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Jane Dysart posted this in Conferences, Organizations on June 21st, 2011 This is my day for The Atlantic. Another great article, the first three parts of a 5 part series on the future workforce & the skills necessary:
1. Sense Making: The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed (also known as critical thinking about which Rebecca and I were talking in our SLA workshop — Thinking Strategically & Critically; Seeing Possibilities)
2. Social Intelligence: The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions (what Rebecca & I and our friend Stephen Abram discussed at the SLA Marketing Section breakfast last week — building relationships, aligning with customers & senior managers — hope someone took notes!)
3. Novel and Adaptive Thinking: Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based.
4. Cross-Cultural Competency: The ability to operate in different cultural settings
5. Computational Thinking: The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning
6. New-Media Literacy: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication.
Oh no, we have to wait for the last four skills! But aren’t they articulate and right on? Read the full articles for more.
Update: Well thanks to Steve Barth for flushing out the U of Pheonix Research Institute Study, Future Work Skills 2020 where you can download the PDF of
Continue reading 10 Skills for the Future Workforce
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences, Lib, IM, KM on June 8th, 2011 This blog post is being posted to Future Ready 365 today. Are you a future ready information professional?
A few weeks ago Jane Dysart, Kim Silk and I were fortunate to hear Daniel Pink talk at the Rotman School of Management Life-Long Learning Conference for Leaders, ‘How to Get Your Business Back to Reality.” His latest book, Drive, bases “the surprising things that motivate us” on 40 years of human motivation research (here’s a pdf summary of Drive). It wasn’t his discussion about what does or doesn’t motivate us that caught my attention, although that is fascinating and worth a blog post(!); it was his discussion about the need for organizations to challenge and re-think base assumptions on which they are building their strategies.
I’m increasingly concerned that that the library sector and information profession must do just that: challenge, re-frame and quite possibly re-think our base assumptions and the practices and approaches built on those assumptions. Pink re labels assumptions “orthodoxies”. Labelling and viewing what we, as a sector and profession view to be truths as “orthodoxies” rather than assumptions forces us to see the deep-rooted concreteness of these “truths”. It is these deep roots that make it somewhat painful to question the validity of these orthodoxies today and, more importantly, tomorrow and into the future.
I laugh, both because laughter is healthy and because for a profession that has an orthodoxy (yes, a truth – an assumption!) of finding and delivering answers to any question, we aren’t
Continue reading Curious Enough to Question “Orthodoxies”
Fantastic SLA PH&T Division conference at the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando, began with Kevin Davies, Chief Editor Bio-IT World and author of The $1,000 Genome (Free Press 2010). He’s an unbelievably engaging, articulate, funny & informed speaker. And he explored the revolution in DNA sequencing technologies, personal genomics and the evolving environment of personalized medicine. Yep. Personalized medicine. Today, for $200, you can spit in a cup & have your DNA screened; this isn’t the detailed DNA sequencing that identifies EVERYTHING about your physiological make-up, but it can identify significant abnormalities in your DNA — such as a man whose screening revealed he had advanced prostate cancer with NO symptoms. Talk about customized — he was able to take the results to his doctor and steps were taken (surgery, cancer treatment) to save his life. As the price point of DNA sequencing continues to drop, how will people handle this information? what’s the impact on the medical system? on the insurance system? Certainly DNA sequencing will help with drug develop, patient stratification and tailoring treatment; it will also raise huge questions regarding how organizations and insurers handle this information. Davies ended with the premise of “the 15 minute genome by 2014″.
Yo. That’s a premise. Holding much promise & peril. Every evolution, revolution & innovation brings promise & peril.
And that’s what struck me as I gave a talk about Thinking Strategically & Critically. As we consider & question our assumptions regarding access and resources, we open up possibilities. And, with possibilities —
Continue reading Innovations bring promise & peril
Rebecca Jones posted this in Planning on January 26th, 2011 I know what great cat curiousity certainly hasn’t killed, or even maimed or slowed down in any fashion. Jane Dysart.
Jane is one curious character (if I called her a “curious cat” it would make me sound like I’m remaking an episode of Dobie Gillis or Ozzie & Harriet. Oh dear, most of you are too young to know that before he was Gilligan, Bob Denver was none other than “Maynard Krebs” – a “beatnik” who referred to cool people as “cool cats” on Dobie Gillis. I digress!)
As I prepare a paper for next week’s OLA Superconference on Strategic & Critical Thinking: Seeing Possibilities, I reflect on Jane’s ability to view situations from a different perspective, largely because she has an incredible sense of curiosity and she’s a risk taker. Curiousity is an important attribute for strategic thinking; strategic thinkers are those who question and explore issues and developments to see where they lead. Coupled with their comfort for risk taking, they will follow these unmarked paths — sometimes to poking about to see what emerges. One of Jane’s favourite sayings is “What’s the worst thing that can happen? If you can live with the worst, then explore it a bit.”
I’m not talking about strategic planning, but rather strategic thinking — which had better be involved in the strategic planning. Without strategic thinking, you aren’t getting the disruptive thinking and fresh paths leading to change — which is, of course, the whole purpose of strategic planning. If you aren’t
Continue reading Curiosity doesn’t kill cats, or ideas
Rebecca Jones posted this in Leadership on June 15th, 2009 I have the incredible privilege of giving a session with Mary Lee Kennedy and Deb Wallace of Harvard Business School on critical thinking at SLA 2009 tomorrow. Unfortunately, Mary Lee won’t be there in person, but she certainly will be there in content and in spirit. Mary Lee embodies critical thinking — viewing “what is” and asking “why” and then doing something about it. Just ask anyone that’s worked with her at Harvard, or, before that, Microsoft and, before that, Digital Equipment. I’d ask “huh?” but Mary Lee would definitely ask “how can we frame this?”
The presentation is up here, but, in a nutshell critical thinking is really about unveiling and questioning assumptions and information that may not be valid. Sounds easy, right? sounds reasonable. Especially since so many decisions and problems we face are complex. There’s often no obvious or even one right decision or solution.
BUT, it’s not easy or even reasonable in many circumstances to keep raising questions about people’s base “starting points” as they discuss potential options. It can be downright risky to suggest to those making decisions that they “re-frame” how they see the situation, or that they set the “sunk costs” of a service or project aside as they examine options. After all, very often we continue to ‘sink costs’ into a service/project even though it’s obviously past its prime or no longer working. As Warren Buffet said, “When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is stop digging.” So
Continue reading Critical thinking: more than for decision-making, it’s how digital natives engage
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