For years we have known that working is an essential component of one's life. After all the years you've spent preparing for work, can you imagine life without it? Given the powerful set of disruptive forces occurring in the world today, what will work look like in the future? What will it mean? What will transform? What will stay the same? How will our working and nonworking time and activities be related—both in the fabric of our individual lives and of society?
The answers to these questions are provided in our forthcoming book on the Future of Work (hereafter FOW). The book uses data, science, creative speculation, imagination, core values, and reflective processes to guide the learner to discover the FOW. We use this approach to provoke people to open up and envision a future context that they, too, have never experienced. The book will awaken the learner with unfamiliar terminology, systems, and potentialities while also encouraging dialogue and collaboration around the burgeoning future of work.1 We also publish and distribute the book using an innovative and futuristic digital platform that addresses the new generation of students (www.MyEducator.com). Our goal is to encourage readers to get out of their comfort zones and begin the challenging journey of co-creating and preparing for the future. Our desire is to train and educate learners of all backgrounds so that they align their work with the core values that are needed to craft a positive future.
Hereafter, we highlight several seminal ideas that are further developed in the book. We explore the value for work in people's lives; we define the FOW era and describe the mega-forces driving its development; and finally, we propose a circular framework that organisations (individuals and teams) may use to co-create the future.
THE WHY OF WORK
Let's start with the fundamental question: The answer for some people may be simple: because . Or, because . We work to make money to secure other ends. in our nonworking hours. Work enables mastery, autonomy, achievement, contribution, or a sense of accomplishment. It gives a way to economically measure our value or worth to a community, society, or family.
