Future of work – Futurist and keynote speaker 

Futurist and keynote speaker Ross Dawson has two decades experience focusing on the future of work and organizations. He has been named as one of the world’s top influencers on the future of work, while his visual frameworks including Future of Work and Humans in the Future of Work have attracted millions of views.

Dawson is a specialist virtual keynote speaker who has also delivered physical keynotes and workshops in over 30 countries.

Also see a longer list of Ross Dawson’s speaking topics, as well as related topics such as Business in the Age of AI, Harnessing the Power of Innovation, and Technology Leadership in an Accelerating World.

Keynote speaker topic – Creating the Future of Work and Organizations

Description

The world of work is changing at an extraordinary pace, driven by the rise of automation, connectivity, and data analytics, deep social and demographic shifts, acclerated by the powerful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we hurtle into a dramatically different future of work, there remain deep uncertainties on key issues including the shape of the workplace post-pandemic, how swiftly machine capabilities will progress, social and regulatory responses to change, and the ability of organizations to adapt fast enough. An increasing divide will inevitably emerge between those companies flexible enough to tap the potential of an exceptionally fluid and dynamic workforce, and those stuck in old ways of working. Dawson offers guiding principles for leaders to forge a path forward for their organizations to prosper as the landscape of work is transformed.

Example

Ross Dawson gave the keynote for a national roadshow on the Future of Work for Kinship Digital and IBM. The slides from his keynote are below.

Dawson’s keynote was framed around the critically-important lens of the future of work to gain insights into the future of organisations. He covered:

Technology drivers. Exponential growth in processing power, bandwidth and data storage are putting unprecedented capabilities in the hands of individuals, and taking machine capabilities to levels in which they can match or transcend human capacities in many domains.

Social shifts. Increasing expectations of participation, flexibility and meaning are changing the relationship between individuals and the organisations that they work for. Demographic shifts are increasing pressures on governments and social structures, changing the relationship between workers and in particularly the elderly.

Structure. In a networked world, the structure of business and how value is created is fundamentally changing. Latent availability is emerging to be matched with latent demand, creating new markets based on bringing together diverse connections.

Work. There are two critical drivers of change in work: connectivity and machine capabilities. As we are connected almost any work can be done anywhere in the world, with richer interfaces enabling greater comfort with remote work and the ability to perform physical labour. Increased capabilities of robots and computers are matching and moving beyond those of humans in many cases, destroying jobs. There is the potential for these forces to reduce employment and polarise work opportunities. However we can also envisage and create a future of work in which job creation exceeds job destruction, and we make work increasingly human, tapping our expertise, creativity, and aptitude for relationships to create a more prosperous world.

Organisations. The Möbius strip and the Klein bottle – its three-dimensional equivalent – have only one side. The inside is the outside. This metaphor is extraordinarily apt for organisations today, where the inside and the outside need to be one. The internal values and culture must be identical to those manifested outside, the social networks externally must be merged with the internal ones, it should become irrelevant where work is performed as the formal boundaries of organisations dissolve.

Performance. We need to consider what the high-performance organisations of tomorrow will look like, given the highly challenging and fast-moving business and social environment they will be working in. I will delve into these characteristics in another post.

Leadership. There are massive challenges for society and humanity in the future of work. Yet the negative outcomes some fear are not inevitable, if we take the right actions today. Leaders of all organisations must implement ‘governance for transformation’, managing risks and uncertainties while enabling necessary dramatic changes to the organisation.

Customized to your context

Futurist and keynote speaker Ross Dawson tailors each of his speeches to the needs of the specific client and audience. Make your event engaging with a presentation by Dawson that will surprise your audience with the latest innovations shaping the future of work and organizations.

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	Keynote speaking topics Read more examples of presentations that Dawson has delivered as a keynote speaker and can adapt to your specific needs.