"Skills for growth in a disrupting World" Carlos Sentís Session for IE Business School to African professionals
Last friday I had the privilege to deliver an online workshop to 30 african professionals with Ie Business School and African Family Firms on keys to respond to the current crisis, mindset, strategy, mental health, resources, the skills we will need and keys to acquire them as effectively as possible.
If we were already living in a VUCA environment and a disrupting world where the convergence of new technologies were changing the market at an ever accelerating pace, the #Covid19 crisis is showing us that the only thing we can be sure about is that anything can change.
Entire industries will collapse and most of us will need to find a way to adapt to constant disruption. We have the right to be afraid to change and to lose all we have fought for for so many years, and changing your career path, your sector, your business, acquiring a completely new set of knowledge and skills is not only scary but also very difficult to do.
Companies and institutions demand less theory and more skills, and the skills that are needed in today's economy are very different from the ones in the past, and it is certain that they will keep changing, not in only one big AI revolution event, but in a cascade of constant revolutions that will test our capacity of reaction every few years. In a tight job market like the one we are going to face, having the actual capacity of doing what organizations need and the ability to generate results will be critical.
Skills like sales, coding, research, public relations, public speaking, emotional intelligence, empathy, e-commerce, crowdsourcing services, digital skills, marketing, project management, entrepreneurship, languages, and, possibly the most important of all, the skill to adapt constantly to new situations, sectors, organizations, risk prevention, crisis management, business models, markets or cultures, will be absolutely crucial for any organization.
For the last 12 years I have been trying to develop as many skills as possible and they have proven to be an incredibly valuable asset in my career. I feel pretty mediocre at almost everything that I do, but I do have some tools that help me to face professional and personal challenges that were never taught in school or university. That is why both, at a personal level and as part of the World Impact Alliance education commission, I advocate for the acquisition of the skills that will be needed and that can provide more opportunity for all professionals and students.
Personally I am using the lockdown time to learn arabic, to write and analyze my role in the new world and the new leadership we will need, trying to improve my relational and speaking skills and learning all I can about poverty reduction, sustainability, Africa and the Middle East, international law, defense, technology for good, new business models for impact generation and solutions for global challenges. It is overwhelming to look at my own ignorance, but even though I don't stand a chance against it, I will keep fighting, and enjoying, trying to become better and doing my best to generate a positive contribution in the world before I die.
With every major disruption, great opportunities emerge. Regardless of how tough the future may look like, we will find the way to make it work, but we need to be ready and willing to accept that we may need to start again several times, that we may need to improve ourselves and work very hard to generate prosperity for our loved ones and for the others.
I hope the session can provide value to you. Please comment below or send me a message if you want the entire presentation document (200 slides) and the toolkits.
Wishing you all the best and grateful for all your help and support.
Stay safe and stay strong.
Ever yours,
Carlos
www.carlossentis.com
www.wia.world
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