Out of office? Imagine a world where your ‘digital self’ clocks on for work. At that exact moment you head out to hike a trail, master a martial art, develop your improv comedy or simply enjoy an unhurried breakfast. In this world, your AI-trained avatar will: Lead your team (of avatars?) Attend meetings Produce your deliverables Pin blame, as required. If you're willing to pay for the premium plug-in, your avatar could be a more politically astute version of you. Not only reinforcing your reputation as a tireless worker, but fast-tracking your ascent up the greasy pole. No chance! The technology to make this happen is well underway.  Voice cloning Visual avatars (Cartoonish to semi-realistic) Textual personas (think ChatGPT) Digital doubles (lifelike visual avatars). A contextually aware and emotionally intelligent avatar is not available just yet. But for some people that might well reinforce the likeness. For employers who are looking for value, rather than activity, or an opportunity to show who is boss, this could work well. Not so fast There are issues that need to be considered, for example: What if someone creates a better version of you and sells your capability? Can your avatar have a thousand jobs running in parallel? What are the tax implications? Who owns your avatar’s output? Will the most successful avatars be less about the value they provide and more about how much their owners can afford to spend in making their avatar more visible in the marketplace? What if your avatar is hacked? How will inheritance law handle your avatar’s posthumous use? Will you be obliged to provide a realistic likeness or will you be able to have some ‘digital work’ done, or even go all in and use the avatar shell of your favourite celebrity (ASAAS - Avatar shell as a service)? I’m in So now that the prospect of you living a double life is both possible and attractive, what do you need to do? Train your avatar If you have a body of content, then make it part of the training dataset. Share your perspectives verbally. Feed your aspirations into the avatar so that the recruitment consultant agent can find work that meets your professional needs. Define what is unique about you This is both professionally in terms of the value you deliver and also what makes you who you are as a person. You may even share traumatic experiences so that the AI can factor that into your avatar. Depending on the nature of work, these may be perceived as a unique asset or a liability. Your avatar can decide when to share. Pay attention to your avatar Think of it as a high stakes Tamagotchi pet that needs continual nurturing. This includes the acquisition of new skills. Develop your physical intelligence Now that you will be living a digital professional life, you will have more time to take your body for a spin. So you might spend more time developing your health and your physical powers. The human body has some fascinating features that are largely unused. Shoulders, for example, are not just for slumping. What about Bob the Builder? Clearly I have focused on knowledge worker avatars. This equally applies to tradespeople such as: Carpenters Welders Electricians Plumbers Hairdressers. These people would simply require their avatars to reside in a robot. Clearly the tradesperson would need to bring something to the table that one couldn’t find in, say, a generic carpenter-bot. Patriot gains It is not guaranteed that this avatar-based model will come to pass. In some respects it is agentic AI applied to humans, so it seems like a natural progression. A general global decline in people may require knowledge workers to ‘parallel process’ in order to keep society’s economic wheels turning. So avatarU is aligned with current trends. Nextgen AI There is a question around young people entering the workplace who comprise one hundred percent potential and zero percent experience. Will employers take a chance on their associated avatars or will governments insist that employers play an active role in their development. To conclude, one possible future of work is that our primary job may simply involve the maintenance of our avatar, a kind of meta-work. Time will tell.

