By Dr. Larry Rosia, president and CEO
Three years ago, no one could have predicted that we were just months away from the most disruptive event in modern history—the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has been a catalyst for tremendous change in everyone’s lives. It has disrupted the way we work and how we teach and learn. It also reminds us of how society has come to rely greatly on ever-changing technology. Could we have survived the past two-plus years without high-speed Internet, smart phones, teleconferencing and QR codes? Probably. But consider the pain and inconvenience.
To be sure, disruption was evident in workplaces even before anyone had heard of COVID. In fact, it was a key theme of Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s first-ever THINK conference in May 2019.
Today, however, a new reality exists. I call it predictable unpredictability.
So, how does one navigate this new reality?
Three high-profile speakers at THINK: The Future of Work, Technology and Learning 2022, a unique one-day conference presented by Saskatchewan Polytechnic on Thursday, May 5th, will provide answers. They are:
- Blair Sheppard, author of Ten Years to Midnight. Sheppard’s book makes the point that the world has 10 years to find and implement the answers to four global crises—the crisis of technology, the crisis of prosperity, the crisis of institutional legitimacy, and the crisis of leadership. Sheppard joined PwC in June 2012 as Global Leader, Strategy and Leadership. In this position he leads the team responsible for articulating PwC’s global strategy, evolving and driving PwC’s culture, and developing the current and next generation of PwC leaders across more than 150 countries. He is also Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
- Steve Cadigan, an expert on the future of work and the author of Workquake, a guide to creating a better model of work for the post-COVID future. Cadigan’s inspirational keynotes and seminars have garnered rave reviews. Known for leading LinkedIn’s first talent push and architecting its world-famous culture, Cadigan will share winning insights from more than 30 years of HR experience. This experience has included industry giants such as Google, Salesforce, The Royal Bank of Scotland, McKinsey, and the BBC, as well as venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia. His focus is on helping leaders and organizations build winning talent solutions to compete in an increasingly complex digital economy.
- Scott Van Pelt, a renowned education strategist. Van Pelt, who co-authored The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future with Arthur Levin, has held a variety of roles in higher education over the past 10 years. This includes areas such as academic advising, admissions, student life, instructional technology, and curriculum design. Currently, Van Pelt is an associate director with the Communication program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In this role, he designs and implements the curricula for business communication courses within the MBA core curriculum. He is a skilled facilitator, with experience designing and delivering sessions to audiences as varied as Wharton's Non-Profit Board Fellows Program and PhD students in the Fulbright Scholars Program.
In addition to these speakers, the conference will feature roundtables with leaders from across Saskatchewan, including Murad Al-Katib, President & CEO, AGT Foods; 3rd Vice Chief Aly Bear, FSIN; Thomas Benjoe, President & CEO, FHQ Developments; and Chief Cadmus Delorme, Cowessess First Nation, just to name a few.
Registrants may attend in person at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon or virtually. I invite you to register at think.saskpolytech.ca.
Predictable unpredictability is our new reality. THINK: The Future of Work, Technology & Learning Conference 2022 is designed to help predict some of the variability organizations face in this post-pandemic world.
I hope to see you in Saskatoon on May 5th.
Published April 2022.