Future jobs require empathic skills and courage

"In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they are about brains, but in the future they will be about the heart." Minouche Shafik, director, London School of Economics, quoted in "dare to lead" by Brené Brown.

I am glad to see that I have been preparing thoroughly for the future :) Whether it is at the World Economic Forum, people in business or friends where ever I turn I see change and shifts and I hear people talking how our current systems or even schools are neither prepared nor preparing us or our children for the future.

Recently a friend told me about interviews at a bank. The expertise on the CV was not discussed as it was clear that the CV reflects the experience. What seems much more important now are the soft skills. Do people fit into teams and are they truly being a resource on multiple dimensions within the team? Have they got the right kind of communication skills? What is their focus in life and is self-development important to them? Do they have active listening skills? Do they respond rather than react to challenging situations and what does their response look like? Have they got the courage to identify and confront problems within the company, team, project or process or are they avoiders? Can they offer creative solutions when the team or project hits a road block? Are they mindful of their own and other people's boundaries? Are they prepared to truly lead by example and take responsibility for their actions or are they continuously putting the blaming on others?

Effective and sustainable leadership, especially in the current and future challenges that the world faces, requires a lot more awareness and self-awareness, inspiration, creativity and being in service then the old belief systems of simply being an expert in your field. While we believe that all those skills need to be learned they are actually innate abilities that we simply need to rediscover and reconnect to. The first step is to ask yourself: Do I want to be an effective leader and do I have the courage to do what it takes to make the changes that will ensure my company's as well as my own growth and lead the organisation sustainably into the future? If the answer is "yes" then ask yourself what is the next step on that path? If the answer is "no" then start with courage. How do you go about finding the courage? By looking at the origin of the word. It comes from the french word "coeur" and means heart, which brings us back to the quote that in the future jobs will be about the heart. Then simply look at the current situation of your heart and take the next step from that observation. We can't run unless we have learned to walk. So take it step by step.