Create Your Future

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 10, 2007

Jim Bright. Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU National and a partner at Bright & Associates, a career management consultancy.

The knowledge nation is becoming the creative nation, writes Jim Bright.

Law, medicine and engineering are among the most prestigious professions in Australia.

One thing they have in common is the heavy focus on the application of knowledge. You go to university and gain a powerhouse of knowledge that you then set about applying in your subsequent well-remunerated professional career.

Daniel Pink, a former chief speech writer at the White House and now a social commentator, has questioned whether economic prosperity based upon "knowledge work" in Western economies can be maintained in an increasingly globalised and connected world economy. In his recent book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age (Allen & Unwin, 2005), Pink argues that there are three general factors that pose significant threats to white-collar occupations that have longstanding prestige.

These factors are abundance, automation and Asia.

Concerning abundance, Pink notes that there are more cars than licensed drivers in the US, and he points to the dramatic increase in choice of cuisine available in most towns.

So the food we eat and the cars we drive no longer perform the role of nutrition and transport; rather, they are statements about who we are as people.

We have choice in just about every consumer decision, including the humble toilet brush. Go to your supermarket and you'll find at least two different types, the "garden variety" bog brush and a "designer" toilet brush for twice the price. The point is that there are dollars to be made by adding value through design, marketing and advertising.

This is where the jobs are increasingly going to be. Designed in Australia and made in China.

The second theme is automation. Pink argues that computers are now threatening the knowledge workers in fields such as law, medicine and engineering. In law there are many websites providing a range of legal advice, such as standard employment contracts, wills, divorce advice and conveyancing services. In medicine, the rise in online diagnosis sites such as www.mydiagnosis.com has developed so rapidly that the Australian Medical Association has warned the public about the dangers of misdiagnosis. I had first-hand experience last year of having a practitioner in a medical centre Google my symptoms before prescribing. Computers are excellent at matching stored knowledge to patterns of symptoms or legal issues.

Finally, the impact of Asia on jobs is already being felt in Australia. Again, Pink says it is a mistake for us to think that this is limited to manufacturing and call centre work. He points to the rapid growth in routine legal work being carried out in countries such as India for Australian, US and European firms.

Take a look at www.medicaltourismindia.com to witness one of the spectacular growth areas in Asian economies. They have a full range of medical services - not just the highly publicised cosmetic surgery. Given that the cost of treatment can be up to 80 per cent less, with no waiting lists and with practitioners trained in Western hospitals, it does not take a genius to see this could become significant competition. Pink also claims that more than 300,000 engineers graduate in India a year (Australia has about 40,000 engineering students enrolled at university).

The future, according to Pink, is that we will move from being the clever, logical, knowledge-based economy to being a creative and conceptual one. Creativity and innovation are increasingly seen as highly desirable qualities in graduates. Pink asserts that "a master of fine arts is now one of the hottest credentials in a world where even General Motors is in the art business ... in 1993, 61 per cent of recruits at management consultant firm McKinsey's had MBAs - less than a decade later it was down to 43 per cent, because McKinsey says other disciplines are just as valuable".

It's unlikely there will be a lack of demand for lawyers, engineers and doctors in the short or medium term, but it is becoming evident that creative thinking in many occupations is going to be increasingly sought by employers and valuable to the economy.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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