{"id":643032,"date":"2019-04-10T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=articles&p=643032"},"modified":"2020-05-13T13:17:57","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T11:17:57","slug":"stay-relevant","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/stay-relevant\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay Relevant!"},"featured_media":643034,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[29,30,35],"areas":[16,25,26],"subjects":[],"class_list":["post-643032","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-business-school","schools-executive-education","schools-university","areas-competitiveness-growth","areas-talent","areas-technology"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["Given the dizzying speed of change in today\u2019s world, we must constantly expand our knowledge and develop the skills that organizations need. As human longevity increases, this preparation is becoming increasingly important. More and more people undertake multiple training periods over the course of their lives. A lifelong-learning mindset is the key to staying relevant."],"wpcf-article-body":["The Bible contains a story known as \u201cThe Parable of the Talents.\u201d (There are several versions of this story, including Matthew 25:14\u201330.) In the parable, a man hands out units of currency called talents<\/em> to his three servants and instructs them to use the talents as best they can. Two of the servants use the talents to earn a profit, which they hand over to their master upon his return. But the third servant, fearful of his master's reaction, buries his talents in the ground and returns the same amount he was given. This last servant is punished for his carelessness and lack of commitment.\r\n\r\nReligious significance aside, this story shows what happens when we fail to exercise our talents<\/a> as professionals: waste and missed opportunities.\r\n\r\nAs human longevity has increased, so has the length of our working lives. Nowadays, the labor market demands immediacy and knowledge becomes obsolete in record time. Over the estimated 50 years of a professional career, it is not unusual for a person to study three different subjects, with development periods of about 10 years between courses of study. In other words, every decade or so, we should look for complementary areas in which to expand and update our knowledge.\r\n
In today\u2019s knowledge-hungry society, companies and government bodies require digital knowledge and skills\u2014and academic institutions must respond to this need.<\/blockquote>\r\n10 skills<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAccording to a report from the World Economic Forum<\/a>, the following are the top 10 skills that every professional must have in order to remain relevant in the job market of 2020:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Complex problem-solving<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Critical thinking<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Creativity<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. People management<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Coordinating with others<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Emotional intelligence<\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Judgment and decision-making<\/li>\r\n \t
  8. Service orientation<\/li>\r\n \t
  9. Negotiation<\/li>\r\n \t
  10. Cognitive flexibility<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nDon\u2019t panic\u2014if you want to acquire these skills, a huge amount of information is available to expand your knowledge. Never before has so much information been available to everyone, and yet we do not make full use of this possibility. Some have argued that human beings have limited capacity, but we are constantly expanding the limits of this capacity and demonstrating empirically that the plasticity of the brain can take us even further.\r\n
    Every decade or so, we should look for complementary areas in which to expand and update our knowledge.<\/blockquote>\r\nThe cure for \u2018infoxication\u2019<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhat\u2019s the problem? What\u2019s holding us back? Nowadays, we are \u201covernewsed but underinformed.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith so much information available, we lose sight of the differential value of information. When everything seems equally important, it becomes impossible to prioritize. Distinguishing the relevant from the incidental is essential in a world characterized by infoxication<\/em>. Information overload prevents us from distinguishing between reliable sources and irrelevant comments.\r\n\r\nTechnology<\/a> has facilitated this situation, but it can also help us to achieve new goals. Knowledge is no longer the redoubt of the few. In today\u2019s knowledge-hungry society, companies and government bodies require digital knowledge and skills\u2014and academic institutions must respond to this need.\r\n\r\nBesides providing this knowledge, academic institutions must try to anticipate the demands of companies and institutions by increasing their capacity to provide training in the new technologies<\/a> that facilitate and support this knowledge revolution. They must separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on obtaining results in order to provide a cure for infoxication<\/em>.\r\n
    The industrial revolutions\u2014including the fourth and current one\u2014have shown that technology is capable of propelling human beings beyond our previous limits.<\/blockquote>\r\nBenefits<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe ultimate goal is not the technology<\/a> itself, but rather to increase efficiency and develop new forms of income\u2014either financial<\/a> or emotional, in the form of free time.\r\n\r\nTechnology<\/a> has demonstrated its enormous capacity to accompany change. The industrial revolutions\u2014including the fourth and current one\u2014have shown that technology is capable of propelling human beings beyond our previous limits.\r\n\r\nTechnologies<\/a> such as artificial intelligence, process robotization, and big data are demonstrating their vast potential for transformation and will become more important than ever in the coming years. The sky\u2019s the limit: technology will begin to advance exponentially, leaping ahead in ways that our linear brains cannot fully anticipate.\r\n\r\nTechnology<\/a> will predict your tastes, robots<\/a> will clean your home and deliver your mail, you\u2019ll be able to talk to your microwave, your refrigerator will be able to talk to your pantry\u2014all this and much, much more. Our lives will be filled with new experiences.\r\n\r\nTo be sure, some people will fear these changes. But they will happen whether we fear them not, so let\u2019s make the most of this opportunity.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights."],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Fernando Esteve<\/strong>. Given the dizzying speed of change in today\u2019s world, we must constantly expand our knowledge and develop the skills that organizations need."],"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["Given the speed of evolution and change in today\u2019s world, it is more essential than ever to acquire the necessary skills on an ongoing basis. The key is to exercise your talent and adopt a lifelong-learning mindset. At a time when our professional lives are growing longer\u2014in tandem with the human lifespan\u2014this approach is more essential than ever before. Because of the need to stay relevant in the job market, professionals will spend the coming years seeking out new complementary areas in which to expand and update their knowledge\u2014and academic institutions must respond to this need."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/643032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=643032"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=643032"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=643032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}