3 Things to Future-Proof Your Career

Are you thinking for a living?

When demographer Bernard Salt presents, he's always sensemaking for us; making sense of complex data, trends and information, no matter the topic.
 
At a presentation on Jobs in the Knowledge Economy, he said with the rise of machine learning and constant technological developments, we might wonder if knowledge jobs (where you 'think for a living') are under threat or it's an even bigger opportunity waiting to happen.
 
Constant change and daily disruption are familiar themes in the world of work and business today; the big upsides I see are there for the makers, artisans and creators.
 
This is not about hippy art, pastels and macrame. It's about the way we think, design, engage and create things for customers, clients and each other.

It's becoming easier to be a maker today. As Salt says:
 

‘the tools of production
have become democratised’

 
We've got greater access to a host of tools to make, create, shape and inspire change – whether that's in an analogue and/or a digital way.
 
Entrepreneurism too is becoming even more accessible where you can adopt the thinking style of an entrepreneur, even if you're in a job role. I see this as the path for the future.

Being entrepreneurial is no longer the thing you would 'fall back on' if your career path wasn't quite working out. Rather as Cameron Herold explains in his TED talk 'Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs' (read the transcript) we have an instinctive drive to create, make and share. 
 
In business we need to work smarter to adopt a culture of enterprise – and with it, a culture of failure. Failure is still hot right now in talk, yet I don’t see nearly enough leaders encouraging experimentation, inspiring curiosity or allowing and fostering ingenuity in their teams.
  
Though digital might have brought the 'death of distance', Salt says we humans still crave connection. Our ability to start and maintain interpersonal relationships is still crucial to our future careers. 

So how do you future-proof your career as these changes and disruptions continue?

These three things will do it:

• Fluidity

• Agility

• Mobility

That means we need to be malleable and to 'go with it'.
We need to adapt and respond. Swift-like!
And we need to move... and be willing to be moved. 
 
We need to upskill, reskill and soft skill and to adopt an easy-goingness that makes us approachable. This is a type of affability that keeps you friendly and outgoing... so that people want to work with you.

 

Being social will get you far.  Whether it’s social face-to-face, online, remotely or however else you can connect, engage and be human with other humans... do that. 
 
Fluidity. Agility. Mobility. And while you're at it, upskill, reskill, softskill.

Affability will take you well into the future of work.