05
April
2016
|
15:00
Asia/Singapore

Igniting potential

Nobody knows what the future holds so what does it mean to be future-ready? That was the topic of a panel discussion at “Mindset 2.0: Ignite your potential”, an inaugural event that brought together about 200 corporate leaders, industry experts and the NUS community to discuss the relevant skill sets in a fast-changing world, held on 1 April.

Organised by NUS’ Centre for Future-ready Graduates (CFG), the discussion was chaired by Ms Elaine Yew, Global Partner, Egon Zehnder; and CFG’s Director Ms Crystal Lim Leahy. Student representatives who participated in CFG’s foundational life skills programme, “Roots and Wings”, were also on the panel with industry experts including CEO of Global Institute of Tomorrow Mr Chandran Nair; Founder & CEO of NQ International Mrs Noor Quek; Chief Commercial Officer of Lego Mr Loren Shuster and Managing Director of Black & Veatch Southeast Asia Mr Mitesh Patel.

Ms Yew, who is also an NUS Trustee, delivered an inspiring keynote speech. She related how in her course of work, she managed to gather crucial elements by listening to thousands of senior executives from all over the world in different industries. Rather than focusing on what the future holds, what jobs and courses of study, she said that one should develop a “set of muscles” — the underlying way we think, operate and manage ourselves.

To tackle new challenges for the VUCA world (one that is becoming increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous), Ms Yew outlined four crucial elements: Curiosity (on how the world works, to understand about others and oneself, and to spot the information necessary for the future); Insight (the ability to see patterns in a sea of information); Engagement (how to influence, persuade and inspire others, to get support); and Determination (resilience and energy to stay the course in an increasingly complex world).

Doodle Board

Participants rendered the qualities of being future-ready, on a Doodle Board

During the discussion, Mr Chandran exhorted the students to live a life and not just to prepare themselves for a job, for instance picking up a sport, being less narcissistic and not being afraid of failure. Mr Shuster encouraged the students to develop the capacity for self-reflection to show empathy towards others, while Ms Quek advised them to learn from economic crises and highlighted the importance of possessing a hungry attitude. Mr Patel urged the students to take ownership of their career and to drive it.

Among those who benefited from the discussion was freshman Bryan Koh who said, “It was not so much about preparing oneself with the hard skills but the ability to change effectively according to the environment.”