Future-of-Work

Upskilling now gives you an advantage as the economy reopens

WorkingNation Chief Content Officer Joan Lynch on NPR's Jazzed About Work podcast
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The warning has been out there for a few years: there is a growing mismatch between the skills that employers want and the skills that employees have. As the economy struggles to fully reopen, that warning is more relevant than ever.

How do you put 21 million people back to work? And how do you arm them with the skills that employers want and need to fill empty jobs when they finally become available?

Since its existence, WorkingNation has been examining those questions and reporting on tangible solutions to the skills gap problem.

Joan Lynch, WorkingNation Chief Content and Programming Officer

This week, our Chief Content and Programming Officer Joan Lynch guested on NPR’s Jazzed About Work to discuss where work opportunities exist, and how to best prepare yourself for your job hunt. It comes down to knowing what skills you already have and learning how to get the skills that you are lacking in the current work climate.

“There’s going to be opportunity and in different areas of the country. Go into it with an idea of what are your skills. It’s a part of what we all need to be doing going forward,” she tells host Beverly Jones.

“Education does not end with the degree or certification. You’re a lifelong learner, which you hear all the time, but that really means what am I good at? What are the skills that I have and how can I make myself valuable to a certain organization?,”  says Lynch.

In the podcast, they also talked specifics about some of the innovative programs helping bridge that skills gap for worker and employer alike, and some of the thought leaders who are leading the way.

“There’s a bunch of wonderful programs that we highlight through our journalism, both on our WorkingNation website and on our Work in Progress podcast.” We urge you to explore those links to find programs that might suit your needs.

In addition to reading our stories on the programs that are working, Lynch advises job seekers looking for upskilling opportunities to check out some of the organizations, programs, and people she called out on the podcast–we’ve listed them below–and to “look regionally within your local area to find programs.”

“The program model that we have seen work at a local level has been when business leaders, educators, not-for-profits—when all of these interest groups get together—recognize we need to build the workforce of the future in our area.”

You can listen to the entire podcast here Jazzed About Work, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Programs and Organizations Addressing the Skills Gap

Lumina Foundation
Strada Education Network
School of Analytics at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania
Apollo Veterans Talent Management
SHRM
National Governors Association
Heroes Linked
Team Rubicon
Forum for the Future of Higher Education
HBI (Home Builders Institute)
NFTE
Gallup

Thought Leaders We Think You Should Know

Brandon Busteed
Eric Bradlow
Kate Migliaro
William D. Hansen
Jane Oates

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.