In this episode, we welcome Manish Bahl. Manish works at the multinational tech company Cognizant as Head of the Center for the Future of Work. I talk with Manish about how the world of work is changing, what new jobs will arise in the next couple of years, where we already live in the future today, and how to break silos while creating open spaces that embrace disruption and uncertainty.
The future of work is coming. The big questions around are, how we are going to embrace this new future, will the AI and robots take all our jobs, can the future with so much technology still be human, or is the human at the core of this future?
Let's shed some light on what possible scenarios can look like and what organizations, as well as individuals, can do to best prepare for the future.
💡 QUESTIONS AND VIEWS HIGHLIGHTED IN THIS EPISODE:
00:00 Intro
03:36 What changed during the pandemic?
08:30What is your outlook for the near future?
13:33 Jobs altered or enhanced by the bot
15:47 21 Jobs in the future
21:49 Skills will be important in the future
25:07 AI and automation will change organizational design and structure
31:47 Enhancing the role of humans and not just deploying technology
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[00:00:24.540] - Dani Guaper
Hello out there and welcome to a new episode here at the Virtual Frontier the podcast about virtual teams created by Virtual Team. In this episode, we welcome Manish Bahl. Manish works at the multinational tech company Cognizant as head of the center for the Future of Work. I talk with Manish about how the world of work is changing, what new jobs will arise in the next couple of years, where we already live in the future today and how to break silos while creating open spaces that embrace disruption and uncertainty. For our international community this is an English episode and you can find the transcript of this conversation now in more than 20 languages on our blog at Heavy Scribe Public or watch the video with subtitles for this episode on our YouTube channel. Please bear with us the audio quality of this episode is not the best. We did everything to improve it so you can enjoy. This is also the reason why this episode is published delayed. So without further a due, let's dive into the episode 40 of The Virtual Frontier. Enjoy the conversation.
[00:01:28.910] - Dani Guaper
Hello, Manish. Thank you very much for joining us today here in the podcast at The Virtual Frontier. I'm really glad to have you finally on the show. Before we start with our conversation. Just give us a brief introduction. We are working for where you're coming from. So our listeners have a little idea about your person.
[00:01:53.700] - Manish Bahl
Sure. Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. First of all for inviting me to your show. I appreciate it. My name is Manish Bahl and I am the Head center for the Future of Work in Asia Pacific and the Middle East for Cognizant. So we are basically a think tank and our charter is to figure out how the future of everything will probably evolve with the emergence of new technologies, new business practices and new business models. So when I say future of everything, , it means that the future of work, future of our society future, future of you future of us. And for that we engage a lot with the CEO level executives, with Academy and with economists, with the analyst community and try to make sense of the changes that are happening around us and how the future of our work will be restructure, reimagine and reconfigured in the times to come. So we publish plenty of our thought leadership through the center and the kind of thought leadership we produce it's very thought provoking, it's very challenging, very bold, something that of something that people haven't thought about.
[00:02:55.460] - Manish Bahl
Some of the work that we are going to talk about in a moment some of the reports that we publish. So definitely very excited to be part of today's show. And thanks again for inviting me. .
[00:03:07.420] - Dani Guaper
How has the last year change for yourself and what you have learned? So many things happened unexpected events happened all around the world. But how did that affect yourself personally, and probably you can give us also a little bit inside view about what happens on your client side. What you have noticed may be there without giving us any details on interns of course.
[00:03:37.110] - Manish Bahl
yeah. So at personal level, obviously. The entire world went upside down in the wake of pandemic when the pandemic it obviously. I don't think that any of us were mentally prepared for the change that will be thrown upon us. Overnight everyone moved online. Work from home, once considered, was more of a privilege. It became a necessity for everyone. And also at the same time, if you look at companies the way they organize work, the way they managed work got change completely. So they're saying everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.
[00:04:15.470] - Manish Bahl
This advised perfectly to today's COVID 19th scenario. So all the businesses were adopting digital technologies long before the pandemic head, and they may have thought that they had a digital plan ready. But overnight they had to accelerate their strategies transitioning in days or weeks to work from home and online modes of doing business. So the digital ways of working and behaving like the business conferencing tools, e commerce, remote learning, among others. The digital ways of working and behaving forced and refined in the heat of battle against covid 19 will not be put back in the box.
