TJ Walker (live stream) discusses the threat of artificial intelligence and automation to routine jobs (typing, form-filling, retail, driving) and argues that strong spoken communication—public speaking, persuasive presentations, conveying new ideas—remains harder to automate and is a key way for professionals to remain relevant. He draws on his experience shifting from in-person trainings to online courses (sales pitches viewed by people in 190+ countries) and urges viewers to become expert communicators about what’s new in their field to protect careers.
Chapters
Can you speak better than a robot or an artificial intelligence program? May seem like silly questions, but you've seen all the stories. Maybe some of its hype about how artificial intelligence and robots are eating the world, coming after every job, nobody's safe. A couple million truck drivers may soon be out of business. You've seen retail operations decimated around the globe. But the artificial intelligence that Amazon is able to use is making so many stores irrelevant. Soon their drones may make more and more drivers irrelevant. Where does this all end? I don't know. But here's what I do know. Anything you type, if that's your form of communication, there is going to be an algorithm that can type it better, faster, more effectively. I've yet to see algorithms and robots give speeches and presentations on new ideas effectively. Certainly you can have a robot programmed to say something, warning people at the airport to mind the gap. But I've yet to see a robot actually get people excited about a whole new business and why they should invest millions of dollars now. Not to say that can't come. I'm not saying I'm irreplaceable, but I do think that in a world where typing is the preferred mode of communication for most people, emails, messages, texts, that that skill is going to be devaluated. In a world where computers can do that and where you can give yourself some job protection, I'm not guaranteeing a full insurance plan, but where you can give yourself some career protection is in having the ability to speak on behalf of new things in your industry. I can tell you from first hand experience, my business is completely different than when I started 30 years ago. It's different than it was 10 years ago, five years ago, it's even different than two years ago. And I have competitors who are out of business and it's not because they are less intelligent than anyone else. They didn't change with the times. I've seen it in many industries. It's not just the retail and the truckers. I've seen financial service executive professionals see their careers melt away because they didn't adapt fast enough and get people excited about a new direction their firm is going in. Historically, in my own business, almost all my revenue came from face to face, one on one small group, in person trainings all over the world. Now I still do that, but a majority of my revenue now comes from online courses where I have to speak on camera and in every one of those courses gets what I have to start with. Have to start with a sales pitch as to why someone would want to take that course. And people in more than 190 countries in any given month watch those sales pitches. Now, could a computer do that at some point, at some time in the future? Maybe. But I think it's going to be harder to replace that than it is filling out legal forms, which we've already seen is being handled by artificial intelligence, certainly lawyers in less expensive countries. So that's why I want to really stress to you, if you tell yourself, like a lot of people do, oh, I'm not a public speaker, I'm not a presenter, I'm not a salesperson, I'm not a marketer, well, you may not be employed either. Insights, data, facts, perfunctory things, things you do on a regular basis can and will be automated and you won't be necessary. But the hardest thing, I believe, to automate is to try to figure out what's next, what's the next big thing, what's new and exciting that has not been done, that I need to tell people about, put a spotlight on, get them excited about, get them to want to join, get them to want to vote for this, get them to want to invest with this, purchase this. Now, I'm not here giving you any sales pitch today. This is just my way of trying to stay fresh and relevant to you so you don't even forget about me. Because that's one of the huge challenges every professional faces in every industry these days of just becoming obsolete, becoming irrelevant, becoming yesterday's news. But if you can always speak about what's new, what's different, where are things going to go, then your insights will be valued. People will value you. They're going to want to work with you, they're going to want to do business with you. Doesn't matter if you are a hairdresser or an engineer or a financial manager. So please, I beg of you, as you're seeing all these scare stories, and I think most of them based in reality, don't just panic and say, well, you know, or just this. That's just it. The end of the world is coming. No, think of yourself first and foremost as an expert communicator about what's new and exciting in your industry. Do that and you will have a job. I won't say forever, but I will stick my neck out and say, you will have a job for decades.
