As I sat at my desk yesterday morning, looking over emails, I came across a suggested article written by Niklas Göke. The article was focused on the type of learning that is required in today’s society. I read on to discover connections to other works I was familiar with and was suddenly hooked. It was if everything I had been thinking, studying, teaching for the past four years of my life was truly being recognized by others and it gave me hope. I haven’t been nearly as alone as what I had thought and it was refreshing.
According to Göke (2019) the extent of time we would have to dedicate to the traditional intake of knowledge has grown excessive due to the speed at which our world is moving. Göke (2019) asserts that our current educational framework and degree offerings can become outdated every 5 years. Traditional universities may find themselves in a tight spot as we move forward because newly acquired knowledge is losing its lifespan.
This realization may be an issue for some more than others. Wapnick (2015) delves into a very interesting concept of two distinct kinds of people. Wapnick (2015) asserts that there are specialists and there are mutlipotentialites. Wapnick (2015) defines specialists as those who have, at some point, figured out what they want to do for the rest of their lives and they are experts at doing it, while multipotentialites are those that may have varied passions throughout their lives and never really know what they want to do. Wapnick (2015) asserts that both of these groups are important to our society and that partnerships between these groups work on the edge of innovation. I concur with Wapnick, but I want to take it a step further…
Our society is in a current state of hyper-technological advancement. We are now experiencing inter-generational generation gaps and skills taught to an older sibling may be irrelevant, discarded and never taught to the younger sibling. This thought, which I have expressed for years, is echoed in Göke’s article and the transition of how we should be approach learning is amplified by Wapnick to bring us to this statement “We must all adapt to learn as a multipotentialite if we want to remain relevant in our fields.” This statement should not be groundbreaking, but expected in today’s world. Having a varied skillset is necessary in an ever changing world and even areas where the specialist is expected, in medicine for example, the mindset of the multipotentialite must be present to see the environment from an ever-changing lens.
One of the other evolving concepts in our society is disruptions in traditional communication. Is this concept new, absolutely not, but the research showing the level of the impact is relatively new. Face-to-face conversation has become cheapened and is no longer being utilized to the fullest in our society. The numbers tell us that 62.9% of the world’s population owns a cellphone (Statista, 2019), 75% of Millennials would rather text than talk (Cawley, 2016), and as of 2017, the daily time spent on social media beat out time spent on eating and drinking, face-to-face socializing, and grooming (Asano, 2017). Being a mutlipotenitalite, means being someone that others can rely on for varied viewpoints, varied skillsets and an adaptable partnership. Being a multipotentialite is about truly connecting with others through varied skills and building relationships through joint efforts. Having a multipotentialite mindset isn’t just about remaining relevant, it’s about building social capital.
References
Asano, E. (2017). How much time do people spend on social media? [infographic]. Retrieved 11 March, 2019, from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic
Cawley, C. (2016). Study: Millennials would rather text than talk [infographic]. Retrieved 11 March, 2019, from https://www.openmarket.com/press/study-millennials-would-rather-text-than-talk-infographic/
Göke, N. (2018). The future of learning. Retrieved 14 March, 2019, from https://medium.com/s/story/what-is-the-future-of-learning-3ff625d1dc86
Statista (2019). Number of mobile phone users worldwide from 2015 to 2020 (in billions). Retrieved 11 March, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide/
Wapnick, E. (2015).Why some of us don’t have one true calling. Retrieved 14 March, 2019, from https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling
Dr. Rick L. Mask, 32, author of Social Capital 2.0, received his Doctorate of Business Administration from the Department of Business Management at Capella University. He holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Bethel University and is currently continuing his educational journey by working toward an MBA in Economics from Southern New Hampshire University. He has held various leadership positions in the banking and retail industries as well as various positions in the education community. Dr. Mask is currently an Associate Dean for SNHU, an adjunct professor, speaker and small business owner. Dr. Mask is also a philanthropist who is actively involved in volunteering and donating to charitable causes. In his spare time, Dr. Mask likes to attend mentoring events, through his partnership with LinkedIn, spend time with his family, and enjoy the outdoors through hunting and fishing.
The Official Author Page of Dr. Rick L. Mask (The Social Capitalist) and the Home of Social Capital 2.0 