[00:04:53.790] - Manish Bahl
Hopefully when the pandemic is over. In fact just to share a quick statistics. From one of our leadership reports, we found 48% of companies we survey they said that the pandemic would further accelerate digital ways of working. So I think in many ways the pandemic acted as a moment of realization for individuals as well as for organizations that they can achieve so much with new ways of working, with new ways of doing business and new ways of engagement with employees and with clients when everything moved online.
[00:05:32.320] - Manish Bahl
So the bottom line is, you know, anything that can move online obviously will move online in the future. And we have already seen the entire scenario, the working models the business practices, everything has already moved online, and this trend will only accelerate in the future. Definitely Covid 19 was more of a moment of realization for many companies and individuals that they can achieve so much with digital.
[00:06:02.430] - Dani Guaper
You mention just this 48% of leadership or companies. What do you think, how they are prepared for those change in those uncertain times? Because I have sometimes the feeling, yes, they are conscious about the change that is coming, but how they are really prepared for those changes.
[00:06:24.230] - Manish Bahl
yeah. If you look at when the Pandemic hit, as I said, overnight, companies had to move, they're working, they're working practices, their business models do the virtual, to be online thing. And so far, I think companies did a pretty good job, right. Even companies they themselves had never imagined that they could embrace the change so rapidly. So it shows that there's so much flexibility and agility that needs to be gained with the rise of , these new working practices. So I think last twelve months, if you look at obviously companies did what they could when it comes to moving online, leveraging digital technologies, working, remote, new ways of doing business, new ways of creating values, safe customers, employees.
[00:07:12.130] - Manish Bahl
So definitely all these initial ways of change that company is realized so they could easily figure that out what digital had to offer. So definitely, I believe, if you look at things turned out pretty for companies to manage the work. Obviously there were some disruptions initially, but I think companies move to the online world of working very, very fast and so far, I think , this trend has worked out pretty well for companies. And they'll only go for the momentum as we move forward, because if you look at most businesses, they were quick to respond compressing many of their long term digital projects into space of weeks and months. So putting them in a good position to do emerge stronger when the pandemic is over. So obviously, as I said earlier, it was more of a moment of realization that companies could achieve much more with digital last twelve months it was nothing but just a curtain razor to the amount of change that will come along our way in the future.
[00:08:25.980] - Dani Guaper
I mean, they probably will increase even further in the future without a pandemic. What is your outlook for the near future? Speaking about , the post pandemic behaviors you just mentioned a little bit about that. Maybe you can dive into a little bit more deeply.
[00:08:46.400] - Manish Bahl
Yeah. We believe that companies that view the endemic as a catalyst for becoming digital at the core and an opportunity to get closer to their customers and employees will maintain their footing and even grow stronger in the recovery because becoming digital to the core is going to be the key to faster and stronger recovery. In fact, nearly 50% of companies that we you spoke to they said that definitely the digital ways of working will only create better opportunities, more opportunities for them in the future. And definitely companies are banking on digital ways of working in digital channels for future revenue growth.
[00:09:33.810] - Manish Bahl
And for that, just think about it. If you're a bank, if you are our traditional retailer rights and obviously your future business, majority of it will come from digital channels. And for that, you need to have a very strong foundation in place, which means that becoming digital to the core, which means that leveraging artificial intelligence, automation, analytics, right, leveraging these technologies and trying to make sense of everything that is happening around your business and how to take maximum advantage by advantage of these technologies by becoming digital to the core.
[00:10:10.590] - Manish Bahl
So I believe that the digital to the core is going to be extremely critical for organizations to figure out how they can leverage various additional technologies for future growth and for future opportunities basically.
[00:10:24.060] - Dani Guaper
Yeah. Which brings me directly to our next topic for today. What do you think? Why are so many individuals but also , let's say organization. Well, they can't be scared. But why are so many people in organizations scared about the future of work? What is it really about and how maybe we can get less scared and more like embrace this whole future that is coming.
[00:10:51.240] - Manish Bahl
That's a very good question and very important question into this context Daniel, if you look at. Because we are living in the age of artificial intelligence. So this age of AI is generating mixed emotions. On one side, there is a sense of excitement, a capitalist stream. There is tremendous pressure on business leaders to reduce cost, to grow revenue, and there is no way they can ignore that the benefits of artificial intelligence and intelligent automation. So definitely they will go after these technologies because with the economic rewards so high and the competitive pressure so large, obviously not implementing these technologies, which means that obviously you will be left behind.
