The 21st century is known as the “Information Age” in contrast to the 20th century as “The Industrial Age”. It is important to know that the skills needed in today's global economy are different from the skills needed in the past. With globalization, the world is becoming an open market where countries and companies are competing for economic advantages. The application of Information Technology (IT) has forced many changes that never happened before. In this “Connected world”, no country is strong enough to withstand the impact of global economy forces. Without knowledge of the global economy, a country cannot defend itself to forces that it cannot control. The same thing also happens to company, without a good strategy it cannot defend itself to competitors that it does not even know.
To survive, company must change by restructure, reorganize, and “flatten out” management hierarchy, outsource works, and use information technologies (IT) to create competitive advantages. As a result, jobs, works, organization structures, and business processes must also change. Today, working for the same company for an entire lifetime does not exist anymore. Economy will go ups and downs with the flow of global economy forces. Companies will expand, shrink or even collapse. Because of this, most people will change their jobs several times during their lifetime.
To survive in this dynamic market people need special skills. The skills of the 21st century are Communication skills; Computer skills; Financial skills; Entrepreneurial skills; Teamwork skills; and Self-motivated skills. The foundation of these skills is in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and these fields should be taught in every education programs. For working people, they must adopt a lifelong learning approach to improve their skills to survive.
With globalization, a foreign language is no longer a luxury but a necessity. If you only speak one language, you will not have much opportunity in this “global connected world”. According to a new study, the 21st century workers need to know at least two to three languages as the minimum to get good paying job. Learning and mastering a foreign language take time so it is best to start language training as early as possible.
With the increasing use of Information Technology (IT), workers must have knowledge of computers. If you do not know how to use a computer you will not be able to get good paying job. You probably will not even get a job. Imagine that you do not know how to read and write today, what kind of job would you get? The same thing will happen soon if you do not know how to use a computer. You do not have to be an expert or a programmer but at least you must know something about information technology and use computer in your job.
Global economy is an open market and anyone can start their own business. In the Industrial age, big company is the foundation of the economy where it hires hundred thousands of workers but in the Information age, small company is the main economy strength. It is estimated that in the next ten years, number of big company will be reduced to a few but small company will increase significantly. The reason is big company cannot change fast enough to adjust to market demand but small company can. Small company is flexible enough to adjust quickly to market needs and thrive in this new economy.
An entrepreneur is a person who creates and manages startup and grows it into highly profitable company. The most important skill is the ability to identify opportunity and seize it before somebody else. It means entrepreneur must have certain knowledge and constantly monitor trends and changing market to identify opportunity. Entrepreneurs must be confident in their ability and motivated to make things happen. They must combine their technology knowledge and business skills to develop a business strategy and maintain their position in this dynamic market.
In this highly competitive market, technical knowledge is not enough but business skill such as financial management is critical. Knowing how to keep the company operate efficiency and balance it with profit is important. Every business has to focus on customers and sales. An entrepreneur must figure out what type of sales is best for their services and products and how to capture the opportunity before others and manage the company finance to maximize profits.
Entrepreneurs are self-motivated. They must realize that timing is essential and every minute is valuable. They must track global trends, know what to do, when to do it, and willing to take risks. In this fast changing world, time does not wait as opportunity comes and goes quickly so they must act fast and always ready for the next opportunity.
Today, most works require teamwork. Teamwork is needed to solve large and complex problems. A team is better at solving problems than individuals. A team can divide works among members and increase productivity faster. However many people are uncomfortable when working in team. Some prefer to work alone so to ensure that teams are effective, members must understand what teamwork is. Teamwork is a process where a small number of people with complementary skills become committed to a common purpose and reach agreement on specific goals, working approach, and mutual accountability. Successful teams share many characteristics. They leverage the diverse knowledge, skills, experience, and interests of members; they generate more creative responses to challenges than individuals; they catalyze fresh ideas for new products and services, better business processes, and profitable strategies; they perform the work with dedication, energy, and efficiency into productive direction.
In this highly competitive world, knowledge and skills must constantly be updated. If you do not somebody will and they want your job. The African has a proverb: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve to death.” Continuous learning is not something you do when you have time but something you must do to survive.
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Prof. Vu
Carnegie Mellon University
source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,2048
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