Just posted …. the nicely-edited transcript of the Cornell RoundTable on Employment and Technology that I was part of last month in New York City.  It’s a very interesting – but very quick and tightly focused – read. Pages 1 through 13 will keep you entranced over a cup of coffee.

  The astonishingly wide diversity of opinions (on what is now the commonplace assumption that technology is causing a massive “gutting” of the employment pool) was a surprise to most who attended.

   We’ve just come to accept that jobs of all kinds are being eliminated by new technologies, IT advance, etc. and that there are no realistic strategies to shape that seemingly-inevitable trajectory.

 As Harry Katz, Dean of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, says in his introduction:

   “This round table brought together 40 of America’s leading economists, policy makers, engineers, academics, corporate executives, social scientists, philanthropists, journalists and statisticians. (see list.)

  It was a day full of agreement, fervently diverse opinions and insights – notably that most participants had never before discussed these issues with such a varied group of stakeholders and that the country’s best hope for reaping widespread gains from technological progress rests on continuing and expanding such discourse.”

]]> http://www.frankkoller.com/2013/06/fascinating-reading-on-employment-and-technological-change/feed/ 0 http://www.frankkoller.com/2013/04/the-impact-of-new-technologies-on-jobs-and-the-economy/ http://www.frankkoller.com/2013/04/the-impact-of-new-technologies-on-jobs-and-the-economy/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:05:22 +0000 fkoller http://www.frankkoller.com/?p=700 I’m just back from a fascinating gathering in New York City, organized by Cornell University’s Institute for Compensation Studies, to explore the impact of new technologies on job creation in the US economy, with the Great Recession barely in the past. (And the issues and challenges discussed are certainly pertinent for Canada, as well.)

You can read a short summary of the discussions HERE. A full transcript will be issued later.

The group included leading academic experts on employment and the US economy including Thom Kochan from MIT and David Dorn from Harvard, technology change and robotics experts such as Erik Brynjolfsson from MIT and Henrik Christensen from George Tech / Boeing, influential policy makers such as Jaison Abel from the New York Federal Reserve and Adriana Kugler (former chief labor economist of the US Dept of Labor), David Paratore (CEO of NanoSteel) and Sarah Wynn-Williams, a senior executive  from Facebook.

I co-facilitated the day-long event along with Linda Barrington, the Executive Director of the Institute (who had kindly invited me to join.) We discussed my work with no-layoff policies at several points, highlighting the resistance of the American economy to embrace managerial innovations that preserve innovation, yet also focus on preserving human capital.

In a  nutshell – if that’s possible:

There is continuing debate on the extent to which the hollowing out of middle class jobs during the Great Recession is due to the somewhat straightforward but very damaging effects of a collapse of the economy … and/or … is due to the effects  of powerful new technologies (which have been almost sneaking up into everyday life in recent years) which have the ability to automate (i.e. replace the workers)  an amazingly broad and increasingly wide  range of jobs.

But as several people pointed out, we need to avoid a surrender to the seeming inevitability of automation’s dramatic effects on jobs.

This has nothing to do with a “new Ludditism”, but does require an active broad-based coordination of policies to change education and skill training systems now to ensure that a wider number of people are not shut out of a recovering economy’s benefits.

This is what public institutions are for!

What I find particularly interesting is Kevin’s comment that when he is teaching his courses on pay and compensation, he avoids the use of words such as “company” or “firm” for as long as he can because he wants to demonstrate to his students that basic principles of compensation apply to both the for- and non-profit sectors of the economy.

He has some interesting perspectives on the commonly-held presumptions surrounding pay in non-profits.

SINGLE MALT, my jazz album, was first released in the fall of 1980 – on vinyl, of course.

It’s available again, 33 years later, now in digital format (click here to buy and download from CDBaby.) Single Malt is also available on iTunes and other digital retailers.

