As Germany’s best-known expert on the Millennials (Generation Y (*1980-1995) and Generation Z (*1995-2010), Dr. Steffi Burkhart is invited to over 120 events each year to transmit critical impulses in 25 to 60 minute keynote addresses or 45 to 90 minute lectures, depending on requirements, be they for management conferences, congress events, anniversary celebrations, gala evenings, trade fair kick-offs, customer events or panel discussions.

ON THE PODIUM

THEMES

Dr. Steffi Burkhart introduces six leading topics, which are strongly influencing the future of our working world, to the management floors of the German-speaking economy as well as political decision makers, in an entertaining, informative and convincing way. Several subjects can be combined in one lecture.

1. Demographic Change: Human Capital as the Resource of the Future

By 2030 there will be a 8-10 million gap in Germany’s labour force, or to put it another way: We’re heading for a time of full employment. Whereas in the past, the availability of capital, technology and resources such as oil and gas determined economic success, in the future, the lack of manpower will be the greatest obstacle to growth. Labour is going to become the missing raw material in the future. A lack of young talent is slowing down our companies in terms of performance, growth and sales. From a global perspective, by 2030 almost all developed economies will be experiencing the same problem – including France, the UK, Spain and Italy, countries which will still benefit from a labour surplus in 2020 and then we will all be sitting in the same boat. Companies will be competing for millennials worldwide. We are going to experience a global war for talents that already requires an urgent rethink within political and business circles. Motivated and talented employees will be the most important capital of an organisation and our country. A central question concerning the future for companies will be: How do 5 generations manage to achieve great things together in the workplace?

Demography | War for Talents | Changing Values | Talent Management | Employer Branding | Caring Company

2. Millennials: A new mindset as an important driver of the future

Although the baby boomer generation is the largest and most powerful in terms of purchasing power, the Millennials are the most influential partners in the digital age. They are the key generations to solve the world and economic problems that lie ahead. Not only because they have to somehow fill a gap of 1 million after the baby boomers retire but also their mindsets and skillsets will be the ones that will change the international economy in the long term. We all live in a V.U.C.A. reality (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambivalent) that is shaping our present time – accelerating this process, add in digitalization and artificial intelligence. They form a new world that cannot be explained by old textbook theories and the level of experience, in the way that many operate. When the rules of our world change, we need a new way of thinking, a new way of reacting. Millennials stand for a new way of reasoning. They have a digitally imprinted, networked and collaborative mindset, they live new, zigzag, work experiences and have the power to interpret the most important large scale technology of our time, the Internet.

Generation Y | Generation Z | V.U.C.A.-Reality | Digital experts | Think Tanks and World Views | Modern Curricula Vitae | Attraction & Bonding

3. Digital Transformation: Cultural Change and Digital Skills

The V.U.C.A. reality (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambivalent) in which we currently live coupled with a fast moving digitisation leads to new challenges for the economy. Companies are undergoing a massive cultural change on different levels: Technology (AI, IoT, robotics, automation, big data), structure (organisational design, work environment) and people (good leadership, empowerment of employees). We are experiencing shifts from hierarchies to networks, from profit to more purpose, from control to empowerment, from planning to more experimentation and from privacy to more transparency. What we need now, in the second stage of digitisation, are digital experts who are really familiar with the new technologies and are involved in changing the infrastructure of the Internet. These people are currently available in the labour market but not in sufficient numbers. Supply and demand are in imbalance. Tendency rising. This is due to the majority of my generation being only digital users. Although we can operate our smartphone, tablet, laptop, set up a WordPress website or digitalise our marketing, that’s all we can do. This means that not only is the pool of available labour shrinking, but also the percentage of highly qualified, motivated talent is decreasing as well.

Digitalisation | Cultural change | Digital users | Digital experts | Create Ups | Dual operating system | Empowerment | Experimental rooms | Leadership | Purpose

4. Skillset shift: How we should counteract the skill mismatch

The transitions in the world of work require new skills. According to the World Economic Forum, more than 60 percent of the jobs in which Generation Z will work in the future do not exist today. 1/3 of the skills we need today will be completely different in five years. In particular capabilities, long seen as a guarantee for the future, will steadily move away from the elbow mentality towards teamwork, creativity, social intelligence, self-competence and digital skills. Schools in their present form, which are based on the reward and punishment system, the performance comparison amongst each other and the subject-object relationship pattern, suppress the urgently needed development of people’s potential. We need to empower young people to work with and alongside machines, which in future will become increasingly intelligent and ever more networked, instead of believing they have to compete with them. Because we will definitely lose this contest – no shadow of a doubt. The success of tomorrow is the combination of artificial intelligence and human intelligence. It is our task to question our thought patterns, advice and the role of schools, colleges and universities to give (young) people the right set of skills for their future.

Skillset of tomorrow | Human intelligence | Artificial intelligence | Educational systems

5 Support The Girls: Why we need 100% of the talent pool

Still very much a current issue: The glass ceiling and the promotional prejudices for women. A female quota on the supervisory board helps little. And what use is it to us if we promote women to top positions and they then act like men? This has little to do with (thought) diversity. We can no longer afford to focus solely on the male 50% of our talent pool at management level. This is a flaw in the system that also leads to talented women, who want to make a career, being increasingly annoyed and frustrated. But one approach gives hope to the subject of gender equality in business, politics, science and the arts: behavioural economics. If our brains are “brainwashed” (think about stereotypes), we need other ways and means to make equal opportunities real. Iris Bohnet sums it up very succintly: “It’s not the women who have to change, it’s the rules of the game.”

Stereotypes | Gender Equality by Design | Behavioural Economics | Women’s Prejudices | Glass Ceilings |

6 The modern consumer: the transition to “An Experience” economy.

We find ourselves in a transition from a service economy to an experience economy. To bring about the best customer experience, and to place them at the centre of all activity, is the new challenge in dealing with and exchanging ideas with consumers. This is currently driving major brands to rethink their image in the marketplace and change staffing levels in their sales forces. On-demand, instant gratification, co-creation and wow moments on a frictionless customer journey are the expectations of the modern consumer. Whoever does not live up to this expectation, and still dreams of the old times, will disappear. Google Man Sascha Krause says it in one sentence: “Needs are bigger than brands.” By the way, this applies to all sectors – including the healthcare industry. Additionally, 80 percent of purchasing decisions in the premium segment are taken by women. This makes it all the more important to discern, and take seriously, women as a very relevant and rapidly growing target group within the consumer sector.

Experience Economy | Customer Journey | On-Demand | Friction Free Journey | Instant Gratification | She´s Mercedes

Steffi embodies a mixture of vitality and knowledge on stage. She teases the mind and generates emotions.

THINKtank
Owner

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