Looking at the working world of the future is always a bit like gazing into a crystal ball. Recent studies clearly show that the work tasks of the future will require more interaction with others. The key technologies of the future – robotics and data analytics – will have the biggest impact on the world of work, and consequently, there will be a lot less routine to jobs and more analytical thinking and human interaction.
So what does this mean for education? How can we prepare for the working world of the future? At our Steinbeis Centers for Business Development at Pforzheim University, we have been looking at these questions for many years and have identified two important starting points: entrepreneurship education and diversity.
At the heart of entrepreneurship education lies research-based and project-oriented learning: People receive personality training that enables creative and innovative behavior. The entrepreneurship education toolbox comprises a combination of being open to new things, believing in your personal effectiveness, perseverance, and divergent thinking skills. Both the nationwide YOUNG FOUNDERS competition (JUGEND GRÜNDET), which we have been running for almost 20 years, and the Start-up BW Young Talents project in Baden-Wuerttemberg challenge students with a task that requires them to complete independently, if possible as a team using previously acquired knowledge. The students learn to analyze tasks, gather and evaluate information, make decisions as a team, implement those decisions, and then monitor impact. Coming up with creative solutions, planning, deciding, executing, checking whether the goal has been achieved – these are classic features of entrepreneurial activity, the skills that will play a decisive role in the working world of the future. And they can already be learned today.
Our second starting point is diversity. The future will be female – at least that’s what trend researchers say. We need a corporate culture for the working world of the future that facilitates female leadership, positive role models for female junior executives, and women who are committed to the future issues of digitalization and sustainability – and thus actively help shape change. Experience with the pandemic and the associated “retraditionalization” of women’s roles have shown that this cannot be taken for granted.
Our Spitzenfrauen BW project allows us to campaign for more women in leadership positions, in the firm belief that the transformation that will occur – the transition to the working world of the future – will only succeed if women in various leadership positions help shape it. A defining feature of future-ready, successful leadership is emotional stability, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness – and women score better on those crucial personality traits. This potential must be exploited!
With this insight into the working world of the future, we introduce you to this latest edition of TRANSFER magazine – and wish you a fascinating read.
With kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Barbara Burkhardt-Reich & Prof. Dr. Elke Theobald