2023 Bridget Burns

‘The tools for bridging the gap from education to employment are already out there’

Reflections on The Future of Work 2023 from WorkingNation Advisory Board member Bridget Burns
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We asked our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the most important issues and challenges facing the workforce and the labor market in the coming year.

Named one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly, Bridget Burns is the founding CEO of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA).

Here are her thoughts on The Future of Work 2023.

“At a moment when a quality postsecondary education stands to benefit millions of Americans, many are questioning its value. Two-thirds of students wonder whether college is worth the cost, while three-quarters of employers say that a college degree is no longer a reliable signal of a job candidate’s quality.

Yet, we all know the impact a college degree has on lifelong earnings. This disconnect remains one of the biggest challenges facing our labor force, but I have reason for optimism. 

Across the country, I talk to institutions who are working toward a bolder reimagining of what higher education can do and who it can serve. Increasingly, there is a recognition among postsecondary leaders that career services should be a central component of a student’s educational journey from day one, equipping learners with the tools they need to gain the experiences and skills necessary to thrive in today’s world of work.

We’re seeing more institutions work collaboratively with faculty, career services, and employers to integrate career readiness into curriculum. Students are being taught that they have a responsibility to pursue and create experiences outside of the classroom. Institutions can work hand-in-hand with employers to surface these opportunities and prepare learners for exploring and ultimately beginning their careers. 

Fortunately, higher education is starting to not only hear this drumbeat but respond to it.  Leaders are openly discussing the urgency of this shift and are expressing a willingness to investigate solutions that build a career-readiness-first culture.

Even better, they don’t have to do it alone.

The tools for bridging the gap from education to employment are already out there. It’s no longer a question of whether it is possible to reimagine higher education in a way that truly produces the graduates employers need. We know it is. Institutions now just need the courage and commitment to navigate this change moment. I’m hopeful we’ll see more of that courage in 2023.”

You can read all The Future of Work 2023 articles from our WorkingNation Advisory Board here.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.