The world we’ll live in

What should we make of a world in which a Guantanamo Bay inmate can become a Facebook friend of his prison guard? In which a terrorist could board a domestic flight with an undetectable bomb? Or in which weather extremes such as droughts, floods and prolonged cold spells are the norm?

We need to think about these issues and their implications for the workplace because this is the world we live in. Business usually demands that management attention is focused on immediate concerns. But a maintenance approach alone will not be sufficient to steer an enterprise through a time of rapid social change influenced by external forces, ranging from demographic flux and longer active lives to instant communications and growing environmental concerns.In a new book, The Future of Work , I have explored the influence of such strengthening themes and looked at what we need to do now to prepare for their impact on tomorrow’s workplace.