The Year was 2000 BC, twenty three thousand years ago the Neanderthal man ruled and built utensils, hunting weaponry made of bone and stone and as they entered a new era between 3000 and 1200 BC man moved from stone to bronze age and the resistance to change was similar to what, we today witness moving into an automated, AI ruled world.

The UK Knapping* forum Imagined a conversation between stone agers and a bronze trainer on Bronze Orientation day that goes very similarly to what, I as a coach and trainer often experience with people facing change: (the chipper is the traditional job of chipping stone to form it for the utensil it will be used in)

Chipper: when you say bronze doesn't need to be chipped, right? my question is… Doesn't it?

Trainer: with new modern smelting, old-fashioned; chipping is a thing of the past.

Chipper: right! cuz I'm a chipper, you see.

Trainer: Right? Well, I won't lie to you chippers as a breed are going to go the way of the saber-toothed tiger. I mean they're going to be extinct. But have you thought about retraining as a smelter?

Chipper: No, no, I haven't! Smelting may be fine for the lads, but I'm no smelter, and while bronze may be terribly clever. Stone! was all my old dad ever needed to feed a family of as many hands as I have and then more than that, I'll just say, as a tribe… Why don't we leave the bronze to the smart Alex and The Whiz Kids and we'll just carry on using stone axes, like we always do?!

In a sense history repeats itself, and in my words inspired by Marvels Thanos: “I am CHANGE and I am INEVITABLE”

We have seen each period render the previous one obsolete, the stone age by the bronze, the latter by Iron and fast forward in history through Industrial revolutions, Machine Age and the latest Age of Information that roughly started in the late 60’s early 70’s which brought about job losses in the views of the resistant pessimist and job creations in the views of the fittest most adaptable who were ready to move from the proverbial chippers to train to be the required smelters!

Today we see rapid changing conditions in the work environment in terms of automation and the recent pandemic forced the hand to re-evaluate and review the way we conduct business and interactions in general and so with the “rise of the machines” what are the skills* you need to develop as a job seeker whether you are en route to obsoletion or a fresh graduate?

1. CONNECTIVITY: the real human connectivity and not WIFI enabled. One thing that we have seen during the pandemic lockdown is the importance of human connectivity. As work from home dragged and became a requirement more and more people became disconnected. There is nothing that replaces social interactions. With that said it is crucial to develop Emotional Intelligence skills to analyze a variety of emotions/feeling at distance and use that information to guide thinking. On the same lines Active Listening is a skill that is getting lost. It is easy to disconnect from the person on screen, use the video off feature and multitask which is an other word to say “I am giving much less attention than I possibly could to any one task at a time”. Emotional Intelligence skills will be used in conjunction with Problem Solving and Communication Skills to drive a solid sense collaboration. Today communication skills are so much more in demand than ever.

2. SELF HELP: an industry that is booming today because of how the Tony Robbins, Garee Vees and Sineks of the world have shown it. But also because companies over the past decade started to put more and more pressure on employees to perform to the extent where mobile devices make it easy to reach out and almost impossible to disconnect. Your boss can always reach you. Self Help and Self Care became key skills; mental wellbeing in a world that is constantly connected has become crucial and learning how to help people disconnect to perform better will only grow in popularity.

3. SUSTAINABILITY: as much as the first two skill are required for mental sustainability today we need more and more people to “Heal the World”. Understanding sustainability in the sense of creating longevity and relevance for companies today is one skill that is required but what I want to focus on here is learning and understanding what is required of companies to fight climate change, waste management, agriculture and shifting consumer mindsets will be key to meet the ever growing demand of an inflated population.

4. DATA, DATA, DATA: it is today’s currency and I particularly want to talk about Cloud Management. Specifically the Skills required to develop will be related to three main categories: a) Automation which seeks to simplify and automate our daily lives: tracking, project and team management… b) Security and Compliance which literally is concerned with (automating) security measures whether personal, financial, or structural and c) Cost Management which helps with budgeting, chargeback and reserve instance purchases to optimize consumption for businesses. learning how to manage data is a growing segment and not to be overlooked

5. TRANSDISCIPLINARY SKILLS: while most people are smart on one thing, Elon Musk for example is “able to have conversations with our top engineers about the software and the most arcane aspects of that. And then he'll turn to our manufacturing engineers and have discussions about some really esoteric welding process for some crazy alloy." says Garrett Reisman* and he goes on “And he'll just go back and forth, and his ability to do that across all the different technologies that go into rockets and cars and everything else he does--that's what really impresses me” when it comes to building transdisciplinary skills there are two schools of thought: mine and that of Henry Ford and Jack Ma which is to recruit smart people to do what you can’t Vs the second school of thought which is Elon Musk’s simply learn and know everything… Now being of the first school of thought doesn’t mean you will be completely ignorant. Learning is a key component allowing you flexibility to pivot, and confidently push for what you know is right.

6. MEDIA LITERACY: this will be the last skill I share in this blog and I believe that it is clear, with the rise of influencers, youtubers, podcaster (I raise my hand) content creation is never more in demand and the more you know about videography, sound design, lighting the stronger your chances of landing a content creation job if not build a solid platform of your own.

Conclusion: If I were to summarize the skills necessary in todays day and age I would encourage you to focus on a) building your ability to understand a deeper meaning to what is being said through active listening b) building your ability to connect with others on a deeper emotional level to instigate, influence and persuade for change and c) building your ability to effectively problem solve by challenging the norm and avoiding “we’ve always done it this way” thinking.

Landing a job has never been easy and today the obstacle of remote work makes recruitment even more challenging. Entry bariers are higher and therefore continuous learning and building on your skills is one key way to differentiate yourself and have more chances of getting employed.

I wish you good luck and remember Here’s Good News: You can Make it! simply by tapping the get in touch tab to fill in your details and what career growth or development you need support with and I will work with you to build a roadmap destined for your greatness.

Written by Tarek Azmi Founder of Here’s Good News, a company dedicated to your personal and professional growth through leadership development, Coaching and Personal Training.

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Notes: 

• Bronze Orientation day https://prehistorics.uk full video on https://youtu.be/6O6jbZ_fdrY

• Various sources LinkedIn learning; https://themuse.com ; https://inc.com ; https://entrepreneur.com

• Garrett Erin Reisman is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut who worked along side Elon Musk and recounts from his experience with the serial entrepreneur.