Time To Mentally Prepare For The 'Digital Future'

The digital is the complete transformation of our way of life and work. It is a potpourri of software, the gazillion devices, the interconnected network and the host of exponential technologies connect everything and everyone into one large invisible labyrinthine maze of relationships. The rate of change has also redefine

When you look at today’s business, you have to look at both the headlines and the ‘trendlines’. The headlines are being created by companies like Facebook, UBER, Airbnb, Twitter and Alibaba, who defy the normal principles of business modelling and our traditional outlook to assets. These companies have not just edged millions of companies out of business, but have fundamentally changed human habits. A middle-aged professional of today is, at a very interesting crossroad in his/her career, where he/she sees some of the value of her ‘decade sold experience’ of yesterday eroded, because the future course of business requires a new ‘quiver of arrows’. The stark reality in front of his/her or the ‘digital reality’, needs to be understood very differently. Business memory or history today has little to offer, to decipher this crystal ball of change.

Such enormous changes in technology demand immense synergies with education and the future employment scenario. The student who enters the portal of employment and entrepreneurship has some baffling puzzles to solve. The traditional career ambitions are sure to be disrupted some of the attractive jobs of today will change in nature and character. Looking from the point of view of early and professional education, the significant divide in the earlier decades, between the earning capacity of a good student and the below average student was more stark. More college qualification in India, normally, was some sign of future success. Of course, exceptions were always there. Today, this divide is fading. The key competency a professional needs to nurture today is the ability to unlearn and to learn new things. Perhaps, higher education prepares you for this travail, but it is by no means a clear indicator.