If you have read this far, congratulations! To explore a piece with such an abstract title suggests that you score high on curiosity, an essential survival trait. Let me explain what I mean by first defining the terms: Taylorism  – This is also known as the Scientific Management. It was developed in the late nineteenth century as an approach to making organisations more efficient. In this model the system trumps the workers. Workers are merely cogs in the machine. Tailorism  – This is a term I just made up to define a person who regards themselves as a tailor in terms of how they approach their work. Tailors have strong technical skills, pay attention to detail, are excellent communicators, are conscious of trends and have a commitment to quality. Dead or working? So the career choice I am referring to is this: Would you rather be a soulless cog, who after a while could still do their job whilst having a stroke; a technology placeholder simply waiting for the tap on the shoulder from your robot replacement? Or would you prefer to be a craftsman whose work is a timeless expression of their skill and humanity? Industrial society has a preference. If you are a standard cog, you are likely to have employment options. You will likely remain employed, as long as you have a frictionless work ethic. At least until your role is automated or a younger, hungrier cog is willing to do your work for less. This is perhaps not a concern if you can move up the career ladder and become a cog administrator, ie a manager. This is the ideal position for those who enjoy making others behave in a manner that goes against their human nature. Too much like hard work Becoming a tailor is not something you can master through a quick Udemy course. It follows a path more akin to the medieval guild model: apprentice, journeyman, then master. It demands time, dedication, and cognitive effort. No two days are the same. There is no pressure to move into management. Unlike ‘industrial model’ work with its focus on efficiency, the workers enjoy their work and so are not focused on doing as little as possible for a pre-agreed salary. Consequently they do not need management. Standard versus standards For clarification, I should point out that your options are not to a) work for a big organisation or b) become a tailor. Tailorism is a mindset. It is the standards that you hold yourself to regardless of the standards imposed on you. Like a tailor, you are great with people, conscious of trends, have an attention to detail and take pride in your work, as your work is an expression of who you really are. My way Thus you can be a tailor in a large organisation, where for the most part you are locked in to adhering to the standard operating manual. Look for opportunities to add value above the minimum acceptable standards regardless of how badly you are paid. You can add personal flourishes by the way you engage with co-workers, by spellchecking your emails or by arriving early and energised for your online meetings. Some traditional roles will give you even more latitude to show the world who you really are. The reality is that the game is up if you are a cog worker. Some of us will get over the line before we are swapped out by new technology, or before our organisation goes the way of the dinosaurs. In any case, I would encourage you to take ownership of the quality of your work and explore career options that enable you to spend more time in tailor-mode rather than Taylor mode.

Careers are a social construct. They were created for the convenience of the organisation. Over time they became useful to both sectors and societies. The prevalent narrative is that we start at the bottom of the ladder and work our way to the top. Each step representing a jump in economic and social status. Moving from technical /’hands on’ to managerial was a clear indicator that you were gaining career altitude. The unfortunate consequence of this approach is that technical people, for example scientists, engineers and creatives are considered a lower caste. Thus there is a pressure to become ‘hands off’ just as your hands were getting the hang of it. The struggle For many of us, our career is the framework in which our life unfolds. Consequently our CV is entwined with our life story. Thus there is tendency to architect a socially impressive career path depicting heroism and nobility. Examples include: Post room to CEO – “Know that with no qualifications, I was smart enough to play the game well!”. Rags to riches – “Know that despite the odds I can now buy and sell the people who once looked down on me.” Adaptive hero - “I have smartly transitioned from lunar astronaut / Olympian / extreme adventurer to media pundit / public speaker / successful CEO”. Careers are traditionally linear in nature. A journey from A to B where B is remarkably different rom A. Careers can seem even more dramatic if there is some adversity along the way. Eventual triumph against the odds turns a career into a dramatic odyssey and even a poignant expression of the human condition. Lucky for some? But there are those who take a more gilded path, for example: Silver spooner – “Know that despite the salary my impressive qualifications could command I choose to work at a not-for-profit organisation because I am socially conscious and from ‘old money’. Invariably, I will one day be the CEO of an international NGO.” Top drawer – “Know that my Ivy League education followed by a career at a top tier management consultancy highlights that I am simply better than most people and most likely a very attractive potential mate”. I have some sympathy for those born wealthy as they will find it difficult to add drama to a narrative that is essentially. “On reflection, I lived my life wearing ‘training wheels’. There was never really anything at stake”. Who moved my ladder? The challenge we have today is that careers are no longer linear; they are about to enter retirement. In a world where AI, in particular is gaining ground, how likely is it that today’s young doctors, architects or lawyers will be economically relevant to their sector in, say, twenty years? So perhaps it is time to change the narrative. With increasing macroenvironmental disruption, for at least the next five to ten years, it might be better to think of our professional lives as a video game that evolves randomly in real-time. It is thus not clear: How success is measured What are the rules of the game When the game ends Where does the game end (the boundary). Towards an infinite career This is sometimes referred to as the infinite game, a game we had no choice but to play prior to the agricultural revolution. This is the game we are genetically wired to play. In essence, the only reason for playing the game is to stay in the game, ie the game’s theme is survival. This means being predictive, opportunistic, adaptive and thus intelligent. So whether you are a junior doctor, management consultant or tattooist, you need to monitor the environment looking for signals that suggest it is time to pivot. Traditional careers are no longer a given. Follow the energy One way to play the infinite game is to create your own personal rules (aka values). These might include, I will do whatever it takes to: Become financially rich Have power over as many people as possible Make a positive impact on society Be famous – social media makes fame a recognised career path Be a world authority / the expert Maximise my free time Grab what I can with the least amount of energy expenditure. Fundamentally, professions are energy exchange mechanisms. Employers consume your energy for their strategic purposes in exchange for cash, which you can spend to recharge and maintain a charge in your dependents. That’s it. Who cares? Perhaps it is time to reassess what your professional life means to you beyond staying in the game. Because each calorie of energy you spend has a temporal cost. And time is something you cannot buy back no matter how much money you have acquired. The next best thing is legacy - to have a library or a business school named after you. But that isn’t quite as good as being alive and appreciating life. Either way, the path you take is unlikely to be the path you planned.