[00:11:32.530] - Manish Bahl
But and then on the other side, the age of AI means fear. So AI and automation means layoffs. So especially when you see scary headlines like Robot will take your job or predictions from renewed institutions like Oxford that says 40-47% of jobs will disappear in the next 20-25 years. So this is scary. You know all this making us rethink the fundamentals of companies and institutions and the very nature of work itself. But, we have a very optimistic point of view when it comes to the future of work and jobs.
[00:12:07.230] - Manish Bahl
If you look at. Because we believe the new machine will change the labor force in three distinct ways. Job automation. That's where majority of discussion is happening today. And that's where everybody is sort of scared that they are going to lose their jobs to robots in the near future. But as per our estimates, only 12% of existing jobs are at the risk of being taken over by bots, only 12%. But still we are talking about millions of jobs globally. So definitely there will be job losses. But the point is the majority of jobs are going to get enhancement, which is a second bucket, the job enhancement. And that's where no one usually talks about how exactly a teacher is going to become a better teacher. How exactly a recruiter is going to become an enhanced recruiter with new tools and capabilities. So just think about it from a recruiter perspective. What if a machine can take over some of the redundant and Day To day repetitive kind of tasks going through the CVs, shortlisting some of the best ways ones and then reaching out to those candidates getting the first round of interview done.
[00:13:14.120] - Manish Bahl
So all those tasks will be taken care by a machine but it doesn't mean that you don't need a recruiter in the future. Now, recruiter can be very much focused on what really matters to candidates. A recruiter can interview more candidates. A recruiter can ensure what is actually needed for the job. So as per our estimates, 75% of existing jobs will be altered or enhanced by the bot, which means that your employment remains but these jobs will be delivered with greater output and quality. And then the third bucket is the job creation.
[00:13:45.920] - Manish Bahl
What about the new jobs that will also be created in the future? And again, no one talks about these new jobs because , we estimate around 13% of net new jobs will be created as a result of AI automation, big data and algorithms. So the question is not will this job become automated in the future, but rather will this task of the job is going to get automated or not. So we don't think that majority of jobs that we see today are going to get automated.
[00:14:15.180] - Manish Bahl
Some definitely will jobs that require lots of repetitive work redundant. data related work. So definitely all those jobs are going to get automated, but the majority of jobs are going to get enhanced and the net new jobs will also be created in the future. So just think about it, Daniel. Humans are good at what we calls the odd of the job, which means the judgment, visual cues, emotion, empathy. So what's the right thing to do based on the context of the situation? We are quite good at it and machines are good at the size of the job, which means the computational capabilities, data analysis, pattern recognition.
[00:14:54.180] - Manish Bahl
You can't beat a computer on number crunching. So based on all statistical evidence what is the most appropriate next action. And when you blend the two the human plus machine, that's where the magic happens. So we don't need to get are much scared about the future of work. Rather, we need to start creating the work based on humans plus machines.
[00:15:18.720] - Dani Guaper
What I also loved from the preparation for this podcast is you guys are Cognizant had like a huge pallet of different new jobs that will appear in the future. Might we could talk a little bit about that. so people get a better idea what probably is coming or we just spinning ideas around that. But I'm having a perspective is always important. Right?
[00:15:43.690] - Manish Bahl
yeah, sure. Right. So some time ago we had published these two reports 21 jobs in the future and 21 more jobs of the future. So, these two reports, so in these two reports we had published 42 jobs jobs that don't exist today. But we believe that these are the jobs that are going to become the cornerstone of the future of work. So these reports act as a guide to getting and staying employed in the next ten years. These two reports are available in the public domain.
[00:16:10.040] - Manish Bahl
So I encourage your audience to download these reports and then get a flare of what sort of jobs that will be there in the future. And the jobs we described emerged from studying and analyzing economic, political demographics or site cultural, business and technology trends and then drawing implications from them. So to highlight some of my favorite jobs that are there in the report, one is around the Man machine teaming Manager. So Man Machine Teaming Manager, which means that if the future of work and workforce is going to be hybrid, we need someone who can manage both humans and machines and ensure that humans and machines are working in collaboration and the work is divided between the to as per their capabilities and capacities that they have got.
