MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Companies and workers worldwide are feeling overwhelming effects of the constant change in trends. The driving force behind these is known as exponential change — meaning change is no longer moving at a linear direction but goes in an exponential manner that disrupts all around.
For the adobo Festival of Ideas 2019, Calvin Soh of One Kind House flew in from Singapore to ask the question, ‘If there’s an industrial revolution 4.0, then what is family 4.0?’
According to Soh, the exponential change is responsible for all the possibilities in the future of careers. It’s no longer easy to predict what industries and jobs will be relevant in the near future. With new technology advancements like artificial intelligence, routine and repetitive jobs may soon become obsolete.
Industries are coming and going faster than it is before so it’s important to be a jack of all trades, and a master of few otherwise what does the future hold for an individual who only holds one specialization. It may have worked a few decades ago, but with the constant rise and fall on jobs and industries, jumping from careers and jobs is an art the future generation will have to learn and adapt to.
“Too many of our kids grow up being afraid of failure. And when you’re afraid of failure, you wouldn’t try anything at all,” he shares.
So how do we prepare our children for jobs that aren’t around yet? Instead of focusing on what works right now , Soh asks his children what they want to do. And it has made all the difference. After leaving the advertising industry, Soh created One Kind House together with his family. More than just a business and a house, it’s a space for people who like the idea of growing, cooking and eating your own vegetables, as well as learning from the old and young.
His children Dylan and Ava have seen amazing development in just their early years. Dylan has done a Ted X talk just at the age of 12, Kickstarter at 13, Angry Birds internship at 14 and now 16, studying at Helsinki. On the other hand, his daughter Ava is currently making her own jewelry line. Even his mom joined in one the fun, becoming one the top Airbnb experiences in Singapore.
By prepping his family of a future of “I don’t know”, Soh has allowed valuable growth within his family and hope other families follow his ‘unusual’ approach to the future.
