A discussion I often have with my circle – that is fathers of toddlers - is how kids are picking up digital technology faster than ever. It's mind boggling to see a 4 year old able to tap on the Youtube app on an iPad and start his favorite cartoon or start playing games! And in contrast, the prior generation - specially over 55 - struggles to come to terms with the newer digital technologies.
I was impressed when I got this TED talk by 12 year old Thomas Suarez forwarded to me. For those who do not know, he shot into fame when at the age of nine (yes nine!) he taught himself Python, Java, C and created a mobile app called Earth Fortune. He subsequently created a few more apps which garnered decent hits in the AppStore. I remember how I were when I was 12. And here he is standing on a podium and talking to an audience of several hundreds without flinching!
To me, society is surely turning upside down with time. For so long, we have been used to believing that knowledge and wisdom (and the associated fame, wealth, position in society and organization and all of that) correlates with age, experience and formal education. It was highly unlikely that a fresh graduate can know and contribute much more than a seasoned 40 year old in a company – but no more.
The digital economy is playing its role as usual. The coming together of voluntary experts sharing their knowledge “free” on the internet and the ability of search engines to rank them nicely has significantly lowered the cost of gaining knowledge on anything. But everyone is not able to take the advantage - it is only the smart guys who are able to leverage the digital platforms to the fullest.
I believe that, over time, as the economy becomes more digital, the balance of knowledge will significantly tilt towards smart younger workers who will be much more connected to the digital world. With more curiosity and less fear in trying out new things – they will exploit digital platforms far better than their older counterparts who can often be conservative. It’s impossible to envision how societies and workplaces will evolve be in a decade from now. Today our mental models are hard-wired to pyramidal structures where the top is ‘assumed’ to have more knowledge and hence can direct those at the bottom of the pyramid. I have never seen an org structure which is not a pyramid. But how long?
It will be interesting to see how society adapts to this situation what I like to call as an "inverted pyramid". Would be very interested to know others’ thoughts or even if you believe this is going to happen.
I was impressed when I got this TED talk by 12 year old Thomas Suarez forwarded to me. For those who do not know, he shot into fame when at the age of nine (yes nine!) he taught himself Python, Java, C and created a mobile app called Earth Fortune. He subsequently created a few more apps which garnered decent hits in the AppStore. I remember how I were when I was 12. And here he is standing on a podium and talking to an audience of several hundreds without flinching!
To me, society is surely turning upside down with time. For so long, we have been used to believing that knowledge and wisdom (and the associated fame, wealth, position in society and organization and all of that) correlates with age, experience and formal education. It was highly unlikely that a fresh graduate can know and contribute much more than a seasoned 40 year old in a company – but no more.
The digital economy is playing its role as usual. The coming together of voluntary experts sharing their knowledge “free” on the internet and the ability of search engines to rank them nicely has significantly lowered the cost of gaining knowledge on anything. But everyone is not able to take the advantage - it is only the smart guys who are able to leverage the digital platforms to the fullest.
I believe that, over time, as the economy becomes more digital, the balance of knowledge will significantly tilt towards smart younger workers who will be much more connected to the digital world. With more curiosity and less fear in trying out new things – they will exploit digital platforms far better than their older counterparts who can often be conservative. It’s impossible to envision how societies and workplaces will evolve be in a decade from now. Today our mental models are hard-wired to pyramidal structures where the top is ‘assumed’ to have more knowledge and hence can direct those at the bottom of the pyramid. I have never seen an org structure which is not a pyramid. But how long?
It will be interesting to see how society adapts to this situation what I like to call as an "inverted pyramid". Would be very interested to know others’ thoughts or even if you believe this is going to happen.
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