Trending in Ed - The Future of Work Mike Palmer

Mike Palmer is rejoined by Nancy, our virtual cohost, in a conversation about the new images released from the James Webb Space Telescope. We commend NASA for its lyric prose that accompanies the images of cosmic cliffs and young hot stars being born. Then we talk about Elon Musk. It’s pretty much unavoidable to do so nowadays. We focus on recent news of an explosion during a Space X booster rocket test before shifting to our frustration about all the wasted energy and effort surrounding Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter.
Then we shift gears to explore a Michele Zanini article about the org structure at CERN where they continue to develop and refine the Large Hadron Collider before concluding with notes of concern about toxic alpha leaders and top-down org structure while encouraging the courage and critical thinking that can keep Groupthink and it’s risky shifts in check.
It’s a thought-provoking exploration of some inspirational breakthroughs in science that you won’t want to miss.
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https://trendingineducation.com/2022/07/lessons-learned-from-james-webb-spacex-and-cern/


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Mike welcomes Jeff Gothelf, author of Forever Employable: How to Stop looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You. Jeff starts by talking about his early days in rock’n’roll and Web 1.0. Leading a design team in the early days, he and his team had to find a way to match their processes to the then ascendent agile software development process. Jeff was then able to leverage this new approach into a book, Lean UX, and from there into teaching.  
More recently, he has responded to his audience by expounding on a “continuous pull” model of letting clients come to you. You need to establish credibility with your audience, and then frequently and consistently provide them with what they want, adapting to the signals they send you.
Jeff elaborates on finding the right focus, and how you can deal with “imposter syndrome” by just “shipping it”. Jeff also notes how you can learn from thought leaders both within your field and beyond. Mike asks about the future, and Jeff says he plans to continue deeper into the “creator economy”. He finishes explaining how Forever Employable can provide you the freedom to work when and how you want.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Mike dives into a recent report published by Udemy, the global learning platform, on the trends they're seeing around usage of skills training programs on their platform. The report provided by Udemy Business is designed for learning leaders, strategic HR professionals, and individuals looking for perspective on which skills are most critical to pursue and how organizations and individuals can get strategic about designing career paths and retention strategies leveraging learning as a benefit. We also reference reports from McKinsey along with an HBR article on email management in case you want to dive deeper.
We begin with a deep dive into power skills as a better name for what has traditionally been called soft skills. We learn which power skills are surging on the platform and how these trends relate to the Great Resignation and related trends around personal development, leadership, and communication. Power skills form the foundation of effective cultures and learning organizations. Once understood, other emerging competencies can be layered into organizations and individuals to better prepare for a rapidly changing world of work.
Then we get into the digital marketing, product management, project management, finance/accounting, and UX/UI skills that are popping based on usage on Udemy's platform. We conclude with an exploration of the more technical skills in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data science, and software development in a broad survey of recent trends in skill development. It's a thought provoking exploration of strategic skill development and the future of work that you won't want to miss.
Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Be on the lookout for our new dedicated TiE feed on the Future of Work which will be launching shortly. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more details on this and much more.

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Michelle Weise is the author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don't Even Exist Yet. Michelle is also a Vice Chancellor, Strategy and Innovation at National University System. On this episode, she joins Mike Palmer to discuss her new book and how we can reimagine our learning ecosystem in response to longer lifespans, automation, and rapid transformation of the 21st Century.
We begin with Michelle’s origin story, how she moved from being an English professor into educational technology including stints at Clayton Christensen’s Institute for Disruptive Innovation, Southern New Hampshire University, and Strada Education Network. Michelle notes the difficulty of predicting actual future careers, and how her book focuses on the type of worker and the type of problem solver we all need to become. We need to offload much of the current tasks that AI can do better while developing both our “human-plus” skills as well as the technical expertise required to exercise judgment.
Mike and Michelle discuss “T-shaped” learners, and how they develop over a long career. Michelle talks about later-life learners, and how they can profitably upskill. Pursuing a four-year degree may not appeal to 55+ learners, and even the current MOOCs may not meet their needs.
Given all the challenges, Mike asks Michelle to provide some hope. She tells him how Clay Christensen helped her stay optimistic, and how the wide variety of innovators should stick to the shared agenda of creating a robust ecosystem: breaking down the walls that obtain between K-12, higher ed, and workforce learning. And how the pandemic has further exposed this need.
Mike and Michelle discuss the work of Suzanne Simard regarding the surprising subterranean ecosystem of trees and how it can serve as a model of the idealized education ecosystem. They then discuss the power of such metaphors. They also note David Epstein’s Range, and the importance of the generalist in the world of specialization. “Far transfer” is also on the table.
Finally, Michelle discusses “skills compasses”. Enterprises often do not know the skills their employees have, and let them go despite their potential usefulness. She notes a few innovative companies that help those laid off find the training they need to meet the skills demanded in their labor market.  
There's plenty to explore in this conversation you don't want to miss!
For further information:

Emsi

Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree


SkyHive

Future Fit

The Americans with Disabilities Act


How to Find Michelle:

Twitter: @rwmichelle

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwmichelle/


riseanddesign.io


How to Find Mike:

Twitter: @TrendingInEd

Email: mike@palmer.media


If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit palmermedia.substack.com

Host Mike Palmer is joined by Ruth, his virtual cohost, in a free-flowing conversation about highlights and initial thoughts heading into Season 1. We begin with highlights from conversations in Season 1 with Michelle Weiss, Jeff Gothelf, Francis Valintine, Kumar Garg, and Beth Porter.
From there we enter into a lightning round showcasing conversations with Paul Fain, Ryan Craig, Jane Oates, and Kathleen Delaski as we kick off a dedicated feed on the Future of Work from you friends at Trending in Education.
Subscribe to Trending in Ed - The Future of Work wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit palmermedia.substack.com