What Critical Skill is required to Sustain & Thrive in the future of work?
What Critical Skill is required to Survive & Thrive in the future of work?
I've been asked this question many times, also about what do multinational companies look for in a candidate when they hire? and how effective are the education systems in the world in cultivating such skills? I'm not an educationist but thought of compiling this based on my experience of working, living, and learning on three different continents that too in a very diverse, multicultural, meritocratic, competitive environment, and also watching my son adapt and evolve in these education systems.
We are living and working in a technologically connected, digital, and globalized world. And one of the main career implications of this digital revolution is a shift in demand for human expertise.
It's far more important to be "Intellectually Curious" than before and push the envelope on ‘learnability’, the desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt one’s skill set to remain employable, and also if you want to remain ahead of the pack.
What you know is less relevant than what you may learn, and knowing the answer to questions is less critical than having the ability to ask the right questions in the first place.
Individuals and schools, educational institutions, Organizations need to cultivate fluid thinking – this is about "Originality, Fluency of Ideas, and Active Learning". - says Emma Sue Prince, Director Ultimenta.
Here's what she further advises - Learning culture: We must champion curiosity and cultivate critical thinking. Strangely enough, performance is highest when we are not formally learning, but educational institutions in the developing world still tend to reward based on results and performance. The real need is to encourage and reward independent informal learning and recognize the value of it.
Want to Foster Creativity in Children? Science Says, “Nurture Curiosity!” - Creating a climate that nurtures critical and fluid thinking and the sharing of ideas, and encourages challenging authority and speaking up, even if it means creating discord.
"Critical Thinking", an important skill needed, is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas, to form a judgment. Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. To be a critical thinker requires "Curiosity"; it requires you to want to know more, hear more, think more.
Dr. KH Kim, Professor of Creativity & Innovation at the College of William & Mary, writes - Whether you're a teacher or parent looking to foster creativity in children, finding time to indulge curiosity is essential. That's easier said than done in today's demanding climate, with such high premiums placed on immediate achievement and rapid skill acquisition.
Einstein’s mathematical expertise and critical thinking skills were integral ingredients to his life’s work, but he would have never developed them if the way had not been lit by a spark of curiosity. Curiosity is the spontaneous and free desire to learn that all innovators must possess. If we want children to grow into productive and happy innovators, we must ensure they learn to be as curious as Albert Einstein was.
"Before answering children’s questions, help children develop a lifelong passion for learning and empower themselves and their curiosity in self-directed exploration" - Dr. KH Kim
Speaking to students, parents, and alumni at his high school alma mater in Seattle last year, one question posed to Bill Gates: "What are the skills today's students need to know to thrive in the world of 2030 and 2040?"
Gates answered, "For the curious learner, these are the best of times because your ability to constantly refresh your knowledge with either podcasts or lectures that are online is better than ever."
Cultivate your curiosity - To better prepare students for the future, Gates stressed the critical importance of curiosity as a framework for acquiring knowledge. He encouraged students to pursue subject areas of history, science, and economics, which he thinks will become particularly useful for a successful future.
Being a curious person is being a student of life which is actually a very good thing for the creative. Not only is curiosity key to the learning process, but it's also great for overall life satisfaction. Harvard Business Review reports that people with a higher "curiosity quotient" (CQ) are more inquisitive and generate more original ideas, and this "thinking style" leads to higher levels of knowledge acquisition over time. CQ, the article states, "is the ultimate tool to produce simple solutions for complex problems."
Curiosity is essential to expanding leadership capacity and unleashing untapped potential in yourself and those around you. By being willing to explore and ask questions, leaders are able to see more clearly the nuances of a challenge and reach better outcomes.
"Curiosity is jet fuel for creativity." - Sam Harrington
Scott Belsky, Chief product officer, Adobe, writes in his article published on World Economic Forum -
Creativity will be key to competing against AI in the future workforce
- As our adoption of automation increases, creativity is set to become ever-more important.
- Creativity is a uniquely human trait that no algorithm can replace.
- By focusing on education, retraining, and workplace tools, we can prepare for a future of work in which success depends on creativity.
In 2018, artificial intelligence expert Kai-Fu Lee estimated that AI and automation would take over half of the human work in 15 years. The Covid-19 pandemic has likely accelerated that timeline significantly. Since the virus struck, “I haven’t talked to anyone who’s not doing automation as a way to become more competitive, and more resilient,” IDC analyst Maureen Fleming told Wired. Lee also predicted that creative jobs would survive automation because creativity is a uniquely human trait that no algorithm can replace.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report predicts creativity, innovation, and ideation will be key skills for the workforce of the future. These so-called soft skills, which sit alongside analytical thinking and problem-solving, will replace manual tasks that become automated.
Creativity is the single most important skill for leaders, revealed a 2010 IBM study of 1,500 CEOs. Those that chose creativity as one of the three top leadership traits were up to 20% more likely to pursue innovation through business model change. It’s never been more important for business leaders to be creative. As the IBM report states: “To operate more effectively in a volatile environment, creative leaders strongly encourage and experiment with all types of business model innovation.”
According to analysis from networking site LinkedIn, 2019’s employers are looking for a combination of both hard and soft skills, with creativity topping the list of desired attributes. The findings chime with the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, which concluded that “human” skills like originality, initiative, and critical thinking are likely to increase in value as technology and automation advances.
After creativity, LinkedIn said the top soft skills were persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and time management. On the hard-skill side, cloud computing was top, with engineers in demand as more and more services and data migrate to the cloud. Artificial intelligence came next, followed by analytical reasoning since companies need to make decisions based on the myriad of data that’s now accessible to them. People management came fourth, followed by user experience design – the process of making all these new technologies accessible and easy for humans to interact with.
The future of work involves lot of creativity , new skills ideation and it is explained in a visionary way all this can change the course of Artificial Intelligence. This is a well researched Article its a must read for all of us .
ReplyDeleteThe future of work involves lot of creativity , new skills ideation and it is explained in a visionary way all this can change the course of Artificial Intelligence. This is a well researched Article its a must read for all of us .
ReplyDeletethank you Sandeep
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