MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY book now FREE in eBook form (through 4/30/05)
We've decided to offer Richard W. Samson's book on off-peopling FREE (in eBook form) from now througn end of April. Anyone can download it at www.eranova.com/ebook-free.htm ... or by clicking a link on the EraNova Institute home page: www.eranova.com.
Our objective is to spread the word about off-peopling, and how to manage it, as quickly as possible. So feel free to forward the eBook to others once you download it.
Already the press has started to notice off-peopling. (Automation has been acknowledged for some time, but its human impact has been largely overlooked. Hence the need for a new term, "off-peopling.")
- CNETPlease download the eBook and spread it around virally. We need to get the off-peopling issue into more newspapers and onto more blogs ... and on Leno, Letterman, Charile Rose, Oprah ... and then into discussions in Washington, state houses, corporate board rooms ...
- Christian Science Monitor
- Minneapolis Star Trubune
- Misc. coverage
Once off-peopling is acknowledged as a problem, we can discuss creative solutions. Unseen, off-peopling is leading us in very bad directions. But that doesn't have to continue.
Good jobs don't need to keep on going away ... the world doens't have to keep moving in self-destructive directions. We can re-direct off-peopling for our common benefit ... and enjoy an unprecedented future of abundance, creativity, discovery, and joy in living.
The second half of the book gives the "hyper-human solution" to off-peopling, with practical, immediate steps that individuals and companies can take. There's a case history of one company that used hyper-human methods to multiply its size and profitability in short order, without layoffs. In fact, they delighted their employees by empowering them in exciting new ways ... and started hiring like crazy.
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EraNova Institute - 142 Morris
Avenue - Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046 - 973-335-3699
RELEASE: March 25, 2005
CONTACT: Dick Samson - (973) 335-3699 -dicksamson@eranova.com
Knowledge Workers Getting Richer, and Poorer?
Straw Poll Suggests Wide Wealth Gap -- Formal Study Planned by EraNova Think Tank
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ, March 25 -- Are knowledge workers -- the high-skill producers of today's economy -- falling into a wealth-gap trap: many getting either rich or poor, with fewer doing just okay? This will be the subject of a study planned by New Jersey think tank EraNova Institute (www.eranova.com).
The study comes on the heels of a straw poll conducted by EraNova over the past seven days. Knowledge workers were asked to rate themselves as currently POOR (not earning enough to pay the bills), MIDDLE (earning enough to get by), or RICH (earning enough to save and splurge). "A surprise to me," says EraNova's director, Richard W. Samson, "is the large size of both the rich and poor categories. I would have expected a larger middle."
With 162 people responding, the results are --
- 27.8%: POOR
- 46.9% MIDDLE
- 25.3%: RICH
"More than one in four are telling us they're not making enough to live on," says Samson. "Are we moving toward a rich-poor economy, in knowledge work as well as society as a whole?" EraNova's formal study will investigate whether the wealth gap is increasing among the highly educated in the U.S., as it has been among the general population. If it is, then changes of many types will be indicated -- in social policy, education, business management, and career pursuit by individuals.
"The prevaling assumption," says Samson, "is that higher-level skills will fix our employment problems. If you've been laid off, just upgrade yourself at a community college or grad school. But what if that assumption's wrong? What if, as many high-tech people with PhD's are telling us, there's a wealth gap no matter what your skill level?"
A widening knowledge-worker wealth gap, if confirmed by the EraNova study, may be one result of "off-peopling," a term Samson coined to call attention to human consequences of today's automation. Off-peopling, now gaining notice in the technical press, affects employment much more strongly than offshoring or outsourcing. While a widening wealth gap has been viewed with alarm by many economists, highly-skilled knowledge workers have been considered relatively immune to the squeeze on the middle class.
The study will be managed by EraNova's research director, Anthony Spina. Holding a PhD in Human & Organizational Systems, Spina is a former research manager for AT&T, and lectures on business and social change. With an advisory panel drawn from universities, corporations, and professional associations, EraNova will also seek collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The straw poll remains active on a blog hosted by EraNova, "Automatic Abundance" -- http://www.eranova.com/aa.html
Samson, a specialist on the mind and technology, has published several books and served as consultant to Cisco Systems, AT&T, IBM, and others. His most recent book is "MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY: Coming Out On Top as a Wired World Starts to Run On Automatic" (Booksurge Publishing). His identification of an emerging "Hyper-Human Economy" was selected by the World Future Society as the number-one forecast in their "Outlook 2005."
