The 5 Most Important Soft Skills to Look for in a New Hire

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Personality traits that determine how an employee will hack it in a group setting are hard to detect. Here are the questions that will help tease them out during an interview.

1. Broadcasts flexibility and enthusiasm

Ask a candidate to describe a time when someone had to learn a new skill or process on the job. This is a good way to understand both his or her method of learning and attitude toward a new experience.

„If I’m placing someone in a fast-paced, innovative environment, I need to see and hear enthusiasm as a candidate describes how they fly up the learning curve,“ says Rakos.

2. Takes initiative and direction

A question about how they tackled a challenge and found a solution helps assess personal accountability. Candidates should mention how they prioritized tasks and what specific steps they took to accomplish something.

„I also need to see a level of self-confidence when I hear the candidate describe how they chose a solution,“ says Rakos. „Someone who gets bogged down in analysis paralysis is not the right fit but neither is a candidate whose actions sound fearless to the point of recklessness.“

And asking them what’s important in an ideal boss should elicit descriptions of a manager who provides general, visionary direction and then unleashes their employees to get the job done.

„I especially like hearing candidates place greater value on bosses who are mentors but not micromanagers,“ says Rakos.

3. Keeps ego in check

Ask candidates to describe both their greatest success in the workplace and a time when they made a mistake. That helps determine if they are more invested in their ego or in getting the job done and building a strong team. Also ask what their role was versus that of the manager or teammates.

What you want are answers that share the credit with the team as a whole. It’s even better if they mention specific people on the team, which shows they are aware enough to articulate the skills and abilities of others–and someone who is comfortable sharing credit.

„If I hear a lot of ‚I‘ statements and precious few ‚we‘ statements, I see trouble ahead,“ Rakos says.

4. Demonstrates curiosity and a desire to learn

A vaguely worded question works here. Ask about the best job they’ve ever had and what they learned.

„While it’s true that I am listening for specific skills, knowledge and processes that may be needed for the job I’m filling, I’m also specifically listening for how the candidate values the process of learning itself,“ says Rakos. As with every question, notice body language, tone of voice and facial expressions as much as words. Rakos says he wants to see someone’s eyes light up when they describe the joy of working alongside smart, curious people.

And asking what questions the candidate has for you, is a final way to learn a lot about them.

Candidates who ask probing questions about the organization’s culture, the hiring manager’s leadership style, and how success is measured and mentored, help themselves greatly.

5. Understands strengths and limitations

Ask them describe their work style. Also, ask how a former manager or co-worker would describe their work style. You’re looking for consistent answers that describe consistency, collaboration, listening skills and respect for the ideas of others.

http://www.inc.com/bartie-scott/how-to-hire-most-important-soft-skills.html

13 qualities that will help make you a great business leader

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Bad leadership is the root cause of why millions of people across the world do not enjoy going to work every day.

Good leadership provides the confidence to overcome hurdles. Good leadership encourages people to think big.

Good leadership inspires people to become the best they can be and creates a platform that enables people to showcase and begin exploiting their true potential.

A story about bad leadership

In my mid-20s, I experienced bad leadership within a blue-chip company. I’m not exaggerating when I say my last three years at that company were the most frustrating, confusing and even angriest period in my working life.

I was ambitious. I felt like I had a lot to offer my employer. I wanted to push myself; to take on new challenges. I challenged the status quo. I didn’t just come to work to do a job – I wanted to make a difference.

I wanted to climb the ladder and increase my influence on those around me.

Unfortunately, my manager (for their own reasons) wasn’t prepared to embrace my passion, drive, determination and creativity.

I would regularly have to explain myself and my ideas. The feedback I got was most often negative and conclusive:

  • “This isn’t going to work.”
  • “There are other people that look after that.”
  • “This isn’t part of your job description.”
  • “Why don’t you just concentrate on your job?”

I would often speak to people close to me to try and help me understand why my manager was entrenched in managing me in such a negative, condescending way.

The general consensus was that my manager was probably afraid of my ambition, afraid that I may outshine them.

What a crying shame that is.

The nail that sealed the “I don’t ever want to experience bad leadership again” coffin was when a new role was being created in our growing team.

It was a role that I felt I had the drive, passion and willingness to move in to and succeed in. It was a natural progression for my career.

I was ready to stretch myself, I was ready to take on more responsibility. I was ready to increase my influence and impact on this blue-chip business.

What was the feedback from my manager when I went to them expressing my interest in this role?

We are going to look to bring someone in from outside the business. We want someone with more experience than you. It’s okay, there will be other opportunities for you in the future.

Now my manager may have thought that dangling this carrot may have been enough to pacify me.

As it turns out, I had stopped reaching for the carrot a long time before this exchange. I knew I was simply not going to be given the opportunity to exploit my potential with this manager.

Around half-way through this three-year period of experiencing bad leadership, I started to ask myself these questions:

  • “Why am I letting my manager hold me back?”
  • “How am I going to break free from this?”“
  • What more do I have to offer that I’m not being given the opportunity to do?”

Unbeknown to my manager (whom I would continue to work for during the next 18 months), I made the decision that I would start taking control of my own destiny. I made the commitment to myself that I would no longer be held back.

I decided that I was going to work for myself. I started moonlighting in summer 2004, and in summer 2006 I handed my notice in.

I made a commitment to myself that I would never experience bad leadership in my career again.

A story about good leadership

It wasn’t until a few years in to being a freelancer that I started to consider the potential of hiring someone.

My immediate thoughts were that if I do get in to the position of being able to offer someone a job, I was absolutely determined that my management style would be the complete opposite of what I had experienced.

There is a well-known saying in business and leadership: “behaviour creates behaviour.”

In addition, we all know how ideas, beliefs, experiences and perceptions all get ingrained within our minds over time. We also know how hard it can be to embrace change.

For me, although I had never experienced good leadership, never mind truly inspirational leadership, I knew what bad leadership was and I was committed to doing things the right way.

“Anyone who I manage and lead will be given the opportunity to exploit their true potential” was running through my DNA.

