What skills do we need to stay relevant in the future?

future or workFrom the beginnings of organized farming to the advent of organized labor, work has dramatically changed. It has fundamentally shifted even more as we moved from the industrial era into today’s technologically enabled on-demand reality. The ability to automate work and use artificial intelligence to augment everyday tasks is now here. And, the nature of change in the workforce is accelerating as robots start to walk outside factories, the whir of drones grows louder in the air, and driverless cars are poised to join us on the streets in cities nationwide.

We are rapidly approaching an inflection point where the acceleration of these trends will bring about a sea change in the workforce.

This discussion focused on how to adapt our communities and the organizations within them through innovation to produce a workforce of the future.  Specifically, the relevant skills needed to continue to add value to our organizations and those they serve.

On this episode we discuss some relevant questions:

  • What will work look like in the future?
  • What skills will we need?
  • Where and how can these skills be learned?
  • How can the skill gap be bridged?
  • Will self-employed, free-agent contract workers be the workforce of the future?

There is no shortage of articles on how the future of work might play out, some of which I’ve discussed on this blog before (here, here, here). I also recommend you read these articles of the workforce of the future and skills for the future.

We believe that staying relevant requires life-long learning to maintain and improve our skills.

Tell us, what skills will be relevant in the future?

Let us know on Twitter @jorgebarba and @adrianpedrin.

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The Big Bang is a weekly podcast. Tune in every Tuesday for more discussions on what’s possible.

Intro audio is by Arturo Arriaga, outro audio is Candyland by Guy J.