Killing Them Softly
Backstory Insights to Our Developing Future World
BlackRock cutting 3% of its workforce should be a prelude for the future of work. However, the headlines alone won’t provide you with any real insights about things to come, about how you need to build your strategy, not only to survive in that future world but to thrive in it too. To do that we must begin by applying our applied intelligence (ai) and look behind the headlines to the backstory for that insight.
BlackRock announcing laying off 600 BlackRockers is just part of the story, the other and more insightful part is that it also plans to hire at the same time. According to its New Year’s all-hands memo. “Businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources…many jobs are just going to get automated, and [new ones created.]” says BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has previously foreshadowed this by saying “that artificial intelligence will increase productivity by 30%”, so none of this should come as any surprise.
Many of us may have been taken in by all the hype and fascination surrounding AI — predictions about AI replacing people in droves. And because this hasn’t materialized relative to the hype and hysteria, many among us have become complacent. Like sheep, many have felt it safe to put their heads down, relax and begin grazing again — seeing no wolves on the horizon. But just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not lurking.
However, as it often is with technology and predictions — those predictions don’t usually pan out because it is impossible to predict the future. So it is often the case that time will tell the story, but with the events happening now with the BlackRock’s of the world it is safe to say that the introduction has begun.
Cutting to the chase, the layoffs we are seeing now are not only limited to the financial sector. According to Forbes, “major companies, such as Google, Amazon, Citigroup, also announced significant layoffs within their firms, contributing to the overall reduction of the white-collar workforce.”
Again, I’m not one to predict and pontificate, instead, I use ai to connect the dots to provide fact-based insights, i.e., evidence to help assess the probability of the future world. Even then, you still can’t predict. Nevertheless, you can get close enough to the objective unfolding reality to effectively begin to develop a strategy and iterative process to help you navigate successfully into that future. You won’t be caught flat-footed or back on your heels and end up on the chopping block; you’ll be ahead of the game accelerating into the future prosperity curve.
Take good note of “the overall reduction of the white-collar workforce.” Many in the white-collar world, the managers and the non-entrepreneurs…are particularly wholly unprepared for a transforming future of work. They have yet to come to terms with the reality that for many tasks in the corporate world, the machine can now do it better and infinitesimally cheaper than human resources can. So the killing you slowly theme is not unique to today, it has played over and over again in industrial/technology revolutions of the past.
Moreover, the data also suggests that the ones who will be in the most marketable — highest demand…will be those that can hit the ground running. Who can add value to a company right away, that means you will be responsible for investing in yourself beforehand. In a fast-moving digital and globalized world, organizations no longer have time to “train” you, so you better build an informed strategy for yourself to increase your human value in an AI-driven future world.
One of the major trends that Douglas Blackwell Inc., is seeing, in the higher-end financial services sector, for example. The typical “MBA” and “CFA” workers are increasingly being diminished in the advancing AI world. Why do you need analysts/advisors/consultants when we have such sophisticated information ecosystems that anyone can access and effectively work with, given the right tools?
What has been made objectively clear in BlackRock’s “cutting 600 jobs and reallocating resources to technology and ETF,” is that we’ll be seeing more AI and fewer advisors. BlackRock is the industry leader, the King, so you better believe that the broader industry will follow.
A World Economic Forum (WEF) report on the future of work, recently highlighted that more companies are not only looking for the typical MBA or business school grad. They are increasingly looking for graduates in the social sciences, humanities, and psychology. These young people are said to be more adaptive and more willing to learn and grow in new environments. That they don’t have expectations of the privilege-to-succeed.
The MBA type are more narrowly trained and tend to be less creative and innovative, more willing to accept and reinforce the status quo. And in an increasingly diverse and globalized world, understanding other cultures and the history of other people becomes an asset. Particularly in sales and relationship building when more AI is being utilized.
For example, when it comes to things like portfolio management and analysis, machines are doing all of that now anyway, so aspiring to be a traditional portfolio manager, advisor, or consultant simply does not make any sense. Those technical skills of analysis become obsolete as machines are simply better and incredibly better, moreover, much better on the organizations bottom line.
So in the investment advisor and consulting world if you’re not focusing on a strategy to transform your professional existence and business. Not integrating and optimizing your business model so you can produce value, and maximize your human worth now. Then you’re going to become irrelevant in the future world.
Therefore, don’t be complacent and don’t bury your head in the sand, artificial intelligence is shifting the ground you walk on. Companies are rightsizing their operations through AI whether fast or slow. No professional, company or industry will go untouched or meaningfully unaffected. For those who don’t wish to become victims and want to lean into the future instead, success is all dependant on what you do next. Choosing to invest in yourself and build an informed strategy towards accelerating into the curve is the first step to thriving instead of surviving in the future.