It was in early 2008 when I hired my first employee. Since then, I have dedicated time and energy into developing a leadership approach that is true to my aim above.

Here are some of the key attributes of being a good leader, alongside lessons that I’ve learned…

1. Hire exceptional people that have the potential to outshine you

The complete opposite of what I experienced. This ethos has been the key to the growth of my business.

Everyone benefits too, as exceptional people are working alongside exceptional people.

Some teams just work together. Good teams do great things together. Great teams grow together.

2. Praise your team regularly

In the hustle and bustle of daily life running a business and managing people, it can be very easy to miss out on providing praise and recognition when a team member goes above and beyond – or they just do something in their job description exceptionally well.

I have learnt just how important and valued it is to provide praise to individuals, both one-to-one and in a group environment.

After all we just want to do a good job and be respected, right?

3. Catch people in

Not only have I realised the importance of praising individuals, a lesson I have also learnt is how important it is to simply “catch people in”.

The small things people do, the ideas they bring to the table, the creative way they are thinking.

Highlighting the smaller details which add value to the day-to-day running of a business will encourage your team to speak up and champion larger ideas going forward.

Never underestimate the importance of people feeling valued.

3. Take time to find the right people

You’ve heard the saying, “hire slow, fire fast”.

Thankfully the second part isn’t one I have encountered regularly (though the phrase is applicable in a business case) but certainly hiring slowly has been a cornerstone of how we have built the team.

Remember that exceptional people are out there, you just have to be patient to find them.

4. Trust people

When I employed just three people, I published an article titled ‚11 Values That Are Helping Me Build a Great Team at PRWD‚.

In many ways it is the beta version of this article. Point three was “have complete trust in new team members straight away” and this is so important.

Trust your staff and see them flourish with the responsibility you have given them.

5. Throw people in at the deep end

As a direct follow-up on from hiring slowly, taking your time to find the right seat (or as one of my mentors Lily Newman champions, “get the right people on the bus”) can and should lead you on to having the opportunity to put new team members in the limelight very early on.

When it comes to whether a new starter will sink or swim, have faith they will swim.

6. Encourage people to push themselves

Some people have a natural hunger and desire to push themselves.

They want to embrace change, they want to take on new challenges and go outside of their comfort zone. Many people don’t have this natural hunger.

People have a natural tendency to think less of their skills, experiences and ideas compared to those around them.

If you don’t provide everyone – irrespective of their natural hunger – a platform and opportunity to open their mind, you are likely missing out on valuable insights to help your business, and the chance at helping your team realise the potential you see in them.

Every human has the ability to offer more than they think – they just need to be inspired to go outside their comfort zone and think “what if I…”

7. Create ways for people to fast track their careers

One of the things that genuinely gives me goosebumps is when I see my colleagues doing things which they probably expected to only be doing years later – or not even at all.

One of the areas we explore during the interview process is the candidate’s response to changes in their life, and what they feel about facing up one of humankind’s biggest fears, public speaking.

I have been doing public speaking since 2009 and I am often able to provide my team with speaking opportunities within their first year of working in the business, something which took me over five years to reach.

Leaders should harness what they have to help their team achieve things far quicker than then did.

8. Embrace the 34-hour working week (or don’t let the business completely consume your team)

I run an agency and there are few if any agencies who have a 34-hour working week. In fact, there are few businesses globally who have a 34-hour week.

For me, even before I became a father for the first time, having a healthy work-life balance was crucial for me.

There was no way I was going to let running a business mean I didn’t have much of a life outside of my business.

There is no work-life balance – there is just a life balance that you have to work on.

9. Be human

Some would look at my leadership style and come to the conclusion that I’m a little too open; maybe I share too much.

The way I see it, I am just being a leader who isn’t afraid of exposing his weaknesses and explaining what he is working on in order to become a more positive leader.

In this age of robots and artificial intelligence, being relatable and communicative with my team leads to stronger team dynamic; one built on trust and understanding.

This will lead to a team working together and for one another, rather than simply logging their hours and ticking boxes.

The more human you are, the more you connect with your team.

10. Be approachable

It is easy to get consumed with the day-to-day activities of running a business. It is easy to be in your “leadership bubble” and want to focus on just what is in front of you.

Some people may perceive this as ‘unapproachable’.

For me, I have learnt that being approachable, giving my team the confidence that, irrespective of their role or position in the business, they can come and talk to me, is invaluable.

It ensures I am staying connected with my team, even when new levels of management are being created.

Never underestimate the value of being approachable by any member of your team – it brings you even greater respect from everyone.

11. Be genuine

I have to hold my hands up and say ‚Be Genuine‘ is one of my company’s brand values, alongside ‚Be Expert‘, ‚Be The Change‘, ‚Be Experimental‘, ‚Be Open‘ and ‚Be Happy‘.

Being genuine and having integrity is absolutely essential if you are to create a culture that empowers people to want to be the best they can be.

Being frank and honest and showing some of the inner workings of the business, whether good or bad, isn’t a case of “showing too much” or “worrying your team” – it is simply demonstrating that you are real.

With your team believing in you and sharing in your vision as a result, it will only help you and your business grow and flourish.

Don’t try to be someone that you aren’t – just be yourself and you will be respected.

12. Be transparent

I have huge amounts of admiration for the brand Crew. It is one of the most open and transparent businesses I have come across.

The leadership style within Crew is the complete opposite of the vast majority of businesses.

It reminds me of one of the statements from the exceptional book ‘REWORK’ that has stayed with me for a long time – “out-teach your competition, don’t be afraid of explaining how you do what you do – customers will respect you and come to you.”

Expose areas of your business that will encourage your team to have a greater sense of belonging.

13. Have humility

One of the greatest lessons I have learnt during my entrepreneurial journey is that no matter how much knowledge and experience you amass, you should never disrespect or disregard the ideas and opinions of other people.

Always provide people with the opportunity and confidence to share with you their very best ideas, especially if it’s in a subject area you aren’t an expert in.

Humility is actually the cornerstone of my article “Re-invented HiPPO”. The new HIPPO entails a list of attributes to which we should all aspire: Humility, Integrity, Passion, Positivity and Openness.

