Impulse conference at the GDI: Smart through the working world 4.0
Under the title "Performance society total - or at the limit?", the Impulse Conference organized by the Commercial Association Zurich and the Commercial Association Berne took place at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) on January 23, 2019. 200 guests and renowned speakers addressed the opportunities and challenges of today's meritocracy from different perspectives.
The demands at work are increasing, one deadline chases the other and the sheer endless possibilities in our private lives don't make it any easier: What can we do to avoid the risk of becoming unbalanced? The renowned stress and depression researcher Prof. Dr. med. Gregor Hasler from the University of Fribourg counters the growing pressure of the working world 4.0 by strengthening resilience. As a psychotherapist of many years' standing, he is familiar with measures for increasing one's own resilience. Specifically, he proposed a three-point program in his presentation at the Impulse conference: "First and foremost, it is important to benefit as much as possible from the meritocracy. First and foremost, one should invest in self-efficacy and self-fitness, as one's own boss, so to speak, who is open to life and its challenges. Third, it is important to develop and maintain local cooperation. The direct exchange in the neighborhood, in the association, in the place of residence and the cultivation of real relationships helps enormously."
Plea against multitasking
Leadership Coach Angelica von der Assen illuminated the effects of mindful leadership. She spoke of an "action addiction" in a world characterized by total "busyness." Today's fast-paced workday, she said, is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. "No one forces us to get on the hamster wheel. It is we ourselves who expose ourselves to this stress." Von der Assen therefore made a clear plea against multitasking, which results in more time and errors in the short term and a reduction in intelligence in the long term. "Mindfulness, on the other hand, can be rewarding: By doing less and being more, we gain speed for the essentials."
Craft and empathy professions have a future
The brilliant conclusion of the impulse conference was made by the German best-selling author and honorary professor for philosophy Richard David Precht. He took a careful look at our society and was convinced: "The future is already here - high time to act. The bourgeois society is a meritocracy and this is just being replaced by a revolution that many do not want to admit. It may, but need not, cost many jobs." In Precht's eyes, jobs in the world of work 4.0 will be generated primarily in IT, skilled trades and empathy professions. Human performance profiles, in other words, that cannot be replaced so quickly and easily by machines. "For the new meritocracy to function in the Western hemisphere, we need a restructuring of our social system on the one hand. And on the other hand, the creation of a basic income so that consumers continue to keep the economy going."
Source and further information: www.kfmv-zuerich.ch
