ALBURY would be wise to invest in its dormant American sister city relationship as it adjusts to a world where workplaces will be made up of hot, warm and cold bodies.
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That’s the view of Sydney business ace Wendy Simpson who will speak at the second Border Leadership Forum in Wodonga in August.
The ex-teacher of delinquents, who helped take the internet to China, will appear alongside All Saints Winery chief Eliza Brown.
Mrs Simpson spoke to The Border Mail from California where she has been visiting Silicon Valley and discussing the future of business.
“I’m over here in Silicon Valley learning what leadership will look like in the next 20 years – the challenge is that artificially intelligent machine-learning robots are going to takeover quite a lot of roles,” Mrs Simpson said.
“There is going to be a fundamental shift in what machines do and what humans do and if you think about it early you will have more opportunity to decide.”
Mrs Simpson said an accountant had described how businesses should be looking at their workplaces as made of hot bodies, warm bodies and cold bodies.
Respectively they represent staff, contract and automated roles.
“I think every leader has to contend with those three categories of people,” Mrs Simpson said.
“There are people that still say ‘I don’t get technology, I don’t get engaged with it’.
“I think the university, hospital, local government need to come along and hear what leadership is going to be like in the future.
“We’re not talking about The Jetsons, about years away, it’s sooner than we imagine.
“What they’re saying is at the moment between 25 and 30 per cent of every job in America involves driving a car, truck or train and with driverless transportation coming on board there’s a strong likelihood driving will no longer be a human activity.
“It will require a whole different mindset.”
Mrs Simpson challenged the Border community to hook-up with Silicon Valley or reignite a sister city relationship Albury has had with Merced in California.
“I think the Albury-Wodonga region would be wise to start seeing the future is already with us and we have a sister city relationship with California and why couldn’t we engage with that?” she said.
“It’s not about going for cups of tea and having tourism.
“It’s fundamental to what it means to be human and what it means to have staff and be a leader.”
Leadership forum chairman Steve Martin said Mrs Simpson and Ms Brown were “two impressive leaders” who had shown “big thinking can lead to big rewards”.
Tickets and more details about the event can be found at the Border Leadership Forum’s Facebook page.
