Preparing the Next Generation of Talent to Thrive in The Workplace

Bryan Ramos works at the intersection of strategy, talent development, learning design, and global engagement. His work supports scaling institutional-wide experiential learning efforts and initiatives that push the bounds of NYU Stern's thought leadership and pedagogical approaches.?

Under his team's portfolio, Bryan builds immersive learning experiences designed to develop global mindsets while providing project-based opportunities for learners to deliver creative solutions to real businesses both in New York City and around the world. Today he joins us to discuss the next generation of talent and the intersection of the academic and corporate worlds.

What do you do, and what inspires you to do the work you do each day?

Bryan: I am the Assistant Dean for Global and Experiential Education at the NYU Stern School of Business.? I lead a team that builds immersive learning experiences in order to give students the skills, relationships, and experiences that they need to thrive in a world post-NYU Stern.

What drives me to do what I do is the people. These experiences have a tremendous impact on students and can really shape how they transition into a full-time working environment.?

What’s one current challenge you see in today’s world of work, and why is it important to you that we solve it?

Bryan: Two things.? One is the pace of change. What’s happening in the market, the frequency of change, has never been this quick before. It’s been very hard for companies - let alone universities - to keep up with those changes and make sure that students in the university space move into the world of work as talent for organizations as seamlessly as possible.

Second, it is incredibly important to make sure that what students are learning in the education arena is consistent with the skills that they need in the world of work. That transition and relationship is so critical.?

It’s an ongoing opportunity? that we have to continually address, because from a university standpoint it is our mission. We want our education to be relevant and impactful. We want alumni to be successful.

In order to get there, it’s not just about the what - it’s also about the how. We want students to have the content, but they also need to develop the capacity.? We want them to feel comfortable running marathons and sprints. They need to be comfortable in an environment that is ever changing.?

Experiential education can provide that gym-like environment, so when they get to the world of work, they are familiar with it.

What role do you see higher education play in preparing students for a changing world of work?

Bryan: The role of education is this transfer of knowledge. The world of work has always been viewed as more practical. Higher education can set context and deliver this big picture thinking, this systems-level thinking, that talent in the workforce doesn’t always have the time or ability to access. Higher education is able to curate with scale and scope while providing that knowledge in a time frame that maximizes people’s investments.??

Additionally, there is the value of the faculty, their research, and its application to the world of work. Higher education gives invaluable access to very talented people. So our goal is to connect the meta to the practical, in order to develop talent that can see the big picture while also having the skillsets needed to deliver and be successful in a business environment.

How can leaders who believe in the potential of the next generation of workers & leaders tap into their talent and abilities?

Bryan: It starts with empathy-led leadership. This generation of talent, it’s important to them that they do good work, and that their work is having an impact on more than just their immediate surroundings.

The more that leaders can make talent feel seen and connect what they are doing day-to-day to broader impacts, the more they can unlock the true potential of this next generation.

How do you think universities and higher education institutions can work towards ensuring their students have the career readiness & career skills they need to thrive in the workplace?

There has always been a bifurcation of the theoretical nature of academia and the practical education of work. What ensures success for both sides is integration. The more that universities can be in constant dialogue with corporations, and vice versa, the better the output from the university side and input from the corporation side can be aligned.

At the university, it involves making sure that what is being shared has a direct connection to a real example or real world experience. It’s about providing active learning experiences you can’t replicate in a case study or a textbook. It’s never easy to lead a crisis management initiative.? It’s never easy to lead without authority.? It’s never easy to push back against a client.??

But how can we in higher education provide opportunities to learn those skills? Designing a relevant, three-dimensional curriculum is key to ensuring that students are career-ready.??

What does your “ideal” version of the future of work look like, and what do we need to do to get there?

Bryan: My background is in developmental psychology, so I think a lot about meeting people where they are, and helping them progress throughout their development journey. What I would like to see is that we have an ecosystem, at each stage of a person’s development, that provides those mechanisms to nurture relationships, experiences, and skillsets.

At the university level, we want to be giving them a rich, real world education that prepares them to start their career.

Then, as incoming analysts and associates are moving from entry-level talent to management, we’re giving them a transformational learning experience that makes them great managers and leaders that people want to work for.

Ultimately, at the C-Suite, once again, we want to provide them with the relationships, skillsets, and resources they need to continue to be relevant, to look at both the short and long term, and to lead with empathy.

What is the ecosystem of resources, training, advisory that a CEO has access to in order to get what they need? We want to make sure that they're being nurtured just as much as someone who just came out of undergrad.

You get to work with lots of great students. What are some things you wish more employers knew about students?

Bryan: This next level of talent is ready to roll up their sleeves, create, and build. They are looking to do great work, they actually want to build and create, but they also want to work in and help create an environment that has meaning. It’s about more than just a paycheck. They are not just looking at compensation. They are looking for projects that have meaning. They are looking for organizations that are thinking about sustainable business. They want to work for organizations that think about benefits not just in the physical sense, but also from a mental health perspective.

They are fast. They have matured in a world that has been moving more quickly? than past generations. They are looking for a world of work that is much more than one-dimensional, and they are ready for it.