Why a Newsletter? Why Now?
I will be researching and writing about the skills gap in America, to better understand the role I can play in circumventing widespread long-term unemployment.
The existing global workforce does not have the skills necessary to be successful in the future of work. Within the next 2 years, the skills that will be required to perform most jobs will shift significantly, with only slightly more than half of the existing core skills required to perform a job remaining relevant.
Our biggest challenge as a society isn’t upskilling to fit today’s business environment, because today’s environment will be obsolete tomorrow, but building the competency to be constantly upskilling to fit the ever changing landscape. The upskilling of 1.37 million workers who will be displaced from their current roles during the next ten years will cost companies $34 billion in the US alone. That number is certain to grow larger given COVID-19 and the resulting job losses of millions of people across the globe.
Digital proficiency and hard skills like data science, machine learning, cloud computing expertise, and UX design are currently in high demand, but cognitive flexibility, the ability to know how to learn still takes precedence above all else. Creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, negotiation and persuasion, flexibility/diversity of thought, complex problem-solving, leadership/social influence and sustainable resilience represent the soft skills that will reign supreme over the next decade. Beyond that, it is anyone's guess.
Through the Infinite Learner, I’m attempting to answer the question: What role can I play in purposefully circumventing widespread unemployment by enabling the modern workforce to succeed through perpetual upskilling. I will explore what the ideal, collaborative partnership between government, private industry and the individual could look like so as to increase OUR chances for success. I will also seek to answer whether the willingness to learn successively is a choice, and how ongoing, continuous learning, and micro-credentialing via self-service models can create a new found, greater prosperity for all (if not most) as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Sign up now so you don’t miss the first issue.
In the meantime, tell your friends!