"65% of the kids in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that don't yet exist"
Whether I've got an audience of 3,000 people in Vegas, or a small CEO-level meeting of 20 people, I always open with the same observation. It's from an Australian study which concluded that 65% of the kids in pre-school today will work in jobs or careers that do not yet exist.
I then challenge people to think through the global trends at work which are making such a bold statement into a reality. And I often walk through the types of new careers that are emerging in every industry to emphasize the point.
So what are a few of these new professions? There are dozens: here's five to start your day thinking about:
- knowledge farmers: exponential knowledge growth, in part driven by social networking, is leading to information overload everywhere. KF's are the uber-editors who immerse themselves in global data-feeds, extracting relevant knowledge and insight from data-torrents. They're the new editors, and its their ability to apply their insight to knowledge-rivers that will place them in high demand.
- location intelligence professionals: see my earlier post on this. I've been talking about this for years. These are the folks who are linking GoogleMap type data to existing business process and services, and who are building entire new global infrastructure on spatial information. This one is going to be huge!
- mash managers: as innovation moves from the core to the masses, creative insight is emerging from those who learn how to take multiple new ideas, and input them into the innovation process. These people synthesize ideas from multiple sources, study markets, interpret insight, and decide how to re-evolve a product, service, brand, marketing campaign, or just about anything else. Their focus in "constant innovation," and it's their idea-immersive environment that drives them forward.
- tactical controllers : in this wildly information-chaotic world, some people are busy searching for the next big thing. A new and very real profession emerges with those who step beyond the "minutiae-of-the-moment" and instead focus on providing tactical, strategic guidance on what-to-do-in-the-next-moments ... they are the PR expert who knows how to steer the company through a global viral idea meltdown; the brand expert who knows how to re-energize a brand next week; the individual who studies what the global knowledge farmers are revealing, and who understands what to do next as a result.
- analytical architects: the world's big problems are being solved by those who are learning to throw sophisticated solutions at complex problems. These are the folks who will architect the smart-highway infrastructure; load-balanced two-way energy grids; just-next-week manufacturing processes for the era of the customization of one. They've combined an education in combinatory theory with big server farms to generate the new smart-infrastructure that is set to envelop us.
That's a starting point. See your own new careers emerging? Let me know!
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Thinking ahead: knowledge delivery in the high velocity economy
I'm one of the keynote speakers today for the grand opening of Virtualis, which bills itself as "the largest and most meticulously designed convention center in the computer-generated world of Second Life."
Virtualis features ballrooms, breakout rooms, and an extensive trade show floor. I'll be speaking in the Grand Ballroom at 4pm EST; my own "trade show booth" (pictured here) features links to my blog, books, and to streaming video from strategically placed video screens on the wall.
Will such "virtual worlds" come to play a role in the meeting and convention industry? The media seems to have been quite down on Second Life as of late; at one recent digital marketing conference, it was dismissed as a waste of advertisers time, and the biggest project sinkhole in the last year. (See The Client Side blog link below).
Maybe so. Maybe not. I don't know whether that is true or not.
But I do know this. Ten years ago, we didn't have a Google; five years ago, there was no FaceBook. New methods of interacting are emerging at a furious pace. Ten years from now, we'll be in an economy in which organizations will have to figure out how to "deliver knowledge quickly." I think we will see a wide variety of platforms and methods of accomplishing this -- and that's why I'm spending some of my time exploring the opportunity within Virtualis.
I'm a big believer that meetings and events will continue to be a "key strategic component of an organization's success" in the future, because they involve the delivery of knowledge.
And there's going to have to be a lot more of that in the future. Organizations must deal with the fact that their world is becoming faster: they must deal with innovation time compression, the rapid emergence of new markets, fast opportunities for emergence of new product or service branding, increased skills specialization, rapid business model transformation and the emergence of new competitive challengers.
The impact is quite simple: rapid market, business, industry, and skills change leads to a need for faster “knowledge delivery.” We might need to upgrade the knowledge of a sales force for a new emerging market; help a leadership team focus on a new business competitor, or steer a project team towards dealing with a new industry challenge. Whatever the case may be, knowledge delivery is key to success in the future.
I think we'd be fools to think that we won't do a lot more of this online. Hence, the importance of new explorations such as Virtualis : it helps to solve a fundamental purpose, and plays a key strategic role, just as real-world conferences and events do. And so this is a critical and important first step.
It's all about innovation and trying things out. And as Larry Ellison of Oracle stated, “when you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts.”
More information
- Read Meetings.Net report on Virtualis launch
- Virtualis advertisement
- The Client Side Blog: The Hype Wagon Loses a Virtual Wheel
- Jim Carroll digital content solutions
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Video - innovation and education
Some weeks ago, I spoke at the University of Oklahoma, on the role of innovation in education.
There's a brief video clip here.
