Dr. Anna Tavis – Executive Networks

Swapping Skills for Jobs is Too Little, Too Late 5.13.22

Michael Wu — Fri, 13 May 2022 16:40:03 +0000

“All models are wrong, but some are useful” is a famous adage attributed to statistician George Box.

A whole new generation of “Future of Work” theorists, academicians, and consultants has emerged and flourished, promising to fix the looming “end of work” crisis. Amidst the enormity of the challenge, multiple scenarios, have been put forward and successfully advanced. The “Work Without Jobs” approach gets perhaps most of the industry and academic attention today. This workforce planning method advocates replacing “jobs” with “skills”. It argues that traditional workplace structures and practices based on jobs are outdated and must be replaced with ones based on modular, easily replaceable clusters of skills.

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Reflections on 2021, the Year We Rediscovered the Humanity of Work 12.30.21

Michael Wu — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 17:34:33 +0000

Every year end our mailboxes get overrun with “trends reports” and “next year’s predictions.” As the tradition goes, forecasts of the future are designed to confirm back to us what we ourselves have reported on the surveys and interviews over the year. The prediction machine repeats its annual cycle running on a treadmill rather than competing in a marathon where every mile matters. We need to hit the brakes on the tradition of predictions and reflect on the step change that the year 2021 has brought to the workplace culture. There are six noticeable shifts in the collective attitudes that will forever change how we see work, workplace, and the worker for years to come. They all center on rediscovering what it means to be human at work.

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Accelerating DEI through Data and Technology 12.11.21

Michael Wu — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 17:35:28 +0000

The challenges of achieving diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace are well documented. For years, the best intentions of even the most genuinely committed individuals and institutions fell far too short in closing the inequities gap. Despite the shortcomings, the failures of “managing diversity” have yielded important lessons and actionable insights. The mistakes and missteps made on the DEI journey are helping to achieve next level ambitious goals. As social norms continue to shift and our institutions begin to slowly adjust, new challenges and even greater aspirations arise.

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