Meet Raymond Pugh!
Transcript
Hello my name is Raymond Pugh and I am a member of Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute Cohort 10 at Miami University, where I am majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Today, I want to talk about my research for our Cohort 10 project Reimagination Collaboration, where our Cohort discusses the changes in the Hybrid workplace.
For My research, I read the book “Human Work: In the Age of Smart Machines by Lumina Foundation CEO Jamie Merisotis”(merry-sotas). In this book, Jamie talks about the future of the workforce and the elements that need to be changed to be ready for the continuous growth of technology such as Artificial intelligence or AI.
The book first talks about the speed of technological growth within the past century starting from the first industrial revolution to the current work environment during covid. In the history that was covered , during the economic recessions jobs were lost and gained. However, in the recent economic recessions the jobs that were created during new economic growth were not the same as the jobs that existed for lower skilled and blue collared workers
According to a 2019 study by Georgetown university center on education and the workforce , From Dec 2007 to January 2010 7.4 million jobs were lost in the US, with 5.6 million of those jobs being lost from High school degrees or less education credential workers. This study also saw during the growth of the economy before the pandemic up to 2020, 8 million jobs were added but only 80,000 of those jobs came back for workers with high school degrees or less.
This brought up the issue of technology hurting job expansion. As the author explained, more effort is needed to create growth of skills that are uniquely characteristic to humans. Jobs, no matter how advanced, such as surgeons and lawyers, have the potential to be replaced by new technology such as AI if they just relied on the simply repetitive application of advanced skills.
To prevent the growing disparities of the marketplace “human work” is needed to be expanded and grown. This so-called human work requires people skills which involve (communication and team working skills such as empathy with coworkers) problem solving skills, and integrative learning and application skills necessary for the competitive workforce to create new solutions for innovative challenges in the world.
The next part of the book talked about “wide learning” which encompasses the learning process throughout the person's life unlike training which prepares workers for scenarios but restricts them to a selected thinking process that will curtail their creative thinking process. One of the key points of this section of the book involved reaching beyond a certain point and applying a wide range of knowledge acquired through life to reach a person’s full range of capabilities. To do this, a higher standard of learning is needed, especially that develops human skills that will not be replaced by technology.
This was suggested by the author by creation nationally transparent standards areas and credentials that clearly define the skills workers possess in the workforce, the investevent of talent using companies and educators to target all potential workers and not just those from traditional backgrounds and finally changing the attitude held towards work itself to a carefully maintained balance between personal fulfillment and service to society.
Furthermore,To personally develop my own human work and wide learning skills, I will open myself to new ideas by exploring new hobbies and meeting new people. I will also Expand my active citizenship in society and voluteuner for various non profits like Habitat for humanity to develop empathy and team working skills. Finally I will “own my own learning” by making sure I fully understand the skills and knowledge I acquire, so that I can integrate it into my problem solving skills.
In conclusion, by creating a mindset that we should not try to compete with AI or fear its growth in our society, but instead should look at this new and constant technological growth as collaborative tools that can be used alongside human work skills, our society will be able to solve any challenge we encounter in the future. Thank You!
Bio
Hi, I’m Raymond Pugh. I am from Canal Winchester, Ohio.
As a kid in elementary school, I always had a fascination for science. This manifested itself in middle school in which I participated in an extracurricular club called Science Olympiad. This extracurricular activity held competitions that tested participants knowledge over topics in science and had them build devices for various challenges. The process of designing and building devices for these challenges made me realize my love for engineering. During high school football, the head coach had us do activities with servant leadership to help better the team as well as the community around us. This motivated me to seek leadership roles such as NHS in high school and now Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute here at Miami. As a member of the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute, I hope to develop my teamwork and communicational skills to foster a better working environment for my future career as a mechanical engineer.
Some other organizations I am apart of include Engineering and Computing Student Council (ECSC), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Habitat for Humanity, and the Sneak Geeks Club. In ECSC I am currently the Organizational Board Director and in NSBE I am one of the Miami Chapter senators.