Daily news sites

The future of work is often positioned as the next great battle between machines and humans. A future where, according to a 2013 study by the Oxford Martin School, 47% of all jobs in America and the UK are at risk because of computerization -- realizing John Maynard Keynes' 1930s prediction of 'technological unemployment.'


It is statistics like this that led Andrew Keen, in a recent article for The Sunday Times entitled 'March of the Robots' to write, "The race against the machine has begun. And we are being outrun, outgunned and outflanked by today's increasingly widespread network of digital devices and algorithms".


At the core of this dystopian vision of the future is the assumption that we only care about productivity -- as machines are more efficient and smarter than people this can only lead to one conclusion. It's an assumption that we believe is misplaced.


We are witnessing an increasing trend towards business putting people and planet alongside profit. More and more businesses are realizing the value of caring deeply about the people who work for them and the communities they serve -- businesses that at their heart are 100% Human not 100% Machines.


We're fortunate to be supporting The B Team, a group of global business leaders catalyzing a better way of doing business for people and planet. Over the last year we've been working with a community of over 30 businesses that are part of a People Innovation Network; a collective that are passionate about enabling people to thrive at work.


The insights from the People Innovation Network, many of which we've collated in our New Ways of Working report (such as the growth of purpose-driven organizations, lifelong growth opportunities for employees and the trend to welcoming well-being) have made us more optimistic than ever before that work is changing for the better.


Here are a few examples of shifts that put people at the heart of business:


Being Human Matters: In a world that is more connected that ever before people are ironically feeling increasingly isolated and craving human connection. Work can deliver positive connections and companies that treat people like a family rather than "headcount" are realizing the benefits to their bottom line. For example, Appletree Answers started an initiative called 'Dream On' where every employee has the opportunity to submit one dream. The dreams can be for the employees themselves, co-workers, family members or even complete strangers. They have ranged from giving homeless employees somewhere to live, to giving a seriously ill partner of an employee, the chance to meet an entire NFL football team after attending the game. Rich Sheridan, founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations, has an explicit goal of creating joy in every aspect of their work -- whether it is managing without fear by encouraging employees to experiment and embrace failure, bringing babies or pets to work and fostering camaraderie by everybody working in pairs.


Purpose Matters: Tim Brown, CEO and President of innovation and design firm IDEO, believes that only businesses with a clear 'reason for being,' or Purpose, will be innovative and truly sustainable in the future. Increasingly we are seeing more Purpose-driven organizations that bring people to work together to achieve something beyond maximizing productivity and financial gain. These organization are successful because they bind people in a common pursuit and help people deliver to their own personal purpose at work -- whether it is the Virgin Group's purpose of 'Changing Business for Good', IDEO's ambition to ensure 'positive and disproportionate impact in the world through design' or Google's aim 'to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.'


Shared Dignity Matters: Meaningful work gives people the dignity they deserve. Companies are starting to see the opportunity to use work as a tool to lift communities out of poverty and positively impact lives. This is being done through flexible and part time work by creating more shared jobs, as well as ensuring healthy, thriving workplaces throughout supply chains. In the UK Timpson makes a difference to the lives of hundreds of ex-offenders by providing them with meaningful work in their shoe repair and key cutting business, dramatically reducing the prospects of them reoffending. The internet has also allowed millions of people to get access to the resources and distribution channels they need to start their own businesses. Platforms like Etsy and Kickstarter have given a vast online network of entrepreneurs the opportunity to realize their business dreams. In turn, these entrepreneurs have created meaningful jobs in their communities and globally.


Equity Matters: Productivity increases, often at the expense of human beings and Mother Nature have created significant wealth for a small percentage of the population. There is a growing movement towards a fairer, more equitable world of work where employee ownership will become the norm, exorbitant bonuses will be a thing of the past and a restructured ecosystem for work will spread the wealth through shared roles, flexible hours and portfolio working. The John Lewis Partnership means that all 69,000 permanent employees are partners who own the department stores, supermarkets and online and direct service companies. At investment firm Bridgeway Capital Management, all employees are partners, no partner receives more than seven times the lowest paid partner and the company has a foundation which gives away half of the company's profits to the community and other causes around the world.


Excess no Longer Matters: the crown on the king of consumption is starting to fade. People are realizing that stuff will not bring them the happiness they are searching for, instead it is connections and experiences with other people that will. They are also becoming more and more aware of the need to take better care of our planet. Outdoor clothing company Patagonia famously urged its customers to buy less with a full-page advert in the New York Times that read "Don't buy this jacket" and also has the 'Worn Wear' program, celebrating their customers' stories of their clothes which have lasted for decades, sharing clothes repair manuals and this spring Patagonia will be sending clothing-repair experts out on tour. Retail chain Marks & Spencer has instituted 'Shwopping' to encourage shoppers to drop off one item of item clothing every time they purchase a new one -- all clothing goes to Oxfam (who resell it, recycle it or give it to someone in need) -- and encourages customers to think about what they need. These shifts will really put into question productivity at all costs.


Increased transparency in business means that consumers, like future employees, are better informed than ever before about corporations and their business practices. Companies today are more exposed, and often forced to defend their actions to change the way they do business to meet society's demands. Poor business practices that negatively impact employees or society risk a consumer backlash. As Dr. Mo Ibrahim, B Team Leader and founder of Celtel International commented, "If we're all naked, we had better look good."


Perhaps the conversation needs to shift away from machines vs people, to how machines make work better for people and for the planet. What a brilliant opportunity we have to reinvent the world of work to deliver an abundance of meaningful jobs within an environment that is 100% human.

Poverty, inequality, disease -- there are a lot of horrible things wrong in the world. As an outspoken advocate of justice and peace, Sister Joan Chittister has spent the better part of her 78 years shining a spotlight on the many injustices plaguing the population. But at the heart of it all, she tells Oprah on "Super Soul Sunday," is one particular plight whose advancement would have a ripple effect on everything else threatening humanity.

