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How do I remain RELEVANT in Today's Fast Paced World with Bukola Omokehinde
505 Plays1 year ago
Join us in this episode as Bukola Omokehinde answers the question we all have on what skills to develop in order to remain relevant in today's world.
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Transcript
Skills, Attitude, and Approach
00:00:05
Speaker
How can I stay on top of my game with how fast the world is moving? How do we catch up? Or what can we do so that we're not even playing catch up? How can we get ahead of the call? If you don't have the right skill sets, if you don't have the right attitude, if you don't have the right approach, you will remain stuck.
Four Key Points for Relevance
00:00:24
Speaker
To answer this question, I've been able to develop four points. So how are we going to be able to do this is what I will be talking about today.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hi people, I hope you're doing well and you've had a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic weekend. And I hope you're also very prepped up for the week. How are things on your hand? How did you spend your weekend? All of these questions, let me know. I'm actually very nosy, I know that you might not be able to respond to me but I'm nosy, I would like to know what you did this weekend.
Excitement and Pivotal Questions
00:00:52
Speaker
So if you're listening and you'd like to tell me what you got onto, then enter my DM on Instagram and let me know what you've been doing.
00:00:58
Speaker
I am so excited about this particular episode because what we'll be talking about is an overflow of the conversation that we had during our International Youth Day event last Saturday.
Youth and Evolving Skills
00:01:09
Speaker
And when I say last Saturday because I know you've been listening on Monday so I mean the Saturday before the Saturday that has just passed now. So during the event there was a question that was asked by one of the participants
00:01:19
Speaker
And it just got me thinking that this is a conversation that actually needs to be had because of late myself and my partner have also been talking about these particular things. So I just felt like, let me come on here to share and talk about the way I'm seeing these things. And I think it's going to be helpful and beneficial, but also I am a student of life. I love to learn.
00:01:37
Speaker
If there are other additional things from the things that I will say today that you think would be helpful in addressing this question, then do put it in the comments section of YouTube. Or if you're listening to it on a podcast platform, then maybe post it on your Instagram story or on Twitter and tag so that we can see and share with other people and we can all learn together.
Reinvention and Future Demands
00:01:58
Speaker
Now I've said a lot of things and I haven't said the question and I'm sure some people are just listening right now and thinking, what is the thing that you're talking about? So the question that was asked was, how can I as a young person remain relevant in regards to my skills, experiences, whatever? How can I stay on top of my game with how fast the world is moving?
00:02:19
Speaker
And that question I just felt was so profound. I needed to ask it during the session. I asked our keynote speaker, Diola Fabome, gave a couple of answers to that question. My partner and I have also talked about it, and I was able to just put together all of the responses that I've gotten from people, as well as my thoughts on how to address this specific issue because I feel like
00:02:41
Speaker
Every young person has this question, including myself. So how can I stay relevant? How can I slash up on my skills? What can I be doing now that can prepare me for the future of work? Because things are changing. Things are evolving. And we need to evolve with the times. We need to evolve with the current realities.
Tech Skills Debate
00:03:00
Speaker
We cannot remain stuck in our old ways and expect that that would work for the future. No, we need to reinvent ourselves.
00:03:08
Speaker
So how are we going to be able to do this is what I will be talking about today. So the very first thing that I want to mention and paint so that everyone is on the same page of how the world is moving right now. Prior to now, there's so many technologies that exist in the world right now as we speak that we could not have imagined would have existed two, three years ago.
00:03:29
Speaker
And there's so many other things that will be created and be invented that we have not begun to conceive now. So everything
Lifelong Learning
00:03:38
Speaker
is moving at a speed of light. How do we catch up? Or what can we do so that we're not even playing catch up? How can we get ahead of the curve?
00:03:46
Speaker
And I think for many, and this is something that I've been hearing on YouTube, podcasts or on Instagram, different places, everyone just tells you, go and learn tech skills, go and start coding, become a developer, go into the tech space, because that's the only space that you can stay and be relevant.
00:04:04
Speaker
And I beg to defer, because not everyone is wired to be in the tech scene. Not everyone cannot flock into tech. Not everyone is wired to think in the way that is required for a technology role. And that's just the plain truths. So as much as we want to advise people to develop tech skills, the entire population cannot thrive in that space.
00:04:23
Speaker
And so what can a regular, everyday human being do to stay around events that doesn't require you to go and start being
Growth Tools and Mindset
00:04:33
Speaker
a coder? To answer this question, I've been able to develop four points and we're going to be addressing those four points here. So the first thing, and I think the primary thing,
00:04:44
Speaker
that we all need to learn and develop and build and be skilled in is the posture of being a lifelong student. The posture of being a lifelong student. Gone are the days when we will all be adopting the idea that this is how things have always been done and so I'm going to stick to doing it in this way.
