A question I was often asked as a child is, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Were you asked the same question?

We know from 2015’s New Work Order report, 2016’s CSIRO report, 2018’s New Work Reality reportand multiple other reports (eg Man v Machine, Automation Eliminates Jobs Not Work) that the majority of today’s children are chasing jobs that may be rendered obsolete in the coming years by technology and automation. In light of this, how can we give our children something realistic to aspire to as far as the workforce is concerned? There is a simple solution. Instead of asking our children, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’, we can ask, ‘What problem do you want to solve in the future?’ or ‘How do you want to help others when you’re an adult?’ Both of these questions align themselves with the research that says that, while blue collar industries are on the decline, entrepreneurial, creative and service industries are on the absolute incline.

- Jane Mueller