Cover image for Humans are underrated : what high achievers know that brilliant machines never will
Humans are underrated : what high achievers know that brilliant machines never will
Preferred Shelf Number:
650.1 COL
Title:
Humans are underrated : what high achievers know that brilliant machines never will
Author:
Colvin, Geoffrey, author.
ISBN:
9781591847205
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
viii, 248 pages ; 24 cm
Contents:
Computers are improving faster than you are : as technology becomes more awesomely able, what will be the high-value human skills of tomorrow? -- Gauging the challenge : a growing army of experts wonder if must maybe the Luddites aren't wrong anymore -- The surprising value in our deepest nature : why being a great performer is becoming less about what we know and more about what we're like -- Why the skills we need are withering : technology is changing more than just work, it's also changing us, mostly in the wrong ways -- The critical 21st-century skill : empathy is the key to humans' most crucial abilities. It's even more powerful than we realize -- Empathy lessons from combat : how the U.S. military learned to build human skills that trump technology, and what it means for all of us -- What really makes teams work : it isn't what team members (or leaders) usually think. Instead, it's deeply human processes that most teams ignore -- The extraordinary power of story : why the right kind of narrative, told by a person, is mightier than logic -- The human essence of innovation and creativity : computers can create, but people skillfully interacting solve the most important human problems -- Is it a woman's world? In the most valuable skills of the coming economy, women hold strong advantages over men -- Winning in the human domain : some will love a world that values deep human interaction. Others won't. But everyone will need to get better-- and can.
Abstract:
What hope will there be for us when computers can drive cars better than humans, predict Supreme Court decisions better than legal experts, identify faces, scurry helpfully around offices and factories, even perform some surgeries, all faster, more reliably, and less expensively than people? It's easy to imagine a nightmare scenario in which computers simply take over most of the tasks that people now get paid to do. While we'll still need high-level decision makers and computer developers, those tasks won't keep most working-age people employed or allow their living standard to rise. The unavoidable question--will millions of people lose out, unable to best the machine?--is increasingly dominating business, education, economics, and policy. Author Geoff Colvin explains how the skills the economy values are changing in historic ways. The abilities that will prove most essential advances have demanded from workers in the past. Instead, our greatest advantage lies in what we humans are most powerfully driven to do for and with on another, arising from our deepest, most essentially human abilities--empathy, creativity, social sensitivity, storytelling, humor, building relationships, and expressing ourselves with greater power than logic can ever achieve. This is how we create durable value that is not easily replicated by technology--because we're hardwired to want it from humans. These high-value skills create tremendous competitive advantage--more devoted customers, stronger cultures, breakthrough ideas, and more effective teams. And while many of us regard these abilities as innate traits--"he's a real people person," "she's naturally creative"--it turns out they can all be developed. They're already being developed in a range of far-sighted organizations such as: the Cleveland Clinic, which emphasizes empathy training of doctors and all employees to improve patient outcomes and lower medical costs; the U.S. Army, which has revolutionized its training to focus on human interaction, leading to stronger teams and greater success in real-world missions; and Stanford Business School which has overhauled its curriculum to teach interpersonal skills through human-to-human experiences. As technology advances, we shouldn't focus on beating computers at what they do--we'll lose that contest. Instead, we must develop our most essential human abilities that teach our kids to value not just technology but also the richness of interpersonal experience. They will be the most valuable poeple in our world because of it.
Language:
English
Format:
Books