No One Will Care About Your Productivity or Job Knowledge

Look out on the horizon. There’s a global tsunami headed your way, but few can see it. The tsunami represents a sea change in how your work, most everyone’s work, is valued. At U Labs sees the tsunami clearly, and this blog post will orient you to understand the tectonic shift that's happening so that you can develop and execute the strategies that keep your livelihoods from being washed away. If U fit the model, At U Labs is here to help U.

The Wave is Coming

Look out on the horizon. There’s a global tsunami headed your way. Like any tsunami, most of you will not see it until it’s too late. As Schopenhauer said “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Most of your fellow employees and entrepreneurs are trying to hit a known target better than the next guy. Your friends at At U Labs see the tsunami clearly, and we’re here to tell you about the target you should be aiming at – the one that others don’t see – the one that keeps you from being washed away.

The tsunami represents a sea change in how your work, most everyone’s work, is valued. You see until now, most employees were hired and rewarded for being productive. From the industrial age through to the internet age, productivity has been the north star for hierarchical management. Getting things done, keeping up with the newest apps, applying known frameworks and workflows, doing ever more ever faster. Artificial Intelligence is changing all of that. While you’ve no doubt heard about the coming job losses for knowledge workers as well as hourly wage earners in roles that can be better automated or roboticized, as of April 2024 no one is telling you what’s next. All we hear is that you need to learn to use AI… but what will an AI era workforce look like when U realize there is no U in team?

Why Consider The At U Labs Perspective

At U Labs’ telescope provides us with a unique vision of our collective seascape. This is the same telescope that directed all emerging market planning for an information solutions provider with $20 Billion in annual sales. The same telescope that built the original plan for a new business that brought in $3 Billion in annual sales within just a few years. The same telescope that started up companies internationally that ignited completely new industry sectors, and saved lives. The same telescope that introduced Strategic Planning to America’s fastest growing Information Solutions business. Our founder was educated at the only graduate school ranked number 1 in the US for entrepreneurship for over 30 consecutive years. At U Labs has now started up 9 businesses not counting those with less intensive coaching and consulting. We heart startups. We are still founding our own ventures, but we are now open to helping U, whether you are a founder, a small founding team, or an investor trying to better understand an emerging market or diligence an opportunity.

The Sea Change is How You Are Valued

So, what is this tsunami in our telescopic view? For many employees, productivity will no longer be prized. Let’s face it, no one employee will be more productive than AI. Job knowledge will no longer be prized in the AI era either. AI scans all of the job knowledge your peers have posted on the web - it doesn’t care about your experience. While you conduct an A/B test, it is conducting an A to Z test. For Founders, move fast, break things and iterate will just lead to failure. You can’t iterate faster than AI.

There’s only two things that will separate the winners from the losers and it won't be productivity and job knowledge – it's imagination and innovation. By that we mean true innovation, doing something completely new because AI is trained only on things that have already happened. You won't stand out by replicating a successful model as entrepreneurs normally do. You'll need to keep seeking and applying new imaginative models to out-maneuver not only your competition, but eventually also AI. Planning out your moves in advance becomes more important than ever if you want to run a business that’s sustainable. As it is, too many startups flame out because they don’t plan well enough. AI will only accelerate and multiply those failures.

Conclusion

The monumental change in what is valued in the marketplace is a shift from productivity and job knowledge to imagination and innovation, and this tectonic shift toward the importance of innovation will become apparent to everyone after the tsunami. Innovation will eventually matter more than even brand. An innovative solopreneur will soon be winning sales away from the top names in business.

Done correctly, starting up now is a once in a lifetime opportunity to launch and scale something truly creative in a way you never thought possible. So, whether you sit on your hands at your job as the tsunami approaches, or you contact At U Labs to get help doing something radically different, or you have another incubator or studio supporting you, or even if you still dare to go it alone, the alarm horn is sounding for you to prepare yourself for the flood!

Einstein’s quote that “Imagination is more important than knowledge” has never been more accurate.

Prepare for a world where no one cares about your productivity and job knowledge by starting to imagine your startup.