Successful in your job?

Then you are at risk of becoming obsolete ….

Ironically, the more successful you are at your current job, the greater you are at risk of becoming obsolete.

I am not talking about the industry you are working in. That is a given as technology is disrupting every industry. I am talking about you, the individual. Regardless of who you are, or what profession you are in, the hard truth is that technology is decaying the value of your knowledge and skills.

Over time, unless you constantly learn new knowledge and add to your existing knowledge to create new knowledge, what you have built your career on will become irrelevant. As we cannot stop the march of technology, it is therefore not a question of if, but when, you will be disrupted and made obsolete. Since disruption is inevitable, it is important that you be proactive and self-disrupt. Self-disruption is infinitely less painful than being disrupted because you get to choose the time and the pace. This means that you will not be fighting for survival, which means you have the resources and time to re-tool and re-skill.

The problem is not that we don’t know this. We do! The problem is that we are victims of our own success. Kodak is a prime example. They invented the digital camera but resisted the disruption as they did not want to cannibalize…