Respecting other people is one of the greatest ways to build trust and confidence.

 

https://econsultancy.com/blog/68211-13-qualities-that-will-help-make-you-a-great-business-leader

Knowhow weitergeben – Nur wenige Chefs fördern den Austausch ihrer Mitarbeiter

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Mitarbeiter tauschen sich aus. Quelle: imago

Viele Chefs wissen, wie wichtig der Austausch ihrer Mitarbeiter ist – aber fördern ihn nicht.

Der Erfolg eines Unternehmens hängt davon ab, ob Mitarbeiter ihr Wissen teilen oder für sich behalten. Die Mehrheit der Chefs weiß das auch. Doch nur wenige Führungskräfte fördern den Wissensaustausch tatsächlich.

Wissensmanagement ist ohne Erfahrungsmanagement blind.

Der neue Mitarbeiter hat einen vorbildlichen Lebenslauf: Er hat studiert, promoviert und kann jahrelange Berufserfahrung in unterschiedlichen Unternehmen vorweisen. Doch zum wirtschaftlichen Erfolg seines neuen Arbeitgebers trägt er wenig bei: Er hat schlicht keine Ahnung von den Unternehmensstrukturen und -abläufen. Und die Kollegen verraten nix.

So etwas ist gar nicht mal selten – und kostet Unternehmen einiges, wie eine Studie der Wirtschaftsprüfung KPMG zeigt. Zwischen 50.000 und 500.000 Euro Produktionsausfallkosten können pro Unternehmen und Jahr entstehen, wenn sich neue Mitarbeiter alles selber beibringen müssen – vom Bedienen der Telefonanlage und der Software bis zu den Arbeitsabläufen. „Je höher der Transfer von Erfahrungswissen in einem Unternehmen ist, desto geringer fallen die Konfliktkosten aus“, sagt Günter Bruns, Senior Fellow der Rheinischen Fachhochschule Köln (RFH).

Bewusstsein ist da, wird aber nicht umgesetzt

Gemeinsam mit der Fachhochschule Burgenland und deren Projektpartner FHS St. Gallen hat die RFH das Europa-Institut Erfahrung & Management (Metis) gegründet, das 600 Führungskräfte in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz zum Erfahrungs- und Wissensmanagement in ihren Betrieben befragt hat.

Die erfreuliche Nachricht: 85 Prozent der Chefs wissen laut Untersuchung, wie wichtig die Weitergabe von Erfahrungswissen ist. Aber nur ein Viertel der Befragten setzt das Wissen auch um. „Es gibt zwar ein Bewusstsein für Erfahrungswissen, aber in der Realität fehlt vielen Führungskräften die notwendige Entschlussfreudigkeit bei der Förderung der Weitergabe“, sagt Bruns. Durch kulturelle und damit oftmals auch sprachliche Barrieren mangele es in vielen Unternehmen an Wissen darüber, wie Mitarbeiter ihr Wissen möglichst effektiv weitergeben.

Kreative Querdenker sind gefragt Quelle: imago, Montage

Dabei hat die Untersuchung ergeben, dass der Erfahrungsaustausch in einem Unternehmen insbesondere dann von großer Bedeutung ist, wenn Mitarbeiter operative Probleme lösen, Entscheidungen treffen, komplexe Zusammenhänge erkennen oder sogar Krisen bewältigen müssen. „Wissensmanagement ist ohne Erfahrungsmanagement blind“, sagt Bruns. Denn die jeweiligen Kenntnisse haben in dem einen Unternehmen vielleicht einen hohen Stellenwert – in einem anderen aber wiederum so gut wie keinen. Und: Wie ist das Wissen zu bewerten? Ist es erst wenige Wochen alt oder schon überholt, weil der Mitarbeiter es vor mehreren Jahren erworben hat?

Trotzdem beurteilen laut Studie viele Chefs die typischen Wissensmanagementmethoden skeptisch – und setzen sie dementsprechend selten ein. Intranet, Social-Media-Plattformen, Storytelling oder Erfahrungsberichte ausscheidender Mitarbeiter würden sogar selten von jungen Managern genutzt werden. „Dieses Ergebnis zeigt, dass man sich von vielen Methoden verabschieden und die etablierten Methoden verbessern muss“, sagt Bruns. Das sei zum Beispiel das Storytelling – Betroffene berichten, wie sie Erfahrungswissen vermitteln. „Eine wichtige Voraussetzung dafür ist allerdings, dass der Feedback-Prozess, also das Vertrauen zwischen Absender und  Empfänger von Erfahrungswissen stimmt.“

Kleinen Unternehmen fehlen die Ressourcen

Neben effektiven Wissensmanagementmethoden brauchen Unternehmen für den optimalen Austausch nach Ansicht der Experten auch eine altersübergreifende Belegschaft. „Die Crux ist, die unterschiedlichen Generationen so zusammenzuführen, dass jeder seinen maximalen Nutzen daraus zieht“, sagt RFH-Präsident Martin Wortmann.

Bis vor einigen Jahren glaubten laut Wortmann noch viele Unternehmen, dass die Alten durch ihre mittlerweile starren Arbeitsweisen den Erfolg des Unternehmens mindern würden; die junge Generation blicke hingegen in die Zukunft und sei innovativ. Nur was viele vergaßen: „Jüngere Mitarbeiter sind leichter manipulierbar, steuerbar und beeinflussbar – weil ihnen die Erfahrung fehlt“, gibt Wortmann zu bedenken.

Mitarbeiter aus der Produktion werden unterschätzt

Hinzu kommt, dass sowohl kleine als auch große Betriebe unterschätzen, wie wichtig der abteilungsübergreifende Austausch in einer Organisation ist. „Führungskräfte aus oberen Etagen neigen dazu, dem Wissen eines Mitarbeiters, der beispielsweise die Maschinen in der Produktion bedient, zu wenig Bedeutung beizumessen“, sagt Wortmann. Entweder ignorieren sie aus Erfahrung des Experten deren Kompetenzen oder sie vertreten die Ansicht, dass deren Tätigkeit nur einen geringen Beitrag zum Erfolg des Unternehmens leistet. Dabei könnte sein Erfahrungswissen womöglich einen enormen Beitrag zur Verbesserung von Produktionsabläufen leisten.

