Quoted in: The Philadelphia Citizen

FUTURE-READY: RESOLUTIONS FOR EXCELLING IN THE FUTURE OF WORK
This is an historic time for American workers. Here, advice from experts on how to take advantage of that.

BY ANNE GEMMELL   JAN. 06, 2022

Technologists race to “fail fast and break things.” The pandemic is an accelerant, creating ripe conditions for adopting new ways to work, live, ship, deliver, and more.

Meanwhile the American political system lumbers along, deliberate by design but also increasingly dysfunctional. Now, we have a widening gap between the rapidly approaching future and the legacy systems struggling to understand and shape the positive and negative human consequences. For example, what exactly is at stake with the Metaverse? Don’t get me started.

If the “future of work” means anything, it means job churn will be rapid, especially in the lowest income levels. As the cashier occupation erodes, the on-demand delivery driver is in high demand. Meanwhile, managing a career strategy is work and can be overwhelming. People leave high school and college mostly unprepared for all of this.

Worse, U.S. workforce development programs are designed to get unemployed people back to work as soon as possible. They are not designed to support proactive career strategies. So, while CEOs call for upgrades to U.S. policy, people are essentially on their own.

Yet, there is plenty an individual can do. And, with historic leverage for employees, this is a great time to create a career strategy. To this end, please find curated expertise to help with your Future-Ready Resolutions
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BE HUMAN
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Truly, nothing is more human than empathy and other emotions. Emotional intelligence, or “EQ” is essential and quantifiable, says Veronica Scarpellino, founder of Goldfinch Leadership:

“One key future-ready skill is being emotionally intelligent, in-person, virtually and in writing. The human advantage is relationships, creativity and collaboration. These essential skills are not static. They can be learned and strengthened to establish value, even as technology advances.”

Scarpellino also offers a mythbuster:

“Do not fear a zig-zag career. Embrace your trials and failures because they provide growth and new insights about the best next move. Once you have clarity of purpose, the ‘zig-zag’ can take you on an incredible journey that, looking back, makes perfect sense”.


Read more at The Philadelphia Citizen
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/excelling-in-the-future-of-work/