Required Circular Skills
Debate at the DIF Festival 2016 on skills required in a Circular world
As part of the Higher Education Day (DIF Festival 2016), on November 22nd 2016, I had the opportunity to be invited by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation to join this session: “The Grill: Skills & Knowledge for the Circular Economy”.
Among other skills that are core to the Circular Economy (waste eradication), my focus was on the social impact of the Circular Economy 2.0 (poverty eradication) highlighting skills such as:
Empathy
Today we are taught at College and Universities about something or someone, and bring up solutions from our own perspectives, tomorrow we will have to experience it so to provide solutions embedding social, economic and environmental externalities, with the aim of fixing a specific situation.
Trust
The most difficult of all skills by far. In the end of oil era (also called the Carbon Era) we hear lots of lies everyday given that we need to hide the basic facts: we rely on fossil fuels that are developing new negative externalities on a regular basis. In a linear economy, there is no such thing as trust. Confidentiality agreements are signed given that information is hidden, winning markets is all about creating tricks, and so on. Tomorrow, to build the collaborative economy, we will have to trust the partners we will depend on to create effective circular solutions to win new markets.
Outcome focused
We live in an output-based economy. All corporate reports are based on factual outputs linked to a financial value. Since the subsequent impact of our output is not part of our measurement list, we do not comprehend all negative externalities we generate. Often, public entities such as the state or non-governmental organisations are expected to fix them. In the upcoming circular world we will have to be monitored on our corporate successes i.e. on outcomes creating Value to the HumanSphere, Value to the BioSphere and/or Value to the TechnoSphere. The more value is created, the higher the corporate reputation and success.
Adaptability & Versatility
Very common skills in a Circular Economy, should you be highly adaptable and versatile, you will help your company innovate and adapt quickly, developing parallel strategies, to increase corporate resilience. This is critical in a world where businesses need to adjust the choices they make to survive.
The DIF Festival video is available for viewing here: https://youtu.be/wlJXP5q_Sfc
Feel free to add more skills you believe will be required in a Circular Economy.