BLOCKBUSTER. Not the first word which comes to mind when you think about settling down for an evening at home with movie and a glass of wine.
Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, Sky Movies, but no, never Blockbuster.
But why not?
In 2000, Reed Hastings, the founder of a fledgling company called Netflix, flew to Dallas to propose a partnership to Blockbuster CEO John Antioco and his team. The idea was that Netflix would run Blockbuster’s brand online and Antioco’s firm would promote Netflix in its stores.
Hastings got laughed out of the room. We all know what happened next. Blockbuster went bankrupt in 2010 and Netflix is now a $28 billion dollar company, about ten times what Blockbuster was worth.
The moral of the story, you need to move the times.
Whether it’s in business, in fashion, with dietary trends or the car you drive if you don’t move with the times you will be left behind.
It’s scary but true that the children in primary schools today are preparing for jobs that probably haven’t even been invented yet.
Gone are the days where you have a career for life, businesses change and therefore so must you as an employee or even as a job hunter. You need to move with the times and ensure you style and skill-set move too.
The Future Work Skills report predicts that seven trends will dominate the job market over the next 10 years. To be successful, employees will need to acquire these key skills:
- Common-sense – Yes, computers can automate certain tasks or jobs, they can’t perform analysis of the outcomes
- Social intelligence – Working effectively with large groups of people involves the ability to adapt language and behaviour
- Adaptive thinking – Finding solutions to unexpected situations
- Cross-cultural competency – Being able to work not just in different cultural settings, but in groups including different generations or people with varied skills and working styles
- Virtual collaboration – Adopting strategies for virtual team working, such as providing immediate feedback or staged challenges
- New media literacy – Producing content with non-text communication, such as video or audio
- Transdisciplinary – Working longer or in multiple careers means having a deep understanding in one field, as well as familiarity with a broader range of disciplines
Do you have these? If not, what are you doing to try to get them? If you don’t get up to date with trends you to could become the Blockbuster of the employment community.
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