If you want more career security, you need to learn more skills. You need to be reskilling yourself!
Claire Burge believes the future of work is chaos. She believes we actually need to get excited about the rise of automation, instead of being pessimistic about it.
She’s the founder and CEO of WNDYR, a firm that helps large organizations turn chaos into productive opportunities. She’s preparing workforces for the future of work right now.
Entrepreneurship courses through her veins. She learns new skills by doing.
For example, to learn how mobile apps are developed, built and sold, she was part of a team who built a math app for kids. To understand content development and community engagement she was part of a team who built a digital magazine for executives.
She even once experimented with using collaboration tools instead of email for a full year!
Some fantastic lessons in our conversation include:
- Claire shares how a large financial institution decided to reskill their entire workforce to shift from routine tasks to creative problem-solving.
- Why you shouldn’t dive into your communication streams in the beginning of your day.
- Being ruthless about dedicating your “brilliant window” of 1 to 2 hours a day to your most necessary and creative work.
- One of the most important lessons she learned from her parents was daily self-reflection by journaling every morning.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Planning your actions.
- Reframing your mindset.
- Practicing self-awareness.
- Reskilling yourself.
How Claire Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: 6:30-7:00 am
- Core work activities + habits: 1) Determining the day’s most important activities the night before. 2) Never multitask, do one thing at a time. 3) Always explain the “why” when talking with people.
- Ideal work environment: Not confined to a specific space and not highly pressurized. Chunking the day to separate times for meetings and time for deeper work.
- Superpower: Infusing people with energy.
- Definition of success: Leaving a legacy behind, doing work that impacts the world.
- Book recommendation: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
- 90-day goal: Getting their new package wrapped up and beautifully defined for new clients.
Inspirational Quotes
“That’s the main thing that people need to realize is that they actually need to re-skill themselves.”
“On average, most people have a brilliant window of 1 to 2 hours a day.”
“Reflection was a huge, huge part of the fiber that made up our family.”
Coaching Advice
In order to start making the transition towards working for yourself, Claire recommends these actions:
1) Find a problem you can start solving immediately. Bypass the busywork and just start solving a problem that interests you.
2) Document your journey. Find a book to help guide you and get a journal to keep track of your process.
Resources + Bonus Materials
Pew Research on Future of Jobs and Job Training
Entrepreneurship Can Be Learned