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EraNova Institute - 142 Morris Avenue - Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046 - 973-335-3699
RELEASE ON RECEIPT - March 18, 2005
CONTACT: Dick Samson - (973) 335-3699 - dicksamson@eranova.com
Knowledge Workers -- The New Working Poor?
Online Poll, Offered by EraNova Think Tank, Will Calibrate Income Levels of Highly-Trained Workers
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ, March 18 -- Are "knowledge workers" -- the much-ballyhooed, high-skill producers of today's economy -- falling into the ranks of the working poor? While this may seem counter-intuitive in an improving economy, think tank EraNova Institute says it appears to be happening. The development is substantiated, EraNova says, by government statistics and its own observations.
To calibrate and better understand the trend, EraNova announced today an online straw poll. It is designed to gather broad input from technical personnel, managers, creative people, and others who make their living primarily through mental skill and communication. The interactive straw poll is available on a blog hosted by EraNova, "Automatic Abundance" -- http://www.eranova.com/aa.html
The straw poll lets knowledge workers tell anonymously how they're currently doing, by pigeonholing themselves into one of three categories:
- KNOWLEDGE-WORKING POOR (Not earning enough to pay the bills)
- KNOWLEDGE-WORKING MIDDLE (Earning enough to get by)
- KNOWLEDGE-WORKING RICH (Earning enough to save and splurge)
After taking the straw poll, visitors may view total responses to date, and post comments (anonymously or with their names). They may also read an article, "Knowledge Workers -- The New Working Poor?" that tells of low-paid, extremely qualified people, including some with PhD's, who have come to EraNova's attention.
The straw poll "will give us some preliminary numbers, expand our understanding of who's affected, and provide a basis for more investigation," says Richard W. Samson, EraNova's director. He points to a U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study, published in 2002, indicating that more than 500,000 American college graduates earn incomes below the poverty line. In Samson's view, the number of "knowledge-working poor" could be much higher, "because, unlike blue-collar workers who may declare themselves 'unemployed,' the knowledge workers we know shun that appellation. They're never 'unemployed.' They're 'contractors' seeking gigs, or 'business owners' seeking clients." Many, he reports, are taking in only a few thousand dollars a year. "They're in fact 'working poor' though trying to give the appearance of doing better. And they're spending down their assets to keep afloat."
The widespread rise of the knowledge-working poor, if confirmed, is one result of "off-peopling," a term Samson coined to call attention to human consequences of automation, which affects employment much more strongly than offshoring. While a widening wealth gap has been viewed with alarm by many economists, highly-skilled knowledge workers have been considered relatively immune to the squeeze on the middle class. Confirmation of a knowledge-worker income squeeze could call many popular economic fixes, such as high-tech skill training, into question.
A specialist on the mind and technology, Samson has published several books and served as consultant to Cisco Systems, AT&T, IBM, and others. His most recent book is "MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY: Coming Out On Top as a Wired World Starts to Run On Automatic" (Booksurge Publishing). He is currently working on a book that offers 10 "hyper-human tactics" for doing well in spite of off-peopling and income challenges. His identification of an emerging "Hyper-Human Economy" was selected by the World Future Society as the number-one forecast in their "Outlook 2005."
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Companies Too Catch Flu, and Wrong Cure Can Be Lethal, EraNova Institute Says
Right Fix for Corporate Sniffles Not Off-Peopling Pill But Hyper-Human Injection
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ - January 10 -- The symptoms: fevers that rise when stock prices fall ... swollen costs ... anemic sales ... tired production ... and dull fuzziness, often accompanied by confusion and panic, in the headquarters.
"It's flu season for corporate bodies," says the head of a New Jersey think tank. "At-risk companies, especially the elderly, should take precautions," he advises, "but they're taking the wrong ones." He is Richard W. Samson, director of EraNova Institute -- www.eranova.com -- which advises companies on healthy growth through employee empowerment. Common misused remedies include --
- Merger Methadone: Often prescribed for feverish success addicts, this strong drug can relieve the ache and pain of "no growth by legitimate means," Samson says. "But too many doses can clog the operational arteries."