[00:17:01.120] - Manish Bahl
Another role that we have developed is the Machine Risk Officer. So just think about it. From unexpected or bias results to dangerous errors, we now face a moral dilemma of deciding who should be the responsibility for any wrongdoing by an AI driven machine. So sometime ago, I think that was last year for two in 2019, a driverless car killing a pedestrian, and all of a sudden it became a global news. But we were facing the moral dilemma. If a driverless car is going to kill someone who should be the responsibility of that issue, is it going to be the AI software developer?
[00:17:39.110] - Manish Bahl
Is it going to be the auto manufacturing company insurance company? We don't know that. So from unexpected or bias reserves to perpetuation of dangerous errors, we are sensitive to the unintended consequences of the actions of intelligent machines and how these errors could have a significant impact on our on company's brand and finances. So definitely a Machine Risk oOfficer will define rules and responsibilities between humans and machines and set the rules for how human counterparts should handle machine cost wrong doing. Which means this involved designing trustworthy experiences, training employees, developing risk benefit metrics, overhauling the ethics principles and ensuring our employees are in the driver's seat to monitor machines. And one last, although there are so many jobs that we can talk about. But another job that I would like to talk about that we have created is Algorithm Bias Auditor. So just like you have an auditor for an organization to audit your finances. So on similar lines, we are going to have an auditor who's going to audit all the algorithms that are running across the organization. So that auditor is going to define the purpose of these algorithms.
[00:18:53.900] - Manish Bahl
Why have you implemented this algorithm? What are the outcomes of these algorithms? And to ensure that these algorithms are not biased in any way? And these are algorithms are not treated like a black box. So Algorithm Bias Auditor, Man Machine Teaming Manager and the Machine Risk Officer. So these are some of the very interesting rules that we have developed in addition to others that are there in the report. As I said again. These reports that are available in the public domain. So, I encourage your audience to download and get a feel of how future jobs will look like.
[00:19:28.980] - Dani Guaper
Yeah, I love those reports very much. I will, of course, put them also in the show notes in the description. So our listeners have direct access to it and hopefully we'll get in touch with that and download it. Also, as we are talking about these new jobs that may be coming up in the near future, I still have the feeling that we are still in some kind of a gridlock, where we stuck in old thinking, old management style and I was wondering how we can overcome this and embrace the future more in a positive context and be prepared first of all.
[00:20:13.500] - Manish Bahl
Yeah, sure. If you look at jobs in the past, they were stable, they were linear. They were singular, which means that people commonly chose one career path and pursued it over the course of their entire lives. If I talk about my parents, my father, who worked in a bank throughout his career throughout his life. So from education through their retirement, the skills acquired through post secondary education and at work training, they were sufficient to ensure that your career moves in the right direction and you succeed and you get retired at the end.
[00:20:49.700] - Manish Bahl
But now what's happening is that change? What we're experiencing is the rise of automation and AI. So definitely these technologies have raised questions about the employable skills, attitudes and behaviors that are required for people to participate in the future of work. So in reality, many jobs will be substantially altered if not completely replaced by AI driven machines in the coming decade. However, on the flip side is many new jobs, some that still seem like science fiction today jobs that we talked about as part of 21 jobs and 21 more jobs report. So how exactly we can prepare workforce for these new jobs that are going to be created that will emerge in the future. As a result of the change that are happening around us employable skills are now like mobile apps that need frequent upgrades. And these skills will continue to evolve more rapidly in the future than they do now. So the bottom line is with skills will be important in the future if you think about it. So we found the importance of AI and robotics and technical skills are going to be important.
[00:21:57.650] - Manish Bahl
And that's not a brainer. But what's really interesting is we found 80% of businesses are saying the importance of human skills, the soft skills, the imagination, the creativity, the communication, so these skills will be extremely important in the future. Because the future jobs will require a combination of human and technological capabilities as well as it's going to be extremely important that we look for we prepare our workforce with the right hybrid skill set. To give you an example. Even in big data and data science, jobs are more likely to demand creativity, teamwork research and writing skills than other jobs.
