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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

mathematical problems on the fly will sit snugly in your The way to stay alive
back pocket as a function of the average smartphone.
The solution is to predict the unpredictable and remain
The point: Engineering is potentially a profession eating one step ahead of the game. Disruption cannot be seen
itself alive‒ disrupted by the technology it originally as the enemy. It must become the enabler‒ and those
created. (After all, it was an engineer who designed that who manage to exploit its transformative power will
3D printing kit, that drone and that software program outlast the change. If you want to survive, you need to
Revit.) We are moving from a world where the engineer bring digital and computational technologies into your
‘makes the thing’ to a new world where the ‘engineer own discipline to see how you can possibly disrupt
makes the thing that designs the thing that the engineer yourself before someone else does it for you.
used to design.’
This means you’ll have to see the agility gaps between
The grim but awesome reality you and your competitors, as well as the corporate
inertia within your own operations. A McKinsey
But engineering is not only cannibalizing itself; it’s study among 1 600 firms found that those firms, able to
metamorphosing the status quo of most other look change in the eye and reallocate their capital
professions as well. IBM Watson is fast learning how to accordingly, had substantially higher growth rates and
accumulate and interpret complicated cancer-related shareholder returns than those who spent their money
medical diagnostics with far greater accuracy than practically the exact same way over 15 years.
oncologists. The expectation is in time, not only will the
Jeopardy champ do it better than the doctor; it will save You have to forge new value by quantifying your
some national healthcare system millions in trial-based intellectual capital. Considering that half of the world’s
expenses. most valuable organizations are idea-intensive,
leveraging the power of data, algorithms and software,
The legal profession is replacing flesh-and-blood you’ll have to make information a prime asset of your
attorneys with artificial intelligence and finding that the business. Companies like Apple and Google, McKinsey
machines can save money and spare the drudgery. notes, have done this by creating underworlds of app
Where the idea of ‘burning the midnight oil’ has always developers and Android innovators. The more creativity
been associated with over-caffeinated lawyers ‒ pouring that comes out of these spaces; the stronger the bonds
over documents, drafting contracts and digging for legal of loyalty that users and developers feel to the brand.
dirt ‒ the new legwork could be done by sophisticated
algorithms that offer flawless insight in a fraction of the You’re going to have to go hard after talent since
time… and never need the coffee.
competition is fierce and job loyalty is no longer in style.
That means you’ll need the right kind of workplace to
Of course, soon no career will be immune to disruption.
Human mechanics will be hanging up their tools, attract and retain the people you’re looking for. HR
teachers will face replacement, and even hamburger operations must rethink its organizational structures
flippers threaten to be automated. and offer more flexibility and mobility, ensuring an
environment that invites collaboration, creativity and the
However, will engineering be the ultimate Survivor best in divergent thinking.
profession that outwits, outplays and outlasts all others?
Today’s world is complex and cut-throat and worthy of
Traditionally, the pecking order of professions, at least constructive panic. All of us are gunning for the prize,
in the developed world, saw doctors at the top, followed but it will take tremendous effort and strategy to win it.
by lawyers, accountants, engineers and arts professions Ironically, organizations that choose to play it safe at
at the bottom. We are now seeing a possible reversal base camp are risking the most; anything short of
with demand for those creatives moving to the top as fearless front-footed action is too little too late. At the
industries are forced to think differently about solutions. end of the day, those who learn to stay alive and ‘beat’
disruption will be those who’ve learned to join it. ◊
There is significant potential to reap from a disrupted
market with brand new value equations. The question By Alecs Chong,
is, which of these professions, engineering included, will Associate at Aurecon
act on it?

This post originally appeared on Aurecon’s Just Imagine blog.

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