The biggest area for any educational institution in the future is in the area of "just-in-time knowledge." Whether we are dealing with medical, scientific, financial and business, mechanical or engineering issues, one thing is clear: the knowledge that people need to know to do their job today is becoming infinitely more complex every minute, with a constant, relentless flood of that which is new. In such an environment:
- the ability of obtaining rapid, instant knowledge generation is becoming an urgent necessity in almost every field of endeavor;
- the ability to quickly digest, understand and assess new knowledge is an increasingly important skill – one that not a lot of individuals have mastered;
- the ability to reformulate our thinking, assumptions and capabilities to respond to the constant change being thrust upon us is of increasing importance
That’s where the concept of “just in time knowledge” comes in, as it best describes the nexus of these realities.
This video is linked to the post I originally made when visiting the folks in Oklahoma; you can read that post, What's happening with our workforce here
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Innovation and the future of education
What's happening with our worforce? That is increasingly the focus of many of my recent talks.
Yesterday I spoke to the staff and faculty of the University of Oklahoma College of Continuing Education / College of Liberal Studies.
The overall theme was "innovation in the world of high velocity education."
Broadly, my talk was based around one of my favorite quotes: that of educator Lewis Perelman: "Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century."
There's a lot of opportunity for innovation in any educational institution: innovating with the methodology of education upgrading, new knowledge opportunities, and innovation in the overall administration and delivery of education. Beyond that, there's the overall issue of ensuring that in a high-velocity world, educators are delivering the right knowledge at the right time for the right purpose.
To that end, I outlined what I believe to be the primary areas for innovation:
- the rapid emergence of new educational opportunities, with foundation knowledge, and with knowledge refreshment
- a need for constant change and upgrading of core skills
- more partnership opportunities due to complexity – as organizations offload knowledge refreshing / upgrading requirements
- greater specialization of knowledge topics – and bigger opportunities for academic centres to focus as world class leader in specific niches
- instant, just in time knowledge takes on a unique role and opportunity
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"The concept of going to school for knowledge is kind of quaint..."
I'm quoted in the Toronto Star today with my observations on the future of knowledge, careers and work. Kind of provocative, but I really believe it to be true....
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Forget what you think you know
Toronto Star, Oct 25/05
You know a diploma is worth less and less. Soon it's going to be worth nothing at all.
If you've just completed an undergraduate degree you might not want to hear what Mississauga-based futurist Jim Carroll has to say.
"For young people I think one of the things they will need to understand is the skill of `just-in-time' knowledge," says Carroll, who advises companies across North America.
He explains that "just-in-time" knowledge is the skill of learning information during quickly advancing periods of change. The information learned is entirely — and possibly only — relevant at a specific time. Learning it will require people to immediately dump previous information that is no longer relevant at the same time.
"The concept of going to school for knowledge is kind of quaint," says Carroll, who foresees a future when longer degree programs will become almost obsolete. "What is the relevance of a three or four or five-year degree program when half of what kids learn in their first year will be obsolete by the time they graduate?"
Carroll says the majority of knowledge needed in the workplace of the future will be gained from collaborative social networks, online sources and independent learning.
As far as formal education goes, he doesn't think many degree programs will be longer than about nine months.
"A survey I saw a couple weeks ago said young people now think self-employment is more secure than a corporate job.
"As young people continue to completely reject the concept of the traditional workplace they will also move to educational models that suit their relationship with a changing work world."
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I'm keynoting an education conference tomorrow; I put together this list some time ago that summarizes some of my thoughts on the challenge of education.
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"Innovation in schools" keynote
It's been confirmed that I will be keynoting the Network of Innovative Schools conference in Calgary, AB in October.
My approach to the issue of innovation in education today? In a matter of but a few years, we've got from euphoria to gloom when it comes to innovation in the educational sector.
Consider how quickly things have changed -- in the 1990's, many educators came to see a blossoming in the potential for innovative learning methods, online collaboration and new methods of school and education management. Yet, with the spectacular collapse of the dot.com era, the lingering technology meltdown and general economic uncertainty, it now seems that innovation in the education sector has come to a screeching halt - particularly when it comes to technology. Skeptics who in the past have decried the role of technology in education have found a new resonance to their voice, once again encouraging doubt and sowing seeds of discontent in the minds of many.
That's where my keynote will come in. I believe that teachers need to eawaken themselves for a renaissance of innovation. I believe that educators must bring back the courage to innovate on a day to day basis. In exploring new methods for collaboration as a unique method of dealing with an educational and business world that becomes more complex by the day. Examining methods of providing students with knowledge assessment skills, so they can learn how to cope in the data-swamp in which they are enveloped. A continual examination of leading edge technologies and their role in education, such as Weblogs, wirelesss technologies and personal knowledge archives. Methods of fostering a successful whole-school change program through innovative use of technology and an innovative mindset.
I'll also take a look at how successful educators are removing the background noise lingering from the 90's, and are continuing to charge ahead with exploring the potential for new methods of learning, teaching and managing, in a world in which the future continues to rush at us with dizzying speed......
Should be fun!
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