Last week I heard a news story about the Department of Education moving to require colleges and universities to provide graduates are better off with a degree than a high school diploma or risk losing their funding.
I thought back to the survey years ago where corporate CEOs said that the top skill new hires needed to move their companies forward is creativity.
To me the increased push toward only granting degrees for a unitarian result measured in wages represented a disconnect between the federal government and the stated needs of corporations.
Though granted, that survey was about a decade ago and now many companies are laying people off in favor of AI. It should be no surprise to anyone that short term profit tops long term corporate goals.
Seth Godin addressed this to a degree in a post he made in early March where he said society is increasingly focused on the question, “Will This Be On The Test?” vs. “What If..”.
He says exercising creativity and imagination is actually harder work than people credit.
Imagination is a skill and it takes effort.
It’s not useful to say, “I’m not imaginative.”
It’s more accurate to realize that we might not care enough to get good at it, or to put in the effort it takes.
As tasks continue to be automated, the hard work of imagination is worth investing effort in.