Arbeit ist nicht zur Selbstverwirklichung daVöllig falsch. Wer die Arbeit nur wegen des Gehaltschecks macht, der wird langfristig nicht glücklich - sondern unzufrieden, unmotiviert und unproduktiv. Umgekehrt gilt: Mache nie dein Hobby zum Beruf. Der Grund liegt auf der Hand: Betreibt man das Hobby aus einer inneren Motivation (Neugier, Spaß, Glück) heraus, ist man im Beruf vor allem auf die Belohnung (= Gehalt) fixiert. Verliert man dann den Job, fällt man in ein Loch - beides ist nicht dann nämlich nicht mehr da: Motivation und Belohnung. Quelle: Fotolia

Viele Unternehmen halten laut Bruns das Wissen erfahrener Mitarbeiter vor allem dann für hinderlich, wenn sie mit Innovationen eine neue Zukunft einschlagen wollen. „Die Chefs vertreten häufig die Ansicht, dass Erfahrungen nur dazu dienen, das Alte gut zu finden.“ Das ist seiner Meinung nach falsch, denn: „Diese Mitarbeiter haben meist Erfahrungen mit Innovationen gemacht, die wiederum nützlich für neue Technologien sein können“, sagt Bruns.

Vor allem in kleinen Unternehmen vernachlässigen die Führungskräfte den Wissensaustausch ihrer Beschäftigten, wie aus der Befragung hervorgeht. Während große Konzerne oftmals in Weiterbildung und Mentoring investieren, beklagen die kleinen bis mittelständischen Betriebe, dass ihnen die Ressourcen fehlen, um den Wissenstransfer zu fördern. „Im Tagesgeschäft geht bei Klein- und mittelständischen Unternehmen der Transfer von Erfahrung häufig unter, weil ihnen im Vergleich zu größeren Unternehmen die nötigen Ressourcen fehlen“, sagt Wortmann.

http://www.wiwo.de/erfolg/beruf/knowhow-weitergeben-nur-wenige-chefs-foerdern-den-austausch-ihrer-mitarbeiter/14473692-all.html

5 Design Jobs That Won’t Exist In The Future

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And seven jobs that will grow, according to design leaders at Frog, Ideo, Artefact, Teague, and more.

[Photo: Maskot/Getty Images]

Organ designers, chief drone experience designers, cybernetic director. Those are some of the fanciful new roles that could be created by the global design industry in the next few years.

But what about current design roles? How will they favor over the next 15 years? Will every company by 2030 have a chief design officer, or will they all go extinct? Should a generation of creatives who grew up worshipping Apple’s Jonathan Iveput all their eggs in the industrial design basket?

We talked to a dozen design leaders and thinkers from companies such as Frog, Artefact, and Ideo to find out which design jobs could die out in the next 15 years, and which could grow. There’s no empirical evidence behind these picks, so they shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Still, they represent the informed opinions of people who get paid to think about the future.

DESIGN JOBS THAT WILL DIE

UX Designers
User experience designers are among the most in-demand designers working today. So how could their jobs disappear? According to Teague designers Clint Rule, Eric Lawrence, Matt McElvogue, „UX design“ has become too broad and muddled. „The design community has played fast and loose with the title ‚UX designer,'“ they write in an email. „From job posting to job posting and year to year, it jumps between disparate responsibilities, tools, and disciplines. Presently it seems to have settled on the title representing democratized design skills that produce friendly GUIs.“ In the future, they predict that UX design will divide into more specialized fields. „The expanding domain of user experience and its myriad disciplines will push the title ‚UX designer‘ to a breaking point, unbundling its responsibilities to the appropriate specialists,“ they say.

Visual Designers
Visual designers are the ones responsible for the way an app looks. UX designers, meanwhile, are the ones who concentrate on how it feels. A lot of times, designers do both, but going forward, jobs that require just visual design skills are going to die out. That’s according to Charles Fulford, Executive Creative Director of Elephant, the San Francisco-based, Apple-centric stealth arm of the digital agency Huge. „Gone are the days of UX dumping a ton of wireframes on visual designers,“ he says, as well as „the days of visual designers being clueless about usability.“ What are needed instead are designers who can not only come up with the look of an idea, but make it real, with actual programming and prototyping skills.

Rob Girling, cofounder of the design consultancy Artefact, agrees. „In the next 10 years, all visual design jobs will start to be augmented by algorithmic visual approaches,“ he says. After all, design companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to create previously impossible algorithmic designs, as well as crunch UX data on millions of users. „An AI-powered tool can automatically provide a designer with 100 variations of a layout, based on some high-level template, or style definition . . . We see early versions of these algorithmic procedurally generated tools already in use by game designers.“ For example, the 17 billion planet universe in the recent blockbuster video game No Man’s Sky was largely generated algorithmically.

The short version? If you’re a visual designer, it’s time to diversify.

Design Researchers
„When ethnographic research was new in design, there were designers who specialized in research,“ explains Harry West, CEO of Frog. „The role of design researcher is now evolving to become a fundamental skill and practice for all types of designers. Today, for any design challenge, it is assumed that you first learn what the customer wants; every designer must know how to set up customer research and learn from the source.“ Consequently, no one needs a dedicated design researcher anymore. „The role is so fundamental that every designer should know how to do it,“ says West.

John Rousseau, executive director at Artefact, puts a finer point on it: New technologies like machine learning and virtual reality are killing design research. „Design research as we know it may cease to exist—at least in terms of the types of ethnographic field work we do today,“ he says. „Research—-and researchers—-will likely be marginalized by new forms of automated data and insight generation, compiled via remote sensing and delivered through technologies like virtual reality.“

Traditional Industrial Designers
Most designers we asked predictably thought their own fields had rosy prospects. Not Markus Wierzoch, industrial design director at Artefact. He says that classically trained industrial designers who remain too attached to the „industrial“ parts of their profession—in other words, overly focused on the sculptural look of a product—will become, in his words, „designosaurs.“

„More than ever before, industrial design cannot exist in a vacuum,“ he writes. The issuer is that form no longer follows function and function only—software is also involved. That means industrial designers in the future will need to evolve to think about the total end-to-end user experience, a role Wierzoch calls the „post-industrial designer.“ (More on that below.)

