The Future of Work with David Burkus

Beyond working in whatever your parents did type of working, the industrial revolution really sort of began that idea that you would get a job, that you wouldn’t just be whatever your parents were or work on the farm that you inherited. That was the beginning of management and it was based off this idea that the majority of people didn’t need to think and act. We just need to teach you how to do this repetitive motion in the factory and pay you to do that motion for 8 hours. Then around the mid 1900’s we shifted from industrial work to knowledge work. What happened was that alot of those tools we brought with us from the factory to the office. The tools of how we manage people. And it worked because the work was still repetitive, but it was repetitive on paper instead of trying to assemble a car. And now we’re in this shift where knowledge work has become creative work. Everybody has to exercise creativity. Even in a normal “office” job you have to solve problems, come up with solutions, and create ideas. You have to exercise that muscle in a way that we haven’t had to do even 20 years ago. – David Burkus

David Burkus is an associate professor of management at Oral Roberts University. He’s also the author of Under New Management and The Myths of Creativity 

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