Career resilience the name of the game in a disrupted age

Getting a personal grip on how fast-changing technology is reshaping the employment landscape is at the heart of a new guide and tool-kit helping professionals become more adaptable and resilient to change within their careers.

Technology disruption has costly implications for many industries and professions, affecting both sides of the employer/employee divide, especially where constant retraining or hiring new skill sets becomes inevitable.

Innovation driving disruption in workplaces may be no secret, but UTS IT academic, industry adviser and technology writer Rob Livingstone believes the mindset of many workers isn’t keeping up. “In most sectors workers are increasingly vulnerable to job loss and competition for the few jobs where their abilities may still be relevant,” he says.

“The right university degree isn’t enough anymore to ensure job stability, nor is growing experience gradually on the job, particularly if you hope to survive profound technology change. “Believing, or worse hoping, your job has security can lead to a dangerous kind of complacency.

“It’s much more important these days for workers to think in terms of career security. It calls for individuals to be more actively and constantly aware of the forces influencing their industry, to be far more strategic in understanding the opportunities and risks in their profession and to have a long-term sense of direction.

“Employees need to think of themselves and their careers as if it were a business enterprise – that must be evolved, grown, sometimes re-directed and above all – protected.”

In his latest book Direction through Disruption, Rob Livingstone draws together insights and observations gained as an employee, an executive-level employer, a university postgraduate lecturer and industry adviser. From his experiences working across industries heavily impacted by disruptive technologies, he has devised a detailed guide for people who want to have more control over their circumstances and which can help managers foster skilled, connected and resilient teams.

“Past career success is no predictor of future career certainty in workplaces that are transforming constantly,” Livingstone says.

“Success for employers today lies in identifying resilient job seekers who demonstrate the ability to adapt, to diversify their skills, to be coachable and able to anticipate change with its new opportunities. Success for employees means becoming such a person, taking personal charge, being their own leader, setting their own direction, being ready.”

Direction through Disruption:

• Maps the disruptive forces shaping and evolving modern workplaces as they harness the digital technologies on which we are now dependent;
• Challenges conventional views of employment, coaching readers to become leaders in shaping their career, providing the tools and a framework on which to build career resilience;
• Reveals the value in harnessing mentors to grow professional insight and judgment;
• Offers insights on how to plan and act to adapt, survive and thrive in uncertain times.

Copies of Direction through Disruption are available in both paperback and eBook formats at rob-livingstone.com/direction as well as through Amazon.

Rob Livingstone is a fellow of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and consults widely to industry. His professional experience spans over three decades in the corporate sector as a manager and strategist, with the past 16 spent as CIO in multinationals based in Oceania. Rob has held strategic advisory and executive roles locally and internationally in defense-aerospace, manufacturing, public utility, packaging, construction and logistics. He is also author of Navigating through the Cloud.

Rob Livingstone is available for media interviews and independent expert commentary on technology induced change affecting the employment landscape. Please contact Rob directly at rob@rob-livingstone.com, +61 2 8005 1972 or +61 419 632 673