00:05:10
Speaker
That is no longer relevant anymore. Nobody is going to get a round of applause for doing things the way things have been done. You now need to learn how to continue to be an everlasting learner. And to do this, you need to maintain an open mindset, a mindset of seeing every day as a school day and picking up things very quickly.
00:05:29
Speaker
And this reminds me of my partner, God. My partner is one of the most profound beings I've ever met. His ability to take on something that he had zero idea on and learn it as quickly as he can, and not just learn, but execute on those things. Finding a way to translate those new learnings into his everyday work and engagement is prolific.
00:05:55
Speaker
And so I think maintaining that mindset and understanding that I haven't gotten to my pinnacle of learning. I have to always continue to sharpen my skills and develop myself. It's what will make you continue to be relevant in whatever it is that you're doing. I don't see myself as being a master at anything that I am doing. I see myself as just being on that journey of learning.
00:06:16
Speaker
that journey of saying, okay, I did this thing this way. Let me look at what the market is saying. What does the market require for me to actually penetrate into the space that I want to be in? And I write down those skills that will be required of me to penetrate those spaces.
00:06:31
Speaker
and I start developing and building those skills. That really is the mindset it's maintained. It's not easy really, it's not easy to say oh you know let me just be learning. After we're done at university we thought that was it full stop. After I did my exams as University of Lagos I just felt like I was not going to do anything school related again because University of Lagos drained me.
00:06:51
Speaker
it really drained me so i did not want to learn anything i just wanted to go work do things as i have been told to do and that was it well upon coming into the space of work and realizing that your ability to learn and not just learn but learn things quickly is what will make you stay relevant be on top of your game be recognized by your seniors and even a size the workplace
00:07:11
Speaker
In every facet and some of the side things that I am doing is just really looking and seeing what other people are doing, what the market is saying, what is converting and how I can take on those learnings.
00:07:22
Speaker
adapt it into my approach. That is one thing that you can do to be as relevant as you want to be for the
Networking and Collaboration
00:07:30
Speaker
future. It is a mindset that you need to continue to have because if you don't have that mindset, you'll be stuck. You think that people are moving and you're just in one position. So maintain that mindset of learning. Continue to be a lifelong learner. Learn, learn, learn, learn.
00:07:45
Speaker
learn, adapt, execute. You make mistakes when you're learning. It's not like when you start learning anything, you're going to be a master at that thing. But it is as important as you can imagine that with how things are moving so fast, you need to learn. You need to learn. And don't see the things that are coming in, the technologies, the inventions. Don't see these things as your enemies. See these things as tools that can be helpful to accelerating your growth. So learn those tools. Now, chat GPT is here.
00:08:14
Speaker
can you use it? Instead of seeing as an enemy or Chagipiti is going to make people lazy, myself and my friend were having a conversation about Chagipiti and there was the back and forth of Chagipiti is going to make people lazy. And I said, no, it's going to amplify what you already have. So if you're lazy, proceed to amplify your laziness. But if you're someone who is productive and has
00:08:34
Speaker
a mindset of growth. It would amplify that and you're able to use it to do your administrative and mundane task and focus on the strategic things I expected for you to skill. The second thing which may not be a skill but an approach is no man is an island and if you have been an island you have to leave that island
00:08:53
Speaker
and get yourself to where people are. You need people. There's a lot of noise, and I don't want my microphone to pick the noise. You need people. You need to collaborate with people. You need to connect with people. You need to understand the power of connections and the power of relationships. Because, yes, your skills will be great, but what will help you ascend is your ability to be able to work well with people.
00:09:18
Speaker
And we can see it in several areas right now. Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration is very important in whatever it is that you're doing. Whether you're working at the office, you're working as a digital creator, you're working as an entrepreneur, you need to know the movers and shakers of your industry. You need to learn about what is working and what is not. And your ability to learn that has a lot to do with the people that you have around and surrounding you.
00:09:43
Speaker
Now, this brings me to talking about relationships and the problem that I see when people try to network, which I think is a blind spot for so many young people. So we're in this space. We want to thrive. We want to grow. We are stuck up in the idea that networking must only be a vertical upward action. So we want to network with the CEO of our company, the head of sales of our company, the head of digital technology in our company.
00:10:13
Speaker
But we fail to recognize that there is power, there is value, and there is influence in networking with the people that are in the same level as we have. Those people are great. The upwards people are great. They have experience. They have wisdom. They have all of those things that they can pass across to you and share with you.
