From Farmer to Technology Worker to White Collar Worker to What?

By Tor Dahl

The prosperity of this country began on the farm, continued on the factory floor, and ended up in the sprawling buildings of the Silicon Valley.

Each one of these transformations was spurred by technology, chasing competitive advantage. We do not want to return to the backbreaking toil of the early farmers, nor the six-day workweek of the assembly line. But even high-tech jobs are now being outsourced to developing nations. What do we do next?

Nature is ruthless in its unfolding: Adapt, or die.

Business speaks with the same voice: Survival is only for the few, the agile, the relevant, the service-minded.

In fact, survival is only for those that produce the right thing, in the right way, all the time.

Translation? It is basically about finding and doing the right thing. That’s a do or die decision. We all face it. And none of us are exempt: Not Wal-Mart, not the Guggenheim Museum, not the Salvation Army, not you.

What is the right thing for you?

It’s about mastering a useful skill. It’s about being passionate about practicing that skill. It’s about learning all you can about that skill, applying the latest technology, and producing the worlds’ best skin cream, or garden rake, or hay bales, or email program, or fuel saver, or textbook, or restaurant experience.

It’s about ingenuity, isn’t it? And savvy. And sales. And adding value. Adding tremendous value.

What comes after white-collar work is the future “you”. From regular army to Special Forces. From work in a cubicle to being able to work anywhere. From commodity work to specialty work. From convoluted to elegant. From incremental improvement to knock-your-socks-off improvement. From same old, same old designs to drop-dead gorgeous designs. From slow to fast. From ugly to beautiful. From here to eternity.

What comes after white-collar work is a society in constant change, offering constant challenge. What you did yesterday may be irrelevant today. What you will do tomorrow is squarely up to you.

Are there any constants out there, other than change? Yes, there are. Here are some of them:

1. The desire to accomplish and excel.

2. The need for acceptance, and intimacy, and love.

3. The basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, safety, good health, and human freedom.

4. Avoiding the regrets of not taking risks, or striving to do your utmost, or leave a legacy of making the world a better place.

5. Serving something larger than yourself.

These are all necessities or values. They serve as a compass in how we evolve, move forward, and thrive.

It does not much matter if China is better than the U.S. in producing goods, or that India does a better job of doing our income tax returns. We now have more time and money to do what we should do.

And that, as Joseph Campbell says, is to “follow your bliss”.

That’s the right thing. We just have to do it in the right way, all the time.

If we build that world, they will come.

All of them.

And they will stay.

Tor Dahl & Associates Productivity Improvement Seminar

Leading, innovative companies understand the power of productivity as the strategy for achieving greater corporate performance and bottom line results. Yet, most companies do not apply a systematic and rigorous process for realizing their untapped productivity potential. 80% of all corporate initiatives focus instead on efficiency improvements that are not tied to overall growth objectives and do not produce any breakthroughs in performance. Productivity improvement, on the other hand, is so highly leveraged that even small increases can dramatically affect revenue, cost effectiveness and profits, while raising employee satisfaction and customer delight. For publicly held companies, stock prices and market capitalization can increase dramatically.

Tor Dahl & Associates is the world leader in this “new” field of productivity. We have debunked the old myth that productivity takes away jobs and that it is only concerned about “doing more with less”. Our successful productivity strategy is rooted in the fundamental belief that productivity is about removing barriers to individual performance, freeing up resources from unproductive processes and reallocating those resources to higher yield activities that support organizational growth objectives. It is a positive method that leads to greater earned competitive advantage, increased job satisfaction and positive employee engagement, rather than job losses and downsizing.

Tor Dahl & Associates offers a condensed seminar workshop to corporate teams where the fundamental principles of productivity will be taught and practiced. It is an enjoyable, stimulating, practical and valuable session that identifies key factors that impact productivity and how your organization can apply this insight to make dramatic improvements in personal and organizational performance. Contact us now to put this Seminar to work to make your organization soar.

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Tor Dahl & Associates

2202 Fifth St. Suite 1240, White Bear Lake, MN 55110