1. Career resilience is the
name of the game
Why career resilience is key to
surviving profound technology
change in our globalised world.
Youth in IT Conference 2014
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2. Welcome to the Innovation Age
Setting the scene….

3. The Great Digital Disruptor and your career
Technologies in and of themselves,
are not intrinsically disruptive.
It is their combination and application
that plays a large part in determining
to what extent they will be disruptive,
often leading to unexpected results.
These influences play across every
aspect of our hyperconnected
societies, globally.

4. The digital democracy pyramid
Democratisation of….
… your career: Identify both the risks and opportunities of certain
aspects of your career becoming a commodity.
…skill by levelling the playing field – globally. Equally qualified
and skilled professionals based in low cost countries are
able to enter the global skills market.
… knowledge through pervasive and instant access a seemingly
infinite array of shared knowledge from your internet
browser or mobile device
… information: Anyone has the ability to freely contribute and
access information across the internet
…technology: individuals and organisations alike have ready
access to enterprise strength, powerful and low cost (if not
free) IT systems that were previously the domain of larger
organisations.

5. The dilemma of career success as a specialist
• The viability of a career based on the mastery of a specific
specialty is influenced largely by the laws of supply and demand
for those skills.
• If a large number of people acquired the skills of the specialist, the
skills could be commoditised. (Think globalisation!)
• During your career, only reinforcing expertise in a specific industry
or technology at the expense of gaining knowledge, skills and
experiences outside this core area could put you at greater risk of
becoming irrelevant in the long term.

6. Facing an uncertain future with career resilience

7. Facing an uncertain future with career resilience
• Start thinking of your current or future career as your business.
As an employee, you have one client. That client is called your
employer, and hopefully that employer is your employer of choice,
not necessity.
• Recognise that your career lasts a lifetime, whereas a job will not.
• Investing in your most important lifelong income generating asset,
that being your career, makes good sense.
• That investment may include obtaining a degree, well recognized
professional or industry certification or targeting businesses or
industries that will give you the necessary experience for you to get to
the next step.

8. Facing an uncertain future with career resilience
• By treating your career as your business, you will progressively
equip yourself with the skills that extend far beyond just doing a great
job at your current or future employer.
• It is the gradual and systematic development and acquisition of
complementary and supplementary skills and experience that are
in line with the goals and objectives embodied in your Career’s
Business Plan that will contribute to you having options.
It is having options that leads to career resilience

9. Key takeaways
• Recognise that your first (or current) job is a stepping stone for
your next opportunity to reach your full potential.
• Your career trajectory and employment landscape will be
substantially different to those faced by previous generations.
• In an environment that is not changing very rapidly, accepted
‘best practice’ generally makes sense, however….
• When faced with disruptive innovation, ‘best practice’ may be
anything other than ‘best’ for either organisations or careers.

10. Key takeaways
• Become your own ‘expert’, and constantly validate any
assumptions you may have about our changing environment:
– Read widely and seek objective opinions to help in obtaining a broader
perspective of your environment
– Stress-test your career assumptions
– Run through scenarios (sensitivity analysis, ‘what if…?’)
• Develop your own personal ‘over the horizon’ radar
• After all, ‘experts’ don’t always get it right

11. IT – Back to the future?

12. Oops! Another IT broken prediction?
Mock US Submarine
control station
(taken 2004)
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
library/bl_rand_home_
computer.htm

13. ThankYou!
ROB LIVINGSTONE
- Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney
- Principal, Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd
W: www.rob-livingstone.com
E: rob@rob-livingstone.com
P: +61 2 8005 1972
M: +61 419 632 673
F: +61 2 9879 5004
Tw: @rladvisory
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redistribution prohibited without prior approval.
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