In a recent interview published on the Yahoo Finance site, Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst, was quoted as saying, “...skilling and re-skilling” will be a lifelong endeavor. “This idea that we spend 22 years learning and then 40 years working is broken.”
The interviewer, All-In podcast, co-host Jason Calacanis, was quoted as saying, "...people must find ways to stay relevant."
Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, was quoted as saying, "To stand out, you’re going to have to show chutzpah, drive, passion."
Although somewhat changed/challenged/enhanced by AI, these concepts (passion, re-skilling, and continuous learning) are not new. I, along with many of my contemporaries and colleagues, have practiced this for decades. We see it as necessary. In fact, I consider my biggest strength to be learning. I am very passionate about discovering and understanding new things. This is followed by my passion to share ideas and what I have learned.
Anyone that has attended any B-school knows of the famous management consultant, Peter Drucker, and his impact of modern business practices. Mr. Drucker was quoted as saying, "Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes." As far as I am concerned, that is a factual immutability of daily living, let alone business management and success.
In a blog post I wrote five years ago, I stated, "...those of us who work in Information Technology know how important, and sometimes difficult, it is to increase our skills. Learning is constant, required to stay current with the latest technologies and solutions, and often done on our own time. Scoping industry trends is also important to maintaining relevant (if not in demand) skills. When we allow ourselves to become complacent with our current knowledge and skillset, we flirt with skill-fade or even skill-rot."
Keep learning and growing, regardless of, in spite of, and because of AI. 😎