Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know that Brilliant Machines Never Will

Description

In the dawning age of brilliant machines, what will people do better than computers? It's easy to imagine a frightening future in which technology takes over the jobs that we now get paid to do, working more accurately and for barely any cost. Computers can already perform surgery, drive vehicles, write articles and do intricate legal work, so what hope will there be for tomorrow's workforce? Drawing on a wealth of research, Geoff Colvin uncovers the skills that will be in great demand as technology advances - and how they can be developed. In this new machine age, we shouldn't try to beat computers at what they can do. We'll lose that contest. Instead we must look to unlikely places, learn from the best, and cultivate the human abilities that make us unique.

Geoff Colvin is Fortune's senior editor-at-large and is also the author of Talent is Overrated and The Upside of the Downturn. He has served as moderator of the Fortune Global Forum, where he has interviewed Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Herb Kelleher, Peter Drucker and other business legends. Colvin graduated Harvard cum-laude with a B.A. in Economics, and received his MBA from New York University's Stern School.

As machines inexorably become ever more competent at doing machinelike things, interpersonal skills, irreplaceable skills of human interaction, will come to be recognized as being even more valuable than they've always been. This is an extremely important, highly practical, and indeed exhilarating book. - Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP In Humans are Underrated, Geoff Colvin makes the case that there is no point trying to beat machines at their own game. What makes people special is their inbuilt propensity for social interaction. We work well in groups communicating, collaborating and, yes, empathising. Our best hope lies in what makes us most different from the logic-processors in the softer side of human nature. - Financial Times An intriguing book. Humans need humanness, so that's what will retain market value. Not that the argument's solely economic. It also helps explain, for example, why face-to-face interaction is so critical for wellbeing. Computers can (and probably will) take over or transform every human job, except one: that of being human. - Guardian Beautifully written and deeply researched, Humans Are Underrated is one of the most creative and insightful leadership books I have ever read. It is a triumph! - Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning historian and author of Team of Rivals A powerful exposition of the strengths and limitations of technology in shaping our lives and addressing today's greatest challenges. More than ever, as Colvin demonstrates, we need people who embody the most human of qualities. An uplifting account of the enduring potential of humanity itself. - Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever Through a series of practical case studies and insights, Colvin clearly demonstrates that regardless of where the future takes us emotional intelligence will remain one of the most valuable human skills and the Human Element will remain a differentiator. - Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and CEO, Dow Chemical Company Geoff Colvin's fresh take on how to respond to the rise of brilliant machines and the changing nature of work is as wise as it is inspiring. - Dominic Barton, global managing director, McKinsey & Company A measured and comprehensive case for the edge that human beings will have over their titanium brethren in the future job market. Packed full of insightful research and case studies, Humans are Underrated makes a compelling case that people aren't surplus to requirements just yet. - Elite Business