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How Businesses Can Keep Up With Global Progress

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Disillusionment is one word that could be used to describe the mindset of Americans regarding the workforce. It was made apparent in the results of the recent election and has been noted by the new administration as it attempts to restore jobs lost due to a changing global economy.

In recent years, the promise of global progress has become a hot button issue. Globalization and technology have fueled economic growth, yet the toll on the workforce has become apparent. It’s a given that these two factors of Structural Unemployment cannot be reversed, so the challenge is creating opportunities from the third factor, education. How can companies help workers acquire the skills needed to adapt to the new landscape?

WorkingNation advisory board member Martin Reeves and Johann Harnoss, from Boston Consulting Group’s New York office and the BCG Henderson Institute, explain in their article for the Harvard Business Review, An Agenda for the Future of Global Business, that business leaders, along with the companies they lead, need to take an active stance to shape the conditions for future success, rather than merely reacting to twists in the plot.

In order to do this, they need a new leadership agenda. To help with this, Reeves and Harnoss detail seven areas of opportunity that will help companies “shape the future, both for the direction of our societies and for the sharing of benefits and opportunity within them.”

You can read more about their agenda proposal here.

Martin Reeves is a senior partner and managing director in the Boston Consulting Group’s New York office and the director of the BCG Henderson Institute. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected] and follow him at @MartinKReeves.

Johann Harnoss is a project leader in Boston Consulting Group’s New York office and an ambassador to the BCG Henderson Institute. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected] or follow him at @Johann_Harnoss.