Last month, I did an intensive, day-long tutorial on PowerPoint. As a communications consultant, designing better slides was a skill I’d wanted to perfect for years. And because I fancy myself as someone who can “walk the talk”, I decided it was finally time to put my money where my mouth was.  

Boy, am I glad that I did. Not only did I learn a ton of tips and tricks about how to best deploy the presentation software, I also had loads of fun. There’s nothing quite like learning a new skill to make you feel sharp, fresh and alive. 

People return to school in adulthood for many different reasons. Some are pursuing a hobby. Others want to meet new people. But in the current economy, there are also loads of practical, employment-related reasons for many of us to sharpen our pencils and re-enter the classroom In 2017, the McKinsey Global Institute predicted that 375 million workers globally would have to shift occupation by 2030, a figure that they increased by 25% following the pandemic. In its 2023 annual Future of Jobs report, The World Economic Forum estimated that half the global labour force might need reskilling by 2025. 

Many different trends have combined to produce this profound disruption to the global labour force:  a rapidly ageing population which chooses to keep working …the rise of automated technologies rendering many jobs redundant…the arrival of remote working and the tools required to work effectively from home. In the face of these trends, we need to cultivate what London Business School’s Linda Gratton and Andrew Scott call “transformational assets”. These are skills that increase the success and reduce the costs of change across the life course. 

Some of these skills are “hard” ones related to AI and machine learning. McKinsey’s research suggests that through 2030, the time spent using advanced technological skills will increase by 50 percent in the United States and by 41 percent in Europe. But soft skills also matter. Employers surveyed for the Future of Jobs report listed analytical and creative thinking as the most important skills for workers, followed closely by curiosity, resilience, and motivation.  

So what sorts of innovations are required to equip today’s workforce to stay relevant? Some of it comes down to a change in mindset. In their book, The 100 Year Life, Gratton and Scott argue that we need to abandon the traditional idea of a neatly arranged, three-staged life comprised of education, followed by career and then retirement. Instead, they argue, we need to embrace a multiple-phased life course where people keep learning throughout their lives, take lots of breaks and dip in and out of jobs and careers. In other words, we need to abandon an archaic understanding of education as something that happens only at the beginning of one’s career. 

Employers also need to step up and do their part. First and foremost, they need to embrace workplace training. According to the Wharton Business School professor Peter Capelli, young workers got an average of 2.5 weeks of training a year in 1979. By 1995, that amount was just under 11 hours. That needs to change. A friend of mine used to run talent development at a global financial services company. His company gave all employees a $1000 stipend annually to spend on professional development training as they saw fit. If workers feel that they are growing professionally, they are less likely to leave after a couple of years, even if the pay isn’t particularly high.  

Employers also need to allow valuable employees to ramp up and ramp down their work commitments across their lives by supporting educational breaks, sabbaticals or a stint in the charitable sector. Encore Fellows UK places older, more experienced workers into social purpose organisations and pays them (via corporate sponsorship) to provide advice on a high-impact assignment. But this “routine busting” could also take the form of an adult internship or return-ship wherein older adults have a chance to acquire new skills and deepen their networks while being mentored.  

To be sure, we need to acknowledge the challenge of access in this new world of lifelong learning. In recent years, prestigious universities including Oxford, Stanford, and the University of Chicago have begun offering bespoke programmes to help facilitate midlife transitions. But the price tag for these programmes is breathtaking. In contrast, places in the UK where I live like CityLit and Morely College – not to mention the aptly titled University of the Third Age – provide a range of courses at affordable prices. Digital platforms can also furnish an avenue to “democratise” training, breaking down barriers such as geographical constraints, cost limitations, and time commitments. Digital training is also attractive to larger companies because it can be rolled out at scale. 

Finally, public policy can also play a role in furthering the lifelong learning agenda. A recent report conducted by the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) on digital innovations in this space notes that local and national governments can provide funding, incentives and a regulatory environment that enables lifelong learning to flourish. The report also calls for governments to use their role as convenors to promote partnerships among industry, educational institutions, communities and startups.  

In short, it’s time for all of us to get curious. I’m currently eyeing a course on conversational French so that I can deliver workshops in France. What’s your next move?