"I'm fundamental about this. I really believe that nothing is going to change in the world until the situation of women changes," Sister Joan asserts in the above video. "I'll tell you why: You cannot simply dismiss over half of the human race, which means dismiss their agendas, dismiss their needs, dismiss their gifts, dismiss their intelligence."

Particularly in the current discourse and state of the world, she continues, women's voices are crucial in the decision-making process, bringing the valuable insights that have been so sorely lacking on a variety of levels.

"We are now at the place where men are running everything, which means that humanity is seeing with one eye, hearing with one ear and thinking with one half of the human brain," she says. "No wonder we're doing the things we're doing! We're bringing to the table only half the needs of the human race!"

Sister Joan is quick to point out that she doesn't believe all men intentionally overlook the needs and voices of women.

"I don't mean that men are doing this purposefully," she says. "It's just that they only have half the experience. They have half the wisdom. They have half the intelligence. So, they're making full decisions out of half of the resources that we should have."

The result is that women are the ones who ultimately suffer. "Who gets left behind? Who are the poorest of the poor?" Sister Joan says. "The women and the children."

"All over the world," Oprah adds.

When Oprah asks what we should be doing now to address this issue, Sister Joan gives a one-word answer that she insists is true and genuine, not flippant: something. Do something.

"Each of us must do something where we are that changes the attitude of the neighborhood, and the attitude of the office, and the attitude of the boardroom, and the attitude of the bank. Do something," Sister Joan urges.

"Wherever you see injustice. Wherever you see despair," Oprah adds. "I used to say this [for] so many years when I was doing 'The Oprah Show': Once you've seen it and it's come into your consciousness, you can't pretend you didn't see it."

"And you can never not see it again," Sister Joan agrees. "Do something."

Also in the interview: Sister Joan says that a bird named Billy taught her the true meaning of humanity.

"Super Soul Sunday" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on OWN. You can also stream the program live during that time on Oprah.com/supersoulsunday or Facebook.com/supersoulsunday.

President Obama's veto this week of a Republican bill passed -- precisely so that he would veto it -- mandating the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline does, indeed, as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed out, serve as "a perfect symbol of Washington's dysfunction." Obama made it clear that this veto, at least, was over the process, not the substance, and the Republicans had set the process up so that no self-respecting president could do other than veto.

In their last PR foray before the veto, tar sands proponents offered up an IHS-CERA study which asserted that, facts to the contrary, approving Keystone would increase the reliable supplies of oil for domestic consumers. The study asserted "the overwhelming majority" of oil flowing to refineries in the Gulf Coast would be refined and consumed in the U.S., even after XL is built -- which is true but irrelevant. If I pour a glass of water (Keystone XL) into an already full bucket (Midwest and Gulf Coal oil markets), most of the water stays in the bucket, but the bucket does not hold any more water; the increment just slops on the floor, or in this case gets exported.

The president focused on a more relevant point in his comments in Fargo this week, saying:

I've already said I'm happy to look at increasing pipeline production for U.S. oil. But Keystone is for Canadian oil. Sending it down to the Gulf it bypasses the U.S., it estimated to create 250, maybe, 300 permanent jobs. We should be focusing on American infrastructure for American jobs for American producers....

Keystone is an enormously important environmental symbol. But it is also a commercial struggle. Alberta tar sands oil and North Dakota light shale oil flows into the same markets, have access to the same refineries, and rely on the same pipelines and railroads to get them to the same customers. So it was never terribly plausible that Keystone would be good for the U.S. -- it was designed to make Canadian oil more competitive in global markets, which, on balance, is not good for American producers or, since the Canadians want to escape from American markets, American consumers.

The logic of the North American Free Trade Agreement was, in some minds, that we would collaborate, rather than compete, with Canada and Mexico, and would allow Canada, for example, to put U.S. territory, waterways and airsheds at environmental risk to provide the cheapest route for Canada's oil to global markets. But the Canadians walked away from their Kyoto commitment to curb global warming emissions precisely because doing so would put them at a competitive disadvantage with U.S. oil and gas producers -- so the kumbaya theory of NAFTA was always pretty threadbare. Obama now seems to recognize this. Canada needs Keystone. The U.S. does not.

Now the lack of permit for Keystone is the least of Prime Minister Harper's problems. He bet Canada's future on finding ever-increasing markets for the world's most expensive -- $90-plus-per-barrel break-even for new projects -- crude. With global prices down at $60, returns from tar sands projects are a fraction of what they were a year ago. Even before global prices reached the bottom, three major projects had been cancelled. Shell just pulled out of its Pierra River Project last week. Investment is collapsing. Most companies will survive -- but they survive by cutting payrolls and supply chains, the two factors Harper was counting on to keep the Canadian economy afloat through his reelection bid this year. But unemployment rolls are soaring, and the Canadian dollar has lost 20 percent of its value. Harper is now running barely even with his leading opponent, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, who acerbically attacks Harper's bet on oil. "It's not fiscally responsible," said Trudeau in January, "to pin all your hopes on oil prices remaining high, and when they fall, being forced to make it up as they go along."

Harper must call an election by November. One of the major issues in that election is certain to be Canada's next economic strategy, because the petro-exporter bubble just burst, which is why Bloomberg's suggestion that Canada embrace its former climate leadership and bet its economic future on low-carbon energy and high-knowledge manufacturing is almost certain to have at least one taker among Canada's three major parties. But it would be much better news for the climate if all three Canadian parties, led by Harper's Conservatives, decided that Canada doesn't have the cheap oil resource base to become the next Saudi Arabia -- and might not want to even if it could.