Breathe
By Alejandra César
When I came across the following figure it blew my mind: up to 65% of elementary school children will have jobs that don't exist yet. I read this in a book that has become my new life compass: "The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown".
When I was a child, I had two dreams: to be an architect or a window cleaner in skyscrapers (I think I was also an Olympic gymnast). I didn't follow either of those paths, as I grew up I fell in love with communication on digital platforms, which obviously didn't exist when I was five years old (please avoid calculating my age).
Today, children continue to fantasize about their future careers. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Zety portal, the five most desired professions for boys in the United States are athlete, doctor, musician, police officer and entrepreneur, while for girls the most common choices are teacher, doctor, veterinarian, movie star and writer.
There is something comforting in that linear idea of life where you choose an option from the menu of tangible professions in your environment, acquire knowledge, get your diploma and enter the working world to fit into the chosen gear. But we already know that this is not really the case: uncertainty is the new normal, and our brains are programmed to fear it.
According to the aforementioned book, fear of the unknown is even considered the fundamental fear that underlies all our other anxieties. The authors, Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon, invite us to change our perspective and recognize that it is in uncertainty that the greatest possibilities are hidden.
Acclaimed futurist and researcher Heather E. McGowan says we are entering an era that involves a radical change in our relationship with technology. In her view, the third industrial revolution was the computerization of everything, in which it was an advantage to have more and more degrees and credentials. It's a moment in time that McGowan likes to describe as "learning to be able to work."
While in the fourth industrial revolution, computerization has become increasingly ubiquitous and technology can perform tasks for us. Instead of learning how to use a tool in order to use it, we now learn with and through it. According to McGowan, some key skills for this new era are to learn quickly, unlearn and adapt; to stop doing things "the way we've always done them" and, even more difficult, to stop being "who we think we are"; and to become comfortable with both ambiguity and vulnerability.
So, if you have children (or nephews, nieces, cousins or grandchildren) in elementary school, who will be entering the workforce around 2035, rather than data and even programming languages, the most useful skills you can instill in them are critical thinking, a love of learning as a constant process, and what Furr and Harmon have defined as transilencewhich involves personal transformation, jumping from one state to another.
Alejandra César is a digital strategist with more than 17 years of experience in driving business plans, operations and strategic alliances. She loves traveling and technology, and is passionate about digital wellness. She is co-founder of Oceana Media Lab, a startup that seeks to help creators, media and brands to enhance their social media strategy through consulting, training platforms and product development. For four years she served as Strategic Partner manager at Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), a position from which she developed high-impact regional programs such as the Audience Analytics Accelerator. Previously he held leadership roles at El Financiero, Yahoo! Mexico and Reforma.
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