“The 21st century requires leaders who can navigate the unknown in an ever-changing world and bridge divides.”
– Jacqueline Novogratz
The world is witnessing unprecedented change. While change is the norm of life, and we have adapted well to it, the rate or intensity at which our world changed in 2020 is phenomenal. From pandemic to economic crashes, from new technologies to global collaborations, the last few months have thrown a host of fears, challenges, and possibilities.
Changemakers, globally, have not just responded to this change, but have effected a profound change through it. Our personal and professional development is based on embracing change, and the ones to do it before others are usually known as global changemakers.
Scrambling to Upskill
Achieving a deep change in the status quo requires acquiring and implementing new skills. The upcoming global scenario will not be a hierarchy led by elites, but by a mosaic of global changemakers who will function is democratic virtual space. The new world order will be merit-based, where it will be imperative to upskill if one wants to survive.
Even before the pandemic, various sectors were struggling to recruit and retain people with niche skills required in a rapidly digitized and automated world. As during previous periods of transitions, everyone hoped everything will gradually adapt to the world around it. The sudden shock the world was thrown in during the pandemic, though, forced a hard rethink on this idea. It showed us how lagging we were behind the very technology we had created.
The result? Professionals scrambling to keep up with the requirements of the unknown waters they found themselves in. According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index 2020 in India, a whopping 64% of professionals increased their focus on learning in 2020.
Taking The Lead
Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli had once famously said, “There is no education like adversity”. No amount of training could have prepared leaders for the crisis they faced this year. Out of the shambles, have emerged leaders who have shown exemplary leadership.
The pandemic normalized many things such as telecommuting to work, distributed teams, demand for resilient organizational infrastructure, and high adaptability. The change leaders of the future will be those who will master these skills and implement them to effect change.
The changemakers of the future will have to go beyond predictions and forecasts. They will have to internalize what were considered tertiary skills up until now. Leading change will require a high degree of empathy, communication, adaptability, and introspection.
Imbibing Empathy
One of the critical abilities to effect impactful change is to understand how people are perceiving change. Changemakers can understand the challenges of people and bring about a change to address them.
As we all increasingly become global citizens, cognitive empathy will become the fundamental skills that will enable young changemakers to put themselves in others’ shoes and design solutions for them.
Collaboration is an interactive activity. Collaboration empowers people to engage with others’ emotions and be aware of their feelings. Businesses too now take into account cognitive empathy and emotional intelligence while hiring people because teams that bond well tend to deliver better.
This is a unique opportunity to use what we have learned and usher in a new normal. The new normal has space for everyone to be a changemaker. But can everyone explore their potential to be a changemaker?
ADYPU Online’s Master Level – Post Graduate Programs are designed to equip you with the new-age skills required to thrive in the new world order. The programs are designed for professionals looking to boost their careers by acquiring new skills and attuning to change. For organizations looking to onboard 21st century changemakers, ADYPU Online’s curriculum is an attestation of what they want to see in a modern-day professional.
ADYPU also offers M. Tech programs in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Blockchain, Full Stack Development, Automotive Product Engineering, Digital Manufacturing, Bioengineering, Cybersecurity, MBA in Advanced Program in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, MBA in Advanced HR Practices, and LLM in Corporate Law, Constitutional Law, and Cyber Law and Cybercrime Investigation. For enquiries and admissions, get in touch with us now.