Doreen Lorenzo, director of integrated design at UT Austin, also sees the role of the classically trained industrial designer dying off soon. „In the future, all designers will be hybrids,“ she says.

Chief Design Officers
„This is a trend as of late: to have an executive-level design figurehead,“ says Sheryl Cababa, associate design director, Artefact. But that role might—and should—die, because it’s redundant. „Good design is, fundamentally, interdisciplinary, which means that in a company that is design-oriented, all executives will be design practitioners, and the chief design officer position will vanish as quickly as it came.“

CEO Tim Brown echoes the idea that design will be embedded at the executive level, although he doesn’t necessarily think CDOs themselves are going to die out. „Business is moving from a long period where analytical skills were of extreme value in the search for efficiency, to one where creative and design skills will be essential to deal with complexity, volatility, and the requirements for constant innovation… CEOs will need to be designers in order to be successful.“

DESIGN JOBS THAT WILL GROW

Virtual Interaction Designers
Virtual and augmented reality is set to become a $150 billion industry by 2020, disrupting everything from health care to architecture. UT Austin’s Doreen Lorenzo thinks that more user interface designers will start strapping themselves into Oculus Rifts and becoming VI designers. „As more and more products become completely virtual—from chatbots to 3D projections to immersive environments—we’ll look to a new generation of virtual interaction designers to create experiences driven by conversation, gesture, and light,“ she writes.

Specialist Material Designers
Yvonne Lin of 4B Collective believes that in the near future, there will be a growing need for designers who can work in and across different types of materials. For example, she sees bamboo architects as being an up-and-coming design field, as the Western world embraces „the possibilities of a weight-bearing material that can grow three feet in 24 hours and can be bent, laminated, joined, and stripped,“ as Asia has.

She also says that designers who can sew will soon be in hot demand to create structural soft goods. What’s a structural soft good? Think of the kind of things MIT’s Neri Oxman designs, or wearables that are as much tech as textile: a blend of circuit boards and fabrics, like Google’s Project Jacquard.

„Today, there is a skill and knowledge gap between the soft- and hard-good world. Very few people know how to work in both,“ she says. „The intelligent mixing of fabrics (for comfort) and plastics and metals (for structure and function) would have significant benefits for health care and sports products. As people live longer and as sports participation increases the demand for these more comfortable and higher performance products will increase.“ Maybe even tomorrow’s Air McFlys.

Algorithmic/AI Design Specialists
Fifteen years down the road, few of the designers we spoke to were afraid that a robot or algorithm would take their jobs. Though „applied creativity is fundamentally hard to codify,“ as Artefact’s Rob Girling says, artificial intelligence will create new design opportunities—so much so that Girling and other designers we spoke to think that AI and algorithms represent growing field.

„Human-centered design has expanded from the design of objects (industrial design) to the design of experiences (adding interaction design, visual design, and the design of spaces) and the next step will be the design of system behavior: the design of the algorithms that determine the behavior of automated or intelligent systems,“ argues Harry West at Frog.

For example, designing the algorithm that determines how an autonomous vehicle makes the right human-centered decisions in an unavoidable collision. „The challenge for the designers is to tie the coding of algorithms with the experiences they enable.“

Post-Industrial Designers
„As every object becomes connected—from your couch to your fitness bracelet, the hospital room to your wallet—we need to think about connected experiences,“ says Artefact’s Markus Wierzoch. „[These] offer much broader value propositions, which means we need to change the [design] processes used to define these objects beyond their immediate form and function.“

Enter the postindustrial designer. Postindustrial designers will need to think of the total end-to-end user experience to build „tangible experiences that connect the physical and digital worlds,“ Wierzoch says.

For example, the designer of the future, charged with designing an electrical toothbrush, will need to make sure their toothbrush can connect to an app, give users brushing stats, as well as plug into the future smart home. It’s just not enough to design something that cleans your teeth well anymore. „Someone has to be responsible to stitch complex experiences together,“ Argodesign’s Mark Rolston says.

Design Strategists
Design researchers may find fewer opportunities in the next 15 years, but Artefact’s John Rousseau thinks design strategists will be indispensable. „The importance of design strategy will grow,“ he says. „Future design strategists will need the ability to understand and model increasingly complex systems“—for example, social media networks or supply chains—“and will design new products and services in a volatile environment characterized by continuous disruption and a high degree of uncertainty.“ In other words, a future defined by political, social, business, and tech disruption that can happen overnight. In such a future, Rousseau says, design strategists will be like ballerinas, dancing their companies in and out of trouble. „It will be more of a dance, and less of a march.“

Organization Designers
The org chart of the future isn’t going to be the same as the org chart of the past. That’s why Ideo partner Bryan Walker thinks dedicated organization designers will be on hand, helping make companies more „adaptive, creative, and prolific.“ These designers, he says, „will help reimagine all aspects of an organization from its underlying structures, incentives, processes, and talent practices to its physical workplaces, digital collaboration tools and communications. “

Freelance Designers
Get used to working in your pajamas. According to Teague’s Clint Rule, Eric Lawrence, and Matt McElvogue, the future of design is freelance. „Creative AI and global creative marketplaces will give individual designers on-demand access to skill sets previously only capable within large teams,“ they write. „The result is a surge in the specialization, efficacy, and independence of the designer.“ In their vision, freelancers won’t just toil away in solitude, they’ll form a „network of targeted micro-consultancies“ that compete with more traditional firms.

https://www.fastcodesign.com/3063318/5-design-jobs-that-wont-exist-in-the-future

Audi is reportedly building an electric luxury sedan to take on Tesla by 2020

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Audi Prologue AvantAudi

Audi is getting serious about electric cars.

The automaker’s chief executive has given the OK for an all-electric, luxury sedan to take on Tesla’s Model S, according to a report from Autocar.

