Are you a Mr or Mrs Dinosaur?

In a digital world, running analog is one giant leap backwards. When the whole world is talking and breathing “digital”, are you the one who is still walking across the street to encash money from your bank? Are you the one who is still calling your travel agent to help book your train tickets? Are you the one who is still using inland letters to write a “fan-mail”? Are you the one who is still sharing your recent picture by carrying around a photo album? 

I guess you aren’t doing so. If so, one would have to award you the honorary prefix “Dinosaur” to your name! A company whose name was infamously prefixed with the title “Dinosaur” was Kodak. Kodak’s successful run for almost a century came to a grinding halt with the advent of digital photography. Herein is a big lesson for all of us — just because you were successful yesterday, there isn’t any guarantee that you would still keep moving tomorrow, unless you adapt to your changing environment today.

Let’s do a quick check to determine whether or not you are transforming into a Dinosaur - Are you working with the same technology and/or systems for the last five years? How eager are you in joining informal chats or forums where they discuss the latest methods of delivering your product or service ? Are you investing some portion of your time and efforts in learning at least one skill of the future? Do you at least have an idea about Digital Skills, if not Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IOT), Blockchain, Augmented Analytics? 

Odeyessus — in the blockbuster movie “Troy” — is seen muttering to himself the following words: “Men rise and fall like winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.” These words are never truer than today - with today’s rapid technological advance, companies rise and fall faster than ever before. And for us to stay relevant in our digital world and not fall by the wayside, one needs to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn. What do you say?