At almost every business conference I have attended lately, discussions have revolved around the mega shifts that businesses are navigating: virtualisation, digitisation and navigating the metaverse.
Businesses and individuals are discussing buying plots in the metaverse, where high street fashion brands such as H&M have already opened their first stores.
In such a fast-paced scenario, businesses are rapidly shifting the way they operate and ensuring their teams are equipped to deal with, and lead, these changes.
This has left many of us wondering about the kind of jobs that will exist in the future.
Will we have salespeople who operate solely in the metaverse? Will educational institutions of the future also be in a virtual world?
At the World Government Summit (WGS) in Dubai last month, speakers discussed that children will soon be pursuing careers that don’t exist as yet.
A report published by Dell Technologies in 2018, along with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) and 20 global experts, said that 85 per cent of jobs that will exist by 2030 had yet not been invented.
Hence, it’s natural for people to feel that their current job role may become obsolete in the future. Who would want to hire 10 accountants, for instance, when software could substitute their role?
But I don’t believe that will be the case. This shift in the way we work is not the end of our roles; it’s merely a redirection towards jobs that will not be replaced by technology.
“End of routine does not mean the end of human work,” said Gerd Leonhard, a futurist who spoke at the WGS.
“If you work like a robot, a robot will take your job."
With people thinking that they now need to compete with machines, Mr Leonhard advocates that the “ultimate job is to be human”, and that businesses need to invest in people as much as they invest in technology.
So how can we prepare our teams? What are the most coveted workforce skills? According to research by IFTF, the top skills that future employees need to be equipped with for a successful career include contextualised intelligence — a nuanced understanding of people, culture, the business environment and society.
Organisations and educational institutions are taking note. Nearly 20 per cent of employers in the US, including Tesla and LinkedIn, offer empathy training as part of their development programmes. Stanford University offers compassion training, a programme designed to help people improve their resilience and feel more connected to others.
How do we ensure that our roles won’t become obsolete? As with any change and challenge that arises in business, we need to be agile and embrace the changes that come our way.
Our human characteristics are our competitive advantage. Our creativity, compassion and understanding of nuances are aspects that can never be taken over by a machine.
For businesses, that means we need a shift in company culture and, as Mr Leonhard stated at WGS, we need to invest in our people.
We need to invest in developing a company culture and training programmes that will equip our teams to tap into their creativity and help them to remain agile and flexible.
We need to lean on our human creativity to mould our jobs and embrace the rapid change so they meet future needs.
In a world that will be highly automated, our unique human characteristics will be exceptional. Let’s work on developing them.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi.
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UAE salary guide 2022
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