The car, which may be called the A9 e-tron, will have three electric motors, a range of more than 300 miles per charge, and will also feature level four autonomous driving, according to the report.

Stadler told Autocar that Audi will have three EVs in its line-up by 2020 and by 2025 it plans to have 25% of the cars it sells will have batteries.

In January, Audi committed to building an all-electric SUV  based off of its e-tron quattro concept, which was revealed last September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The company plans to begin production on the SUV by 2018.

Stadler said that the production version of the e-tron quattro will go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 4.2 seconds and will have a top speed of 131 miles per hour.

One of the e-tron quattro’s most impressive functions is its inductive charging feature. This allows users to re-charge the vehicle by parking it over a re-charging plate, instead of having to plug it in.

According to the report, the new electric sedan will also have the inductive charging feature, as well as an autonomous parking function that enables the car to drive itself to a parking spot with a charging plate.

Audi E-tron quattroAudi’s e-tron quattro concept.Audi

Audi isn’t the only car maker ramping up its push into the electric car market.

Porsche, which is a sister company of Audi, plans to roll out a production version of its all electric car concept, the Mission E. Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, Volvo and others are also planning to have their electric cars ready by 2020.

Tesla isn’t just getting competition for its higher-end vehicles, though.

The electric car maker’s first mass market car, the Model 3, will also be going up against General Motors Chevy Bolt. And the Bolt, which is expected to go into production before the end of this year, will have a year head start on the Model 3, which isn’t expected to go into production until late 2017.

http://www.businessinsider.de/audi-a9-electric-sedan-will-take-on-tesla-2016-8

LAND YACHT – Mercedes’ next vehicle is a 20-foot luxury electric Maybach that you’ll “want to drive yourself”

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A vision of the future of conspicuous consumption. (Mercedes-Benz)

The future of luxury cars isn’t all about flashy vehicles that drive themselves, at least that’s what Mercedes and Maybach want the super-rich to believe.

The Daimler-owned company unveiled a new electric car concept, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, on Aug. 19. The “6” actually represents how many meters long this car is, just shy of 20 feet—which is a pretty standard size for speedboats, if not sports cars. Mercedes showed off the concept in a bright shade of red, but if it repainted the Vision in black, it probably would not look out of place in a mid-1990s Batman feature.

The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6
It has gull-wing doors like a Tesla, but a very different ethos on the future of luxury vehicles. (Mercedes-Benz)

The Vision 6 has a massive 750-horsepower engine which has a range of about 200 miles on a single charge, and can hit 60 mph in under 4 seconds, according to Bloomberg. It can also charge up to a range of about 60 miles in five minutes—much more efficient than the average quick-charging cellphone—so you’ll never have to worry about range anxiety as you drive from Davos to Monaco, or wherever the one percent need to get to these days.

The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 interior
The interior kind of looks like a futuristic boat, too. (Mercedes-Benz)

While this concept car won’t be available for recent Maybach customers like Jay-Z to buy, it’s supposed to reflect what a high-end Mercedes will look like in the next decade or so, Bloomberg said. (Past Maybach models, which Mercedes relaunched as a brand in 2012, have cost between $100,000 and $1 million.) Mercedes executives likened the concept to a prized family heirloom, suggesting that it’s more than just a piece of technology that you’ll passively enjoy for a few years, and then move on to the next shiny new thing.

The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6
(Mercedes-Benz)

“This is a car you want to drive yourself,” Gorden Wagener, Daimler’s head of design, told Bloomberg. “This is something you pass to your children, like a Leica camera or a chronograph watch. Driving has been a pleasure since 130 years and will stay that way another 130 years.”

The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6
(Mercedes-Benz)

Although Mercedes itself is working on some (equally luxurious) self-driving cars, it seems that the company, sees the long-term future of cars at least in some part controlled by humans. Then again, Ford’s CEO Mark Fields previously told Quartz that he doesn’t see producing a self-driving Mustang anytime soon. Perhaps some slice of humanity will always just want to go really, really fast, in really, really expensive cars.

http://qz.com/762480/mercedes-next-vehicle-is-an-20-foot-luxury-electric-maybach-that-youll-want-to-drive-yourself

The new paradigm for human-bot communication

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Editor’s note: Xuchen Yao is co-founder and CEO, and Guoguo Chen and Kenji Sagae are co-founders, of KITT.AI. Daniel Li is an associate at Madrona Venture Group.

Chatbots offer the promise of frictionless access to goods, services and information, but creating effective bots can be deceptively tricky.

The flip side of the opportunity to interact with users in a seamless, natural way is that user expectations can be prohibitively high. Bots need to be smart and provide greater convenience than apps — a very effective UI paradigm tailored for today’s mobile devices that has been carefully refined for more than a decade.

The good news is that the belief that bots must master human language or replace apps to succeed is false. Bots will engage with consumers in new ways that combine the strengths of humans and machines to allow both structured and unstructured information to be exchanged naturally and efficiently.

Communication velocity

One simple but intuitive way to measure the effectiveness of communication is to look at the amount of information exchanged per unit of time. Under this framework, text (e.g. SMS, chat, email) and speech (e.g. phone call) interactions differ in the amount of information that can be produced versus consumed.

image001

While we typically produce 120 to 140 words per minute when speaking, we can typically only write or type 40 to 70 words per minute. When we look at the speed of information consumption, reading speed in English is upwards of 200 words per minute, but listening speed is limited to the 120 to 140 words per minute of speech production.

SMS and chat apps have adapted to increase text production speed through autocorrect features and novel keyboards, but text production for humans will always be slower than consumption.

Imagine, however, a friend that can type, draw, look up information and find GIFs at superhuman speed, and produce buttons, menus and pictures to make your input faster. Better yet, your enhanced input is much easier for your friend to understand and does not take away the flexibility and familiarity of natural language when needed.

We may not be quite there yet, but we are very close, especially with well-constructed bots on certain platforms. Here is a look at the features of different bot platforms that are shaping human-bot communication toward a more efficient, robust and natural UI paradigm.

