Tech vs Mindfulness?
Coursera, the popular platform of online education, just released the Global Skills 2020 Index (GSI). The index compares the mastery of skills in ten industries and eleven areas of study in 60 countries worldwide, turning Switzerland, Finland and Austria the Cutting Edge Global Skills learners in the world. Tech vs Mindfulness, where should you invest your time and money?
The GSI aims to develop a timely study of the changes that occurred in virtual learning from the consequences generated by the global pandemic. It states that the recovery in a post-pandemic world will rely on broad reskilling.
The report displays global rankings that were developed in core skills in business, technology, and data science. It shows that Switzerland, Finland, Austria, and Russia were the most consistent in the top five countries in the three ranking categories.
By contrast, countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Pakistan, and Nigeria are among the most lagging in essential skills in business, technology, and data science.
Top five innovative countries in essential skills
BUSINESS
- 1. Switzerland
- 2. Austria
- 3. Denmark
- 4. Finland
- 5. United Arab Emirates
TECHNOLOGY
- 1. Russia
- 2. Belarus
- 3. Switzerland
- 4. Ukraine
- 5. Finland
DATA SCIENCE
- 1. Russia
- 2. Switzerland
- 3. Belgium
- 4. Austria
- 5. Finland
In addition to this global ranking of essential skills, the report highlighted the following key ideas:
1. Countries with higher skill proficiencies are also those with higher labour force participation rates. A country’s skill proficiency across domains is positively correlated (56%), with the fraction of its working-age population active in its labour force. (Secondary data: World Bank)
2. Countries with equal internet access rates are also those of higher skill proficiencies. There is a significant and positive correlation (65%) between a country’s skill proficiency across domains and the percentage of its population using the internet. (Secondary data: World Bank).
3. The with more highly skilled talent, especially in technology skills, see higher stock returns and less disruption from COVID-19. The correlation between an industry’s skill proficiency and its stock performance in the United States in one year was 43% across all the domains of skills and 39% in the fields of technology. (Secondary data: Fidelity)
4. Of the 200 million higher education students whose studies were interrupted by COVID-19, 80% are located in countries with emerging or lagging skills. 80 % of the students enrolled in tertiary education are in countries that have closed schools due to COVID-19 and are listed in the bottom half of the world rankings for business, technology, and data science skills. (Secondary data: UNESCO)
Beyond Hard Skills.
In contrast, the same report shows that the demand for personal development skills such as confidence, stress management, and mindfulness has grown by 1200% among individual learners. People are turning to courses like Yale University’s Science of Well-Being to mitigate mental and emotional distress caused by the pandemic.
I know, there is a looooonngg and passionate discussion on how important humanities will become the most relevant field of study when the AI starts coding and engineering better than humans,
Vs
We should be teaching our toddlers how to code, build robots and develop apps.
However, we will save that conversation for another post. Right now, When we talk about job satisfaction, the same countries rank different, according to the Global Employee Engagement Index.
1. Switzerland. 7.4 / 10
2. Austria. 7.7 / 10
3. Denmark. 7.1 / 10
4. Belgium 7.1 / 10
5. Ukraine. 7 / 10
6. Finland. 6.8 / 10
7. Russia. 6.8 / 10
While the top of the rank belongs to:
1. North-America: USA (7.7 / 10), Canada (7.4 / 10), Mexico (8.2 / 10).
2. South-America: Chile (7.8/10), Perú (7.6 / 10), Brazil (7.6 / 10), Argentina (7.5 / 10)
3. Europe: Romania (7.9 / 10), Austria (7.7 / 10), Swtizerland (7.4 / 10), Turkey (7.4 / 10)
4. Africa: Nigeria (7.7 / 10), Kenya (7.4 / 10), South Africa (7.3 / 10)
5. Asia: India (7.9 / 10), Thailand (7.6 / 10), Indonesia (7.4 / 10).
Several surveys of across the world acknowledge the imperative of pack the workforce with more than hard skills. Even some employers identify lack of soft skills as the area where young job-seekers have the largest deficiency, with growing evidence that non-cognitive or soft skills are important for a range of life outcomes.
As a result, a growing number of youth programs have incorporated a soft skills training component – examples include the entra 21 program in 18 Latin American countries, or the Jordan NOW program.
But how do we measure what soft skills youth have? Let us share with you 5 tools that can help you out:
1. The World Bank STEP skills measurement exercise employs such an approach in multiple countries, measuring personality traits, grit, and behavior skills.
2. The 16 personalities test is a funny and interactive tool to explore more about yourself and what drives you.
3. Social Style Matrix. An effective method to understand how both you, and the people you need to work with, think and make decisions.
4. The Global Talent Trends series of post by Linkedin invited experts on. the topic Soft Skills, Dr John Sulivan summarizes 12 ways of assessing soft skills.
Tech vs Mindfulness? Instead: Mind, Body Soul.
At The Global School for New Leadership, we use a great tool called “Purpose-Driven Leader Self-Assessment”, a holistic approach on personal leadership and impact beyond work or professional purpose, it´s more about what really balance your life-purpose as a leader.
You can also take a look at the recommendations of Gifted Healthcare.
Roberto A. Arrucha
I work with Purpose-Driven Organizations & Entrepreneurs in 3 main challenges: 1. Powerful & Meaningful Communication, 2. Income Generation & Marketing, 3. Holistic Leadership.
Director & Founder of The Global School for New Leadership
