The 10 Key Skills for the Future of Work
This is a superb analysis of the future world of work and what skills will be needed in the future by Jessica Stillman. How many of these skills do you think you have; how many do you think warrant actually being included and do you think she has left any other skills out? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
What are the jobs of the future? The demographics of an aging population suggests health care will be big, say some. Data science is scheduled to explode, suggest others, or maybe anything computer-related is a solid bet. But let’s be honest, predicting exact job titles set to soar or the fates of specific sectors is nearly impossible.
The Low Wage – High Skilled Worker
Twenty, even ten years ago the traditional mantra of the working world was that if you were highly skilled – you were highly paid. Fast forward to the world of today and something completely different appears to be happening wherein we are being introduced to a Low Wage / High Skilled worker.
China and the Climate Change Paradox
Last week, much of Beijing was forced to slow down and in the case of its airports, actually shut down owing to high levels of smog. Here in Durban, South Africa, the Cop 17 talks rolled out to try and reach a binding agreement about climate change and a globally shared responsibility towards tackling the problem. The irony was not lost on me as I read reports of each of the big players: US, China and India, stalling the talks for their own economic self interest and reasons. Like many people I initially thought to myself that the smog will truly have to reach rock bottom before a nation like China takes the hint to progress environmental sustainability in spite of its economic progress. On further study, however, I believe that China is trying to do just that.
10% of the Population as Community Volunteers
One of the most interesting goals of China’s new Five Year Plan is to have 10% of its population as community volunteers. When you recognise that 10% of the Chinese population stands at approximately 135 million people, you being to gain a realistic understanding of what a staggering thought process this is! It is a hugely positive, if not ambitious, target to try and mobilise such a vast quantity of their citizens to give to the community and play their role in building China as a nation. Not only is it a sign of the time that their is such a significant emphasis being placed on community involvement and volunteering, but it also symbolizes the a certain ‘Ubuntu” that this seemingly unemotional and clinical nation has lying beneath their surface.
China’s 5 Year Plan: 3.3 Patents per 10 000 people
Earlier this year China produced its new Five Year Plan which will run from 2011 to 2015. The plan is ambitious, setting specific targets around economic growth, innovation and a massive transition to clean energy. The Chinese Premiere, Wen Jiabao, has alot of work to do and his 5 year term, which comes up for renewal in 2013, will be made or broken on the delivery of these plans. The same applies for his successor if he fails to get another term. From the outset it appears that China is confidently approaching the next five years with the mindset of pioneering new ideas, setting a benchmark for innovation and aiming to own the ‘green’ technology.
How economic inequality harms societies
In this talk, Richard Wilkinson takes us through how we feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. In it he charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust.
Why the West Rules for Now – A Summary
Why the West Rules for Now
Précis of Ian Morris’s book
Archaeologist Ian Morris’s book ‘Why the West Rules for Now’ takes a look at over 15 000 years of history to offer fresh insights into why development differed in the East and West and what the future will bring. It looks at the patterns of history to see what they reveal about the future. All his findings are based totally on archaeological digs that have been discovered and dated back to different time periods in history.
Great Disruption or Big Shift? – You Decide
I have long been a fan of Thomas Friedman – his books ‘The World is Flat’ (2005) and ‘Hot Flat and Crowded’ (2008) both provided superb insight into what was actually happening to drive change in the world. And his latest book ‘That Used to be Us: What went wrong with America’ (2011) is similarly riveting reading. I will write further on this in due course. However it was an article he wrote in the International herald Tribune this week that really caught my eye – great reading on the world today. Enjoy…
So What’s Changed?
Two weeks ago I was in the UK facilitating a strategic review session. The client is an organisation in the financial services market and I began by asking the the simple question: ‘So what has changed over the last 6 months?’ To my shock, the answer from around the room was “Not much…’
On throwing around some thoughts into what I thought was change with regards to the global financial markets, the discussion delved deeper and the response slowly shifted to ‘Well…I guess things are changing…’
Risky Business – William D Cohan
With Europe on the verge of a financial meltdown and many of Wall Street’s biggest banks trading at or near their 52-week lows and at a fraction of their book value — take for instance, Goldman Sachs, which is trading at about 75 percent of its book value, staring down a rare quarterly loss, cutting compensation, and firing thousands of employees — is it possible that the turmoil in the global financial markets is finally accomplishing what regulators the world over have not been willing or able to do: force these financial beasts to rein in their excessive risk-taking and act more like the dull, boring utilities we need them to be for our own safety?
Europe is in Denial
After a recent trip to Europe I have returned to South Africa more convinced than ever that European citizens (both civilians and professionals) are truly in denial about the financial recession as well as the future implications thereof.
The magic of truth and lies (and iPods)
Using three iPods like magical props, Marco Tempest spins a clever, surprisingly heartfelt meditation on truth and lies, art and emotion.
Education Needs an Upgrade
A few years ago Ken Robinson gave a ground breaking talk at the TED conference in which he urged for the transformation and progress of education and school systems. Robinson’s premise was simple: currrent schooling systems are simply out of date and not properly equipping the leaders of tomorrow with the right capabilities to work in the world of the future.
In the below article by Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times, entitled Education Needs a Digital Upgrade she argues a similar point that 65% of today’s school going children may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet. As she succintly puts it “The contemporary American classroom, with its grades and deference to the clock, is an inheritance form the late 19th century.”
Both Heffernan and Robinson are absolutely correct in their assessment of modern education. Doesn’t it seem strange that technology, ideas, organisations and innovations are developing at increasingly rapid rates, yet the primary platform for enabling this is firmly entrenched in an industrial age mindset? Education needs to move with the times both in its fluidity and within the digital medium. Whether you like it or not, the classroom of tomorrow may not even be one at all!
A Visualisation of US Debt
A hugely interesting illustration of just how severe the US Debt crisis is in tangile terms. This graphic originally appeared here and is most fascinating in how it shows us just how much real money the US is lacking in unfunded liabilities.
Too Big to Fail – An Infographic
One of my top reads over the past year has without a doubt been Andrew Ross Sorkin’s ‘Too Big to Fail’ which details the tipping point of the global markets into recession. The book is, however, much more than just a factual account of the demise of Wall Street powerhouses as it gives an inside look into the mentality of what drives many of the top financial organisations and CEO’s of today – Unfortunately greed seems to be the primary motive. A few months back I put out another post asking Who is accountable for the Global Recession in lieu of a damning Rolling Stone article I read. Below is another piece of collateral centered around the 2008 Financial Crisis, the results of which we are still struggling to deal with today…
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