[00:22:38.860] - Manish Bahl
So as a big data, as a data scientist, you should be able to communicate your findings in a nice, easy to digest way. And interestingly what we also looked at, learning as a skill is going to be extremely important in the future because the lives of automation and a raising questions about the employable skills. And that's where preparing the current and future workforce with relevant skills requires a reboot of traditional decades of old training and learning models and approaches. And that's where to establish new learning models.
[00:23:11.170] - Manish Bahl
Businesses need to engage in more flexible partnerships, accelerate the response time, and provide more proactive modes of delivery, and offer new combined skill programs. So preparing the current and future workforce is going to be everyone's job and it's not going to be only individuals responsibility or only corporate responsibility is going to be everyone's job. But what's more important is what's going to make us human is going to make us employable in the future. So we need to double down on what really makes us humans and not to compete against the machines, but rather how to leverage some of machines capabilities and translate those capabilities from human perspective.
[00:23:56.440] - Manish Bahl
So becoming a better human is going to be extremely important in the future for sure.
[00:24:02.330] - Dani Guaper
Something that we haven't had on our CVs in the past decade. Right. As I just mentioned, the data scientists, for example, has also to embrace different kinds of disciplines. Right. He's not bound anymore just to his data. He has to learn how to write, how to communicate, how to work in a team. So this brings up also this keyword from me. I had you on my list of the preparation, breaking up silos and working in cross-functional settings and environments because you won't be able to just work as a data scientist as we have picked them and we have fulfilled your work, getting somewhere. We have to break up those silos and with cross-functional teams or even companies organizations to get somewhere.
[00:24:58.990] - Manish Bahl
Yeah, absolutely, right. Because in the future we believe , we need to retake organizational and team structures because as AI and automation take over majority of repetitive tasks, work demand will change team structures. So rather than larger hierarchical team structures, smaller teams will emerge that allow individuals and teams to become more fluid and flexible across rules and the functions. And that's going to bring greater agility for organizations because now with dynamic with flexible with fluid talent. Right. You can increase your response to the change that is happening around us.
[00:25:40.530] - Manish Bahl
You can be more focused on customers. And that's where I believe it's going to be extremely important for have these smaller teams and the fluid talent that is flowing across the organization. To give you an example, instead of concentrating technology professionals in a centralized IT Department. Right. Leaders will embed software designers and engineers in independent teams where they can be quickly deployed on high priority in our goals. So we should expect to see multidisciplinary teams emerge across functional departments in the future.
[00:26:15.970] - Dani Guaper
And then also working together of course with AI. We have touched the topic a little bit in the previously, but I would like to ask you specifically what people really get wrong about this whole idea of AI and at the work especially. And how could we again, probably a different perspective fund then?
[00:26:41.360] - Manish Bahl
yeah. So I think we need to develop a more realistic view of humans role in the age of AI and we shouldn't underestimate. I'm sorry, we shouldn't underestimate human imagination and the human adaptability factor because we have seen whenever there is a change that is being thrown on us, humans are very good at adapting to the change. So the top values work for skills will increasingly build tilted towards human capabilities that validate the need for human machine collaboration, which means that decision making, strategic thinking, and learning.
[00:27:16.700] - Manish Bahl
So these skills are best performed when workers are supported by the insights generated by AI and data analytics and feed by intelligent automation from performing repetitive work. So increasingly the human role will become more focused on what to do with all the data driven insights that you are getting, which requires a renewed focus on decision making and strategic thinking. And also if you look at machines like the emotional quotient and they are less effective in a real time customer service instance. So at Japan. Japan is an excellent example of human coexistence with robots in the home and the workplace.
[00:27:56.340] - Manish Bahl
For Japanese robots are seen as a companion and not as a destructive force. So for people, for individuals as well, for organizations to ensure that we are getting AI the right spirit. There is a framework that we have developed what I call the five Ts. Five T stands for tasks, teams, talent, technology, and trust. To successfully transition into the new world of work. Task means that you have to deconstruct jobs into tasks and then identify which tasks are meant for humans and tasks that are meant for machines and then teams that we have already talked about what sort of team structures , that will be required in the future and then talent.
