With half of its population under 25 and the unemployment rate at four-decade high, India faces an uncertain future. The question on young people’s minds: what kinds of jobs will we have? Quartz asked leaders across India’s biggest industries about that one job in their company or field that will be the most crucial in the coming decades.
Despite India’s consumption slump hitting retailers hard, there have been no massive job cuts. Given its huge size, the sector has managed to absorb the macroeconomic upheavals well. It is hopeful of a recovery in the second half of 2020 on the back of renewed demand in manufacturing and automobile sectors.
Suresh Narayanan, the chairman and managing director of Nestle India, told Quartz:
Apart from the role of the chief executive officer, I can’t think of any other position that will be pivotal to the entire organization. I believe that leaders of tomorrow have to be empathetic and should have the ability to inspire others. They also need to have a good understanding of technology to identify and leverage new-age digital-led business opportunities.
These people also need to have an astute understanding of business systems and design thinking in order to disrupt the frameworks we already use, creating business outcomes that are both robust and sustainable. Such thinkers may seem to be hard-to-find “supermen” or “superwomen,” but the future is too full of excitement and opportunity to be left to one-dimensional or specialist leaders. Today’s young leaders thus need to hone their soft skills, contextual and systems thinking, and attitudes to embrace the unknown.