< PreviousNotes: Recently though there has been evidence from lifehacker Josh Kaufman to suggest that just 20 hours of dedicated practise can help individuals acquire the crucial foundational skills they need to improve their chances of being able to move between professions, and when this methodology is applied to the competency matrices I discussed in the previous section, then hopefully this should give us all hope that as one profession dead ends, and a door closes, another one opens. 270311institute.comMATTHEW GRIFFIN 311INSTITUTE.com IN THE FUTURE UNIVERSITIES COULD ACT AS THE CENTERS FOR LIFE LONG LEARNING .people in the activities, jobs, and skills that those companies need to support the activities and objectives of the company. In short, they’ll only offer you training that benefits the company and therefore they take a company first not a “you” first approach. And, if they don’t want to train you, or it’s not in their interest for whatever reason, then they generally won’t. Secondly, we have governments, yet another seemingly obvious choice, but the fact is that most governments don’t know what the skills of the future are, and normally lack the budgets, focus, and necessary vision to make life long learning and the platforms and initiatives they need to create and deploy a reality. Thirdly, there’s you. Now, I will assume that you are your own best champion already, however on the one hand it’s likely that when it comes to trying to determine future skills and the future needs of companies and more importantly people who’ll pay you for your knowledge and skills, you probably don’t have all the data and insights you need, and that even if you do you don’t know where to go to acquire those new skills. And then there’s also the obvious - you’re more than likely busy any ways and will only start trying to figure out what new training you need when you already think your existing career or job is at risk so, until you see the need, you’re highly unlikely to do any self learning or self development any ways. All of which then leaves us with universities. RULING OUT THE WORST RUNNERS Universities, in my opinion, have everything you need to help you not only become a life long learner but also learn the most relevant skills for you and for the market place as it evolves. They also have one other crucial aspect and this is why I think they are the best placed to be your guide and companion through your life long learning journey ... Firstly, unlike companies who will only train you in the things the company needs - or values - universities can train you for what matters to you - they act in UNIVERSITIES AS CENTERS FOR LIFE LONG LEARNING W HILE EVERYONE agrees that life long learning is important one of the next questions we have to ask is how we achieve it and which organisations lead it. When it comes to who leads it there are four obvious answers that spring to mind, namely companies, governments, individuals, and universities. But, when we really dig into who is the de facto best, or could be I propose that it’s universities that are the best placed to support life long learning and while you might think my reasoning for this is obvious it’s actually for a reason that at first isn’t obvious. RULING OUT THE WORST RUNNERS When we look at why universities are best placed to lead when it comes to supporting life long learning initiatives it’s because they have qualities that the other three suggestions don’t so let’s dig in. Firstly, while companies might be an obvious choice the fact of the matter is that they only care about training 272311institute.comyour interest not in the interest of some company shareholder P&L. Secondly, unlike governments, they have the resources they need to develop and evolve training courses across a huge spectrum of disciplines and fields. Thirdly, unlike you they have the drive to create learning programs, but they also crucially have insights into almost every corner of the global economy and into every area of business so they can see new trends and new demands emerging ahead of time. bring all of these factors together and what you have is an organisation that acts in your interests, whose mission is to help people learn new knowledge and skills, and that has both a broad and deep field of view of today and the future and understands what will be in demand across all industry sectors, geographies, and lines of business. Then add in the fact that universities often have the brightest people and minds and this makes them a slam dunk for being your de facto standard for life long learning. A SUITABLE COMMERCIAL MODEL Having determined all this next we need to look at how we deliver this and frankly, one of the simplest ways would simply for universities or collections thereof to offer life long subscriptions - not just to the university or to the prorgams they offer but to everything to events, mentors, and everything else that contributes to creating a vibrant learning and future focus community - all with you and your interests at the heart of it. Notes: 273311institute.comTHE FUTURE ROLE OF SOCIETYC REATING AND nurturing a future fit education system is, of course, only part of the challenge as we all brace ourselves and try our best to prepare for an increasingly automated and uncertain future, because once students have left the relative safe confines of the formal education system they come face to face with the biases and challenges of the real world. A world where different corporate and cultural biases and norms, that have arguably become engrained through the millennia, curb our ability to move frictionlessly between different careers, industries or jobs at speed, something that as I’ve discussed in previous chapters, will become increasingly important as the spectre of automation casts its long shadow over more jobs than ever before, and dead-ends careers with increasing voracity. Today the biases I’m talking about exist almost everywhere, in every company, and in every country, and it’s likely that you