The Job of the Future

“I’ve been teaching my kids to be entrepreneurs.” This is what an engineer father told me recently, since he is convinced that AI is getting rid of coders and engineers like himself. In his case, he started a restaurant and his kids are getting hands-on experience working it and running it.

He’s unusual but not alone. I’ve obviously been on the “AI is going to eat jobs” train for a long time, and the latest jobs report indicated that we may be at that point right now.

Also this past week, the journalist John Burn-Murdoch published a study of personality changes across generations. What he found was stunning.

Conscientiousness and agreeableness have collapsed among young people in particular. Extroversion has gone down for all generations, a big reason why we are partying less. And neuroticism has gone up. Based on the timing, Burn-Murdoch attributes these trends to the arrival of smartphones and social media. These assessments are based on self-reporting (i.e. people saying they struggle to make plans and follow through with them or often feel distracted or careless both indicate low conscientiousness).

Why is this so important? It turns out personality determines success in life. “Personality traits, especially conscientiousness and neuroticism, are stronger predictors of career success, divorce and mortality than someone’s socio-economic background or cognitive abilities,” Burn-Murdoch observes. In other words, whether you hold down a good job, stay married, or stay alive are more dependent on your personality and character than your smarts or credentials. “Highly conscientious people (dependable, disciplined, committed) live the longest, succeed at work, their relationships last . . . At the other end of the spectrum, people high in neuroticism (anxious, often tense, feel emotions very strongly) tend to face more challenges in life. Relationships break down, work life is difficult, stress can bring health problems.”

I get asked all of the time “What should my kid study in order to have a secure job?” I try to convey that it’s less about technical skills – particularly in the impending AI era – and more about their personality, character and resilience. Anything that gets them in a positive feedback loop where they show up and work hard and get rewarded as a result is a win.

It used to be that kids might get started by taking on a paper route or a lemonade stand on their street. Today, we’re lucky if they’re allowed to ride a bicycle or go outside alone. Our kids are learning less because they’re at home more.

I’m a parent, so I get it. My kids are growing up in a very different era than I did. My first job was as a busboy at a local Chinese restaurant. I also sold knives door-to-door; Cutco, those knives were so sharp they were a menace. In college, I was a fry cook at the snackbar.

What did I learn from those jobs? How to be nice to people, how to work with people different than me, how to handle rejection, how to get better and faster at a task under time pressure, how to ask for help, how not to ask for help, how to help others, how showing up can occasionally result in a sale or a good tip, how hard it is to make $40, how to treat people with respect. Also how not to cut a bagel – never hold the bagel in your offhand.

Anything that requires working together in a group toward a goal is probably better job preparation today than most coursework. You know what fits that description pretty well? Team sports. You have to perform, work with others, accept coaching, learn how to win or lose, and show up the next day trying to get better.

Now, clearly most of our kids aren’t going to become pro athletes. But that’s not the point. And sports are just an example. It could be the school play – there’s a lot of data that says participation in theatre correlates to good things. It could be studying an instrument or singing in a choir. It could be reading in an era where fewer young people do so regularly. It could be learning another language. It could be volunteering or being involved in your faith community. It could of course be a job or a business. Anything that builds character and perseverance is the key.

I spent 6 years running an entrepreneurship fellowship program – Venture for America – that I founded. At the time, I believed that entrepreneurship would save our economy and our society; if we could get more of our young people to become founders they would innovate, solve problems, and create jobs, while also building the kind of character and perseverance that the country could depend upon.

One of the only bright spots in this jarring new data is that if your kid is conscientious, agreeable, and resilient they are likely to stand out and have unusual levels of opportunity because these traits are going to be in short supply. Let’s do more of that.

What are the jobs of the future? It’s very hard to say, outside of a few fields that will be very difficult to automate. But the success factors will be the same, and the goal should be to help raise awesome human beings that can build and adapt in changing times. That task might be harder than ever. Putting down our phones would be a great way to start.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to drag my boys outside to ride their bicycles.

Enjoy the summer! For my interview with US Senate candidate JD Scholten click here. To see what Forward is doing in your area, click here. Our next Offline Party is in NYC on August 21. Remember to look up.