In this episode, I have a truly fantastic conversation with Sally Illingworth, a strategic thinker and calculative action taker who thrives in fast-paced and complex-adaptive environments. Sally tells us about her really interesting background from starting in a pizza shop and working her way up the food retail industry, to moving into management consulting and the world of digital marketing. The theme on the podcast this month is the future of work and this is a brilliant interview to kick us off. Sally and I discuss how her career progressed and why she believes that hard work and a willingness to learn can help anyone make similar moves in their career. We cover the skills that are needed in the future of work, including the importance of creativity and curiosity, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing businesses and organisations trying to attract and retain talent in this digital age. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the speed at which jobs are being created and then becoming commonplace, as well as the challenge of balancing legacy systems and the need for employers to protect their brands with the trend of employees taking control of their career by building personal brands online. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Listen here:

What we cover in this episode:

• Sally’s background starting in a pizza shop and working her way up the food retail industry, moving into management consulting and the world of digital marketing
• Sally’s passion for inspiring people and helping unlock human potential
• How her career has evolved from the food retail industry to where she is now and the value of patience, hard work and belief in possibility when learning new things and getting better
• What a Smart City and Community is to Sally and why it’s so important for us to preserve energy and resources (human and otherwise) so we can reach more potential
• The future of work and the skills that will be needed in the future more than they are now
• The challenges and opportunities facing businesses and organisations trying to attract and retain talent in this digital age
• The importance of curiosity and creativity in the present and future workforce
• The emerging trend of the speed at which jobs are being created and becoming commonplace
• The challenge of balancing legacy systems and the need for employers to protect they brands with the trend of employees taking control of their career by building personal brands online

Quotes:

“I’ve developed like this massive passion for just showing people that if you’re willing to put in the work and commit and develop the stamina to do something, then the world is your oyster.”

“One of the most common things that discourages a lot of people is there are unfortunately circumstances where people get sold dreams that this is going to happen overnight. And they don’t talk about the work that I talk about, the stamina required to do something. What happens is people spend money or they put time, effort and motion into things and then this massive change that they were sold doesn’t actually happen [overnight] so they become discouraged and [decide they’re] not even going to bother try.”

“There’s a lot of jobs now that didn’t exist even five years ago. With things like technology, it’s causing a lot of fear for a lot of people because they [worry] what’s going to happen, that all the jobs are going to go, and then we’re going to have this massive unemployment issue.”

“From a company perspective, you’ve got to get really clear what differentiates you, and why would someone want to work with you? In today’s landscape, people want more fulfillment and meaning from their jobs and that’s reflected in retention rates.”

“How can [employers] really harmonize that balance between employing someone but allowing them to have the freedom to really own and build their career beyond their job? It’s a big challenge…How do you as an organization, as business, as a company embrace the fact that people aren’t going to work for you for 20 years?”

“Thanks to things like social media, the power no longer sits with the people with millions and billions of dollars—everyone has a voice, and everyone has the ability to really own what they do. So this power shift is causing a lot of challenges for companies, but for employees as well.”

“The most curious people will become really integral from a strategic perspective in terms of how a lot of this change [in the workforce] due to tech is managed by organisations. Because you need that curiosity to try and solve a problem or challenge. Once you’ve got that curiosity, you need to be able then obtain information, assess things, analyse things…On top of that, you need the creativity to be able to connect the dots and try and find the solution.”

Links:

World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment

5G AI enabled automation white paper

Connect:

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Sally via LinkedIn or at sallyillingworth.com

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

Podcast Production by Perk Digital