This is an instrumental  pop-jazz album: I wrote almost all the tunes and played all the guitar parts. The music grew out of my love of jazz and rhythm& blues and funk, inspired by great musicians such as David Sanborn, Larry Carlton, The Crusaders, Richard Tee, James Jamerson and Amos Garrett.

The Globe and Mail’s nationally influential jazz critic Mark Miller loved SINGLE MALT, arguing that I shared “the local guitar hero roles in Ottawa with Roddy Ellias.” (33 years later, Rod tenaciously – and deservedly – still completely owns that label!)  Praise rolled in from newspapers and magazines across the country, in English and French. Canadian Musician called the album “delightful” and described me as “a session man extraordinaire  .. up there with Larry Carlton, David Spinoza and Eric Gale.” Quebec Rock said the recording was “brilliant” while the St. John Evening Telegram’s verdict was “superb.”

And it sold well too!

When SINGLE MALT was released, I was a working musician, leading my own band while also working with many well-known Canadian  performers including Ian Tamblyn, David Wiffen, Colleen Peterson and Sneezy Waters. As a session guitarist, I backed an amazing range of artists passing through Ottawa … from Tom Jones to Sonny Stitt to Engelbert Humperdinck to Broadway road shows to Bobby Vee and once, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans! . And while all that was going on, I also composed and arranged music for several CBC radio and TV shows and an NFB film.

For three years, I was the music director of the wonderful Canada Day July 1^st shows on Parliament Hill, leading a large band in front of crowds reaching 100,000 and broadcast live across the country. Those shows were wild ….. the Canadian Brass followed by Rene Simard, straight into Winnipeg’s BukHta Ukrainian Dancers, then Anne Murray and finally, two guys on spoons from Trois Rivieres. Topped off by the fireworks above the Parliament Buildings.

Truth be told, I also did my share of radio commercials for local used car dealers. All in all, it was a gas.

The musicians playing on this album were the best in the city. It was a joy working with them in the studio and you’ll hear some great playing on every song.

• Scott Alexander, remains one of Canada’s most-respected bass players.
• John Findlay, on keyboards, is now a well-known guitarist in Toronto. A player!
• Brian Downey, on drums and laughter, introduced many musicians in Ottawa to funk and still plays around town.
• Guy Robichaud, on alto sax, was always filled with energy in the studio and now teaches music.

So click here below to download a few tunes or the whole CD, pour yourself a Single Malt whiskey (that’s a bottle of Talisker on the cover,) sit back, and  have a listen.

Enjoy!

And IBMag.com, an Ohio business magazine, has a long profile in its latest issue.

Mapes, with long experience elsewhere in manufacturing,  is only the second CEO in Lincoln’s 125-year history history who is essentially not a “lifer” with the company.  (The only other was Anthony Massaro, who was in charge from 1997 to 2004, when John Stropki then took over. Stropki still retains his position as Chairman of the Board.)

“For the past several months, we have been compiling data and analyzing more than 1,700 public companies to discover the 25 best public companies in America, measured by their success in serving investors, customers, employees, and the world at large. We’re delighted to finally be able to share our findings.”

Lincoln Electric was ranked as # 8.

Have a read .. it’s a fascinating list.

Paul Solman at PBS-TV’s Nightly News ran a wonderful piece last night about this story … INVESTMENT IN OLDER WORKERS TURNS A BIG PROFIT ….. , with fascinating interviews with workers (ages 94, 100 … ), the owner of the firm (emphasizing the consistent profits which the company makes – and then shares!) and Lynch, an anthropologist at the Olin School of Engineering. WATCH IT  … it’s a great 10 minutes.

Once again, as with Lincoln Electric, the important point to consider is not whether this is just an exception, an oddity  …. that’s just an easy excuse to avoid change.

The key point is to ponder why our economic system seems so reluctant to explore alternative work environments that fulfill the profit mandate while being so much more creative in respecting the needs of workers and society at large.

Paul looked back at his 2011 documentary and also posted my comments about Lincoln, Marvin Windows and the New York Times: “Yes to Profit Making, No to Layoffs for 64 Years In A Row.“