The Pain of Change or the Pain of Regret?

Last year about this time, I prepared an article entitled ‘Embrace Change – Falling Behind Would Be Costly’ that appeared in the winter 2009-2010 issue of Kaleidoscope Magazine that I thought might serve as a good reminder for our readers as we collectively firm up our plans and strategies for the New Year in 2011.

With the such undeniable forces in play including globalization, new and emerging technologies, increasing competition, industry consolidation, and many others, to succeed in 2011 and beyond is going to require a renewed commitment to learning new skills and stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Failure to do so is simply a recipe for disaster. As the attached article suggests, while embracing change may bring about some initial pain and discomfort as we stretch ourselves to new limits, the alternative is a lasting and more severe pain that will only get worse the longer we delay.

While the article speaks only to a few of the challenges and opportunities emerging in our ever changing economy, my hope is that this will serve as a timely reminder to set aggressive goals for yourselves and your businesses in 2011 to continue to add new skills and capabilities that better position you for success.

      Embrace Change – Falling Behind Would Be Costly

Recently, I reviewed some interesting information concerning the business environment and education.  Given the state of the economy with millions of people out of work, one might think that businesses currently looking to hire new employees would find a healthy pool of available candidates. Recent surveys are revealing that quite the opposite is true.  In a recent survey by The Kiplinger Letter, over 60 percent of businesses say it’s difficult to find qualified workers.  Many applicants simply lack the right skills.  What’s more, as the economy begins to improve and more “high tech” companies and job opportunities emerge, the challenge to find qualified workers will only become greater.  Like it or not, many of the jobs of tomorrow will look very different from the jobs of yesterday.  As such, the required skill sets and educational requirements are changing as well.  Currently about 31 percent  of all jobs today require some form of postsecondary degree – be that a vocational certificate of some sort up to a Ph.D.  With rapidly changing and emerging technologies and “tech-based” businesses, this percentage will continue to increase.      

Given these very real trends and economic forecasts, I urge everyone to heed the call of many of our leaders that push for additional training and degrees in science, technology, engineering and math – commonly referred to as STEM.  According to several studies, the fastest growing employment opportunities over the next ten years will be heavily based in science and math and will include such occupations as biochemists and biophysicists, software engineers, medical scientists, physician assistants, biomedical engineers, and network systems and data communications analysts, to name a few.  I can tell you first hand that these trends and forecast are absolutely on target simply based on the nature of early stage companies that we see every day at JumpStart, and the high tech companies that venture capitalists are funding across the country.  Keep in mind that the automotive and steel industries were once the new technologies funded by venture capitalists that led to many of the jobs prior generations enjoyed.  This is not the time to be in denial about the unmistakable changes that are taking place in our economy.  Rather it is a time to get educated and prepared.

As I continued to pour over this research, what I also found very interesting was that more than half of all doctorate degrees awarded in the U.S. in 2005 were awarded to students here on temporary visas.  This has worked to the advantage of our country in the past as many students come to the U.S. from foreign shores in search of a better life, and remain here given the clear economic advantages our country has enjoyed.  With the rise of globalization, and the emergence of economies in China and India, to pick just two, many foreign students are now choosing to return home rather than remain in the U.S.  If our nation is to remain competitive, clearly the number of U.S. citizens pursuing higher level degrees must improve.  Moreover, it is equally well documented that the African American and Latino communities lag significantly in attaining postsecondary degrees – particularly in STEM, which also must change quickly for not only the minority communities to stay competitive, but for our country as a whole.  Let’s not forget that projections indicate roughly half of our nation’s population consisting of major ethnic minority groups over the next 25+ years. 

I recognize that the very notion of change is usually associated with some element of pain, which is why change is so often resisted.  Never before has the old cliché of “no pain no gain” held more significance than it does today.  If we continue to resist change we will simply fall further and further behind.  Conversely, if we embrace change, there is a world of opportunity that awaits on the other side.  Let’s choose to embrace change and continue to better ourselves and our nation, to ensure a prosperous future.  It may be a little painful as we commit to learning new skills and break out of our comfort zones, but the pain is only temporary, and well worth the rewards that lie ahead.  As a good friend of mine once told me – you’re going to experience some pain in life no matter what you decide.  You can choose the pain of change or the pain of regret.  The pain of change weighs only a few ounces, but the pain of regret weighs a ton.