85 per
cent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t even been invented
yet, estimates a Dell Technologies report, written by the Institute for
the Future (IFTF) and a panel of 20 tech, business and academic experts from
around the world.
So
how do you prepare someone for a job that doesn’t exist yet? How can we prepare
the young people who will be entering the workforce in the next five years? How
can we prepare ourselves?
Wave Goodbye to Your Three-Stage Life
Before
we talk about preparation, here’s a contributing factor to consider: The
three-stage life we’ve been accustomed to is coming to an end. What are the
three stages of life? The first stage is education, which can last up to 25
years. The second stage revolves around work and lasts 40 years until we
retire. And retirement is the third stage in life, which lasts between 15 and
20 years on average.
Yet
life expectancy is increasing and health care is advancing. Over the last 200
years, life expectancy has increased consistently more than two years every
decade. This trend indicates that a child born today has more than a 50% chance
of living to 105! And they won’t simply stay alive—but can actually live a
healthy life in those years.
A
lifespan of 100+ years doesn’t fit well into the three straightforward stages
of life we are used to. For example, an education gained in your 20s won’t
sustain you for 60 years of working. Saving up for a retirement that lasts from
age 65 to 105 (40 years!) is unlikely if retirement age remains the same.
Meet the Multi-Stage Life
Instead,
people will adopt multi-stage lives. What will that look like? Based on trends
we are seeing now, it would include education on a reoccurring cycle to
accommodate career shifts based on technology advancements or personal choice.
Remaining relevant for 40 years is hard enough—how about 60? And perhaps the
stages will vary in focus—one stage for building financial resources, another
for focusing on work/life balance, another for flexibility in order to build a
family or care for aging loved ones, etc.
The
implications of multi-staged lives are vast. Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott put
it wonderfully: “These multi-stage lives require a proficiency in managing
transitions and reflexivity – imagining possible selves, thinking about the
future, reskilling and building new and diverse networks. At its best, it
offers people an opportunity to explore who they are and arrive at a way of
living that is nearer to their personal values.”
I
agree. A multi-stage life requires flexibility, a drive for continuous
learning, and the emotional intelligence to transition into ever-changing and
diverse work relationships. And I propose that these are the very skills needed
to prepare our employees, our youth, and us for jobs that don’t exist yet.
Preparing For the Unknown Future of Work: Four Essential Skills
Let’s take a closer look.
1. EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE (EQ)
A
person with a high EQ is curious about people they don’t know, aware of their
strengths and weaknesses, skilled in active listening, and aware of their own
emotional states, enabling them to respond rather than react. This is a skill
that can provide balance, insight, and flexibility when facing responsibility
shifts, career changes, and life stages. It doesn’t matter what job you’re
in—if you have emotional intelligence, you can navigate interpersonal
relationships successfully, leading to productivity, collaboration, and an
increased ability to face change.
In
order for leaders to prepare for an ever-evolving working world, they must be
skilled in constantly creating, organizing and dismantling teams. That requires
a high EQ because it’s so relational. Also, they can help prepare workers for
the future by implementing EQ training and displaying emotional intelligence
themselves.
2. COMMITMENT TO
LIFELONG LEARNING
We’ve
all witnessed how quickly technology has changed the fabric of our world. The
increasing global pace of growth only adds to that rapid-fire change. In order
to keep pace, people must be constantly learning. Whether this happens in the
form of MOOCs or peer-to-peer information exchange is irrelevant. What matters
is a commitment to learning—how else can someone transition smoothly into a
role they’ve never even heard of yet? We must seek this learning out
ourselves—yet it’s also imperative leaders make it a priority to offer personal
development opportunities for employees. We can all work together to ignite and
maintain the cycle of learning.
3. ABILITY TO THRIVE IN
DIVERSITY
In
the future, what we consider minorities will be the majority of consumers,
clients, employees, and leaders. This requires that the leaders of the future
understand their diverse employees and consumers, and make sure their employees
do too. Whatever the job, the teams will be more diverse than ever. And if
you’re unable to learn from and embrace the benefits of a diverse team, you’re
not going to succeed in any role.
4. A NIMBLE APPROACH
We’ve
established that change is happening at a rapid pace. If you’re unable to
respond quickly, you may lose your place at the table, and severely limit other
opportunities. Yet if you can leverage constant change, you will thrive. As
Chris Heiler said, “Survival of the fittest? Today–and tomorrow–it’s survival
of the nimblest.”
What
does being nimble look like? Is it a skill you can develop? Yes, you can
practice being nimble, just like you can practice EQ. Here’s what to do: Focus
on building self-reliance, facing fear, being decisive yet flexible, and
regularly seek out new skills. Also, work on managing your own bias, so that
you can walk into new situations with the ability to see possibility rather
than blockades.
With
our new workforce functioning as more of an ecosystem than a pyramid, leaders
of the future need to be nimble as well. Their ability to pivot, pull teams
together quickly, and exhibit out-of-the-box thinking will influence their
success in a decentralized structure that is constantly evolving.
The Cherry on Top: Purpose
The
last thing Gratton and Scott said rings true as well: A multi-stage life will
enable people to live closer to their personal values. This is perhaps the most
exciting outcome of a longer lifespan, and aligns with one of the goals of
integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the workforce. AI has the
potential to enable workers to focus on work that is more aligned with their
values rather than monotonous tasks.
Don’t Forget Our Youth
This
movement towards purpose with multi-stage lives and the assistance of AI also
applies to our youth. Social Impact Entrepreneur Peter E. Raymond explains, “As
automation will continue to reduce the need for human jobs there is an
opportunity to prepare our kids for the challenges that will keep them
empowered and give them purpose. These challenges will create new markets and
economies we have not yet imagined.” And new education platforms preparing
youth for this impending reality are already in the works.
In
closing I’d like to point out that while fear of change is expected (and
neurological!), there is a lot of positives in line for the future. Instead of
seeing yourself in a position of impending irrelevance, see yourself as
empowered to build key skills that will prepare you to succeed not matter
where, or how many times, your career pivots. Start practicing your emotional
intelligence today, work on being nimble, dive into the benefits of diverse
teams, and regularly ignite your brain with new skills and knowledge. Before
you know it, you’ll be in the middle of a drastically different workscape—and
you’ll be thriving.
What
did we miss? What is another essential skill to prepare for jobs that don’t yet
exist? Let’s crowd source the answer:
Let’s
share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.
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