In The Platinum Workforce, futurist Trond Arne Undheim maps how AI, IoT and biotech could reshape jobs and spawn new roles. Catherine Dock reviews the book’s practical role frameworks, credible case studies and warnings about disruption for white-collar work, and asks what skills we should learn, teach and question next.
Book: The Platinum Workforce
Author: Trond Arne Undheim
As someone who has run Technology Learning & Development organisations, I was excited to read this book. I’m also as the parent of students who will soon enter the workforce and I want to better understand the direction of travel for those both currently in education and at varying career stages in a very fast-moving industry. Undheim is a Futurist and academic at Stanford University in the US and has written extensively about the future of technology amid societal changes.
The Platinum Workforce is a comprehensive analysis of new and evolved career options likely to be open to the workforce
The Platinum Workforce is a comprehensive analysis of new and evolved career options likely to be open to the workforce over the coming years and decades, as technology moves global society through the fourth Industrial Revolution, characterised by Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing and Cloud Computing. This moves into the fifth Industrial Revolution, which will focus on human-technology collaboration, such as biotechnology and bioengineering to develop “smart” pharmaceuticals, materials and solutions with the end-user convenience and comfort in mind.
Evolution and threat
The book is divided into three parts. In section one, “Capturing Cascading Changes”, chapter one starts with a brief introductory history of the industrial revolutions that have come before and how these have evolved the way of work. Chapter two looks at the perceived threats to the workforce and then in chapter three, what will drive employers in terms of what they will need to support this changing landscape.
In section two, “Developing Skills fit for the Workplace of Tomorrow”, Undheim sets out the potential roles that could be created, many of which do not yet exist, but will become credible as the technology develops, especially in the various fields of AI.
For every role Undheim suggests, these are presented in a consistent structure of subsections:
- What is this role for?
Undheim explains the role with a simple but well-articulated role description, effectively an opening summary for what he will break down in subsequent sections - Why is it needed?
How the role fits into the new world, how it connects to other roles in the ecosystem and why the role adds value - How to learn the skill set for the role
How those who want to develop those roles and the skills within can help themselves by targeting certain behaviours, courses and support - How to teach the skill for that role
There are detailed examples of how that role is incorporated into learning and development activities, so L&D, HR and other associated teams and line reporting can ensure that the skills are learned for maximum impact - The cascading effects of that skill set
The impact of the skill set on the wider professional ecosystem and industry and how it can support and influence other associated skills and roles - Societal impact of the skills and role as they become commonplace
This looks at impact, but more beyond the immediate professional aspect and more into the impact on wider society - Downsides of the skill set
The negative impacts of the skill set and how might these cause problems elsewhere, whether professionally or societally
Scaling role replacement
In section three, “Managing Systems, Machine, and Humans”, Undheim discusses risk management of this new world, how to develop the skills described in section two, using both more traditional and innovative learning and development methods. He also describes methods for scaling these to industrial levels as these roles replace other historical examples; and finally considers the future of human- technology interactions over the coming decades.
Fact to the future
There was a lot I liked about this book. As a futurist, there is an undeniable amount of guesswork in these predictions, but Undheim provides examples based in fact and credibly sourced evidence, practical examples and case studies of recent and ongoing changes in industry. A lot of thought and research has gone into this book.
The roles Undheim suggests tend to focus on psychology and persuasion, whether that is designing human-technology job integrations, physical environments or teaching and supporting resilience and adaptation to the changes around us. One of the themes of the book is that these changes are and will continue to be radical and change our entire way of working for a huge number of, in particular, white-collar workers.
Jobs that we take for granted now will disappear, and the disruption will mean that some skills from the last industrial revolution no longer fit for purpose. Whether or not we end up with some sort of hybrid model of roles, where some “old world” roles are still valued in certain industries, remains to be seen. Some resistance to change and technology in ways of working, especially in industries such as law, will likely see an uneven evolution in how widely those roles are utilised.
There are no guarantees, but as an enlightened insight as to where roles and more widely entire types of work may change, this is a realistic set of suggestions, and one that I look forward to revisiting a few years down the road to reflect on how close these predictions were! I will be giving this book to my Gen-Z children to read as food for thought as they move through university and into the workplace.
Catherine Dock is Senior Learning and Development Consultant at Stellar Shift Consulting Limited
