Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Career Fear (and how to beat it) summary
Somi Arian
Get the Perspective, Mindset and Skills You Need to Futureproof Your Work Life
23 mins
Topics
Table of Contents
Career Fear (and how to beat it)
Summary of 7 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 7
The evolution of work is fueled by technological disruption.
Imagine you’re in the back seat of a parked car. You’re looking out the window. What do you see? Maybe you’re stuck in traffic on a busy highway, so you can see every detail of the buildings, trees, and flowers on the side of the road. Traffic begins to let up a little. Now that the car is moving, you can still enjoy the view outside – though in less detail. Then the driver accelerates to 180 mph. Suddenly, everything outside becomes a blur; the car’s moving so fast that you can’t make out a thing.
Well, that’s pretty much how digital technologies and artificial intelligence have impacted the work landscape of the twenty-first century. Change is happening so fast that, as professionals, we don’t have enough time to establish the challenges directly ahead of us.
The key message here is: The evolution of work is fueled by technological disruption.
It’s well-established that the processing power of computers is doubling every other year. As once-human tasks get automated at a dizzying pace, many popular career paths could disappear in the not-so-distant future. With the emergence of self-driving vehicles, for example, who knows if a career in transportation will be an option in 20 years’ time?
But before we look at what the future holds, it’s important to understand how technology has transformed work throughout history. Looking at the past will give us a glimpse of what’s on the horizon. Since the beginning of civilization, transformations in work culture have been caused by three distinct technological changes: innovation, disruption, and revolution – often in that order.
An early example of a technological innovation that revolutionized work is the watch. In the early days of the first Industrial Revolution, there wasn’t a way to truly tell time. Factory managers were known to cheat employees into working longer hours. On the flip side, workers tried to misrepresent the hours they’d actually worked. It wasn’t until the invention of the watch in the late eighteenth century that “clocking” systems became central to the workplace.
Of course, once factory managers and workers both started carrying watches, the workplace became obsessed with timekeeping and what the author terms dehumanized time. Bosses wanted to get the most out of workers each day, while workers only wanted to do the work for the specific hours they were being paid. Now that time was being measured against human productivity, a new culture was forming – much of it shaped by a man named Frederick Taylor.
Want to see all full key ideas from Career Fear (and how to beat it)?
Key ideas in Career Fear (and how to beat it)
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Career Fear (and how to beat it) about?
Career Fear (and how to beat it) (2020) sounds the alarm on how jobs are rapidly changing due to technological advancements. Taking a historical perspective on the evolution of work cultures, it brings to light the necessary mindset and uniquely human skills to thrive in a future defined by artificial intelligence.
Who should read Career Fear (and how to beat it)?
- Professionals seeking a new career
- People interested in the future of work
- Anyone worrying about their career path
Categories with Career Fear (and how to beat it)
Books like Career Fear (and how to beat it)
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
27 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers