Google is famous for having spent years hiring people focusing on GPAs, brand name schools and interview brain teasers. In a recent article at The New York Times, Google’s head of people operations, Laszlo Bock, detailed what the company looks for now. And increasingly, it is not about credentials.
Succeeding in academia or having studied at a prestigious university isn’t always a sign of being able to do a job. However, intellectual humility, i.e., the ability to step back and embrace other people’s ideas it is a sign of open-mindedness that allows people to learn.
The great fallacy of the Information and Knowledge Society is that what matters is knowledge. It’s not true. The key assets are skills. Skills are what transform knowledge into something of value. To excel in tomorrow’s job market, those who think better and have the skills to use their knowledge to the best possible use, in different contexts and with different goals, enjoy a competitive advantage over those who don’t.
Coding, creating a business plan, prototyping… all of them can be taught. How to be optimistic, to have a “glass half-full mentality”, to stay motivated, feel passionate, be very patient and very persistent to face the challenges of entrepreneurship not. The latter is the kind of people we seek for Design Health Barcelona, people who want to create and drive their own future. Because, as Herb Kelleher, the successful entrepreneur co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines once said:
