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Tag: Skills

  • A Question of Degree: David Landsman on the importance of learning languages for careers

    Are language degrees useful? David Landsman argues that they’re highly underestimated

     

    In Britain we often like to play down our skills and achievements (except perhaps in sport).   There’s nothing wrong with a bit of modesty.   But I’m not sure we do ourselves – or the next generation – any favours if we end up boasting about how bad we are at something or another.  We rightly admire those who have overcome, say, dyslexia to achieve academic success and a great career.   But it’s decidedly odd how people make light of not being able to do maths (“not really my thing, thank goodness for calculators”).    I’ve never heard anyone in Asia, for example, boasting about being functionally innumerate….

    We’re also a bit too ready to shrug off being monolingual in what is, without doubt, a multilingual world.    Pretty well everywhere you go, you’ll meet people who take speaking multiple languages for granted.    I once visited a village school in Eastern India: the schoolgirls, aged from 8-12, spoke to me in reasonable English, one of the five languages they could communicate in.  In many, people speak one or two “home” languages, but I’m not sure our culture values these skills highly enough.  I remember asking a South African lady how many languages she spoke.  Her initial answer was “just a bit of French from school [in addition to English]”.  After a few more questions, she admitted that she spoke a couple of African languages, but hadn’t thought it worth mentioning…

    My own story with languages, like most, started at school, in my case with French and Latin, followed a year or so later by Ancient Greek.   I recall my teacher saying that the best thing about the ancient languages was that they had no practical use – probably not the best motivational talk for a twelve-year-old boy!

    But what I found exciting about Greek and Latin was their sheer “otherness”: new words, new grammar (and lots of it) and new ways of expressing yourself, for example in Greek you express the idea of “if only…” with a whole new piece of grammar (the optative mode for anyone who’s interested).   The puzzles that you have to solve in order to decipher complex constructions are the classics’ answer to a tough computer game or Sudoku.

    It was, in my case, the language puzzles rather than the ancient history or archaeology that persuaded me to opt for classics at university.   But before starting my degree, I spent a few months in Greece, which without making me change my degree plans, ultimately changed everything.  Within a minute of landing in Athens, I realised that the linguistic skills which had landed me my place at Oxford wouldn’t let me read most of the signs at the airport, still less order a beer.

    That’s when I decided to spend as much as possible of my time in Greece learning the modern language which, apart from being of more use in the bar, also got me fascinated by how the language had evolved.   I took this fascination with me to university where I studied philology (the history of languages) as part of my degree and with that went on to do a Masters and PhD in linguistics (the structure and behaviour of languages), focusing naturally on Modern Greek.

    I can’t say that my languages were an essential part of my path to the Diplomatic Service, but they certainly helped me once there.  The British Foreign Office doesn’t require candidates to speak foreign languages before they arrive, but instead uses a (pretty reliable) language aptitude test to find out who’s best suited to being trained in the most difficult languages.

    In my own case I soon found myself being sent off to fill a gap in the Embassy in Greece, belying the old joke that if you speak Russian, they’ll send you to Brazil.   Later I learned Serbo-Croat and Albanian for postings in Belgrade and Tirana; I also took a course to improve my French which is still a key diplomatic language; and have acquired along the way varying amounts of German, Turkish and Hungarian, though not as much as I would like.

    Today, after over a decade in business, I’m still at it, trying to improve my German (an important wedding to attend next year) and taking an online course in Russian with a brilliant teacher, just because I can. I’m a strong believer in the BOGOF principle of languages: learn one, get another if not actually free, much “cheaper” as every language you learn trains your mind to learn the next one.

    There are so many ways to learn languages, and different things you can be good at.   I’ve got quite a good ear, so sometimes my pronunciation can be deceptive and give the (dangerous) impression I know more than I do.  On the other hand, I’m no artist, which always put me off languages like Chinese and Thai as I’m sure I couldn’t master the elaborate writing systems.   You can learn by reading classic literature if you like, but if you prefer the news, or social media, or films, it’s your choice.  My wife has to put up with me listening to songs in whichever language I’m focusing on at the time.

    But is it really worth learning languages, when “everyone speaks English”?   First, it’s good for you. There’s plenty of evidence that language learning staves off Alzheimer’s because it’s a great form of gymnastics for the mind, which makes sense even if you’re far too young to worry about losing your memory.

    Languages are an excellent way to understand quite how differently it’s possible to think. Take colours, for example: some languages don’t distinguish between “blue” and “green” and have a single word covering both.  On the other hand, Greek and Turkish have completely different words for light and dark blue.  So if you’re speaking one of these languages, you’ll see light and dark blue as differently as we see, say, red and pink.

    This opens up a new world of understanding difference, going well beyond colours to the essence of people and civilisations.   And when you understand better, you can communicate better.   Nelson Mandela might have been talking to diplomats when he said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”   But it’s not just diplomats who need to communicate.   As former German Chancellor Willy Brandt is reported to have said: “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, Dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen”.    Prosperity depends on trade, and trade depends on dealing with abroad.  Language learning isn’t just an academic exercise.   I’d like to see more businesspeople, not just teachers, speaking up for language learning.

    If I were back at school today, what would I want to study?  To be honest, I’m not sure it would be classics (maybe my old teacher had a point).   But perhaps it wouldn’t be a pure languages degree either.   I was talking recently to students about languages at a secondary school in London and was struck by how many were thinking about taking a course combining a language with another discipline.   There are many more such courses today and they look to be well worth exploring.   You choose law or business or maths, while getting all the benefits of studying a language at the same time.   You prove that you can acquire a valuable real-world skill while giving your mind two different types of gymnastics at the same time.   And don’t worry if you can’t decide which language to study: once you’ve tried one, there’s always BOGOF.


    David Landsman is a former British Ambassador and senior executive.  He is now Chair of British Expertise International and the author of the Channel your Inner Ambassador podcast.

  • Fatima Whitbread: sport is “psychological warfare”

    Fatima Whitbread

    Looking back I was prepared to do whatever I could to gain an edge.

    First of all, you are what you eat. For me, when I was a competing athlete I was constantly working hard in the gym – three times a day training. I wasn’t that tall: I’m five foot three and most of my competitors were six foot. The important thing was I needed to be sure I was technically very sound.

    I realised my diet had to be right – I was losing weight from the training and needed to maintain a certain weight. In the build-up to my being World Champion I was on a diet of about 8,000 calories a day. That’s a huge amount because on average women consume 3000 calories a day – but I was burning it all off. The diet I took was properly designed for me to have lots of iron: so I took in lots of offal, and had a special drink with raw eggs, banana and milk in a blender. I made sure it was all protein-based.

    It was basically body-building and sculpting: it was about eating the right kinds of food – and then in training making sure you’re the right shape to maximise performance.

    Back then we didn’t have the tools we have now. VHS was the main recorder. I would record everything I saw with regard to technique. I could analyse the footage mechanically and technically as to the different shapes and sizes of the different athletes I was competing against. I could observe their speed and velocity, their leg movement, the position of the hand, and the position javelin. It all varies from athlete to athlete.

    For me it was all about learning in that level of detail, and I suppose I was doing it way before my time. I really did my homework. When I’m passionate, I don’t hold back.

    I always saw the javelin as a weapon of war: kill or be killed. When you step into the arena, you’re going back to Greek ancient times. The need to step on the runway was about claiming my territory: if I didn’t claim that and own that, then why was I there? The idea was to be able to know everything you needed to know and have a close affinity – a sort of love affair – with your javelin. It was a passion: to become the best in the world, you need to know everything that can be known about javelin-throwing and the disciplines you engage with.

    I started as a pentathlete in the early days and trained very hard. I would sprint with Daley Thompson: as a young man, he was incredibly dedicated to his work. My mum was a javelin coach. I also did sprint training with our then golden girl Donna Hartley. It was a fantastic era for track and field, I suppose partly because it was a period when there was a lot of trouble with football and hooliganism. We became the number one sport.

    It’s mind over matter. 90 per cent of the mind application is based on preparation and training. As an athlete I understood there are two championships going on: with yourself and in the arena himself. Rory McIlroy at the 2024 US Open when he missed that crucial putt, was battling with himself. I could always sense what was going on in the arena in terms of psychological warfare: I never let that distract me. When you’re doing sport at that level you have to have tunnel vision to keep your focus on what you’re doing.

    You’ve got six throws and every throw counts. I taught myself the skill of being able to perform as well on my last throw as on my first: I might often win a championship on my last throw. Anyone can do an amazing throw – and suddenly perform out of your skin.

    The press might tell you your number one and should win. But if you think like this, and start to wonder if you’re going to get gold, silver or bronze, you’re in the wrong mindset.

    There’s always great expectation – from friends and family, from yourself and from the public. It’s fairly easy at the start of your career when nobody expects anything of you. Then the expectation and the pressure starts to creep in. The only way to cope with that is mind application and doing your preparation and being able to fall upon your experience.

     

    what is fatima whitbread doing now
    C9MJNM FATIMA WHITBREAD 2012 NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS O2 ARENA LONDON ENGLAND 25 January 2012

     

    For information about Fatima’s work in the child social care space go to:  https://www.fatimascampaign.com/

     

     

  • What employability skills are important to employers?

    Finito World takes a look at what employability skills are the most important and how it can improve your career prospects

     

    Employability skills might seem to be a bit of a mouthful. But the world is becoming more competitive. A phrase which takes as long to say as to make a cup of coffee is becoming increasingly important.

    Why are employability skills so essential? It’s do first of all with the global economy, an inheritance of the settlement after the end of the Second World War. Borders are becoming more porous and businesses more international. The pool of talent competing for jobs has radically increased.

     

    The only way to meet that reality is to up your game. Gone are the days when you could stroll into Dad’s friend’s bank or law firm without an interview. Now is the time of AI interviews, and fierce competition for every role. Even roles which may not seem all that desirable are competitive.

     

    Tips for career employability

     

    So what’s necessary? First of all you need to work on your communication skills. That will be verbal and in-person, and in written communications.

     

    Sir Winston Churchill famously wrote of the importance of short, sharp memoranda that go to the point. The same is true when we are speaking aloud. Anyone starting out on their career would do well to learn to calibrate what they say. You need to put your hand up, but not seek to dominate.

     

    All that entails good listening skills, and that in turn implies teamwork. How well can you read the emotions of others? Are you able to see your way round corners? When it comes to employability skills which employers need, teamwork is important. We need to make sure we fit in.

     

    Most roles also entail some form of problem-solving. The world very rarely runs smoothly. Employers want to know that employees can engage in critical thinking and analyse situations. They need to work to the advantage of the overall organisation.

     

    Why teamwork matters

     

    One must become adept at not thinking primarily about oneself. You must ask yourself each day what you can do to further the good of a particular organisation.

     

    But no employer expects you to get everything right all the time. Setbacks and disappointments are built into business as they are into life. In a changing, rapid world mistakes happen. Employers want to see that employees have resilience and a willingness to learn.

     

    All of us has capacity for growth: career employability is to do with seeking to foster those capacities. You must not turn your back on any notion of self-improvement at the first crisis or letdown.

     

    If you can do that, you’ll be well on the way to developing leadership skills within yourself: employers often say they’re looking for self-starters. You must demonstrate over a reasonable period of time that you are able to arrive at the answer to difficult questions on your own. Then management will start to consider you for a leadership role.

     

    That will take time – and perhaps that will imply patience. But at the same time, it is to do with work ethic. That is an area where young people can really differentiate themselves. The famous West Coast lawyer John Quinn used to take his cohort of new arrivals down to the lake on his estate. He would say: “Swim to the other side!” The first two to enter the water would get jobs at the end of it.

     

    You need to be the first in that lake to succeed: if you don’t someone else will. It was said of the tennis-player Tim Henman that he wasn’t the best tennis player in his class at Reed’s School. But if the coach said: “Go and hit a ball against the ball for ten hours” would go and do it.

     

    Working hard

     

    Fostering that work ethic can lead you to surprising places. Doing things over and over again might seem boring from the outside, but commitment leads to deeper understanding.

     

    But none of this should be at the cost of the bigger picture. When it comes to career employability, you need to realise you’re in a globalised economy. You must also seek to understand the variety of functions which your organisation carries out.

     

    Above all, career employability is about never stopping learning. It is an avenue to a rich and fulfilling career, and therefore to a productive life. You might find that the employability skills important to an employer are also important to you.

     

    To learn how to develop your employability skills go to: https://www.finito.org.uk/

     

     

  • Kathryn Parsons MBE on the Seven Skills of The Future

    Kathryn Parsons MBE

     

    “What are the skills of the future?”, “how can I future proof my career?”; these are the questions I am most frequently asked.  And after a decade spent decoding the digital world, I consider it my job to know. At Decoded, we spend every day trying to deconstruct the most cutting-edge technologies impacting the world enabling companies like Unilever, HSBC and Mastercard to upskill their talent. In my lifetime, there has never been a more accelerated period of technological change, nor a more pressing need to reskill for the future.  But with such a dizzying array of new tech trends, how on earth can human beings catch up?  Here’s my cheat sheet to the seven skills and mindsets you need to future proof your career:

     

    Data Skills

    “What’s a pirate’s favourite programming language?  R.”

     

    Microsoft estimated that there were 150 million digital jobs waiting to be filled in the US alone by 2025. This includes 98 million in software development, 23 million in cloud and data, 20 million in artificial intelligence and machine learning and beyond.  All this amounts to an explosion of roles, across all companies and geographies, commonly commanding salaries upwards of $150k per year. The golden thread connecting them all? Data skills. Not all digital skills were created equally, and if there is one I would place my bets on for delivering the maximum return on investment per learner, it would be data skills. Once we have managed to wean a generation off Excel, the transformative impact of these new tools knows no limits.  The application of AI to the world economy will make what was previously impossible possible. From radical reductions in energy usage and carbon emissions to innovations and breakthroughs in disease detection and prevention, data skills hold the promise to create a smarter, cleaner and fairer world. So whether it is simply learning how to use low-code, no-code tools like Alterix, Tableau and PowerBI, or mastering Python and Neural Networks, take the leap and become part of the new data democracy.

     

    Data Ethics

    “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” Aristotle

     

    If Aristotle was alive today, he would most certainly be a student of data science.  But crucially also a student of data ethics.  As much as AI has the potential to create a smarter, cleaner, fairer world it also has the potential to create a dystopian one of AI warfare, surveillance states and human obsoleteness. This may be due to leaving powerful technologies in the hands of bad actors, or it may in fact be merely a consequence of putting technology in the hands of poorly educated leaders. Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking are amongst many leaders to express their concerns. In response, our modules on data ethics have seen a spike in demand as it appears, somewhat reassuringly, that people are now seeking not only to put powerful tools in their hands, but to use them wisely too. Because it is hard to know what we should fear more, artificial intelligence or human stupidity?

     

    Digital Literacy

    “I wandered lonely as a Cloud” – William Wordsworth

     

    A funny thing happened at peak Covid in March 2020. At a time when I fully expected the boards and leadership teams of the world to be scrambling to respond to the world’s first global pandemic, we unexpectedly received an influx of inbound requests to decode technologies for boards and leadership teams across the world. Why? Covid accelerated the digital transformation of their businesses by as much as ten years overnight. Digital fluency went from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have with immediate effect. Were they asking us how to deploy advanced analytics across their businesses or to multiply their data skills capabilities?  No. They were asking us “what is the Cloud?”, “what is the difference between AI and machine learning?” and “what is an API?” Unfortunately the business leaders of the world are often the most digitally illiterate quotient of the organizations they are in charge of. It’s lonely at the top. Who can you turn to to tell you what the Cloud is without making you feel foolish? It’s my ambition to educate the leadership teams of the entire Fortune 500. It may be one of the most underrated but high impact catalysts to accelerate the digitisation of the economy I can think of.

     

    Apprenticeships

     

    Alan Sugar, eat your heart out

     

    Since the UK launched its apprenticeship levy scheme in 2018 it has caused its fair share of controversy. It is payable by all employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million, at a rate of 0.5 per cent of their total. This money can go towards an array of approved training schemes, spanning management and technical skills and beyond. We launched our Data Academies in 2018 to respond to this demand and are now one of the UK’s largest suppliers of levy-funded data skills.There are many improvements to the scheme being demanded for by employers and training providers alike. The deficiencies mean many employers simply send the money back to government’s coffers rather than it reaching the workers who would most benefit from the investment in their lifelong learning. Despite these challenges, the apprenticeship levy is one of the world’s first schemes of its kind. In 2021 over 600,000 apprentices were taught across the UK – and the UK’s apprenticeship scheme is being keenly observed globally. With a few tweaks, the UK may have one of the world’s best lifelong learning policies on its hands. It is time to throw out any antiquated notions of what an apprentice may look like too. Our learners range from 16 to 60 years old, from mid-career managers, to people just starting their professional lives to PHDs and people on career breaks. We are living in the greatest time of flux and change in terms of our careers and skills. We are all apprentices.

     

    Hacker skills

    Permission to feel dangerous

     

    In 2021, the number of cyber attacks peaked, with a 40 per cent increase in attacks on the year before. Cyber crime terrifies us, just imagine the havoc one simple attack could wreak on our personal or professional lives? Despite this, we still can’t seem to change our passwords from “passw0rd” or wrap our heads around using a password protector.  What an odd relationship we have with our security. Fear and utter complacency in tandem. That’s why we try to get people behind the screen as much as possible during our hacker classes.  We take you behind the screen, into the dark web, delving into illegal data dumps, replicating real hacks on banks or retailers. It all sounds a bit dangerous doesn’t it?  But it is, in our experience, the only way to create the interest and behavioural change needed to ward off the threat of a real life cyber attack.

    Web3

    90’s web utopianism is back

     

    In a nutshell, Web3 is the dawn of a new decentralized world wide web.  Built on blockchain technology it utilizes features such as token-based economics. Whether you’re a skeptic like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey or an advocate like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin there is no denying the buzz around Web3. According to crypto VC firm Electric Capital, there are currently only 18,000 active Web3 developers in the world. In comparison, there are over 16 million plus Javascript developers. So if you want to ride the crest of a wave and fancy yourself as a bit of a tech utopian, Web3 is for you. Time to scrub up on NFTs (non-fungible tokens), DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and cryptocurrencies (know your Solana from your Bitcoin).

     

    The Metaverse
    Virtually impossible potential

     

    The Metaverse is anticipated to present an $800 billion marketplace by 2025.  Laugh at Mark Zuckerberg in his Ray Bans on his hydrofoil all you like, this is a marketplace not to be ignored.  Brands like Nike have reaped the rewards of taking a “Just Do It” approach to the Metaverse, with the launch of Nike Virtual Studios and Nikeland last year.  Today Nike Digital is the fastest-growing piece of Nike’s business, representing 26 per cent of their revenues. So whether you need to devise your organization’s Metaverse strategy or you simply want to escape the real world for a bit (don’t we all), prepare to step through the looking glass and fall down the rabbit hole of the virtual future which awaits us.

