KEY TAKEAWAYS
[03:32] Muriel started in finance, but soon realized it wasn’t for her. What next?
[03:50] With a mentor and determination, she got a job, then did a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology.
[04:48] On a NASA program, looking at humanities’ challenges, she missed the connection to work.
[05:57] Muriel was asked to fill a keynote spot at short notice. Without experience, she stepped up!
[06:45] If you’re passionate about something, tell everyone!
[07:27] - How we have typically been cataloguing and defining different occupations—by KSAOs: knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics.
[08:40] Instead of thinking about how people can keep their jobs as automation comes to the forefront, what are people bringing to a work experience, starting with skills?
[09:40] Using a relationship database with a more understanding of people’s skills and their jobs, the projections on job replacement went down dramatically.
[11:25] Muriel wanted to change databases so technologies being created to navigate Future-of-Work changes would be built on top of data organized around skills.
[12:29] How executives need to help employees navigate work changes as technology won't be a real differentiator in the future, it will be people.
[12:42] Employers over-correct for a gap in skills, training everyone on that skill.
[13:50] The perfect world? Where each person understands all they bring to the table, what next steps they could take, where each could lead them, and what their priorities might be
[14:32] The 30 year linear “one” career is gone.
[15:08] How can companies best track and manage employees’ new non-linear careers?
[16:20] Public school systems still use the Strobe Test to assess what job someone should do, although it is most correlated to their parents’ socioeconomic status.
[17:51] Muriel helps companies think about the skills their people can bring to the table and develop a strategy and jobs around them.
[19:18] People leave companies not because they're disengaged or overworked, but because they don’t see a progression and a future.
[20:44] More enterprises are adopting a people-first approach, realizing treating people well is aligned with incentives.
[21:03] After a necessary mental shift, how can employers individualize skills’-based solutions at scale?
[22:56] What are YOUR skills today?
[24:20] Muriel digs into psychometrics to help people identify what their skills are.
[26:10] Context for different tests is important in order to understand what they are assessing.
[28:28] Using a relational database and much historical data, answering a few questions can generate a good hypothesis which is then refined.
[29:29] Sharing test results with employees so they also benefit from insights.
[30:59] The importance of establishing a culture of trust at organizations.
[32:28] The benefit of asking employees: What skills and interests are you not bringing to the table now that you’d like to use more of?
[37:01] The pandemic catalyzed many leaders to change their mindsets, strategies and thinking about work.
[39:06] Muriel has been surprised by the shift in executives’ approach to internal talent mobility.
[41:10] We do robust modeling for resources and companies, but not talent.
[41:55] Employers began to have more empathy—helping employees get the most out of work.
[43:00] Imagine employees feeling comfortable enough to say “Hey, I’m not feeling fully leveraged” so they can be moved to a new opportunity.
[44:14] Talking about the future of work, it always boils down to deciding between technology/profits or putting their people first, but it’s a false choice.
[47:09] Muriel considers how we can bridge the gap between employers and employees.
[48:35] As a new generation of graduates enter the workforce, what do they need to be aware of in this new work environment?
[50:40] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: The future doesn’t have a ‘type’. In a rapidly-changing world, there is no one type of person that is most ‘future ready’. Each of us has a seat at the table and plays a role in creating our future.