In the quickly transforming field of technology, one should always be able to change with the latest developments, and to be open-minded and welcoming, even when the change means having to learn more new things. How does one get into this mindset, and what is the ideal kind of person like in this modern environment?

“We have robots for that”

The first thing that we must understand is that we have robots and automatization for a myriad of things nowadays, and we often don’t need people to do things that the robots can do better.

“Now, even more than in the past, creativity is a key to economic success. We no longer need people to follow directions in robot-like ways (we have robots for that), or to perform routine calculations (we have computers for that), or to answer already-answered questions (we have search engines for that). But we do need people who can ask and seek answers to new questions, solve new problems and anticipate obstacles before they arise. These all require the ability to think creatively. The creative mind is a playful mind.” —PETER GRAY, PH.D., Research Professor, Boston College

For now, there are obviously limits as to what an accessible artificial intelligence unit can do, but with the rate that technology is developing, it is likely that soon we might not need humans to even operate the machines in which these automated protocols run. The margin for error grows smaller with robots than with humans, and routine jobs are quickly being given to robots. What’s gonna happen to the human workforce, then?

Be prepared to change with the times

Luckily, the tasks that robots cannot yet manage to do are often the most interesting ones. Creative thinking and finding entirely new questions and solutions to them are something that us humans should seek to excel at. We are moving towards a society, where a big chunk of the work that there is to be done is being done for us by machines, but still the best thing for us is to find better and different ways for them to be done. If you have the power to fundamentally change a business model, product, or service, you are more likely to be successful in the modern business environment. Changing people’s world views and innovating exceptional new ideas is something that robots haven’t yet done.

The start of true creativity might just be finding something entirely new, that even Google doesn’t have answers to yet. More often than not, we base our innovative findings on what we think they’re supposed to look like. Be it a PowerPoint presentation, or a video with a bunch of graphs, there is little variation in the way new ideas are brought forward. Perhaps there’s room for change there as well?

It doesn’t have to change the world

Let’s face it, all of us won’t be the creators of something as major as Google, or blues music, or sliced bread for example. That doesn’t mean that our ideas would be useless or too small to make a reality. The important thing is though, that we validate these ideas and asses them to make sure that they’re worth pursuing, and that they hopefully bring at least something new to the table. Here are some more things to evaluate:

CLARITY: Will your idea communicate clearly and quickly?

POSSIBLE: Can your idea be implemented?

CREATIVITY: Is your concept inspiring or unique?

FORWARD THINKING: Is your concept a game changer? Does it disrupt the current model?

CRAFT: Does the execution best serve the concept? Is it well crafted?

MEDIA CHANNEL: Are you taking advantage of what the media channel can do? Can you do anything exciting with the channel that hasn’t been done before?

SOCIAL PROPOSITION: Does it benefit people or society?

When it comes to Evision and our new business, Verkkotalli, we’re trying to tackle issues by trying to go beyond what a regular web service provider is able to produce. As I first heard about this idea, it immediately struck me as something great, that might be a welcome addition for clients in this area, and it contained many of these positives a modern idea should have. I believe it truly has the potential to compete among the big ones in the business, as long as we keep developing ourselves.