E-Paper
Global village idiot: Future skill worries (s)killing the present… and all that jazz
Life is a perpetual “work-in-progress”. Everything is in motion, occurring simultaneously, nothing is complete, not my work, not my learning, not my youth or middle age or childhood. I am father and child at the same time! Only at the end of my life, will it all be complete, says author Sanjay Mukherjee
Skills are very important, apparently. Very important. So much so that most of my acquaintances are talking about skills as much as they are talking about Covid-19. Apparently, it’s Covid-19 that’s got them worried about it in the first place. You see, the world is changing.
“Do you know that 85 million jobs are likely to be displaced because of emerging technology?”
“Where did you read that?”
“I don’t remember where! I don’t have any of the skills required for all the new jobs! That’s what matters!”
“But you already have a good job,” I pointed out.
“But that job may not be there in the future, see?”
Now all conversations are not so panic-stricken:
“Can’t talk right now, am busy doing online courses,”
“Which course?”
“Many courses. Leadership, Design Thinking, Critical Thinking, Programming, Sustainability,”
“But you are 12! Why aren’t you playing online games and being a kid?!”
“The future is coming, without these new skills I won’t succeed.”
So, I stopped to think. What skills do I have? What is success? And what is failure? And why haven’t I been thinking about it? In school I remember playing. And reading. And writing. And making and doing and talking. Oh yes, I remember talking a lot. In class.
And therefore, kneeling in front of the classroom because talking in class wasn’t such a good thing when the teacher was teaching. And then, I remember talking across the classroom as I was serving my punishment (kneeling), and so I would be sent outside the classroom to kneel there so that everyone passing by would know I was punished. And there, in that lonely corridor, I would talk to teachers, and students and staff who happen to pass by. I think by the time I reached Grade 2, the whole school knew I was a talkative kid. I think I can put it down as a skill then.
I got through school and college well enough. Not at the top, not near the bottom, not in the middle, but well enough. And I didn’t worry about getting a score, or fret about what would happen if I didn’t get a good enough score. I didn’t sit for competitive exams, didn’t aim to be an engineer or pilot or doctor, or anything actually. Through college and after, I took up many jobs and learned stuff and did stuff and wrote stuff and then, I discussed it with others, and then, I read and wrote and did and discussed some more, and so on.
I held 11 jobs from age 18 through 24. I remember friends and family being worried about me all the time and telling me that I shouldn’t quit jobs so soon, because I wouldn’t be able to build a career. I didn’t stop to think about all that good advice because I was restless and obsessed with finding out who I am, what I could do, what I liked, didn’t like.
Today, when I stop and give my back-trail a thought, I would say my life is a perpetual “work-in-progress”. I am just the same kid I was in school, in awe of all that is around me. Asking, running, doing, writing and talking - always talking still - and thrilled with the gift: How beautiful is life! Everything is in motion, occurring simultaneously, nothing is complete, not my work, not my learning, not my youth or middle age or childhood. I am father and child at the same time! Only at the end of my life, will it all be complete.
So on the matter of skills, yes, there is a List of Future Skills. It comes from the World Economic Forum’s report on the Future of Jobs (it’s available free from the WEF site). Nasscom has one too, as does Pearson, and many other organisations. The long and short of it is that yes, there’re changes happening right now. There will always be changes in the world we live in.
If you are in a job or looking for one, or changing one or studying to get a job soon, it is important to remember that the rules of figuring out how to make a living aren’t too complicated. Figure out what the world needs. Figure out what you are good at, what you are great at, and what you suck at. Then see if the world needs anything that you are good or great at. If not, then see if you can learn to become better at some of the stuff the world does need. If the world doesn’t need what you are good at, then you’ll just have to pick a range of jobs you can become efficient at, without losing your mind because you have to do it 8-10 hours a day. Then, do what you want the rest of the time. That’s what the gig economy’s all about anyway. Whichever way you go, there’s not much point fretting your way through it all.
Mukherjee, author, learning-tech designer and management consultant, is founder of Mountain Walker and chief strategy advisor, Peak Pacific. He can be reached @ thebengali@icloud.com
