Matthew GriffinFounder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
G7 · G20governments advised
850+keynotes
102countries
17codexes
Future of work sessions forPepsiCoWinchester CollegeUniversity of GreenwichDiscoverASM TechnologiesGovernment of Bahrain
Featured inBloombergThe Wall Street JournalThe Telegraph
The host's verdict
Recommended to me as a 'visionary and energising speaker'.
Catherine Crump, WIRED / Condé Nast
Catherine, Greg and the team at Condé Nast and WIRED invited Matthew to be their keynote speaker. Because of COVID-19 the session moved online and ran on Zoom. Titled Full Speed Ahead, it looked forward to life after COVID: the world was already changing rapidly before the pandemic, and afterwards the rate of change is set to accelerate.
Matthew gave a fast take on how the pandemic changed the way people and companies think about the future, and the long-tail implications for companies, their industries, their workforces and their strategic visions.
"The world was already changing rapidly before COVID-19, and post COVID the rate of change is set to accelerate."Matthew Griffin, Virtual, July 2020
He focused on one of the most pressing topics for executives: working from home. That meant how companies keep remote workforces engaged and productive, how they manage and monitor mental health and wellbeing, and how they set policy as more employees are offered the chance to work from home. He demonstrated a range of ways exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine vision, along with other tools, can alert companies to problems and let them make helpful employee interventions when needed.
He then looked beyond COVID's legacy to the accelerating rate of innovation, and therefore disruption, and to the future of jobs and skills. These were already changing rapidly before the pandemic, and are now likely to be supercharged as companies redesign their workforces, accelerate digital transformation and embrace automation in all its forms.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Change was fast before the crisis.
The pandemic did not start the acceleration. It sped up a shift already under way. Planning cycles built for a slower world now carry more risk, so leadership teams should test their strategic visions against a faster pace of disruption.
Remote work needs active management.
Policy has to keep pace as more employees are offered the chance to work from home. Engagement, productivity and mental health all need attention. Tools such as machine vision can flag problems early, but they work best when paired with clear and fair intervention rules.
Jobs and skills are being redesigned.
Companies are set to redesign their workforces, speed up digital transformation and adopt automation in all its forms. Skills that looked stable are likely to shift. Leaders who map tasks and skills now will have more options later.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which of our plans assume a slower pace of change than we now face?
How do we spot wellbeing problems in remote teams before they grow?
Which roles and skills will automation reshape first in our organisation?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It means change is arriving faster than most plans assume. Organisations need a clear remote work policy, a way to support wellbeing, and an early view of how jobs and skills will shift as digital transformation and automation speed up.
How does the accelerating rate of change relate to this session?
It is the core idea. Faster technology adoption and shorter corporate lifespans compress business planning cycles, which is why the session argues that disruption will build after the pandemic.
How does machine vision relate to managing remote teams?
Machine vision lets computers look at photos and video and understand them. The session showed how such tools can alert companies to problems so they can make helpful employee interventions when needed.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
311 offers a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector, in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
One person can already direct the work of many.
311 Institute's Future of Work research finds a heavy AI user already directs the work of about 18 people for $180 a month, a sign of how far the automation Matthew expected to be supercharged after COVID has already gone.