     

    There is no silver bullet but any person young or old who develops these seven skills, tools and mindsets, is set to flourish in the economy and society of the future.

     

    Kathryn Parsons is co-founder and co-CEO of Decoded, a technology education company delivering immersive learning experiences spanning digital and data technologies to businesses and governments across the globe.

     

     

  • Caroline Roberts: Only a sensible immigration policy can protect our skilled workers

    Caroline Roberts: Only a sensible immigration policy can protect our skilled workers

    My best way of illustrating to you where we are with labour and skills at the moment is to tell you about Carl. 

    We recently employed builders to undertake a kitchen extension at our home in the Midlands, and I’m happy to say they did an excellent job. We now have a large, light kitchen space which both myself and my husband love to spend time in. It was the result of hard work – and also of skill on the builders’ part.

    During the building process, I had a conversation with one of the builders. Carl told me he was heading to Scotland next to work on a house renovation. He had secured this work through his employer networks in Scotland. How had he achieved that? By having qualifications which were recognised in Scotland and therefore enabled mobility in the skills market. For his employer, the qualification gave confidence that Carl had the right skills to deliver a quality job to the expected standards.

    In what follows, I will use the term skills market rather than labour market. I prefer the first to the second even though the second is normally used by commentators in this area. That’s because I believe skills are the real currency which has value in the jobs market. Particularly in this fast moving world of work where portfolio careers and flexible working are increasingly the norm, skills are the asset which will support employment, career progression and social mobility.

    Back to Carl. Unfortunately, devolution in the UK has meant that policy on skills has diverged and whilst Carl easily attained work in Scotland with his current qualifications, as the pace of devolution builds, the predicament for people like him may get harder. Additionally, Brexit has meant that we can no longer can the overseas skills we need to service economic growth. An ONS statistical release reported in June 2018 that latest figures indicate that 10% of all workers within the construction industry are EU nationals. Within the London construction industry, this proportion increases to 33%. Much will depend on how many of the existing UK-based EU workforce chooses to stay.’ This isn’t all. It will also depend on sensible immigration policies which recognise that the UK will still need to import some skills post Brexit which it is not able to home grow. 

    Worryingly, prior to Brexit, employers across the UK were reporting significant skills shortages and gaps despite access to overseas skills. The fact is that unless we have sensible immigration policies and agreements across the UK and its governments which continue to support the free movement of skills, those challenges will only get worse.

    Arguably, devolved systems work on the assumption that labour markets are geographically static and can be served adequately by local provision. The reality, however, is that the workforce needs to be mobile to meet changing skills demands – both positive and negative – across geographies. 

    For example, the car manufacturing sector in the UK has many skills in common with the food manufacturing sector and both are reliant on the transfer of skills between the two sectors to meet changing demands. We must be able to anticipate and proactively address those changing skills needs through effective use of research and skills analysis. We also need a training and education system which prepares people for flexible, mobile careers not just for a job.

    This does not, however suggest that one size fits all. Devolution on skills and employment policy allows for local contextualisation in terms of qualifications, education and training and will be better placed to serve local skills demands. But there are skills which everyone, wherever they live, choose to work, or be compelled to work, will need and it is important that education and training provision puts these skills at the heart of its offer.

    The World Economic Forum in 2017 set out those skills which will be crucial to the careers of now and in the future. Whilst it is unclear what the jobs of future will look like, The World Economic Forum believe there are generic skills which all individuals will require. By having these skills individuals will have greater resilience and longevity in the skills market allowing for transferability and mobility. 

    So, whilst Carl is an example of how the system does work now, we cannot lose sight of the changing demands of the skills market and encourage governments to develop skill policies which are mutually beneficial for the economy, the individual and society as a whole.

    Caroline Roberts is a Finito mentor