Quick-reply buttons

Quick-reply buttons are a simple and convenient way to save user time and prevent unexpected input. They are unique to human-bot communication as buttons are trivial for bots to create and easy for humans to use; benefits include enhanced communication speed and bot comprehension.

Facebook, Telegram and Kik bots all have quick-reply buttons, but under slightly different names, and some bots, such as the Sephora bot on Kik, use the quick-reply button as the primary mode of communication. Slack still lacks quick-reply buttons, but has message buttons with associated actions.

Telegram Custom Keyboard:

image002

Facebook Messenger Quick Replies:

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Kik Suggested Response Keyboard:

image004

Callback buttons

Callback buttons are similar to quick-reply buttons but allow for a broader range of potential interactions. When a callback button is clicked, it generates an HTTP call to a registered webhook that triggers a predefined action. Callback buttons are a great way to provide feedback, and they also provide a deeper analytics opportunity for the bot backend.

Slack Message Buttons:

image005

Messenger Postback Button:

image006

Telegram Callback Buttons:

image007

Structured information sharing

Sharing information that can be easily parsed programmatically takes the exchange of structured information from clunky in a language-only paradigm to easy and unambiguous in a hybrid paradigm.

For instance, sharing a location like “3rd & Madison” is ambiguous and slow for humans and machines to parse, while shared GPS coordinates can be quickly displayed with a map service and understood by bots.

Telegram SendContact and SendLocation:

image008

Facebook Messenger Location Sharing:

image009

Bot mentions

Related Articles

Telegram beefs up its bot platform Facebook fights Messenger spam with Asimov’s three rules of bots Never leave Slack with message button bots for using Kayak, Trello, and more Kik users have exchanged over 1.8 billion messages with the platform’s 20,000 chatbots

Inline bots are a great way to quickly obtain, send and share information during chats, without the need to jump out of the current interface (to go to another chat) or the current app (to go to another app).

Instead of multiple taps and menus to perform a specific function, an @ mention at a bot allows for a one-line interaction. Allowing bots to share conversational context with one another also greatly increases the speed of interaction because users no longer need to re-input data for each communication.

Telegram Inline Bot:

image010

Slack Bot Mention:

image011

The following table summarizes the added language-touch functionality provided by four popular chat and bot platforms. These features represent the beginning of a hybrid communication paradigm that will enable more efficient and effective communication with bots:

  • Quick-reply buttons: save user time and improve machine comprehension
  • Callback buttons: provide calls to action and back-end analytics
  • Structured info sharing: easily shares machine-readable information
  • Bot mention: make bots always present and easily accessible

image012

If your bot does not use a language-touch hybrid communication pattern, there are several other ways you can still take some of the UI mechanics from buttons and callbacks to build a better bot:

  • Build your system starting with humans in the loop to identify the most common communication patterns and exceptions to that pattern
  • Optimize dialogue for two-channel — fast and slow — communication with clear, well-defined responses (e.g., “Reply YES to buy”) or open-ended messages (“Can you tell me when the new Taylor Swift record comes out?”)
  • Use callback functions, even without native integration. For more complicated tasks, take users out of chat and move them to a point-and-click or touch interface that is better suited to the task at hand
  • Consider moving to a platform that is better optimized for new human-machine interaction

AI and NLP have a long way to go before bots achieve human-level communication. However, before that happens, new methods of human-machine communication will leverage the strengths of humans and machines to create new interaction paradigms that are as natural as our own language.

The new paradigm for human-bot communication

Opera just released an Android app that gives you unlimited free VPN

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Android VPN Client AppImage Source: Opera

Opera made waves back in April when it announced the addition of unlimited free VPN service to its desktop web browser. VPN, or virtual private networking, is a technology that allows people to mask their actual IP addresses by routing their internet traffic through a third-party server. This way, any software that might collect information about users as they visit a website will not be able to record a user’s actual IP. People also often use VPN services to spoof their region, with the most widely discussed example being people who use a VPN client to make it appear to Netflix as though they’re based in the United States.

VPN services are incredibly valuable to people who protect their privacy while surfing the web, but these services can also have costly subscription plans that limit the amount of data you can use each month. That’s why Opera’s initial announcement was so intriguing, but the company has no intention of stopping with desktop browsing.

Opera on Tuesday announced the release of a brand new Android app. DubbedOpera VPN for Android, the app does exactly what its name suggests, providing Android users with VPN service that will route their traffic through special servers to mask users’ info and prevent websites from tracking them. Of course, Android VPN clients are a dime a dozen. What makes Opera different from most, as we’re sure you’ve figured out by now, is that it offers users unlimited VPN service for free.

opera-vpn-for-android-2

“The Opera VPN app for Android sets itself apart from other VPNs by offering a completely free service – without a data limit, no log-in required, advanced Wi-Fi protection features and no need for a subscription,” said Chris Houston, who heads Opera’s VPN division.

Opera’s new VPN app for Android really couldn’t be easier to use. It’s as simple as opening the app and tapping connect, and for most users concerned only with privacy, that will be enough. People who want to mask their regions as well can choose from five different regions including the US, Canada, Germany, Netherlands and Singapore.

The app also includes a few additional features, such as the ability to scan Wi-Fi networks for security and display the number of ad trackers blocked over a certain period of time.

Opera VPN for Android is available as a free download on the Google Play store beginning immediately.

Opera just released an Android app that gives you unlimited free VPN

The 9 best cities to live in the world

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The Economist Intelligence Unit just released a report that ranks the best and worst cities to live in the world.

In its „A Summary of the Liveability Ranking and Overview“ of 140 cities surveyed, it looks at which cities have the best living and worst living conditions. This includes healthcare, education, infrastructure, safety, and the threat of terrorism.

Interestingly, the rankings also take into account the generosity of expatriate relocation packages — funding a company gives to an individual when they decide to take up a role abroad.

The 140 surveyed were given a mark out of 100 across various sectors and then given an overall score out of 100.

9. Helsinki, Finland — It is only one of two European cities to make the top nine list. It scored full marks for stability and healthcare and highly across culture and environment, infrastructure and education.

