Conference Presentation, Panel
London Summit 2015 - Bridging the Talent Divide: Demand-Driven Education for a Diverse Workforce (I)
Milken InstituteMark Cahill, Nancy Altobello, Meabh Quoirin, Richard Socarides, Tim Stewart, Aniela Unguresan
- Workforce structures are expected to undergo significant transformation over the next 15 to 20 years, driven by changing gender dynamics and living arrangements that create a gap between current organizational models and future needs.
- Automation and technology are predicted to eliminate 50% of roles within the next 10 to 20 years, while continuous disruption will necessitate a shift toward "liquid skills" where individuals plug into and out of capabilities as required.
- Professional development will increasingly prioritize the 70-20-10 rule (70% experiences, 20% relationships, 10% formal training), with the 70% derived from "hot jobs" and P&L responsibility serving as the primary career accelerator.
- Educational models will shift away from traditional four-year degrees toward shorter, certificate-based, and two-year programs, alongside mandatory apprenticeships and peer-to-peer learning experiences to ensure basic skill acquisition.
- Hiring practices will evolve to value "hunger," fit, and behavioral traits over academic pedigree, potentially hiring senior executives without college degrees who demonstrate unique success paths, leading to a decline in the dominance of top-tier institutions (IVs) as primary criteria.
- Organizations will move from static career trajectories to dynamic ones, with some institutions planning to require employees to reapply for their positions every four years to maintain engagement with change.
- Future recruitment will emphasize cross-functional teams and "mosaic" efforts involving students, parents, government, and education institutions to address youth unemployment and prevent the creation of a "lost generation."
- Diversity initiatives will expand beyond protected characteristics to focus on cognitive differences, requiring a cultural shift where men move into caregiving roles and companies enforce diversity values even with major clients to drive innovation.
- Businesses will increasingly hold universities accountable for student outcomes and starting salaries, creating partnerships where firms may refuse to hire from specific demographics if diversity goals are not met.
- Individual responsibility for reskilling and career management is expected to grow, supported by structural aid for vulnerable populations and a "reward and penalty" system to ensure managers allow employees to pursue diverse growth experiences.
- Technology and "liquid skills" will drive the integration of social media literacy and tech skills as fundamental competencies, moving beyond technical expertise to include "socially media friendly" behaviors.
- Companies will need to address gender-specific attrition, such as the "drop off the cliff" in careers after a second child, by providing learning environments within the day job and transforming organizational culture to support gender-neutral work experiences.
- Learning environments will transition from classroom-based models to "experience organization" models where youth are steered toward jobs through basic literacy interventions and high school preparation before graduation.
- Future success will depend on balancing immediate business relevance with long-term skills development over 10 to 30-year horizons, requiring a shared responsibility model among government, educators, businesses, and individuals.
- Specific corporate examples include EY requiring specific experiences in the first two or three years before promotion and Barclays' "Digital Eagles" program creating internal "skills conduits" for initiatives like coding and social media literacy.
- A "crisis" mindset will likely emerge regarding youth unemployment, necessitating that businesses create better propositions to retain talent and stop closing doors on diverse groups like women in engineering.
- Educational accountability will involve statistics on starting salaries and job placement becoming standard metrics, with businesses and universities co-creating programs to address the development needs of young people.
- The "leisure learner" mindset, characterized by self-awareness and emotional conviction, will become a key differentiator for employees, driving motivation and networking in a fluid work environment.
- Innovation will be fostered through "cross-functional networks of thinkers" and "intrapreneurs" creating commercial and social good, moving away from siloed creative departments.
- Millennial and younger workers will demand immediate feedback and recognition, viewing this as a serious motivator and reshaping how organizations approach engagement and retention.
- The oil and gas industry and other sectors with low historical diversity will need to demonstrate courage to enforce diversity decisions to succeed in a changing world.
- Vocational education is expected to rise in prevalence, particularly in the US, while higher education models may compress business calendars to better serve professional needs.
- A "two-generation" timeline is anticipated to fix structural gender imbalances at home, requiring men to be trained for non-traditional roles to balance the workforce.
- Businesses will increasingly use social media tools to recognize inputs and signal employees for other roles, moving toward a system where work is an identity and a primary driver of social connection.