Here’s to “Connecting Routes” ~ a space to spotlight a common theme in my travels that offers snapshots from one place to another, like the tantalizing tease of a tasting menu or a shortlist of your next dream vacation!
Top Three Places To Watch Work
While kids hit the books again, so too is it time for most folks to step out of vacay season and back into ‘work mode’. As the wee ones wonder, imbibe and begin to see education in action, those of us who are #adulting, likely have a different vantage point. In a Harvard Educational Review nearly two decades ago, it was “argue[d] that the goals of education need to be reframed to prioritize not only academic learning, but also social, emotional, and ethical competencies”.
What kind of education did we receive through institutions and Life, and how has that helped us to sculpt our salaries, strategic priorities and sense of self? In times of accelerated change, the questions of what work we’ll do perhaps needs to be closely considered apriori so that how, what, where and why we learn can accurately be adapted. By the year 2600, Stephen Hawking projected, “if you stacked the new books being published next to each other at the present rate of production, you would have to move at 90 mph just to keep up with the end of the line”. Even though we may not be able to fathom that (let alone be around to verify it), we know that with the advent of AI, there is much more disruption ahead. While Americans have held an average of 13 jobs by age 55, this is expected to still rise. Perhaps surprisingly, even for professionals, “many careers will be the norm”. But maybe this gives us the nod we need to shake things up a bit … or, completely. After all, at some point, haven’t we wondered how our daily grind aligns with our Purpose? Not to mention that our well-being is enhanced when we feel “valued and respected” with work places that are “trusting, collaborative, and positive”.
But really, why work in the first place? Of course, as a requisite for Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, indeed. Then, we ought to consider pertinent parameters of future-proofing, multigenerationally. Within this year’s Future of Jobs Report (of 290 pages), “leadership and social influence, talent management, analytical thinking, and environmental stewardship” are ranked among the top ten skills to embody. Fortunately, 47% of employers are now “tapping into diverse talent pools”, which seems like an obvious opportunity. What may be less evident is the flip side to longevity and how life span affects work - ours and that of others. For all the nuances within the world of work that I’ve witnessed in the 146 countries I’ve been exposed to worldwide, the undercurrent of human effort is how to get to the edge of our potential. While our own situations impact the way in which we grapple with it, ultimately, isn’t this where we ought to exert our time, toil and thought? To me, not actively pursuing my full potential seems like a mammoth miss.
Cambodia: Unfortunately, the notion of genocide remains a brutality we humans continue to impose on one another. Even kilometers away from the Killing Fields where “more than two million Cambodians died from ruthless slaughter, starvation and disease”, my mom sensed the huge heaviness of the tremendous tragedy. Touring through here was tough. Yet, the teen tour guide who lost his leg from a landmine smiled and shared how life is changing, for the better. During “the time of Phnom Penh’s fall, the Cambodian economy was at a virtual standstill due to the devastation of the civil war”. In 1976, to cultivate rice “all labor was harnessed in service of the state”, which further decimated its work force. Some few decades later, the USD is an accepted currency and English is now widespread in the country as the main foreign language. Notable too is that the literacy rate is 84%. The IMF noted “Cambodia’s economy performed strongly in 2024, with real GDP growth reaching 6 percent”, showing the resiliency of its people - but clearly, this goes way beyond the world of work.
Estonia: European countries offer the epitome of people watching. While an “aging and shrinking workforce” are “identified as key trends impacting businesses in Estonia by 2030”, the work/life balance there and elsewhere remind us that at the end of the day, no one will say that they wished they’d spent more time in the office! We enjoyed walking through the walled medieval Old Town of Tallinn with its charming cobblestone streets, yummy restaurants and lively night scene. Who knew that this UNESCO world heritage site would now be “the Silicon Valley of the Baltic Sea”? Named as the ‘European Green Capital 2023’, it is home to start ups such as Skype and, since 2013, it’s provided free public transport to its citizens. So many lessons for hyper-secularized societies to slow down - both in terms of our pace, and the impact we have on our planet.
Ourselves: Often, we look outward. Be it to other lands, or even other lads and ladies. Deducing how our current work can be elevated to a deeper purpose is definitely a deed that we need to do. Beyond that, is our own inner work. For even the traveler must journey within. After all, it’s the only work whose meaning and magnitude will make any Real difference.
May the work we do elevate and liberate - inside and out,
Very powerful rhetoric.
Good thoughts!!! Thanks for the big perspective!