- Downsizing Decongestant: This common over-the-counter medication can restore corporate respiration, but only temporarily and with severe side effects. "Over time it seeps into the company's bloodstream, poisoning corpuscles of innovation and enthusiasm."
- Liposuction and Bloodletting: "These draconian remedies are being taken at the slightest sneeze or just out of habit," says Samson. "But you can remove only so much flesh and blood before the rest of the body weakens and dies."
The misused remedies all involve "off-peopling," a term coined by Samson. Off-peopling, like offshoring, reduces human costs, but does so by squeezing out the human factor entirely, mostly through progressive automation and computerization. The result is never-ending layoffs; increased workloads for remaining workers; downward pressure
on pay and benefits; undermined communities; and a new low for the middle class, with 12% of Americans in poverty.
"Off-peopling is okay if you re-deploy your people in smart new ways," says Samson. "But so far most big companies aren't doing that. It's high time they started." Many venerable firms -- in telecommunications, the airlines, manufacturing, retail, and finance -- are entering the intensive care ward, never to recover, he predicts.
The health-promoting alternative to off-peopling is the "Hyper-Human Solution" promoted by EraNova. As tasks are offloaded to technology, people are simultaneously empowered to perform higher-level functions beyond the ability of electronics and automation.
According to Samson, the few companies that have implemented the approach have kept their employees and hired new ones while reducing costs and boosting productivity. And they have seen their revenues and stock values perk up nicely. (Bellwether hyper-human implementers are listed on the EraNova site.)
The hyper-human approach will eventually lead to a Hyper-Human Economy, as predicted by Samson in the September/October issue of The Futurist magazine. The trend was chosen by the World Future Society as #1 of their top 10 forecasts for 2005. In the Hyper-Human Economy, surviving companies will fare even better than yesterday's winners, "not by attacking their employee bodies, but by giving them a new more vital life."
Samson, a specialist on the mind and technology, has published 10 books and contributed expertise to leading organizations including AT&T, Cisco, IBM, and the fast-growing "hyper-solutions" provider, Adea Solutions of Texas.
His most resent book is "MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY: Coming Out On Top as a Wired World Starts to Run On Automatic": Trade paper; 268 pages; ISBN 1-59457-234-8; from BookSurge Publishing, a partner of R.R. Bowker. It may be ordered from Amazon.com, Borders.com, Alibris.com, BookSurge.com, bookstores, and by dialing 866-308-6235. An excerpt is available at www.eranova.com.
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"Hyper-Human" Trend #1 of Top 10 for 2005, World Futurists Say
To maximize success, leading companies will empower skills that cannot be automated
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ, October 11 -- While companies will continue "off-peopling" many tasks to technology, they will simultaneously put even more emphasis on skills that cannot be automated. This trend, identified by Richard W. Samson of EraNova Institute, was selected as the number-one forecast from the "top 10" by the editors of The Futurist magazine, published by the World Future Society, Bethesda, Md.
The 10 forecasts are detailed in "Outlook 2005," the latest of the society's annual prognostications: www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm.
The trend highlighted for 2005 is a shift from human to "hyper-human" skills in the workplace. The transformation is expected to start in a few forward-looking companies and then spread throughout the U.S. and world. Hyper-human skills, the basis of the coming "hyper-human economy," include caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration, friendliness, and imagination -- qualities hard to mechanize or computerize.
Through training in hyper-human skills, an office assistant, for example, would morph into an "administrative response specialist" by honing situation-management and problem-anticipation skills. Scientists and engineers would heighten their perception, analysis, and creativity through "hyper" degrees of mind-management. Executives would broaden the scope of their responsibility to fully embrace social and environmental as well bottom-line concerns.
The World Future Society is one of the premiere trend spotters for business, academia, and government. Over the years, the society's Outlook has alerted decision makers to key developments including the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War.
The trend identified by Samson (featured in Outlook 2005) is more fully explained in "How to Succeed in the Hyper-Human Economy," an article by Samson appearing in the September-October issue of The Futurist. Samson is Director of EraNova, a New Jersey think tank.
EraNova has developed three approaches for helping companies, government agencies, and non-profits move rapidly to the hyper-human economy:
(1) Mind Over Tech -- To ramp up productivity in a way that benefits everyone, "working smarter and transferring the dull stuff to technology."
(2) Mind Over Marketing -- To expand income by looking through the hyper-human business-development lens.
(3) Mental Leverage Online -- To support hyper-human behavior through aids on the Internet and phone networks.
Explanatory documents may be downloaded free from the EraNova Institute site: www.eranova.com. Outlook 2005, which sells for $4, is available from the World Future Society at www.wfs.org/reportorder.htm.
Samson, an expert on the mind and technology, recently coined the term "off-peopling" to highlight the transfer of human tasks to all-automatic solutions. "Off-peopling is an elephant of an issue," he says, "while offshoring is a mouse." Off-peopling, he predicts, could shrink the middle class and add fuel to civil unrest if not accompanied by parallel empowerment of higher skills only humans can deliver.
Samson has published 10 books and served as consultant to AT&T, Cisco and IBM. His latest book, "MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY: Coming Out On Top as a Wired World Starts to Run On Automatic," is the basis of his Futurist article. It is 268 pages; ISBN 1-59457-234-8; from Global Book Publisher, a partner of R.R. Bowker. It is available from Amazon.com, Borders.com, Alibris.com, BookSurge.com, bookstores, and by phone at 866-308-6235. An excerpt may be downloaded from www.eranova.com.
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Top Trend for 2005 and beyond!
See "How to Succeed in the Hyper-Human Economy" in the September-October, 2004, issue of Futurist Magazine. The approach is the #1 forecast of the World Future Society's "Top 10 Forecasts from Outlook 2005": http://www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm. In the past, WFS's Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of the Internet, virtual reality, the end of the Cold War, and other paradigm-shifting developments.
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"Human Edge Leverage" -- Tool for Better Business & World
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ, September 18 - A method for maximizing the
positive output of groups -- from companies to society at large -- was
announced today by EraNova Institute, a New Jersey think tank. Elements of the
method have been applied sporadically by companies, non-profit groups,
communities and nations; but all of the elements have never before been
brought together into a single, unified system, according to EraNova's
director, Richard W. Samson.
also shift the economy into high gear and eliminate the motivation for
crime and terrorism."
The method helps a company or group transition to "highly human" ways of operating. "This is the opposite of what's happening now-- squeezing out human costs regardless of consequences," says Samson. He asserts that today's productivity improvements are mostly anti-human, with cost savings achieved through "off-peopling" or the transfer of human tasks into all-automatic solutions. Offshoring, he says, is merely a transitional cost saver on the way to a world that practically runs on automatic. "No one from any country can work as cheaply as a chip," he says, quoted in the September issue of Readers Digest.
is consistent with cost savings, rapid productivity improvement, and the
adoption of advanced people-replacing technology. With apparent contradiction,
the method eliminates human tasks while simultaneously making people more
necessary and relevant. The key is to distinguish -- for the first time in a
practical, operational way -- between human skills better performed by
automation, and other human skills that lie beyond the reach of electronic
ability. "The future belongs to organizations that can gracefully
concede the right things to technology, while quickly powering up their
employees' unique, highly-human qualities," he says.
methods enabled us to shift from a manual economy to industrialism. Social
chaos -- including riots, the Depression, and two world wars -- accompanied the
earlier transition. Similar chaos -- including increasing levels of terrorism,
environmental decay, and economic implosions -- are likely to accompany the
present transition unless we plan intelligently, Samson says.
For a company, the process starts with a re-examination of the corporate
mission, values, and thrust. Aggressive new goals are set, such as increasing
productivity by 5% or more per year without resorting to layoffs. Then, with
the cooperation of all employees, tasks are analyzed to determine which could
better be done by automatic systems. Simultaneously "highly human" skills
are inventoried -- those that only humans can supply. An aggressive skill
development program is then implemented; and jobs are re-defined appropriately.
"Everyone pitches in to make the organization really fly," Samson
says, "because no one is threatened and everyone benefits."
Samson, an expert on the mind and technology, has published 10 books and served
as consultant to AT&T, Cisco and IBM. His associates include specialists in
management, organizational development and training, thinking skills,
marketing, and technology.
Trade paper; 268 pages; ISBN 1-59457-234-8; from Global Book Publisher, a
partner of R.R. Bowker. It may be ordered from Amazon.com, Borders.com,
Alibris.com, BookSurge.com, bookstores, and by dialing 866-308-6235. An excerpt
is available at www.eranova.com.
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