The Pew Research Center recently released new information about the American job market. One key finding is that both employment and wages have risen the most in fields requiring analytical and social skills: “While employment grew by 50% over all occupations from 1980 to 2015 [. . .] growth was much higher among jobs that require average or above average social skills (83%), such as interpersonal, management and communications skills, and those that require higher levels of analytical skills (77%), such as as critical thinking and computer skills.” Read the whole report, or learn more about empathy, diversity and leadership in our link roundup.
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September 8 is International Literacy Day, a day that has been recognized by UNESCO since 1965 and which is supported by the World Literacy Foundation. With them, we recognize that literacy is a fundamental human right. But it’s also a topic that may be closer to home than many of us may realize.
As we navigate the world, we rarely stop to think about literacy – the ability to read, write and interpret signs – and we take its contribution to our own lives for granted.
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Should companies help their employees learn? A recent article for the Harvard Business Review argues for lifelong learning in the workplace and offers three tips for cultivating it. We have this, as well as essays on meaningful work, book deserts, storytelling and literary quizzes in our most recent Weekend Reading.
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We are delighted to unveil our newest project: a short film introducing Books@Work in multiple voices, especially those of our partners and participants. This video captures the enthusiasm we see every day, helping us to share the Books@Work model, why our company partners choose to work with us and the experience of Books@Work from a participant’s perspective.
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Metaphors matter. They are not simply the stuff of Shakespearean drama or poetry or the SAT. We all use metaphors every day in an endless variety of ways. Metaphors are an essential element of how we think and engage with others at home, in our work and in all of our social interactions. But too often, we are unconscious of the metaphors we choose and the impact they may have on the quality of our life.
As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson observe, one powerful example is the way that many people describe argument as war and embellish that metaphor in extended metaphors.
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In surveys and interviews—nearly 350 to date—our participants’ stories confirm our aspirations: Books@Work provides a safe space to reflect and share, creating the conditions for effective collaboration and more diverse and inclusive organizations and community.
Books@Work is growing—and learning, which is why I am pleased to announce the release of our 2015 Annual Report. In it, we celebrate our learnings and discoveries. During the time this report covers—January 1 to December 31, 2015—we served 586 participants in 40 programs in both company and community settings, partnering with 87 professors from 25 colleges in 8 states. Collectively, our participants read 101 books and many short stories.
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When it comes to teaching, I confess that I’m a sucker for iconic texts: Shakespeare’s Othello, Mary Godwin Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankly, it bothers me that these authors’ fame derives from ubiquitous cultural allusions so divorced from their work. Boris Karloff immediately comes to mind when people hear the name Frankenstein. People blithely characterize someone as a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type” without knowing the original story. And they refer to a talented person as a Shakespeare without having read enough of the Bard to know why he’s a genius. With the mission of connecting cultural allusions to their sources, I have introduced these texts to Books@Work readers, and several anecdotes will tell that tale of how well my approach has worked.
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Professors contribute very important elements to the success of our programs. Their years in the classroom help them foster thriving conversations in our discussion groups. Their time spent facilitating discussion helps them create safe spaces for difference and even productive disagreement. And their subject matter expertise brings an added layer of depth to discussion sessions. Most of all, professors are curious. They are curious about the participants’ life experiences and the way in which these experiences shape their reading of a text. They are excited to share their own interests with others.
Curiosity—the kind professors exhibit and foster—is a key to knowledge retention, making it instrumental to lifelong learning.
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Last week, we wrote about a recent Pew Internet study that confirmed the American hunger for continued learning opportunities: over the last 12 months, 74% of American adults report participation in some form of personal learning and 63% of employed adults report participation in some form of professional learning. Surprisingly, however, this learning is more likely than not to take place in a physical locale (a school, place or worship, library or a work-related venue) than on the Internet. Recent research on adult learning and development – as well as findings from our seminars – shed light on the complex reasons why adults prefer to learn socially.
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