too, at one point or another have come face to face with them. For example, how many times have you heard of people switching careers? Or, at a more basic level, switching industries? And if they did was it simple and straightforward, or was it difficult and complicated? BRINGING IT TO LIFE It’s time to bring this to life with a real world example, and please do feel free to disagree with me, I love a good debate. As I’ve discussed previously, and as no doubt you’ve already heard a million times over and more from other people, historically technology has always destroyed jobs, but similarly it has always helped create new ones - ones that almost no-one could have imagined until they finally appeared. To some respect this is epitomised by the calamitous fall in the last century of the number of labourers as a percentage of the overall workforce and the heady rise of the number of computer scientists. At a high level we can argue that the so called “amount of work to be done” increased, but that the type of work to be done, ergo in this case by humans, changed. And here’s the conundrum that’s amplified by today’s societal biases and norms: How many computer scientists, for example, do you know that used to be labourers, of any kind? I’ll guess that you don’t know that many, and pushing the boat out further I’ll guess you don’t know any at all. Part 275311institute.comof the reason for that could be the fact that as many of their jobs changed and dead-ended many of them retired, and the younger generations that would previously have filled their shoes chose to train to go into different professions. However, just as both these options were as viable then as they are today there were still millions of people caught in the middle, and caught in a trap - people who were too young to retire, and too old to re-enter the formal education system. In these cases the only avenues often open to them were to re-train, often at their own expense, in their own time, and with no guaranteed job or outcome at the end of it. Today re-training is the catch all answer handed out by everyone who’s asked how we’re going to manage the fall out from the “jobs apocalypse” that’s supposedly around the corner. But while it sounds like a silver bullet to the problem of redundancies, and helping people switch professions, whatever their reason, it often isn’t. So let’s step through why re-training by itself isn’t the answer, and how corporate culture and society have to change if we’re ever going to stand a chance of limiting the impact of automation on individuals. A FIRST PERSON VIEW Being made redundant is always a nasty shock to the system, and it’s one that’s often made more jarring if it’s because you’ve been replaced by a machine - whether it’s a robot in the 1960’s or an Artificial Intelligence in 2025. And while redundancy often comes with a three month severance payment, free CV writing services, and “re-training” the fact of the matter is that the re-training that many companies offer, which is often via contracted third parties, are superficial sticking plasters at best and useless at worst. The other fact of the matter is that in many cases the re-training options on the table are often ill suited to the individuals particular skills and goals, and then, of course, there’s the fact that there’s no guarantee of a job once you’ve completed them. In fact, when all is said and done, when many companies announce redundancies that’s the point at which their former employees are officially no longer their concern. No golden handshake, just a termination contract, a pay check and the phone number of some strange company you’ve never heard of before. If, as academic and government studies suggest, we are going to be faced with Notes: 276311institute.combetween 20 percent and 50 percent of all of today’s jobs, from accountants and lawyers, to data scientists and taxi drivers, being automated within the next 20 years, or in some cases now as were already seeing in the finance and legal sectors, then this status quo isn’t good enough. We will need a new approach to helping people caught in these situations, one where we all play a role in helping each other be successful and flourish. One of the biggest challenges people who are laid off will face, as they do today, will be the challenge of changing professions and finding companies that are willing to take a punt on someone whose background is within another field - the equivalent of hiring an ex-labourer as your next accountant, for example. If we’re honest it has to be said that in today’s world the majority of corporate recruiters, whether they’re artificial intelligences that can analyse thousands of CV’s and video submissions a minute, or humans, would likely put an individual like this to the bottom of the pile and hire an accountant who had a firm background as an accountant. The same is true for anyone in any profession who might, for whatever reason, want to switch professions. Until we are able to overcome and remove the institutional bias that we have as a society to job mobility then there will only be one winner, the machines, and frankly that would be criminal. Notes: 277311institute.comCONCLUSIONW HEN IT comes to education the time comes when we all have to take responsibility for our own life long learning initiatives, but we also have a responsibility to each other, to help identify and nurture talent, and help each other prosper and thrive irrespective of ability or background, and sometimes in the face of great hardship and adversity. Education and the future are kindred spirits, both are adventures, filled with wonders and awe, and both are what we make of them, and that’s as true today as it will be tomorrow and every day after that. Now all that remains for me to do is to thank you for your time, and if you have any comments you’d like to make then please feel free to reach out. I wish you, and your children, all the very best in the future, Explore More MATTHEW GRIFFIN Founder 279311institute.comNext >