Stretch: How to Future-Proof Yourself for Tomorrow's Workplace

The competitor for your next job is… a robot. Don’t believe me, then maybe Stretch will convince you?

Stretch is one of the most thought provoking books anyone committed to staying relevant in the workforce can read. Stretch is a compelling and impartial assessment of the current trends in the world, and predicts how this landscape is shifting in the future. It is an inspirational guide to understand how the world is changing and what strategies will suit you best for stretching your career within our new world.

The book starts by illustrating and quantifying the megatrends that are driving the macro environment. We can vote for Brexit, and even for Trump but regardless, megatrends like globalisation, emerging technologies and the continuing explosion of data will be unrelenting in the shaping of our world. The book proposes three key strategies to navigate these inevitabilities more successfully; ‘It’s all on you’; ‘You need options’; and ‘You have dreams’.

In, ‘It’s all on you’, the focus is on your need to own your learning experience. To understand what it takes to be seen as an expert in your field, and how to be open to learning and continuous development.

‘You need options’ starts by posing the question of what’s your network like? However, Stretch brings a new slant to the value of networks; showing how you can use your networks to increase your learning capacity and help bring you new ideas. 

The final section ‘You have dreams’ discusses the setbacks we all experience and importantly how we choose to respond to these.  Long term we need to bounce forward, yes to grieve and blame, but then to be resilient and to keep moving forward.

This is a fantastic book whether you are half way through your career journey, thinking about a change of direction or even if you are Millennial, full of the skills of today, but coming into a workforce where these skills will become redundant faster than ever before. Stretch is a guide to help you navigate this changing environment for not just a fulfilling career, but maybe even a more fulfilling life.