How Smart Companies Can Close The Skills Gap

“In the next ten to fifteen years, rapid change in a post-pandemic world and emerging technology will revolutionize nearly every job, eliminate some, and create new forms of work that we have yet to imagine,” says Deanna Mulligan, author of the book, Hire Purpose: How Smart Companies Can Close The Skills Gap.

In a highly personal and reflective manner, Mulligan, with Greg Shaw, details through stories, examples, insights and frameworks, how business leaders can prepare for and respond to technological disruption. Mulligan is Board Chair and former CEO of the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

Mulligan tackles in, Hire Purpose, education, training, the classroom, the workplace and workers.

One of my favorite learnings from the book is where she states her believe that:

The primary goal of a business is to be profitable in order to compete, innovate, and provide stable jobs, but also that there are many paths to profit – and that the best ones take into consideration financial performance and the health and happiness of the people who make performance possible.

“In the interest of our businesses, our country, and our society, we have to relearn an old lesion: focus on both profits and people,” explains Mulligan.

Recently, she also shared these insights with me:

Deanna Mulligan

Question: What did you see happening in companies that convinced you this was a book you wanted to write?

Mulligan: This really came into focus for me after the 2008 financial crisis. Companies were forced to look outside for new skills and in many cases laid off quality people whose functions had been terminated. Many, many of these people have had a hard time finding new employment. Guided by one of our company values at Guardian Life, people count, I believed that there had to be a better way.

We see accelerating change with the rapid adoption of technological advances like artificial intelligence and machine learning. It’s not just what we see in companies and new technologies. It is the entire world. The forces of globalization and the emergence of the millennial in the workforce are forcing every organization, including Guardian, to re-think how we hire and reskill our existing workforces.

Question: Why is it so important that business leaders prioritize reskilling, not just for business reasons but also for a social and moral obligation to society?

Mulligan: Companies are caught between furloughing workers whose skills are no longer needed due to automation and not being able to find the people with the skills for the present and the future. Reskilling is the clear solution. It’s far more economical for the company and far better for society to give existing workers the skills needed to do the work the company needs done.

Question: What steps should businesses take now to prepare workers to fill the skills gap, now estimated at 85 million skilled jobs by 2030?

Mulligan: The first step is to invest the time and money in workers. At Guardian, as new technology has streamlined some aspects of customer service, we launched a program to retrain call-center workers as programmers. It’s not cheap in the short run, but the cost of not reskilling in the long run is far greater. Companies need to think beyond the next quarter’s financial results and make commitments to the people they hire as well as to their customers and investors.

Question: You started work on, Hire Purpose, long before the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. How has this crisis influenced your thinking about the future of work?

Mulligan: I don’t think that any of us imagined the speed at which whole industries, and the jobs they provide, would be massively affected. Think of the restaurant industry or the airline industry. The effort to help people impacted by these changes is obviously bigger than companies alone can shoulder. The government has stepped in to provide income support to people who lost their jobs. Now we need to think about how to re-deploy those people, either permanently, or temporarily.

This crisis has put an exclamation point on the topic. The future of work is now! It is going to take a true public/private partnership to make the re-skilling of our workforce a success. It takes planning, deep investment, great execution, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Question: If a company could only implement one recommendation from your book, what should it be?

Mulligan: Treat your people like the most valuable asset you have. Invest in their continuing education, and their value and loyalty will only grow.

In 2019, Fortune named Mulligan one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.”

Shaw is coauthor of Satya Nadella’s, Hit Refresh, and Kevin Scott’s, Reprogramming the American Dream.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of Mulligan's book.

Comments

A Playbook For Authentic Human Leadership

Julie Averill , the CIO behind lululemon’s rapid growth from $2 billion to $10 billion shares in her new book, Chief Impact Officer , a roadmap for executives and technology leaders navigating today's AI revolution and reveals why authentic human leadership is your competitive advantage. Prior to lululemon, she led omni-channel and digital transformations at Nordstrom and REI, navigating system failures, crises, and the complicated work of integrating technology with business strategy at scale. “Technology doesn’t transform companies. People do,” says Averill. “AI will amplify whatever leadership exists, strong or weak. The goal isn’t to build better workers. It’s to develop better humans who happen to do extraordinary work because you helped them become more capable, more confident, more fully themselves. That’s what this book is about.” In the highly personal Chief Impact Officer , Averill pulls back the curtain on what happens when you try to transform a compan...

How To Work With Difficult Coworkers

Nearly everyone I know has shared a story about a difficult person they’ve encountered in their workplace. Experiencing difficult individuals in the workplace is common. So common that author Amy Gallo identifies eight archetypes , each representing a common type of “difficult” person likely found in most workplaces. “We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our eyes in a meeting, snapping at colleagues, or staying silent when we should speak up,” says Gallo. "Too often we grin and bear it as if we have no choice. Or throw up our hands because one-size-fits-all solutions haven't worked. But you can only endure so much thoughtless, irrational, or malicious behavior—there's your sanity to consider, and your career,” adds Gallo. Fortunately, Gallo shares in her book, Getting Along , practical insights, tools, and techniques for how to get along with each type of difficult co-worker you’ll likely encounter....

