GOF hosts workshop at premier conference, deepening ties with MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program
December 18, 2023
After more than a decade of digital transformations, there’s still work to do.
“What we haven’t seen is the same kind of transformation happening in the talent and career area that’s happening in the rest of every company,” said George Westerman, founder of the GOF at a recent conference held by MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program (ILP).
On Nov. 15, 2023, the GOF hosted an energetic workshop on the future of workforce learning at the 2023 MIT Research and Development Conference, the premier annual event of MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program. The workshop featured renowned MIT economist David Autor.
The half-day workshop convened companies, researchers, and MIT students to explore diverse perspectives on the future of workforce learning. The workshop also signaled a deepening collaboration between the GOF and ILP in 2023. In June, the GOF and ILP hosted a full-capacity executive roundtable on workforce learning in London, an event attended by multi-sector leaders from across Europe.
During the first workshop session, business executives and students shared views on entering the job market. Executives from Kongsberg Maritime, L’Oréal, and Schneider Electric discussed how they are hiring and growing talent. The student panel—moderated by Susan Brennan, the Assistant Dean of MIT Sloan’s Career Development Office—drew audience attention by providing student perspectives, often absent in discussions of workforce learning.
Three MIT students—Maya Makarovsky, Victory Yinka-Banjo, and Pedro Russel—who are among the most in-demand graduates entering the job market in the U.S., shared what they are looking for in employers. In general, according to the student panelists, people in younger generations want not just jobs, but the right job with the right employer.
Following industry and student perspectives, MIT researchers shared expert insights and MIT resources.
Drawing on decades of research and experience, Autor, Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, addressed how the future of work and expertise are changing in the current AI era. He was recently quoted in the Financial Times as saying “The good case for AI is where it enables people with foundational expertise or judgment to do more expert work with less expertise. The nurse practitioner example is a focal one. We’re taking the most elite tasks and allowing someone with somewhat less elite skills to perform them.”
Westerman and Kathleen Kennedy, Senior Director at MIT Horizon, overviewed other research and resources on workforce learning from across MIT.
Notably, Kennedy pointed toward resources available through MIT Horizon while Westerman underscored GOF’s ongoing working groups, media, and events—including executive roundtables and monthly webinars that will be hosted with the ILP.
The workshop closed with a conversation about what struck participants most. Collaboration was a main theme of the day.
“We had an illustration on stage of what this Global Opportunity Forum is all about,” said Oliver J. Cadet, Program Director at ILP, as he commented on the workshop. It’s about “having those communities of companies getting together and thinking about how to improve.”
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