The Future Skills We Need

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Esko Kilpi photo

Economic growth is about value added. In manufacturing it was adding value as a transformation process from raw materials to goods. Economic growth today is still about value added but the transformation process is often very different. The industrial process was a linear, sequential chain of predictable acts. The problem to be solved was known and the solution to the problem was clearly defined. In creative work, the transformation process is a non-linear, complex movement of thought from unclear problems to developing solutions. Work is exploration when defining problems as well as for creating solutions.

The worlds of mass manufacturing and contextual, problem-based work require very different thinking and skills. In the learning-intensive world we live in, it is not about reductionist job roles and narrow, clear responsibilities any more. Everybody needs to take part in the common movement of thought.

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Cities, Serendipity, and Other “Spaces for Innovation”

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Kursty Groves — co-author of the forthcoming Spaces for Innovation with Oliver Marlow — interviewed me about the future of workspaces, cities, and serendipity for their book. Our conversation is reproduced below, and I encourage you to order the book.

What is ‘engineering serendipity’ — apart from a delightful oxymoron?

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