Fear and change. How to keep your career edge.

Worry you’re losing your edge in your career? You’re not alone–there’s even an acronym for that: FOBO – Fear of Becoming Obsolete. Local bestselling author Debra Benton, in partnership with Kylie Write-Ford, tackle this topic in their newly-released book, “The Leadership Mind Switch.” Here are a few compelling data points to get you thinking in more progressive directions:

• “Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of man through 2003”, informs Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google. An attitude of, “We’ve always done things that way,” is digital Darwinism, and a surefire way to get left behind.
• We’re becoming an increasingly global country, as the number of multinational Americans is growing three times faster than the population as a whole.
• 90% of millennials are social media users, as compared to 59% of baby boomers.
• The average Gen X or Y worker will send 20 texts per day, whereas 41 percent of older workers won’t send even one. Immediate, constant communication is the expectation.
• Freelancing is exploding, up from one million in 2015 to over 55 million in 2016.
• Robotics continues to displace workers. Fifteen countries representing 65% of the world’s workforce estimate that by 2022, 7.1 million jobs will be replaced by robotics.
• Standing meetings are rising, too. Instead of getting comfy in a conference room, stay standing to reduce meeting times by up to 66%.
• The leaders of the 100 best-places to work companies all agree that creating an ideal culture is their secret to success.
• Nine percent of employees now work remotely, up 37% since 1995, and supporting the trend that face time isn’t essential for effective leadership.
• Most employees (95%) have trouble voicing an opposing opinion, which results in pricey losses in productivity.

And back to FOBO: in a study conducted by Adobe, 40 percent of marketing execs know they need to reinvent themselves, yet only 14 percent have a clue about how to do it. Getting information on trends and developments is a great place to start.

Photo Credit:  © Aleksandar Videnovic

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