[00:28:38.980] - Manish Bahl
What sort of talent that is going to be important? Skills that we talk about the technology infrastructure that needs a complete overhaul. We need a modern foundation technology foundation to ensure that the organizations are supporting the new ways of working and new ways of doing business and then ultimately trust how to make sure that employees are comfortable working with machines and they're not scared of. So there's this five T's framework will help individuals to get a good handle after human machine in work. Because the work ahead is all about striking a balance between machine driven and human centric work.
[00:29:15.820] - Manish Bahl
Even when machines can do everything, it will still be people who are the ultimate X factor. So we don't need to get scared after the robots. The robots are coming, but rather trying to figure out different ways, different opportunities that we can generate to collaborate with these machines to become better humans at the end of the day. .
[00:29:40.680] - Dani Guaper
When we talk about this increased interaction and expansion between those different worlds, we have talked about the advantages, but where you see probably some disadvantages or where might lie some risks and on the way getting there.
[00:29:59.600] - Manish Bahl
Yeah. So I think the biggest risk is especially for organizations, is obviously there is so much of upside in terms of cost savings that companies can generate with intelligent automation and AI and then the process they could overlook the human factor. Right. Even if you are, you can generate lots of savings with machines, you will still need humans. But those humans could be redeployed for some other engagements or for some better work, for customer interactions, for customer experience to elevate the customer experience.
[00:30:32.400] - Manish Bahl
So I think when it comes to looking at AI and automation and the digital technologies, right. Always put humans at the center because how you are going to leverage these technologies to enhance your existing workforce, because increasingly the human role will become more focused on what gets done with data driven inside. Because even if machine is going to generate all the insights, still, you need someone who can make sense of those insights and who can leverage those insights to better engage with customers at the end of the day. Which requires again going back to my point, a renewed focus on decision making, strategic thinking and ultimately learning.
[00:31:13.740] - Manish Bahl
Because when intelligent machines take on the work of collecting, managing and analyzing data, the self learning algorithms that drive them can learn much faster and generate insights, helping businesses lower costs, improve productivity and offer more targeted products and services to consumers. So a suggestion right. To leaders and companies looking to adapt AI and automation is do not overlook the human factor. Put human at the center of any new experiment that you are doing and ensure that you are elevating, you are enhancing the role of humans and not just deploying technology.
[00:31:53.410] - Dani Guaper
I think that can't be pointed out even enough. I guess a lot of business leaders are always having this, not so open minded. I come from we come from the German background. We love like structured things and everything. Right. But how can business either be more open minded when it comes to these uncertain futures that we still not have discovered right now? Frontiers where we haven't gone. How they can be in general, more open mind about that for the future.
[00:32:28.370] - Manish Bahl
Yeah. I think obviously business leaders as I said early they are under tremendous pressure to reduce cost, to grow their shared revenue and at times it can be bit destructive. You can look to achieve some immediate results with these technologies. But I think what organization what leaders need to do is to have that open mind is to adopt dual strategy. On one hand, you can look for the low hanging fruits whereby applying technology, you can get some immediate results. And then, on the other hand, you need to have a medium to long term strategy in place. So how these technologies, how AI and automation are going to change the way you work, the way you create business values and the way you deliver your products and services to customers. So obviously we need to have a dual strategy in place. On one hand, look for some immediate outcomes that you can gain with these technologies. But on the important side, on the other hand, you really need to have a long term strategy in place that is going to create the future of your own work and the future of your own business. So having a dual strategy in place will help lead this charter on an open mind issue that you are talking about.
[00:33:42.650] - Dani Guaper
Yeah. I'm just wondering, do you think , humans in general are able to adapt to this all new environment with so much change coming up. So the human as itself is like really like an animal that doesn't love change so much. And there's so much change happening right now and will and change will happen in the future. Do you think we are able to cope up with that?
[00:34:13.020] - Manish Bahl
Yeah. I don't underestimate the power of human adaptability. I wrote this blog some time ago don't underestimate the power of human adaptability. And one of the key takeaways from the blog is when we are forced to adapt to a certain situation, we do it very, very fast. Right. Look at in the case of in the wake up of the pandemic, when the pandemic hit, right. So whether you like working online or not, regardless of your interest, you quickly moved to the online world without any complaints.
