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Work 2.0 Nowhere To Hide With Sergiusz Prokurat

Episode Summary

🔥🎙️💣 Here it is, an exclusive interview with Sergiusz Prokurat that should change your perspective in seeing what is coming in the world of work, economy, demographic and the broader business environment. We have talked for more than 60 min about an award-winning book, Word2.0 (or) Prace 2.0 This interview has plenty of gold nuggets for everyone. It'll help individuals get to know what it takes to stay relevant to the market and business leaders to change their perspectives while navigating the change in the world of work.

Episode Notes

• You wrote this book nearly a decade ago. How do you see your findings playing out during the last two years?
• If globalization caused "complexity" and an explosion in demand for "hyperspecialization." Do you see the trend continuing or instead reversing course due to the deglobalization movement around us? 
• You have predicted that the focus will shift toward flexibility, mobility, and the quick adaptation of workers. Do you agree that COVID was just a catalyst to accelerate that shift? 

Comment: People shouldn't commute to work, but instead, work should reach people. Teleworking is a concept that has existed since the 70S as a result of higher oil prices and was put forward by then to reduce traffics. 

• You said, "Globalization Can't Be Stopped." Could it be slowed, though, or sometimes I think that whatever will happen will largely depend on the survivability of the global political system that created it? What are your thoughts on that? 

Fact: Job for life is dead! 

Fact: Capitalism evolved from Capital, Land & Labour as the main driver for value creation and from manufacturing societies to service societies based on entrepreneurship, Knowledge, and innovation. 

Fact: People shouldn't commute to work, but instead, work should reach people. Bellido

• In the first chapter, "the transformation," you discussed unifying the real and virtual world. I guess Zukerberg's metaverse idea isn't his idea after all. What impact would that have on communities?   
• You put a table with five technological waves which have changed our world. The first started in the 1750S, and the last in 2000, and each subsequent wave is shorter than its predecessor. Could we say we live the sixth wave, which started in 2020?  
• Following quoting Freidman, "holy mackerel, the world is flat," you talked about how technology could hurt people, forcing them to seek refuge from ringing phones, emails, etc. Is that a prediction for the great resignation? 
• The internet destroys to rebuild a stronger and more effective community - said the economist Joseph Schumpeter. If we mention major events like what happened in 2011, the Arab spring, Joseph's statement stands against that? 
• Web 2.0 gave birth to World 2.0. Is that accurate? That, in essence, blurs the notion of senders & receivers of information where all participants influence creating a culture in one or more communities simultaneously. I'm curious how that would evolve with Web 3.0?

Fact: I came to Poland in mid-2015 and worked in one of the biggest businesses in the BPO sector in Krakow, maybe Poland. I vividly remember working from home was a privilege to senior managers, and we have gone through a long debate to start with distributing laptops. It is astonishing how far we have gone but also surprising that we have pioneers who understood that it is possible to have remote workers. I'm talking about JetBlue's decision as early as 2004, allowing 700 staff from customer services to work from home.   

• Working remotely is a tick in the box. What are the chances of seeing workshifting becoming the mainstream, and are businesses, particularly in Poland, ready for the change? 
• What kind of skills will the world of work 2.0 be in high demand? Does the global market have enough supply? What does that mean for governments?  
• Is the rise of the share of temporary employment the byproduct of Hyperspecialization? what does that means for new generations? 

Fact: The relationship between employers and employees is shifting from "command-and-control" to "coordinate-and-cultivate." That isn't necessarily the opposite but the supersets. That means incorporating a range of possibilities of going about management from completely top-down and centralized to bottom-up and decentralized.   

• Work 2.0: What does that mean for businesses, and how would the relation employer-employee look like? 
• Introduce, engage, cooperate and develop. How far HR function, particularly in Poland, has to go to reach that level? 

FACT: work 2.0 offers workers a greater chance of branding themselves as an accomplished specialist, dedicated workers, or experts 

• I studied engineering for about two years; then, I decided to study economics. The shift was that I didn't see benefits from maths and physics learning theory. Arguably it might be a wrong move, but I always thought universities were enough not capable of preparing us to face professional challenges heads on. Do we need to send our kids to college, universities, and post-graduate studies? 
• We still live in the 20th century, but we have 21st-century technology. Take me through that train of thoughts. 
• Wrapping-up: let us start by saying what individuals should do to fit in the Work 2.0 world, are our leaders and businesses ready to benefit from that?