A new generation of hope

Last week I had the honour to give the 'commencement' speech for the graduates of my old Faculty of Business Engineering at the VUB.

In my role as a CEO of Accent Jobs, I often get asked what the competences of the future are. I summarized these for them in 6 C’s for a successful future ahead:

1.????? Curiosity: you can look at the world as if nothing is a wonder, or everything is a wonder. It is your choice. But believe me those who look at life with ‘wonder’ as Caroline Pauwels so beautifully taught us, and when you look at the WHY, you will start to understand so much more. It’s not only about big data, but about big insights, if you understand the WHY, you have the keys to unlock the unlimited potential.

?2.????? Creativity - Creativity is intelligence having fun. It is about solving most complex problems with real out of the box solutions. And this is what we will need more than ever to solve the challenges of the world today.

?3.????? Compassion. The world is polarizing and getting divided in US vs THEM in all kind of ways, black vs white, muslim vs catholic, rich vs poor, VUB vs Leuven, masters vs bachelors,... And unfortunately our social media further leads us into tunnel visions and into oneliners of divide (Twitter/X) rather than trying to connect and to understand a different perspective. But those who can look through the eyes of others without judgment and lead with COMPASSION will truly connect and win the hearts of ALL people. Those leaders show what real inclusion is. Companies talk about headcounts, but really, we should talk about Heartcounts.

?4.????? Collaboration. Our challenges are so big in society that not one company, nor one country can solve it by itself. Collaboration is the new competition. We are moving from ego systems (those hierarchical pyramids) to ecosystems. I can only win, if we all win. We need to bundle our forces as never before.

?5.????? Critical Thinking. We need to be able to question everything. Henri Poincare already told us, that our thinking should never be limited by dogma's. Trusting science is daring to question it, with an open mind. That’s how real progress gets made. Scientia Vincere Tenebras. With the revolution of AI this will become even more important than ever, because technically any fake video can now already be made of any of us, just based on all materials already currently available online. So be critical and always question the story that you get to see. Is it real?

?6.????? And last but not least Courage. We need leaders with courage - which comes from the word 'Coeur' - who dare to follow their heart, who dare to go off the beaten path, who dare to say NO, who dare to question and who are open-minded to find radically new ways to build a splendid future ahead.

Spread your wings and fly!