The fourth industrial revolution is underway, and Boston Consulting Group CEO Rich Lesser wants to make sure our children are prepared for it.
In a conversation with The Huffington Post last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lesser stressed the importance of education in laying a foundation for future success. And that means a very different thing now than it did 50 years ago.
"The learning of our generation was, you learn a skill, and for most people you apply that skill, and that was your career," Lesser explained. "That’s not today’s world. The world is changing so fast. We need to teach children, and frankly, adults, how to learn."
“We need to teach children, and frankly, adults, how to learn.”
To keep pace with constant change, we instead need to focus on lifelong learning and continually updating our skill sets, he said. Those that can be flexible and learn via disruption will do well.
"The biggest challenge is, this is a very disruptive change. And like all disruptive changes, there are a lot of entrenched people, people who have been in a traditional career, that are going to be challenged," said Lesser.
"Helping millions of people around the world adapt to a changing world -- whether it’s around how people get a taxi, or how a manufacturing floor runs, or how you book a hotel room -- we have a lot of work to do to help everyone adapt."
More from the World Economic Forum 2016:
- This Buddhist Monk Is An Unsung Hero In The World’s Climate Fight
- CEOs Are Waking Up From Obsession With Profits And Facing Harsh Reality
- These 10 Major Companies Admit They Don't Have Enough Women
- Davos' Ebola Vaccine Deal Signals A Major Shift In Global Health
- How CVS Lost $2 Billion And Still Came Out On Top
- Wikipedia’s Carbon Footprint Is Tiny Compared With Amazon Or Google
- 5 Technologies That Blur The Line Between Robot And Human