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The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

The Future of Work with David Burkus

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Srinivas Rao

Society & Culture

4.81K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2016

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Beyond working in whatever your parents did type of working, the industrial revolution really sort of began that idea that you would get a job, that you wouldn’t just be whatever your parents were or work on the farm that you inherited. That was the beginning of management and it was based off this idea that the majority of people didn’t need to think and act. We just need to teach you how to do this repetitive motion in the factory and pay you to do that motion for 8 hours. Then around the mid 1900’s we shifted from industrial work to knowledge work. What happened was that alot of those tools we brought with us from the factory to the office. The tools of how we manage people. And it worked because the work was still repetitive, but it was repetitive on paper instead of trying to assemble a car. And now we’re in this shift where knowledge work has become creative work. Everybody has to exercise creativity. Even in a normal “office” job you have to solve problems, come up with solutions, and create ideas. You have to exercise that muscle in a way that we haven’t had to do even 20 years ago. – David Burkus


David Burkus is an associate professor of management at Oral Roberts University. He’s also the author of Under New Management and The Myths of Creativity 


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Beyond you know working in whatever your parents did type of working the the industrial revolution really sort of began

0:08.1

The idea that you would get a job right that you wouldn't just be whatever your parents were or work on the farm that you

0:14.2

inherited or what have you. That was the beginning and that was also the beginning

0:17.5

because there were so many people coming to that job that was the beginning of

0:20.0

management as a as a profession and a set of tools etc and it was based off this idea

0:25.4

that the majority of people didn't need to think they just needed act right we

0:29.3

just need to teach you how to do this repetitive motion in the factory

0:33.2

and then pay you to do that repetitive motion

0:35.2

for eight hours a day.

0:37.2

And then around mid 1900s, we shifted from,

0:42.2

I mean, Peter Drucker really coined this term, we shifted from I mean Peter Drucker really coined this term we shifted from industrial work to knowledge work right and what happened was a lot of those tools we drug with us from the factory to the office the tools of how we manage people we drug with us for the factory to the office, the tools of how we managed people, we drug with us for the factory to the office.

0:55.0

And they worked because the work was still repetitive.

0:58.0

It was just repetitive on paper instead of a giant trying to assemble a car, right?

1:02.0

And now we're in this shift from even more so where knowledge work has really become creative work.

1:07.5

I mean this was the rant I went on in my first book that everybody has to exercise creativity

1:12.0

because even in a normal you know a normal quote-unquote

1:15.4

office job you have to solve problems come up with solutions create ideas you have to

1:20.0

exercise that muscle in a way that we haven't had to do even 20 years ago.

1:25.6

I'm Sreeney Rao and this is the Unmistakable Creative Podcast where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most

1:34.5

innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving businesses, written

1:38.9

best-selling books, and created insanely interesting art.

1:41.8

For more, check out our 500 episode archive at unmistakable

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