8. The Benefits of Being Skilled Through Alternative Routes

03/09/22 • 39 min

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This week, Kelly speaks with Bridgette Gray. Bridgette is the Chief Customer Officer at Opportunity At Work, a founding member of Chief DC, and Leap ambassador. They discuss why STARS (people who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes) are such a valuable untapped resource in today’s workforce, Bridgette’s ultimate career goal, and what it was like being on a Zoom call with Michelle Obama.

Takeaways:

Talent is always equal, opportunity is not.
Diversifying talent at work will also help us work on some deep systemic issues in our country.
Don’t ever think that there is a place where you can’t continue to grow, learn, and beef up your knowledge, because knowledge is not written in a textbook. It’s the things you have to watch, listen to, and learn about by asking questions.

Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @BridgetteFGray

Learn more at opportunityatwork.org

Skillsbaby.com

This is a Growth Network Podcasts Production

Takeaways:

Talent is always equal, opportunity is not.
Diversifying talent at work will also help us work on some deep systemic issues in our country.
Don’t ever think that there is a place where you can’t continue to grow, learn, and beef up your knowledge, because knowledge is not written in a textbook. It’s the things you have to watch, listen to, and learn about by asking questions.

Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @BridgetteFGray

Learn more at opportunityatwork.org

Skillsbaby.com

This is a Growth Network Podcasts Production

Previous Episode

7. Becoming a “T-Shaped” Professional

Kelly is joined by Peter A. Cabral, a faculty member on Digital Mobility, the Future of Cities, and Disruption at Singularity University. He is also the Managing Partner at Mount Olive Partners, a serial entrepreneur, author, and startup business advisor in the areas of urban mobility, disruptive technologies, big data, and artificial intelligence.

They discuss the benefits of being a T-shaped professional, how technology will make us even more human, and the significant effects of disruption and democratization.

Big Takeaways:

The ability to connect the dots in a multidisciplinary fashion is what makes a leader.
“Our world is not local anymore, it is global. Our world is not linear, it is exponential. Abundance and prosperity create a life of opportunity.”
“The future is bright for the ones that understand that technology's here as a great, phenomenal tool, that is targeting to seek solutions for our greatest problems.”

Follow Peter on LinkedIn and IG @Peter_Cabral

Learn more at Mountolivepartners.com and via Singularity

Skillsbaby.com

This is a Growth Network Podcasts Production.

Next Episode

Enabling Job Mobility Through Technology

Kelly is joined by Fernando Rodriguez-Villa. Fernando is the co-founder and chief executive officer of AdeptID. They discuss their shared passion to make job mobility easier for everyone, regardless of their level of education, applying machine learning to transferrable skills, and why it can be so challenging to talk about skills.

Learn how Fernando is using similar AI to Netflix to better match skills to jobs.

Takeaways:

“All the really exciting things I’ve learned, I learned after I graduated from school.”
It’s impossible to disentangle technology from the people who make it, which is why it’s so important to have diverse, representative teams building our tech.
Being able to align something you want to have happen in the world with your personality and your business model is the ultimate goal.

Follow Fernando on LinkedIn and Twitter @frodriguezvilla

Learn more at adept-id.com

Skillsbaby.com

This is a Growth Network Podcasts Production