The Macro, The Micro and Me

2024 is shaping up to be a consequential year for elections. In Asia, the populous country of India goes to the polls in the first half of the year. Indonesia and Taiwan will also have consequential elections that will set the tone for the mood of the electorate as we forge into the mid-twenties. The European Parliament holds their elections in the middle of the year, and then we end the year with possibly the most consequential of all elections, the US Presidential election, which could be the most fascinating in recent memory.

For Public Affairs practitioners worldwide, these elections will ensure a very busy year of analysis and narrative building for clients in various markets. It will shed answers to questions of whether we continue this lurch towards the right in Europe, the feelings of the American electorate, and the continued strength of dynastic politics in Asia. Whatever the outcome we are coming to maintains that politics is, has been, and will be, uncertain in the foreseeable future.

If politics is uncertain, a greater uncertainty we witnessed in 2023 – which is a harbinger of things to come – unfolded in the great tech layoff of 2023. By some numbers, the layoffs by tech firms this year exceeded last year's by almost 50%.

But welcome to the new talent economy, I say, as wherever there is disruption, there is often new creation. I am as ever in bewildered awe when I conduct interviews for Public Affairs positions and the key asks and emphasis is on three concerning areas: title, compensation, and the number of people to be managed (for senior hires). I am rarely asked what I consider to be the most important questions a candidate should be asking, which are, what is the value in working for you, what skills will I learn and sharpen, and what is the outlook for my career if I work for your company.?

I can also attest to the rise of the so-called “Talent Economy”, diametrically different from the gig economy we are all so familiar with. In the talent economy, the talent is a differentiator who undertakes niche work in a space where the skill gap is unforgiving. It provides high growth and earning potential and puts the control of time and freedom back in the hands of the individual. I see public affairs and consulting moving into that model in the future. The impediment is usually in the ingrained nature of the 9 to 5 path that is a result of scholastic preconditioning and cultural norms.

Leaving the Macro of Politics and the Micro of the talent economy, what about me? ?I think we all have guiding philosophies in life that we need to help us rationalize and make sense of the world we live in. For me, what has worked is the belief that within the negatives, there are always positives only if we want to look hard enough. Whether what floats your boat is roaming in Bhutan, feeding your newborn baby, or building up your career, I think it is important to not have to justify your life choices to anyone but yourself. As for me, it is to further expand my exploration of Japanese cuisine and look forward to GTA 6, and work of course ??.

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