The Outlier, A “Solution Expert” from Humanities

LM Thapar School of Management | Cirus Group | MDI, Gurugram Campus | JGU | Bharti Group | IBM | Hero | 2 Startups

Global Employment landscape is seeing itself through a transformation not only by technology disruption but also by a consumers psychological need amelioration. Modern Consumer behavior is redefining product market, unfolding unseen challenges. This has or will create a need for a new age work force, ready to compete.

The Current state of available workforce – appears to have a disconnect. The talent pool data and organizational spreadsheets narrate different stories.

If we peer deeply into the available talent pool data, we see troubling signs, to an extend & ―for now‖ masked by a cyclical recovery. But, struggling between to address the current and ever existing job aspirations and current academic

curricula, which may ―appear to be‖ a mismatch with the job market expectations for now. However, and when we look up from organizational spreadsheets per se, we see automation, both high and low end—robots in the operating room and a desire to have it even behind the fast-food counter. To top it all, Consumers imagine self-driving cars snaking through the streets and drones dotting the sky. Replacing millions; the drivers, factory managers, retail workers, and or the business heads.

Observation is, the capabilities of machines—already formidable—continue to expand exponentially, while our own remain the same. With our conservative job trends one ends up wondering:  Am I employable at the end?

In the age of technology, where filling gaps in unemployment is apparently shaping up as a mere faux pas. It should not be late when we realize the importance of Art, Technology and Science coming together. Arguably, today

some major and successful tech leaders hold degrees in humanities, guessing it‘s just the ability to step back and look at the human end of technology commoditization. Not only impacting its design definition but also its banausic functionalities.

With coming up technology advancement we need to understand its dynamics and economics

A term which has been doing rounds for some time now, Technology Economics -

a science of modeling technology change. This economics is guided by some forces, to quote a few

The Study of human attention as a scarce resource in the era of technology, helping businesses generate revenue through advertisement or capturing or leading a customer to a purchase

A prime example, the need of increasing size of Data Storage or Computing Speed. According to theorists, it is increasing at a hyperbolic rate, meaning it may jump to an Infinite advancement

An economic term that describes the tendency for economic output to require less material with time. Paper for E.g. digitization has somehow been able to decrease the use of paper. Solar over fossil fuel, Good news is, it also addresses pollution

Though used in context of disadvantages faced by large organization, such as hard processes, inability to change and in the furrow of market; become dysfunctional.

Something which directly or indirectly is responsible for privatization of a lot of government controlled firms across the globe. These firms may have become dysfunctional due to their sheer size or inability to change.

An effect defining what works today to be less effective with time. E.g. Human Immunity, Health Care industry being the best example.

The list is long, and All these above forces impact the commodities/services developed by technology ecosystem. Question is, who can be the one, to read, control and work around these forces?

Outliers, merely guessing that‘s the answer as our solutioning experts. Correctly! has to be a group of outliers. Outliers who can think differently yet understand ―being human‖. As stated, with need comes opportunity and for if were to capitalize, we should start preparing the coming generation to solve large-scale modern age human problems. We must push them to widen, not narrow, their education and interests. Art teaches interpretation, Political Science teaches planning, Literature helps us think beyond ourselves, philosophy opens us to perspectives and history is as it is a compilation of case studies.

A myth, that scope of Humanities is limited. Pay close attention! It‘s all around us. From Psychology to law, the current ideas Economy needs everything. Merely referring to what ‘art‘ or ‘political science‘ teaches may not be adequate though: one needs to go beyond the obvious and point out real-world situations where the lessons learnt from the study of such disciplines can make an impact. Maybe, critical analysis as a skills that one needs can be utilized for understanding the impact that a product can create.

Education is more about training the mind than learning facts, and this is where a liberal arts education proves itself. And disruption, if you think about it, will be taking an idea, making it a reality faster than the next guy and using it to disrupt the status quo.

So, are you ready? To be the next Outlier, The Humanity Outlier.