[00:34:49.210] - Manish Bahl
Right. So that way, if you look at it, and history teaches us there were so many incidents right at a global level, at national level, at country level. We have experienced that when people are forced to adapt a situation, they do it very, very fast. And that's where humans are extremely good at. To give you one more example, I live in India. A couple of years ago, the demonetization happened. So all of a sudden the currency, the old currency went out of the system.
[00:35:21.080] - Manish Bahl
It was completely bad. And people were so comfortable dealing in cash they didn't want to move to the digital banking the digital payments at all. But the moment demonetization happened, right. I have seen maturity of small scale vendors, your grocery shops, your milk vendor, everyone moved to digital payments overnight. They were not comfortable doing it earlier, but when they were forced to do it right, they did it immediately. Right. So the point is we shouldn't underestimate the power of human adaptability. And that's how humans have survived over the last several ages because we have been very, very adaptable to the change.
[00:36:04.460] - Manish Bahl
And I'm sure it in the wake of the pandemic, all the change that we have experienced or still experiencing it's going to help us become better humans in the future. How to cope up with different situations and how to come up with something, something when the {Indistinct speech}.
[00:36:25.420] - Manish Bahl
So definitely I believe the ongoing situation it's going to make us much more stronger and much more adaptable to the change in the future.
[00:36:36.580] - Dani Guaper
Yeah. Wonderful. I think as you just mentioned sometimes the peak point or the pressure has to be higher. And to get things like moving before we are still in this comfort zone when something has to change. But we are still saying could be waiting a little bit more.
[00:36:55.310] - Manish Bahl
It doesn't mean it doesn't mean that every time leaders need to put that pressure that force on people to change. That examples that I gave, obviously, in many cases we have been forced to do it. But at the end of the day, as a leader, if you really want your workforce to change their attitude, their mindset, obviously, there is a lot of ways you can do it by having a top down approach. If leader is changing. If leaders are becoming a digital leader, for instance, if you are active.
[00:37:25.300] - Manish Bahl
Let's say on social media, if you are active on LinkedIn, if you're active on Twitter and then obviously people look at their leaders, what they are doing and how they are doing, what they are saying and they tend to follow. Those change that leaders have adopted. So it's not necessary that every time that you have to put a pressure for people to change, but at times it gets very, very, extremely important than you. You have to do it. But there are other ways. .
[00:37:53.110] - Manish Bahl
By leading with example, that's going to be extremely important.
[00:37:56.000] - Dani Guaper
Yeah. I completely agree with you. Because of pressure itself from the management of leadership you don't get so much done or just to a certain point. And as things are starting getting complex you really need everyone on board and hands on rather than pushing them all around the place. Thank you very much for that insight. Manish, as we coming to an end for our conversation today when people would like to know more about you about the company you work with Cognizant, how could they get in touch? What would be a good source of information they could go for?
[00:38:39.780] - Manish Bahl
Yeah, sure. Right. Anyone who wants to reach out to me to learn more about to discuss what's happening around the future of work and how the work will be restructured, reimagined are reconfigured in the times to come, feel free to drop a note at Manish.bahl@cognizant.com. You can also visit center for the Future of Work page, which is cognizant.Com/ futureofwork . cognizant.Com/ futureofwork So that's our virtual home and that's where you will find all our reports, blogs, what we have been thinking and talking about.
[00:39:16.760] - Manish Bahl
So everything is published there. So follow this page and I'm sure I'll give you some interesting insights, what could possibly happen in the times to come.
[00:39:28.900] - Dani Guaper
Thank you very much for that, Manish. I really appreciated the conversation today with you was quite interesting and got a lot of insight. Hope you can do it soon again.
[00:39:40.080] - Manish Bahl
Yeah, sure. We'd love to do that. Thanks Daniel, for inviting me to your show.
[00:39:44.400] - Dani Guaper
It was great to have you.
[00:39:44.820] - Manish Bahl
I thank you.
[00:39:52.150] - Dani Guaper
What a ride into the Future of work. This was really mind opening and encouraging conversation. I hope you were also able to gain some new perspectives that change the way you perceive the future of work. Before you leave. Hit the subscribe button. Give us a thumbs up or share it around with your friends and colleagues. Sign up also for the Free Business Builder training on FlashHub.io and learn more about how to scale with your business at any time, working with global top talents and make work better. On behalf of the team here at the Virtual Frontier, I want to say thank you for listening. So until the next episode, keep exploring new frontiers.