This talent management workshop empowers leaders to make the connection between viability, disruption, innovation and talent. The real war for talent has only just begun. Strategic Talent Management Workshop Helping Irish tech leaders turn talent scarcity into competitive advantage Context Introduction Outcomes Details Benefits Next step Context Irish tech firms, like their global counterparts, face unprecedented disruption. Talent-related challenges, particularly in acquisition and retention, are becoming critical bottlenecks. Remote working has expanded access to talent but has also intensified the global war for it. Beneath this surface issue lies a deeper challenge: global disruption. Thus innovation is more important than ever. Yet most organisations are not structured to unlock the cognitive potential of their people. As a result, your best minds may be slipping away to more stimulating environments. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Introduction This workshop empowers leaders to unlock the full potential of their people, thus transforming disruption into competitive advantage. It moves beyond traditional talent management, helping you build an organisation designed for innovation, resilience, and human performance. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Outcomes Organisationally: You will be better equipped to win the war for talent. Your organisation will shift from extracting the ‘most’ from your people to enabling them to perform at their best. Leaders will approach talent management like elite sports teams, prioritising marginal gains and sustained performance. Disruption will no longer be feared but embraced as a strategic ally. Your leaders will be well positioned to build an organisation designed around human potential while delivering meaningful returns for all stakeholders. Participants will: Develop confidence in managing talent effectively. Gain a nuanced, real-time understanding of their organisational context Recognise the limitations of relying solely on process and efficiency. Become more agile and adaptive leaders, capable of navigating uncertainty. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Details Approach This classroom-based workshop includes: Knowledge transfer combined with facilitated discussion. Exploration of real-world case studies. Interactive exercises to embed key learning points. Structured and implementable action planning. Modules The following topics are covered: Disruption and its impact on organisational design. The real-time, intelligent organisation. The role of innovation. The cognitive gymnasium – How to attract and retain top-tier talent. Talent and technology. How to create a buffer against an uncertain future. Leading in complexity. Duration It can be delivered over a half day, a full day or two days. Target audience Your senior leadership team. Senior professionals with talent, technology and/or transformation responsibilities will also gain significant benefit. Customisation It can also be integrated with your broader leadership development initiatives. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Benefits This workshop: Shows the link between organisational viability, innovation and talent management. Shifts the emphasis from talent to innovation and cognition, recognising the role of technology. Encourages thinking in terms of paths to mastery rather than careers. Explains why traits often matter more than skills in the recruitment process. Rethinks the purpose of talent analytics. Promotes a more nuanced and effective approach to diversity. Makes the case for a more distributed leadership model. Embraces complexity by exploring how living systems engage with hostile environments. Enables leaders to identify and ‘plug the leaks’ that drain human potential drive attrition. Shows leaders how to create a culture and work environment that retains the top talent and builds a compelling employer brand. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Next step Schedule a chat

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Ade McCormack helps leaders create intelligent organisations optimised to embrace disruption. Find out what his clients think about him. My clients Here is a selection ofmy clients along with what they have to say. Click on the arrows to reveal more: Slide6 Slide5 Slide3 Slide6 1/6 What are they saying? Slide12 Slide11 Slide8 Slide12 1/6 Please note that these are extracts from testimonials. The full text, and more testimonials, can be found on my LinkedIn profile page. My services Get in touch