Why we're so anxious about the future of work | Carla Cuglietta | TEDxRRU

[Music] [Applause] there once was a time when thinking about life After High School filled you with excitement not anxiety there once was a time when thinking about your career filled you with possibilities not knots I became a high school teacher in 2001 and about 10 years ago I noticed a distinct difference in how young people were feeling about life after graduation excitement had turned to anxiety there were just too many options to think through and the world of work was changing much too fast but then I noticed it wasn't just young people feeling worried about

the future of work it was my friends it's my colleagues it was leaders of organizations something was happening you see independent of age people went from being excited to being anxious why is that and why would we let being anxious about the future become The New Normal I imagine being 17 or 47 or 57 looking out into the future unsure of what it looked like and what that would do to my feelings and my outlook on life and on work so I decided to do something big in 2018 I left being a teacher and with

a small film crew embarked on a global Journey around the world to try to make sense of the changes we were seeing it was an 18-month Journey that span 150,000 kilometers in 15 different countries to have hundreds of hours of conversation and we made a very important Discovery there is no way to tell what the future of work will look like there's just too many things going on from changes in demographics to artificial intelligence from the migration of people to geopolitics from climate change to hybrid work there's too many things happening all at once to

make sense of it in fact throughout our journey we met with some of the world's top thought leaders and when we asked them what they saw coming in their field in 5 years in their most honest moments they would say that they didn't know but then it hit us we could not predict the changes we would see but we could predict the challenges we would face and that flip in thinking opened up a world of possibilities we discovered that there are three main challenges that we'll face in the future of work and it will dominate

that for everyday people so pack your bags and come with me on a mental Journey around the world to uncover the three challenges in the future of work our first stop France we were in the Alps cows grazing roll bowling Hills Church Steeples in the distance we were there living with the head farmer of a Cooperative at the time and we said to him wow if we ever die and come back in another life as a farmer we hope it's here look at this place it's beautiful we chuckled and then he said as beautiful as

it is our community is struggling in fact we have depression and even suicides right now it was difficult to hear he went on to say that farming's always been hard it was hard for my grandparents and hard for my parents and hard for me but back in the day you would care for the cows and the cows would produce milk and that milk would go down the road and turn into cheese and that cheese would go to the market and be sold and people would buy the cheese and taste the cheese and say Pierre you

did it again another year of great cheese and there was fulfillment there my hard work was recognized by the person who ate the cheese now farming still hard care for the cows they produce milk and now a truck comes by and picks up that milk and our milk gets mixed in with the other farmers's milk and all of the sudden my hard work is anonymous no one says anything anymore that conversation shed light on a challenge that we were seeing all over the world the challenge of human Connection in all the ways that work is

changing the way we interact with people we're becoming disengaged you see we can't predict the change but we can predict the challenge and so if human connection is a challenge that we know we need to face in the future of work then we can solve for that if we are aware and intentional about our human connections at work even when they're not obvious who receives your work whose hard work do you receive connect Challenge number two come with me to Italy specifically a region in the South called pulia where they live the Dolce Vita The

Sweet Life here 80% of the businesses are still family run they take four to six coffee breaks per day and the lunch break in the workday is 3 hours long they have mastered the art of human connection and kept it as a top priority we were there presenting our findings with a group of professionals and specifically we were discussing the decision to keep a three-hour lunch break in the workday with new technology and business models taking hold fast in countries all around them and then they said to us okay we know we know we have

a beautiful work life balance but you've been all over the world you tell us are we in danger of becoming irrelevant it's an important question and one that shed light on a question that more and more of us need to ask ask in the future of work can we stay relevant technology AI new business models they're taking hold fast all around us there's no avoiding it but it doesn't mean we need to fear it because they can bring with them New Opportunities new earnings gone are the days where the same skills you had at the

beginning of your career will last you all the way until the end 30 years ago jobs and skills were stable but not anymore new technology is driving the need to learn new skills technology may change what you do in your career but it will definitely change how you do it the problem is it's tough to know how or when that change is coming you see we can't predict the change but we can predict the challenge so if staying relevant is a challenge that we know we need to face in the future of work then we

can solve for that if we fall in love with lifelong learning because then we can be on the front end of that change when it arrives so challenge number one can we stay connected Can we keep the human Connection in our work to stay engaged Challenge number two can we stay relevant can we fall in love with learning enough so that we're on the front end of change as it enters into our work for Challenge number three let's head to Korea we were there about 3 weeks and at this point very used to the 36

Lanes of traffic buzzing below our highrise but one morning we opened the curtains and there was silence no traffic we went on to learn that it was their National exam day the day that people would write a test that would determine their career path so silence was needed no cars on the road road construction stopped planes were grounded in fact the only sound on the road we would hear that day is police escorts getting students who'd slept in to the exam imagine the pressure of that an entire country that holds its breath for you to

write a test that determines your future that pressure stays on in career long after that exam is written we would often times see Subways packed with people in business suits as late as 11: p.m. South Korea has just decreased its maximum hourly work week from 68 hours to 52 South Korea has been on aough rocket ship of economic growth and Technology if you go to Soul it looks like you've stepped into the future but that pace has come at a dark tradeoff one that they're trying to understand and fix showing up in poor mental health

increased alcohol usage and increase divorce rates shed light on a challenge that that we were seeing all over the world the challenge of staying healthy you see whether it's technology longer work hours or the isolation that can come from working at home can we stay healthy mentally physically emotionally you see we can't predict the change but we can predict the challenge so staying healthy is a challenge that we know we need to face and we can solve for it if we are honest and proactive about the changes that we know we need to make in

our lifestyle you see despite the future of work being so unpredictable it doesn't mean that we can't prepare for it in fact maybe even we can get excited about it again if we focus on our human connections on our technology connections and on our health or well-being connections now I imagine being 17 or 47 or 57 looking ahead to the unpredictable future of work and being able to say I don't know what's coming but I actually feel ready for it thank you [Applause]