To remain competitive in today's ever-shifting global economy, it has become increasingly important to adapt and avoid becoming stagnant in one's career. Dean Jason Wingard understands that well.
Before becoming the dean of the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University in 2015, Wingard was chief learning officer at Goldman Sachs. Prior to that, he served as vice dean at the Wharton School and executive director at Stanford’s Educational Institute, was a partner at a management consulting company, and also founded his own consulting firm.
"My career certainly has been nontraditional in many respects," said Wingard, who believes it is not necessary to follow a specific career path in order to make an impact.
His third book, Learning for Life: How Continuous Education Will Keep Us Competitive in the Global Knowledge Economy, centers around the idea that both companies and employees must be ready to adapt to corporate change. In the book, he provides an example of a project by the National Football League, which he helped design, which was aimed at helping players, who would otherwise be left without a career within three to five years, become entrepreneurs and establish sustainable business careers.
“If you have been too narrowly defined in what your career is, if the world changes dramatically, then you may not be prepared for what is in store,” he said.
This is why continuing education and professional studies have become so important. “[The School of Professional Studies] can train you to pivot from your original career into a new, changing marketplace that expects skills to constantly adapt to, and align with, the demands of a dynamic business environment,” he said.
Read more at Columbia News.
Watch Dean Wingard discuss his book, Learning to Succeed: Rethinking Corporate Education in a World of Unrelenting Change.