9. Helsinki, Finland — It is only one of two European cities to make the top nine list. It scored full marks for stability and healthcare and highly across culture and environment, infrastructure and education.

Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock

8. Auckland, New Zealand — The city scored full marks for education but narrowly missed being seventh in the charts due to a score of 92.9 for infrastructure.

8. Auckland, New Zealand — The city scored full marks for education but narrowly missed being seventh in the charts due to a score of 92.9 for infrastructure.

FLICKR/Loïc Lagarde

7. Perth, Australia — This is one of three Australian cities to feature in the top nine, thanks to perfect 100 scores across healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

7. Perth, Australia — This is one of three Australian cities to feature in the top nine, thanks to perfect 100 scores across healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

Getty

T=5. Adelaide, Australia — This city slinks into the top nine most liveable cities in the world due to its high scores across the board, and because Sydney dropped out of the top rankings. This is due to „owing to a heightened perceived threat of terrorism.“

T=5. Adelaide, Australia — This city slinks into the top nine most liveable cities in the world due to its high scores across the board, and because Sydney dropped out of the top rankings. This is due to "owing to a heightened perceived threat of terrorism."

Getty

T=5. Calgary, Canada — This is one out of three Canadian cities that ranked near the top of EIU’s survey and tied with Adelaide in Australia. It scored 100 for stability, healthcare, and education.

T=5. Calgary, Canada — This is one out of three Canadian cities that ranked near the top of EIU's survey and tied with Adelaide in Australia. It scored 100 for stability, healthcare, and education.

General view of the Pengrowth Saddledome and the Calgary skyline.Getty

4. Toronto, Canada — The most populated city in Canada got an overall score of 97.2 but missed out on ranking higher due to its infrastructure score dragging it down.

4. Toronto, Canada — The most populated city in Canada got an overall score of 97.2 but missed out on ranking higher due to its infrastructure score dragging it down.

Inga Locmele/Shutterstock

3. Vancouver, Canada — The major Canadian city received 100 for culture and environment, healthcare, and education and nearly perfect scores for stability.

3. Vancouver, Canada — The major Canadian city received 100 for culture and environment, healthcare, and education and nearly perfect scores for stability.

mffoto / Shutterstock

2. Vienna, Austria — The city is one of only two European cities to make the top nine list with a score of 97.4.

2. Vienna, Austria — The city is one of only two European cities to make the top nine list with a score of 97.4.

Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock

1. Melbourne, Australia — The country’s coastal city is testament to EIU’s assessment that „those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.“

1. Melbourne, Australia — The country's coastal city is testament to EIU's assessment that "those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure."

Craig Sillitoe / Getty Images

 

http://www.businessinsider.de/eiu-global-liveability-ranking-most-liveable-cities-in-the-world-2016-8?op=1

8 Powerful Lessons You Can Learn From the Career of Elon Musk

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Elon Musk, in the words of one blogger who did a series of in-depth interviews with the Tesla and SpaceX founder, is, basically, „the raddest man alive.“ Who could fail to be impressed by a single entrepreneur who has set his sights on both getting humans to Mars and revolutionizing our energy economy?

Because Musk is so obviously extraordinary, it could be easy to feel like his career is a world apart — the efforts of a visionary that mere mortals like us could never emulate. But while it’s probably true that, for most of us, the ship has sailed on leading the way to interplanetary travel, that doesn’t mean folks with more down-to-earth careers have nothing to learn from the mogul.

When a user of question-and-answer site Quora asked the simple question, „What can we learn from Elon Musk?“ a host of devoted Musk watchers offered thoughtful answers. Among the best was a reply from blogger (and recent New York Times profile-ee) James Altucher, who took the time to listen „to every interview [Musk] ever did and compiled what I think are the most inspirational quotes.“

Here are a few of the 22 essential takeaways he extracted from all that research:

1. Focus on the impact of your dreams, not the odds.

Maybe, like Altucher, your initial reaction to this principle is to worry that your particular dreams might just be impossible. But, as Altucher reminds readers, this advice is coming from a man who wants to colonize Mars. Are you dreams really more of a long shot than that?

2. No one does amazing things for the money.

„I’ve interviewed over 100 people now on my podcast. Each of the 100 have achieved amazing results in their life,“ notes Altucher. „But none of them have done if for the money.“ Neither did Musk, who Altucher quotes as saying: „Going from PayPal, I thought: ‚Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?‘ Not from the perspective, ‚What’s the best way to make money?'“

The takeaway: if you want to do great things, focus on the difference you’ll make in the world (or to yourself), not the financial rewards (or the glory).

3. Reason from first principles.

A lot has been written about Musk’s mindset, but Altucher sums up his unusual and incredibly effective approach with this quote: „Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.“ In short, to improve your thinking, set received wisdom aside and try to look at the world with fresh eyes, using objective data and clear-headed observation.

4. Persistence pays.

Not all of the lessons of Musk’s career are off the wall and unexpected. Sometimes, he proves that conventional wisdom is right. Like with this quote: „Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.“

5. In hiring, talent beats numbers.

Some entrepreneurs tackle difficult problems by trying to throw a whole lot of warm bodies at them. Not Musk.

„It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don’t know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive,“ Altucher quotes him as saying.

So next time you need to hire your way out of jam, spare a thought for this bit of wisdom and take the time to find the right talent rather than just hoping that brute numbers will save you.

6. Talent can’t compensate for a lousy personality.

According to Altucher, Musk is a late but fervent convert to the idea that great ability can’t compensate for a lousy personality.

Here’s the quote: „My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.“ So, once more with feeling: don’t hire jerks!

7. Constantly question yourself.

You’d think that someone with Musk’s achievements might be satisfied with his efforts, but that’s not the case. Musk claims he constantly strives to improve himself.

„It’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself,“ he said. If Musk isn’t resting on his laurels, neither should you.

8. Finding the right questions is most of the battle.

Apparently, Musk’s favorite book as a teenager was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Here’s the biggest lesson he took away from it: „It taught me that the tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but that once you do that, the rest is really easy.“

 

http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/8-powerful-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-career-of-elon-musk.html