The Fundamentals Of Market Engineering

“Most companies don’t fail because their product is substandard. They fail because the market doesn’t understand, care, or believe in what they’re selling,” explains Bruce Cleveland , author of the new book, Market Engineering . He adds that this dilemma is “because somewhere between the product development and the customer, the story got lost, the positioning drifted, or their category was defined by somebody else and the market went to another company.” That means, every year, startups and enterprises pour millions into building world-class products--only to watch them disappear into obscurity. In the book, Silicon Valley veteran Cleveland reveals the discipline behind market-dominating companies like Salesforce, Marketo, and C3 AI. Drawing on decades of experience as an operator, investor, and board member, Cleveland demonstrates how leaders can apply the same rigor to markets that they bring to products. You'll discover how to: Compel markets to come to you instead of c...

How To Do Great Work In A Fast-Changing World

Today brings the new book, Effective: How To Do Great Work In A Fast-Changing World , by Melissa Swift . “Effectiveness is where employer and employee interests come together—you want to be great at accomplishing the goals of your job, and your employer wants that too,” explains Swift. “It’s also a place where we can bring together different organizational and developmental thinking to help move people to action.” In the book, Swift, founder of Anthrome Insight , draws on current research and provocative interviews with business and academic leaders to help readers understand how to be amazing in a working world seemingly designed to make us feel incompetent. Each chapter in Effective delivers actionable approaches, enabling readers to improve their daily work life immediately with a paradigm-shifting framework for thriving rather than merely coping in modern professional environments. The book serves professionals at every level of seniority, from e...

How To Harness Your Experiential Intelligence

“Experiential Intelligence provides a new lens from which to view what makes you, you—and what makes your team and organization unique,” says Soren Kaplan , author of the book, Experiential Intelligence . Kaplan explains that over 100 years ago, we established IQ (Intelligence Quotient) to predict success. Then we explored Emotional Intelligence (EQ), the theory of multiple intelligences, and mindsets that broaden the definition of smarts. “Today, Experiential Intelligence ( XQ ) expands our understanding of what's needed to thrive in a disruptive world. While you can't change the past, your unique experiences and stories contain hidden strengths and untapped potential for the future,” explains Kaplan. Experiential Intelligence is the combination of mindsets, abilities, and know-how gained from your unique life experiences that empowers you to achieve your goals. It allows you to get in touch with the accumulated wisdom and talents you have gained over time through your ...

The Science Of Dream Teams

Why do some teams succeed while others stumble? Because hiring, developing and engaging talent requires careful decisions that are too easy to get wrong without data. In The Science of Dream Teams: How Talent Optimization Can Drive Engagement, Productivity, and Happiness , author Mike Zani introduces the science of “ talent optimization ,” a new discipline that’s a far more reliable way to manage your employees than your gut instincts. “ Proper talent optimization lifts morale, builds teams, and turbocharges productivity ,” explains Zani. With simple steps, Zani (a former US Olympic sailing team coach) shows how companies of any size can collect and analyze voluntary data about their employees to purposefully align a company’s business and talent strategies. The book explores how CEOs and management teams can collect and use data to: Build effective teams of highly sought-after professionals while optimizing costs. Create a company culture based on coaching versus ...

Critical Questions To Ask New Hires

In Paul Falcone ’s book, 75 Ways For Managers To Hire, Develop And Keep Great Employees , he recommends asking new employees the following questions 30, 60 and 90 days after they were hired: 30-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Why do you think we selected you as an employee? What do you like about the job and the organization so far? What’s been going well? What are the highlights of your experiences so far? Why? Tell me what you don’t understand about your job and about our organization now that you’ve had a month to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Have you faced any unforeseen surprises since joining us that you weren’t expecting? 60-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Do you have enough, too much or too little time to do your work? Do you have access to the appropriate tools and resources? Do you feel you have been sufficiently trained in all aspects of your job to perform at a high level? How do you see your job relating to the organization’...

How To Lead With Deep Purpose

Having conducted extensive field research, Ranjay Gulati , author of the book, Deep Purpose , The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies , reveals the fatal mistakes leaders unwittingly make when attempting to implement a reason for being. “My interviews with well over 200 executives across 18 firms revealed the secrets of these companies—not the usual facile frameworks, but new ways of thinking about business that allow leaders and companies to operate with heightened passion, urgency, and clarity,” shares Gulati. “I call this, deep purpose .” Furthermore, Gulati explains that most leaders think of purpose functionally or instrumentally, regarding it as a tool they can wield. On the other hand, deep purpose leaders think of it as something more fundamental; an existential statement that expresses the firm’s very reason for being. These leaders project it faithfully out onto the world. “Rethinking the nature of purpose should prompt you in turn to re-imagine ...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”: Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog