“Creativity is a skill that can be honed by everybody
and should be.”
– Alexandra Levit
On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Alexandra Levit, managing partner at PeopleResults and workplace consultant, author and speaker.
A former nationally syndicated columnist for the Wall Street Journal and writer for the New York Times, Fast Company, and Forbes, Alexandra has authored several books, including the international bestseller They Don’t Teach Corporate in College and her newest book HUMANITY WORKS: Merging Technologies And People For The Workforce Of The Future, in which she provides a vision of a future where people are free to work wherever and for whomever they choose, machines perform multiple tasks, and virtual teams come together and disband at lightning speed.
She consults and writes on leadership development, human resources, entrepreneurship, career and workplace trends on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 companies including American Express, Canon, Deloitte, DeVry University, Intuit, SilkRoad, and Staples, and has spoken on these topics at hundreds of organizations around the world including Abbott, Aetna, Bank of America, Cardinal Health, Campbell Soup, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Human Capital Institute, McDonalds, Microsoft, PepsiCo, the Society of Human Resource Management, and Whirlpool.
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Podcast Topics Include:
- Managing and motivating the rising generations; Gen Y as the new leaders, Gen Z as the new Gen X
- Unconscious bias – things women can do to be part of the solution; negotiation and assertive communications
- Being called the B word; the difference between assertive and aggressive communication
- Transformational leadership: showing people you care
- The 3 Cs of Future Work: Collaboration, Customization & Creativity
- What roles machines and technology should play
- Being able to work cross-functionally and the ability of leaders to structure employee career paths
- Using creativity to have empathy, judgement and proble- solving skills in ways that machines cannot
- Practicing and promoting intrapreneurship
- Seeing the “writing on the wall” with automation threats to stay competitive and marketable, especially for tech employees lacking creativity
- The importance of human skills in all industries
- The importance of sales training for everyone (not just sales people)
- Having the mindset of being able to reinvent yourself
- Her biggest worry – people who won’t be able to adapt having to sell themselves all the time; by 2030 half of all workers will be part of the gig economy (contract workers)
- Using gamification and virtual reality simulations for our future avatars to connect interpersonally
- Strategies for businesses BEFORE things become dire
More About Gina Trimarco
More About Pivot10 Results
More About Alexandra Levit
In the last several years, Alexandra has conducted proprietary research on the future of work, the millennial generation, gender differences and bias, and the skills gap. She also served as a member of Business Roundtable’s Springboard Project, which advised the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Defense on current employment issues.
Alexandra is also a frequent national media spokesperson and was named an American Management Association Top Leader two years in a row and has also been Money Magazine’s Online Career Expert of the Year and the author of one of Forbes’ best websites for women.
From explaining demographic shifts in the workforce, to tracing the rise of the gig economy and virtual teams, to exploring how workers will interact with technology, her new book is a call to action for maximizing human potential. Backed by academic research and Levit’s own experience working with Fortune 500 companies, HUMANITY WORKS chronicles the evolving role of the human amid smart machines, identifying skills and traits that won’t be replaced by robots, and suggesting ways for leaders to encourage employees to develop and hone their abilities. While machines can automate many tasks, humans will still be valued for their abstract reasoning and creative problem-solving abilities.
Each chapter includes case studies that illustrate how key concepts are implemented in a real-world business environment, and an action plan to put the concepts to work. HUMANITY WORKS provides current and aspiring C-level executives with much-needed insight into how to future-proof their organizations.
A member of the Northwestern University Council of 100 and the Young Entrepreneur Council, Alexandra received the prestigious Emerging Leader Award from her alma mater. The award honors a Northwestern graduate under 35 who had made a significant impact in her field and in society. She resides in Chicago, IL.
The Pivotal Leader is a production of Pivot10 Results, a strategy and training company that helps businesses shift from people problems to performance results.
