Because the digital economy is based on knowledge work and innovation.. there is a convergence between work and learning. While you perform knowledge work, you learn. And you must learn minute by minute to pet- form knowledge work effectively.
In the old economy, the basic competencies of the industrial workman. bricklayer, or bus driver were relatively stable, True, you might ha applied those competencies to different situations, such as different construction sites, but the learning component of your labor was small.

In the new economy, the learning component of work becomes huge.  Consider the researcher looking for a genetic basis for schizophrenia. the software developer creating a new multimedia application, the manager is responsible for corporate planning in a bank, the consultant assessing client’s markets, the entrepreneur starting up a new business, or the teaching assistant in a community college. Think about your own work. \‘ and learning overlap for a massive component of the workforce.

The human resources function in general and human resources professionals in particular should be uniquely positioned to provide leadership for the transformation of the enterprise. After all, if the key obstacles blocking this shift toward the reinvention of the corporation are attitudes, ways of working, and people and legacy cultures, shouldn’t the very department that’s specifically responsible for “people issues,” the human resource function, be the natural leader?

Although some human resource professionals are rising to the challenge, too many are not. The basic problem is that in the first era, human resource professionals were mere suppliers of human resource functions, such as staffing needs and compensation planning. This may have made a lot of sense during a period of stability and steady growth. But as we move into the digital economy, the human resource profession needs to reinvent itself and forge partnerships with others in the organization for the transformation of the corporation.