4th industrial revolution: AI, driverless vehicles, robots; what impact?

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The intriguing and insidious intrusion of robots (note that robot is a piece of hardware and/or software that execute repetitive tasks!) in our daily lives is one of the mark of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution.

New professions related to the ongoing digital transformation will appear, but how many and most importantly at what pace? If factories turn day and night without workers, will machines finance the national social protection system? From where will governments collect their revenues?
Are we moving from a "labor" income to "capital" income economy? What are the consequences on the national economies?

The revolution in artificial intelligence is only just beginning and will probably be
costly in jobs. The economists community is clearly divided. Automation has become a general concern over the future of manufacturing and the global economy as a whole. Many fear that the economic well-beings of vast populations are at risk in the coming years. A report from Deloitte indicated that 35% of jobs will be in jeopardy over the next 20 years alone.

Uber self-driving taxis are already driving in Tempe, Arizona (one recently crashed!) and autonomous trucks are being tested on German motorways; what will become of the millions of truck, bus, metro, train, taxi and truck drivers? Aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has announced a program which aims to sail by 2020  totally automatic boats, without crew and captain.
We are even starting the discussion around pilot-less airplanes that can save billions of dollars for the airlines companies.

Supermarkets equipped with sensors and optical readers will replace cashiers. Consumer goods are ordered online and can be delivered by standalone vehicles. Already in Amazon's warehouses, the storage and shipping of goods are fully automated. Even the cashier is redundant in the newly launched AmazonGo store in Seattle.

Automation will certainly affect the job market, a recent report from Deloitte in partnership with Oxford University, is suggesting that 35% of jobs were at risk over the next 20 years.
Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots. iPhone maker replaced more than half of its workforce with robots since iPhone 6 launch.This Deloitte report states that " About a quarter of jobs in the United Kingdom are threatened by automation over the next two decades, including more than two million jobs in the retail trade, one and a half million in transport and storage. Secure data technology called Blockchain could eventually destroy thousands of jobs in banks, law firms and notaries.

But for many economists, these widespread productivity gains, lower transport costs, are expected to create new wealth, new industries and new jobs. In the preceding industrial revolutions (electricity, computers, the Internet), new jobs have replaced old ones, but the transition took place over several decades.

There is simply no evidence at the moment that the current industrial revolution will be any different.

Is this pattern of creative destruction theorized by Joseph Schumpeter?

Robots, Artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to disrupt a large number of industries very quickly without allowing society time to adapt to changes. Will the speedy global capitalism allow time for vocational training to adapt to this new situation? It is to be feared that the fourth industrial revolution destroys more jobs than it creates. It is not sure that drivers, handlers or licensed workers in China or India are rapidly transforming into digital specialists.

To be continued...

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What type of leadership is required to succeed in the new era, created by the digital transformation of the global economy?

Thousands of books have been written about leadership and leaders, and many theories have been
developed in the fields of management and psychology. To mention one, Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker stated that “management does things right; leadership does the right things.”


What type of leadership is required to succeed in this new business world, created by the Networked Society, and the ongoing digital transformation of the global economy.? This society will see new market spaces, where cross-industry companies will compete. Because of its openness, its technology based on mobility, cloud and performing networks, because of globalization, free trade and capital movement; the Networked Society will transform and reshape businesses and industries.

So, what leadership and strategy playbook should executives and strategists use?

The competition and the customers have become unpredictable and will be even more so in the future. It will be hard for companies to keep a strong position and defend it for extended periods of time. It means that competitive advantages will no longer be possible to sustain. It also means that companies will have to review their strategies and portfolios, and start building new competitive advantages more often than ‘once a year’.
Leaders in the Networked Society need to constantly start new strategic initiatives. They should care less about market segmentation – because the borders between industries will be blurred – and focus more on the jobs-to-be-done (the Clayton Christensen concept) that are out there for customers.


I think that executives in the Networked Society should have at least the following skills:

- Innovation in their DNA. Have the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields and areas.
- Ability to listen to the society, understand the issues and opportunities around sustainable development, and develop a strategy around them.
- A more customer-centric and less industry-bound view. Their methods for evaluating new business opportunities and their approach to innovation should be different.
- Ability to spark continuous change by building an agile organization that can support any new competitive advantage or any new strategic change without ‘pains’.
- A non-narcissistic approach, because leaders must be engaged in initiating questioning conversations in their organizations.
- Ability to make fast and right decisions instead of deliberations and/or consensus finding.
- Discovery-driven. Executives produce uncommon business ideas by scrutinizing common phenomena, particularly the behavior of potential customers.
- Executives in the Networked Society don’t delegate creative work, they do it themselves. Not only do they feel responsible for facilitating the innovation process, but also for coming up with strategic innovations.
- A track record for innovations. Innovation will be a core activity in the Networked Society.

So, are you an executive of the Networked Society era?

This blog has been posted on Ericsson Networked Society blog as well