However, that doesn’t mean they are useless. If old employees adapt to the changes and reskill, they don’t have to worry about being pushed out of their fields for newer, shinier employees. Jim Newswanger has the right idea here. New skills are always needed, and we should learn from them so we can grow as the industry grows.
What should companies be doing as far as talent and as far as innovation? According to Jim, it’s best to choose a specialized area. There’s software, managerial for managing small groups, project managing for managing projects, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Employees should also always be growing, branching out, and networking. IBM is always focused on upskilling their employees instead of pushing them out when their particular skill is no longer needed. They see the value in having quality talent on their team. IBM is well known for hiring people who don’t have college degrees but training people to do computer programming- digital skills that don’t necessarily require a four-year college degree. They recognize that people can be trained to have certain technological skills because they can already see the talent they have. If more companies followed this example, businesses could run a lot smoother.
As much as these companies need talent, and innovation in their teams, they also need for all separate areas of the company to come together to talk in order to work out difficult clients, projects and whatever else may come up. Though there may be some higher-ups that wear many hats, it’s not realistic for one sole person to bear most of the weight of complications that arise. Marketing and marketing research, as mentioned, are Jim Newswanger’s area of expertise with IBM. Imagine if he had to deal with all complications and come up with initiatives alone? IBM would slowly start to sink under the weight as a company. It simply couldn’t function properly.
The most essential components of running a successful business have proven to be talent, innovation, and team building. One of the key themes of this interview is that these specialized teams need to work together. They need to communicate with each other in order to figure out how each separate team can come to one single solution. The other most essential part pertaining to recessions and pandemics that may halt work, is to dig in harder. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Companies must sustain themselves during difficult and expected times in order to be able to keep themselves afloat when times do improve. Not only is there research that shows this, but it’s not hard to tell which companies are digging deeper when they see who comes out of it stronger.
