Computers now fly planes better than a human. We still have people who assist the computer to take off and land, but apart from that, it’s the computer flying the plane … and eventually it will be all done by computers.

People can’t beat computers at chess any more. Driverless cars are already safer than regular cars.

A friend of mine was horrified when their doctor Googled their symptoms in front of them. I love it … I reckon most medical diagnostics could be done better by a computer than by a doctor.

Think about your job … what part of it can’t be done better by a computer in five years time, or cheaper and just as well by someone overseas. If the answer is no part, you’re in trouble. If there is a part of the job, then that’s what you better focus on getting good at.

Here are the three things that are safe:

Art. Whatever you create (ideas, software, design etc) isn’t going to be digitised.
Teaching. Be it through standing in front of a classroom or a lecture hall, through coaching or speaking, it will still be in demand (and while multi-media content delivery and flipped classrooms are revolutionising education, face-to-face teachers are still integral).
Influencing. Getting people to behave differently, think differently, buy differently will always be of value.

If you are a thought leader running a practice, you’ll recognise these as think, sell and delivery (although I’ve got the order wrong).

It’s one of the things I love about the practice model. Having multiple clusters makes the practice future proof, and getting better at thinking, selling and delivering makes you future proof.

And if you’re not running a practice, identify the part of your job that is creating art, teaching or influencing, and focus on that. Work on making that a bigger and bigger part of what you do.