Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・What major skills are to be acquired?
　 ❋ Pandemic resilience

　 ❋ Remote communication (online is especially challenging for the Japanese high-context communications)

　 ❋ English & Global Stakeholder management

　 ❋ Data Analytics/Data Science

　 ❋ Digital Marketing etc


・Companies should provide opportunities to high-potential/willing employees. You can bring a horse to a water but can not make it drink it.

・But often, those who acquired new skills have no opportunity to apply them in their current jobs. Companies first need to have a proper culture where learning & unlearning are incentivized, recognized and properly rewarded. If those new skills are not acted upon, it’s a waste and no wonder employees do not get motivated to learn new skills.

・Quality control of the professional education is also needed. Is the content really relevant? Is it related to the end job of the individual learning it? In-house corporate trainings will not suffice. Outside company trainings are necessary for individual to widen the horizon of their viewpoints and skill base.

・The most important skill to learn is probably the learning ability itself. We need to constantly learn new things to adapt to the changing realities.

・But learning new things does not have to mean to replace the existing knowledge with the new one. You can build on what you have already learned. It’s continuous growth rather than static achievement.

・From now on, people should regard their companies as clients not as parents. Freelance mindset is very important. Among young people, Uber Style practice is rapidly spreading. You get paid if you deliver value. No value, no pay. It’s the rule of the game in today’s Gig Economy. Can you send an invoice to your current employer and get fully paid as a vendor? That’s the question every employee should ask himself.

・Shifting to the renewable contact model could be a concrete solution to change Japanese people’s mindset. Many Japanese who are spoiled for a long time by the life-long employment mentality may find it too harsh but we predict that this shift of employment model from long-term full employment to short-term renewable contract will inevitably happen sooner rather than later as the remote work and gig economy continue.