EVENT RECAP – The Future of Work, November IPWS Thought Activator

November 17, 2018

Long hours
No flexibility
Top-down initiatives
Not happy
Not enough money

Sound familiar? With millennials well underway on their journey into the workforce we’re starting to see a friction between the “old way of doing things” and the expectations of a new generation. At a time where 67% of millennials want to be entrepreneurs, we have to ask ourselves — what is driving the majority of this generation to risk everything in order to be their own boss?

How are employers dealing with this?
What role does technology play?
When can we expect change?

Rachel Morarjee, Director at the Economist Group flew down from Beijing to attend as our Activator of the Month. Kicking off the night sharing her experiences and predictions for the future of work. We also had the pleasure of welcoming Cecilia Zhang, Innovation Program Coordinator, Hydrocolloids Business Unit, Royal DSM, who spoke about her role as a millennial at a large corporation, and the expectations and motivations of her peers when it comes to finding a job.

Rachel’s call to action:
Change will not be overnight, so it comes down to you as an individual. How can you articulate to your superiors the benefit to them if you are given more flexibility? Individual incentive is the biggest catalyst for change.

Cecilia’s advice:
Determine how you as a manager or c-level executive can provide recognition, support and trust to your employees.

After hearing the experience from these two incredible professionals we spent the rest of the evening in small groups discussing and comparing our own experiences. Mingling with entrepreneurs of all ages, senior leaders, startup employees, young professionals in corporate positions, all with our own vision, challenges, preferences and solutions.

Thank you to everyone who came to our second [sold out] event, and special thank you to Rachel and Cecilia.

We hope to see you at our next Thought Activator in December, as well as our big event at the end of the month where an expert panel will be discussing Diversity in Artificial Intelligence!