00:10:33
Speaker
But the people around you have insight of what is relevant right now, of what the culture is saying. These people are the trendsetters and you need to be able to network with them now because they would become those CEOs in the next whatever years. You become a CEO if that's where you want to be as well. But what I'm seeing is your ability to ascend
00:10:55
Speaker
your ability to remain relevant has a lot to do with the networks that you build now. And so stop thinking of yourself as, I can do it on my own, or I am a one-man mobo, or I am a lone wolf, or I don't need anybody. You need people. And people are vehicles that can get you to the destination that you see. That's if there's anything like a destination for people.
00:11:18
Speaker
are the vehicles that can accelerate your group process. So invest in people, invest in relationships, invest in those connections, start building them now. The how of how you start doing it is a different conversation for another day. But this is something that you probably need to keep in mind if you want to maintain that relevance. Look around you.
00:11:39
Speaker
in the corporate world, in the entrepreneurship world, in the digital creation world. The people that are excellent and doing the things that you admire and inspired by, they understand the power of connections and relationships. And that's why I always tell people to be very observant. Stop living life and just going without taking a step back to reflect. Be observant, reflect. See what is working in your environment and what is not working. And start embodying those things that work.
00:12:08
Speaker
Start embodying those things that work. One thing that I would say works is understanding the power of relationships, understanding the power of connections, and not isolating
Constructive Feedback
00:12:16
Speaker
yourself. The third thing that I believe would be useful in helping you remain relevant with how fast the world is moving is being open to feedback.
00:12:26
Speaker
be open to feedback. And as I'm saying this, I know there are people just listening and they're like, God, I hate feedback. And I hear you. I hear you so well. I hate, I hated feedback. I'm just like, who asked you? Stop giving me opinions that I've not asked. And I found that I wasn't growing as much as I should because I wasn't open to getting feedback.
00:12:49
Speaker
And it's important to understand that on this journey of feedback, there's just certain feedback that just not, they're not, it's just another kind of feedback that you would take and then use to polish and beautify and advance your craft. That's not what you should be taking. You should be taking constructive feedback. We have to be open to feedback, but not only open to feedback because I think the approach is not just waiting for people to give you feedback, but go and seek feedback. Seek feedback from people that you know would genuinely give you
00:13:19
Speaker
feedback that would be applicable and productive to the development of your craft. Don't just go around seeking from feedback from busybodies or people that just think that they are able to advise you on things that they have not even first-hand experience or people that are going to be advising or telling you things from a place of spice. That's not where I'm telling you to go and get feedback from. Look around you and see people that are genuinely rooting for you and that you know will
00:13:48
Speaker
against all odds be as honest as they can be with you and this can be in the person of your friends that you trust and all would give you feedback unfiltered. Unfiltered in the sense that they're not trying to butter you up to a point where you then become complacent and you think you're great your update is nothing else that you need to do. Unfiltered in the sense that they would give you both the good
00:14:10
Speaker
and the areas of improvement so it's important that you're open and honest receiving these things because if you and if you don't have the capacity or you've not opened yourself up or open that part of yourself up that would be able to take feedback you get angry at the things that might be said instead of actually looking at this thing and saying okay you know what
00:14:28
Speaker
I think there are certain things that I can do to improve, and that is an approach that I'm going to take. And I'm just going to give an example of a thing that I'm developing just as a sacrificial lamb. On this podcast, I'm always using myself as an example, but as a sacrificial lamb. So I've later have been doing a lot of videos. And for me, when I'm the process of doing something, I'm the process of developing something, I always like to know what else I can do to make things better. I just love it. And no matter how hard it may be,
00:14:54
Speaker
to swallow the feedback that I would get, I'm just like, okay, this is something that I have to take a look and see what I can do to develop and work on. And so I reached out to my partner and I said, okay, look at my video, just watch the full length of this and let me know if there's anything that you think I can do better.
00:15:12
Speaker
And then I told him this and he was like, oh my God, like, would you be okay to receive whatever it is I want to share? And I'm like, sure, sure, I'll receive it. And so he was like, I think you need to develop and build up your storytelling skills, your greater communicating, obviously, like, you know, your sweet spot, which is being able to communicate as calmly
00:15:33
Speaker
And as beautifully as you can, you have your cameras, you have the tools, you have the facilities that can help you. But to connect to your target audience, you need to develop your storytelling skills. Because stories connect. And if you want to connect, you need to empower yourself with storytelling. And I was like, ugh. Okay, I didn't know that was what was going to land. But why have you insulted me?
00:15:59
Speaker
Why have you insulted me? What have I done to deserve this?
00:16:06
Speaker
Yes, hard to swallow, but on reflection, I can understand where that's coming from. And I'm just saying this for you to understand that it is important that you expose yourself to feedback from people that actually do care about you, care about your craft, and know that there's a lot more capacity in the thing that you can do. Just add this, maybe iterate this, let's see how this works.
