How the world of work and work culture will change - Erik Händeler

Mr. Händeler, you are a futurist, bestselling author, and journalist who delves into the future of the working world and work culture. How will the work of tomorrow differ from today's? Work takes place in the realm of thought - planning, organizing, advising, navigating the vast sea of knowledge to find the information needed to solve a problem. While in the past we directly manipulated the physical world - screwing, milling, assembling - most of this has now been taken over by electronically controlled machines. What remains is thinking, applying knowledge, analyzing, and making decisions. Even craftsmen and farmers are increasingly required to engage in knowledge work. This has led to different success patterns of productivity: being able to leverage the knowledge of others - this has to do with social behavior and mental health. In your opinion, what characteristics will define the entrepreneurs of the future? That they consider the expertise and perspectives of their employees in their decisions - inviting dissent and criticism. The boss moderates resources and organizes the flow of information in the company, which now comes not only from the top down but also from the bottom up through hierarchies. The more status- and power-oriented a company culture is, the less successful this approach will be. On the other hand, there also needs to be clarity in leadership - especially to allow intellectually oriented, i.e., truly talented individuals to flourish, free from envy and detractors. What work culture will shape the company of tomorrow? Since expertise is no longer concentrated at the top of the hierarchy but at the bottom with the specialists and clerks, peers at the same level must compete for the better solution, over resource allocation and goals. The new work culture revolves around the necessity of handling knowledge productively. This requires a culture of debate that is objective, thinks in terms of overall benefit, values the better argument and reality, is constructive rather than aimed at destroying others. It is about transparency, truthfulness, and an ethics that does not stem from the group or self-interest but from an equitable overall benefit. Is there one key success factor that will enable companies to succeed in the future market? Everyone is talking about digitalization and Industry 4.0 now, as if it were about increasing material productivity. But no: It is about the people behind the technology who must consider what the great machines should accomplish. The collaboration of knowledge workers determines prosperity: three average individuals working well together are more productive overall than a super expert who fails to integrate the results of division of labor. This has much to do with orientation knowledge. Because the machines that save us time cannot tell us how to use that extra time. This then involves questions of values and life goals. Do strictly tiered hierarchies in a company still have a future? How will the interaction between the boss and the employees change? We will encounter rubber hierarchies, depending on the daily required competencies. The more status-oriented a culture is, the less it copes with situations where someone talks just as long as someone else but lacks the actual competence. Therefore, at some point, a boss is needed who monitors the budget, demands a decision, moderates forces, and also takes responsibility. Dealing with knowledge is an imprecise process. I don't believe that our structures will change significantly - what will change most is the spirit within the structures.