Yes Technology Does Liberate Human Capital. The Future Of Work Is Here.

In a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, How Technology Liberates Human Capital, Michael Milken and Igor Tulchinsky posit that digital innovation, artificial intelligence and robots are opening new possibilities for workers across the U.S. economy. I agree and it isn't just happening in the U.S. While rapid change will be a painful process for some, in the end the future for humans is not being displaced by technology but instead interacting with technology to unleash human creativity, experience and insights . Technology is really a job creation machine; they're just new kinds of jobs.

A key challenge for industries, like health and fitness, medical, legal, finance and more, is understanding this change is already underway and therefore people need to evolve their skills and perspectives to take advantage of new opportunities. Business models need to reinvent themselves as well with this in mind. Innovation starts with me and you grasping this new era as an opportunity to leverage human capital.

McKinsey Global Institute reported in January of 2017 that almost half of paid work can be automated today with current technologies. Yet, 2 million manufacturing positions will go unfilled in the next 8 years according to Deloitte Consulting. This as a result of the "GAP" between employee skills and workplace needs and its just beginning. As hardware becomes cheaper and software become smarter the effects will continue to change industries and work itself.

So what should you and I do about it ? First, stay informed. Read books like Leading Digital , Digital Sense , The Second Machine Age , and The Inevitable. Follow credible thought leaders on Twitter. Listen to great podcasts. Second, start thinking about your organization, career, and life with a 3-5 year minimum perspective. In other words what you are experiencing today will be vastly different in a 3-5 year window. Make sure you are preparing yourself with education and continue to upgrade your skills and knowledge. Finally, seek to align with organizations and people that see this future coming and have adopted or are adopting new paradigms of the future of work. Surrounding yourself with advocates and industry experts who are talking the new talk will help you embrace the upside of disruption. For my latest on how this is impacting the health club and fitness industry checkout my EHFF 2017 and my IHRSA 2017 presentations and more.

Bryan O’Rourke is a #CEO, #board member, #advisor, #keynote #speaker, #author and #investor, who has successfully expanded global brands for over 30 years. He is widely published and quoted in periodicals like Inc. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on consumer, technology and fitness industry trends and is CSO of a well known Houston based health club chain. He and his partners launched Vedere Ventures, a boutique private equity firm in 2016 . Bryan along with the Fitness Industry Technology Council support the Fitness + Technology Podcast . Check it out today. Get his recent book the 9 Partnership Principles written with his partner Robert Dyer and other top fitness industry leaders. Bryan also released with Europe Active the bookCustomer Engagement and Experience In The Fitness Sector. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com or follow him @bryankorourke .

Its Only The Beginning - Mobility Will Change Fitness And Health Forever

I've been predicting a tipping point for some time and I call it the Integerus: the point when more revenues and consumer interactions associated with health and fitness services are delivered via the cloud and technologies  as opposed to bricks and mortar based organizations. Don't think its happening ? Think again.....

Internet retail sales will reach nearly 300 billion in the US by 2015. Increasingly purchases of goods and services will move to mobile platforms. Customers will become more accustomed to getting the things they need, including services, whenever and wherever they want them. Over 500 million health and fitness apps are going to be used globally by 2015. Now comes Jawbone's new UP device, another in a series of innovations that are leading to AT&T and Best Buy being as important a competitor in the health and fitness space as any existing health club provider. Don't think the industry convergence trend is one of the four key trends to watch until 2016 ? I do....(have you seen AT&T's upcoming clothing line that monitors your health ?)

Watch the video below on Jawbone's UP and tell me Bryan O'Rourke, how do you think these new technologies are going to impact the fitness and health club industry ? I think they are going to enable us to impact more people in better ways and provide new business models that bridge the physical and digital worlds.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, and shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He consults with global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank is Chair of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee, is President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and a partner in Fitmarc, Integerus, Fitsomo and the Flywheel Group. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

The Coming Social Media Explosion In Fitness & Wellness

The socialization of the web  and even Internet search is upon us. While Social Media has been the buzz (you know I hate that term) for the past few years the next few years are going to be softer as players figure out the ROI. Then, as a result of technologies and consumer adoption, it will explode. If you don't believe that view watch this clip from Gary Vaynerchuk, author of the Thank You Economy as he explains details.

Let me, Bryan O'Rourke, know your thinking on this. Do you think Social Media, Alternative Media, will explode in a big way from 2013-2015 ? Do you have a plan for how this is going to impact your business ? How will it affect the fitness and wellness industry ?

Mobility - The Coming Wave of Tablets and the Fitness Industry

There is a wave of new tablet devices hitting the market. Now RIM will be announcing their latest addition. As a recent WSJ article reported, "The tablet, which some inside RIM are calling the BlackPad, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of this year...... It will feature a seven-inch touch screen and one or two built-in cameras. It will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to cellular networks through a BlackBerry smartphone, these people said. Since the tablet won't be sold with a cellular service, it's not clear which carriers or retailers will sell the device."

Still, RIM's tablet will face stiff competition in an increasingly crowded market. The launch of Apple's iPad in April sparked a rush to build similar devices by a raft of firms from Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. to Taiwan's Acer Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Inc. of the U.S. Many of those competing tablets will run Android, meaning RIM's new operating system will go head-to-head with Apple and Google offerings in tablets as well.

How will Tablet Devices influence the fitness industry ? A new wave of technologies will enable devices to be on the fitness floor in a more interactive and functional way. Think of the possibilities for personal trainers, group fitness instructors and fitness managers, for example, who dont have to be glued to a monitor to see realtime information or to provide information to members. If you're not dialed into how tablets can make a difference in the fitness industry contact me and I'll tell you more.