Greetings -
I hope you, your families and friends are well!

There has and continues to be no shortage of perspectives re: the future of work and the role of technology in that future (AI as well as other emerging tools). In the spirit of winnowing the deluge, I offer a few resources that spoke to me. The wonderful folks at Gartner provide compelling insights and analysis as to what and how we will need to transform in the coming year and beyond. There are several other perspectives on what future-ready skill sets will need to encompass and how we might begin to prepare to embrace these changes.

One of the key skills that no amount of technology seems poised to supplant any time soon is thoughtful and persuasive communication. Charles Duhigg, in his wonderful book, goes deep on what the best communicators do, while other contributors broaden our aperture with approaches on how to strategically influence and negotiate. Moving beyond a zero-sum mentality in our interactions with others will be key; why assume the proverbial pie is static when there may be opportunity to expand it for all involved?

Few will argue that workplace effectiveness will be predicated on the continued evolution of functional skills, knowledge, experience and expertise. What is less clear is how we will accomplish this. We are at an inflection point; organizational and individual change will require greater and more intentional facilitation re: how best to structure approaches, opportunities, etc. to be as inclusive as possible for everyone. Changes of this magnitude will re-shape cultures, opportunities and the measures of success within those cultures. Of paramount importance will be how best to support people to navigate this journey.

With respect and deep admiration for you all, happy reading and listening!

Be well, take good care of yourselves, families and community. And for those on the move during the upcoming holiday weekend, safe and expeditious travels.

-kj

PS - (Missed a newsletter? Past editions can be found here: https://www.kevinjordan.coach/blog. And if you hit paywall on an article(s), feel free to send me a note and let me know what you need. I have subscriptions to many of the sources that I cite.)

Featured: "Supercommunicators" by Charles Duhigg

Adept leaders constantly adapt their communication style and expand their messaging approaches to meet the ever-changing demands of their business context and organizational needs. They meet people where they are and understand their perspectives and needs.

Creating and holding space for others to share information, ask questions or express divergent viewpoints can be transformative. It can also facilitate rich, productive conversations across a diverse range of topics and perspectives. Applying these learnings can facilitate substantive behavioral change and transform how we serve ourselves, teams and organizations with greater effectiveness and versatility.

Charles Duhigg's latest book, "Supercommunicators," is rich in research, analysis and insights on how to increase our communication effectiveness in both our professional and personal lives. He offers an array of practical, actionable advice and tools to increase the impact of not just what we say, but how we say it. 

Ultimately, we have the opportunity to forge stronger connections, meaningfully persuade and tell our stories in ways that resonate more deeply with others. Awareness of and curiosity about ourselves and our environments can lead to new levels of discovery. 

Articles 

Harvard Business Review: 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2025 and Beyond. "Gartner research has identified three key challenges for company leaders in the coming year: 1) New demands for a future-ready workforce; 2) The evolving role of managers, and 3) Emerging talent risks for the organization. Within these challenges they offer nine predictions that address ongoing organizational concerns around technology, collaboration, employee retention, AI, knowledge management, and more. Employers should identify the trends that are most likely to impact their organization — and those that offer the opportunity to secure a comparative advantage."

Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2025. "Tracking this year's top strategic tech trends will help CIOs and IT leaders shape the future with responsible innovation."

KelloggInsight: What’s the Best Way for Large, Disparate Teams to Communicate?  "Figuring out the best way to communicate about a task can get increasingly complicated the more people get involved. Who needs to know what?...The optimal form of communication entails organizing teams into two different types: core teams that share almost all of their information; and peripheral teams that rarely do."

Harvard Business Review: What People Still Get Wrong About Negotiations. "They assume the size of the pie is fixed—and miss opportunities to create value." [KJ: For an excellent companion perspective from a former hostage negotiator, see Scott Walker's HBR article delineating his approaches to effective negotiation.]

Wall Street Journal: Female Bosses Made Gains This Year—Just Not in the Blue-Chip C-Suite. "How we view women in charge, especially at work, is shifting as more come into power."

Harvard Business Review: What Needs to Change About DEI — and What Doesn’t. "...It’s good-faith criticism that reflects many people’s enduring belief that their workplaces and industries can and should be better for everyone in them. That our DEI work itself can and should be better at creating change, ensuring accountability, and building bridges between communities rather than polarizing them." [KJ: Additional research and analysis re: the attributes and success metrics of the most inclusive leaders can be found here: HBR: What Makes an Inclusive Leader?]

Blog Posts & Opinions
Behavioral Scientist: Behavioral Science in a Future Far, Far Away. "As we look ahead, our future is marked by both technological power and increasing uncertainty of that power. Behavioral science could serve two key roles in helping ensure that the future we build is one we want to live in. First, insights gleaned from the behavioral sciences can help us design and tune technology to human well-being and thriving—social connection, purpose, and equity. Second, experimental methods can help us evaluate whether our attempts are achieving our aims. And by empirically studying the ways that technological fusion influences our minds and behaviors, research can help us determine how far technology should go, and what boundaries we should keep between us and our creations."

LinkedIn: Michael Watkins: The Six Disciplines of Strategic Negotiation... and How to Use AI to Support Them. "...By focusing on the six core disciplines—[of strategic negotiation] pattern recognition, systems analysis, mental agility, structured problem-solving, visioning, and political savvy—negotiators can develop a comprehensive skill set that prepares them for even the most challenging scenarios...By leveraging AI tools judiciously, negotiators can augment their skills, gain deeper insights, and prepare more thoroughly for diverse negotiation contexts."

Big Think: Why great communicators listen to the music of “The Five Ps." Radically improve your work-life speaking and presentation skills with a technique used by musicians."

Podcasts + TED Talks
TED Radio Hour: Your brain is the next tech frontier. "We're entering a new era of brain monitoring and enhancement, but what are the ethical implications? ...TED speakers explore the potential and pitfalls of merging our minds with machines."

HBR IdeaCast: Employment Is Changing Forever. "As organizations and workers face a new wave of technological change, Deborah Perry Piscione argues that we're at a pivot point where old models of employment will be replaced by entirely new ones. Get ready for GenAI-assisted, decentralized, sometimes autonomous workforces, and “jobs” that span gigs, companies, industries, geographies, and the metaverse."

HBS Managing The Future of Work: Adaptable and inclusive: Kraft Heinz’s brand of workforce. "Melissa Werneck, EVP and global chief people officer...on reskilling for web marketing and personalization, AI, hybrid work, and collaboration across time zones and cultures. Also, why diversity is good business."

Arts, Music, Culture & Humor Corner
The Art Newspaper: Caravaggio portrait, unseen for decades, goes on view in Rome. "The portrait of Maffeo Barberini was first attributed to Caravaggio 60 years ago, but had not been publicly displayed until now."

Substack: Can music be sustainable? "Music has a climate problem - and these bands are doing something about it!"

The Atlantic: The Elite College Students Who Can't Read Books. "To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school."

The New Yorker: Shouts & Murmurs: Existential Office Emails: “Morning, Rob. Hope your weekend was an effective numbing agent against the spiritual oppression that is your every waking work hour!”

Reflections
“Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.” ~ Neil Strauss

“Neither we ourselves nor the world around us can be saved unless we learn to see both sides of things, learn to pull as well as push, and learn to maintain a broad and lofty view of the truth.” ~ Masahiro Mori

“Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.”~ Sheng-yen