Flexibility and Adaptability
00:16:28
Speaker
And then when you're able to continue to do and develop that, you remember relevance.
00:16:31
Speaker
Because if I had just decided, OK, I'm perfect, I'm good, I have everything together, and there's really nothing I'm going to learn from anyone else, I'll just be that island of person that is doing a thing that doesn't connect. And so I learned that, and that's something that I am taking home. So one thing that I would say is after listening to this vulnerable story of me sharing an area of development from being open to feedback,
00:16:57
Speaker
look around you and see who can actually give you feedback on whatever it is that you're doing. So if you're working in corporates, this could be your manager, or this could be a colleague, this could be your mentor, if you're a digital content creator, this could be fellow creators, this could even be your audience, you know, ask them
00:17:16
Speaker
what exactly do you guys think is working? And sometimes you don't even need to ask them, check your comment sections, you see. Or whatever it is that you're doing, you would know. So if you're a digital creator, if you're an entrepreneur, ask fellow entrepreneurs, okay, what am I not doing right? Am I not selling rights? Do I need to build my sales skills? All of these things you need to be open to doing because you can learn, you can advance, you cannot grow if you don't get the right feedback that would help you in scaling your crafts.
00:17:45
Speaker
And the final thing, the final final thing, which I think references the first thing that I talked about is being flexible and adaptable. Being flexible and adaptable. These things are very important in helping you remain and stay relevant. There was a time when the work that existed was as manual and as basic as just closing a toothpaste. I saw a clip of that when I was working on my human resource development certification with CIPD.
00:18:15
Speaker
And I was like, my goodness, this was what work was. Now, things from then...
00:18:23
Speaker
has obviously changed, has obviously evolved. And the things that we are doing now will continue to change. So your ability to stay flexible, your ability to stay adaptable and be okay with change is important. Not everyone does well with change. We always just expect that things remain the same way. Why are things changing? Oh, I don't like this. No, with change comes possibilities.
00:18:49
Speaker
We change comes advancement. We change comes progress. It's your ability to be flexible, adaptable, and move quickly. That will help you in ripping the fruits of the change or the evolution that is happening. So we all know, and like I said at the beginning, the world is moving so fast. Things are moving so fast. Things are not the same way as they used to be. Technologies are becoming more advanced. So many things are happening. And if you don't have the right skill set, if you don't have the right attitude, if you don't have the right approach,
00:19:19
Speaker
you will remain stock. So it's important that you stay flexible, you're as adaptable, you're looking into the market like you actually have your ears, your eyes, every part of your body, all your sensitivities in the market to see what is required of you. Gone are the days when Microsoft Excel skills was just for a select few and so if you're doing
00:19:44
Speaker
maybe less seem if you're in certain professions i cannot come up with an example now if you're in certain professions you don't need to learn microsoft's office because that is too technical but now microsoft office is kind of the most basic skill that you can arm yourself with
00:20:01
Speaker
And who knows what maybe Tableau or one of those things is going to be so basic that everyone needs to learn and you cannot get any job or be relevant in any space if you have not learned Tableau or Power BI or many of those business intelligence tools. So I'm not saying those are the things that you should learn. What I'm saying is look at your industry
Summary of Key Points
00:20:23
Speaker
and see what are the trends, what are the things that are changing and develop that posture of adapting and being flexible to the changes that will come in your industry, in your space, in whatever it is that you're doing, that mindset is important. These for me are the four things that you can do as a young person to remain relevant
00:20:43
Speaker
regardless of where the world is taking us we don't know it's just stunning on its own we don't know where the world is taking us but regardless of where the world is moving and evolving to these are just some of the things four of the things that i believe will help us stay relevant and i'm just going to say the four things again maintaining an approach of being a lifelong learner not being an island arming yourself with a power of connection and relationships and it's important that you're not only thinking
00:21:07
Speaker
vertically but you're also thinking horizontally because that matters ask for feedback ask for feedback and maintain the mindset of being open to receiving feedback as well because there's one thing to ask and then hear the feedback and say why have you insulted me what have I done wrong okay shut up don't tell me anything again I don't care ask and be open to receiving feedback
00:21:29
Speaker
And the final thing is being flexible and adaptable. So this brings us to the end of this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, if you're listening to this on podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you're listening to it on, know that the video version of this episode is on YouTube. So if you're one of those visual watchers, like one of my friends who entered my DM and told me that she's now happy that we're on YouTube. So if you're like her and you want to see the visual version of our podcast,
00:21:59
Speaker
then we're on YouTube. So head over there if you want to see my beautiful face after watching this episode, and you want to watch it again looking at my beautiful face, head over to YouTube. Have a lovely day. Next week we would be having a guest on, but if not, you would be seeing me again on another episode. Take care. Bye.