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

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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 .

Interviewed By Jim McPartland - What Are Your Unopened Gifts ? Watch

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I met Jim McPartland at IHRSA in 2010. He was a facilitator and consultant to Les Mills International and its founder Phillip Mills at the time. Little did I know he'd be interviewing me on his show just over a year later.

Jim struck me with his manner and curiosity; in a good way. Ironically, not long after meeting Jim, I would be working with Michael Bruno, who purchased Star Trac, an organization that Jim McPartland transformed over 16 years as a Shareholder and President. The world is a small place isn't it ?

"Mac", as he is called by some, is now a speaker and adviser to key players in the fitness, wellness and business world in general. I recommend him highly. He kindly sat down to have a chat with me about "unopened gifts" on his weekly radio - tv show which airs every Thursday at 5 pm PST (the interview is below). It was a fun interview.

Jim is pursuing the publishing of his first book about "unopened gifts". Watch the interview below to learn more and tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what are the things in your life that you feel are unopened gifts ? Please share your views and tell me your thoughts on the interview. Thanks Jim McPartland for having me on. I look forward to working together more closely in the months and years ahead.

 

Cancer and The Lack Of Integrative Care - Why ?

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When Celebrities like  Michael Douglas announce a cancer diagnosis , as he did last September, it catches people's attention. Thankfully Michael had a good reaction to treatment and his stage 4 throat cancer tumor was gone in January of 2011. Fortunately Mr. Douglas lives in an area that offers some of the best treatment options available. Not everyone is so lucky.

I successfully (knock on wood) navigated through cancer in the past few years (see my talk on cancer below) I know first hand that many in the traditional sick care system still do not offer integrative wellness services for cancer patients. Despite having the most advanced radiation and chemo therapies available, I was unable to receive alternative therapies that would have helped me to cope and recover from traditional treatment methods. An example is acupuncture therapy. It simply was not readily available where I live.

Working in fitness and wellness this really made me wonder, Why? When I mentioned to my surgeon and oncologist about my work out regimens and how I had lost all of my energy and was unable to be physically active, there was never a mention of alternative therapies I could have used. Essentially there was NO integrative care available to either myself or the many other souls suffering around me.

The good news is that many alternative therapies are becoming more available. Trouble is for the clear majority of patients, they are not available. Furthermore, because these therapies are largely private pay, for most people without financial means they simply could not benefit from them if they were available. It cost too much.

So please tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, why aren't alternative therapies more readily available ? Let me know your thoughts about creating a "Circle of Health" that encompasses traditional and preventative therapies.

Bryan K. O'Rourke On His Cancer Experience from Bryan ORourke on Vimeo.

 

 

Lisa Champion & Nigel Champion Launch fitforgood at FILEX 2011

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I first met Lisa Champion and Nigel Champion at PT On The Net's Meeting of the Minds in Colorado a few years back. They were kind enough to invite me out to Sydney for FILEX 2011, allowing me to share my views on the changing fitness industry. Thanks to them both. I learned that they are launching fitforgood - aiming to enhance the lives of Australians in need by providing health and fitness opportunities. What a wonderful idea and what wonderful people. Please let me, Bryan O'Rourke, know that you are going to give and get involved in fit for good.

Dan McDonogh Live From FILEX 2011 On Rooster Racing

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Working in the fitness industry is great because of the many wonderful people you get to meet. After wrapping up a presentation at the PT Summit at FILEX 2011 on Social Media, I sat down to visit Dan McDonogh about Rooster Racing and the upcoming huge FITMARC Arlington Texas event on August 27th and 28th, 2011. Give to Rooster Racing - let's put an end to cancer ! Watch ! Please let me, Bryan O'Rourke, know what you think about LIVESTRONG and Rooster Racing. Can you please make a contrbution to Rooster Racing ?