new consumer packaged goods (CPG) products fail within two years.
Fast-forward to 2008, when the Mars company acquired the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company for $23 billion. That’s a lot of Juicy Fruit, and from another badass named Bill.
Reverse Undercover Boss
Here’s a scenario involving you. But it’ll never happen. The CEO of your company gets picked to be on the television show Undercover Boss and is disguised as a new employee in your company. You are one of the few people who are selected to mentor and train this “new employee.” All this, including your amazing abilities and underappreciated insights, are filmed for television broadcast.
Undercover Boss was first shown in the US in 2010. It has been produced in localized versions in 14 different countries with additional countries planned.
Here’s what happens in each episode. A CEO or senior-level manager of a large company goes undercover, disguised as a new employee, and works at various jobs within the company—by being paired with another employee. It’s a way for the undercover individual to surreptitiously learn about aspects of the company that he or she might not otherwise experience, and to get to know a few (typically)
hardworking and underrepresented employees.
Once the individuals have completed their time undercover, they head back to their corner offices, whereupon the employees they worked with are called in for a meeting. “Do I look familiar?” The deserving (and shocked) employees, struggling with work and life issues, are typically awarded generous financial and training bonuses, and sincerely thanked for their efforts in making the company work. Of course, as with any of the “reality” shows on television, there’s certainly a lot of “setup.” But there’s no denying, it’s a learning experience.
In my imagined scenario, where the CEO is working in a new role with you, she or he is a bumbling but well-intended fool. What’s more, you point out problems, difficulties, and real frustrations in the company that the leaders were clueless about. And beyond the CEO, you impress the heck out of everyone in America watching the show. So thanks for your patience and education! Truth is … you humble the CEO, and you play a real role in making the company work.
Mostly though, the CEO learns about you—that you care about the work, that you have worries and struggles and issues like everyone else. In fact, the CEO is actually a lot like you. Actually, everyone watching the episode is a lot like you. Which is why, in this scenario … after you’re surprised to learn the “new employee” is actually the CEO (“I thought that long hair looked kind of weird!”) you’re awarded a sizable sum of money and are chosen to run a new company-wide initiative to identify a multitude of problem areas for improvement.
Unfortunately, as was said at the outset, that scenario will never happen. The CEO of your company is not selecting a wig to spend a few days under your tutelage (though if they were, you’d certainly get the previously mentioned awards). But the good news is you don’t need to wait for the CEO to come to you disguised as a new employee. Here’s a better suggestion that could actually show some benefits.
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