With the uncertainty that accompanies any changing of the guard in Washington, businesses and the stock market can get nervous. This year, however, the uncertainty is intensified by deep partisan discord among politicians, who have the power to alter the business landscape through policy, as well as citizens, who may turn to activism in an effort to have their voices heard.

Automation - in the form of machine learning, robotics, autonomous vehicles, white-collar bots, exoskeletons, and so on - is changing the nature of work in a wide range of industries. Author Vinnie Mirchandani in conducting research for his new book, Silicon Collar: An Optimistic Perspective on Humans, Machines, and Jobs (Deal Architect, 2016), he examined people at work in more than 50 settings: accounting firms and banks, the battlefront and digital agencies, the oil patch and restaurants, R&D labs and shop floors, warehouses and wineries. And it is clear that the old divisions among professions and trades have dissolved. We're no longer white- or blue-collar workers. We're all silicon-collar workers, because technology is reshaping all our workplaces.