Continuing from the earlier post, the second challenge identified by Richard Sennett is the challenge of developing new skills and uncovering potential abilities as skills decay increasingly rapidly over time.

A skill can no longer be viewed as a skill for life, an enduring presence that will ensure one's continuing security in the corporate world.  Longer serving employees were once respected for the hard-won experience they had acquired.  They built up valuable knowledge, competencies and skills over time.  These skills were durable and had value.  Now, due to the pace of change, there is less advantage in holding such skills.

"Skills extinction" has become one of the characteristics of modern corporate life.  Adaptability has taken its place.  Technological advances mean workers need to retrain every eight years on the average.  The notion of a single set of skills that will last an individual their entire working life is as redundant as the pitheads that once dotted the industrial landscape.

Adapted from Shape The Agenda, "Learning 2.0"