Obama inspires on the Future of Work and the New Economy

Recapping the President’s Toronto talk on future skills and addressing the world’s challenges

Obama’s visit to Toronto in January 2020 was big, and I was lucky enough to join 6,000 others to hear him speak. A good portion of which were young leaders — the audience ratio was 1:1, so for every business leader, executive, educator, or political figure, one young person attended free of charge.

President Obama spoke a lot about future skills, to inspire new ways of thinking about society, economy and work. The format was a conversation with the Economic Club of Canada’s CEO.

His humility and class are still so impressive, regardless of what your political views are.

The conversation covered a wide range of issues including anxiety and depression that are becoming increasingly prevalent with young people. He said society used to deal with this through religion, family or community associations, but now those methods have been replaced by fragile interactions on the phone leading people to feel even more isolated.

“The number of followers you have is not the same as having some friends who you can count on and spend time with.”

Obama also talked about the importance of being authentic as a leader, which includes your online presence. A reminder that he was really the first digital president, so there were millions of videos and photos taken and shared during his time in office, for the first time.

He said that his constant online presence required him to be more authentic.

It is inspiring to see everything he is doing post-presidency, from events like this to the Obama Foundation to starting a production and podcasting company, Higher Ground.

Congrats to Rhiannon Rosalind and her team at the Economic Club of Canada and the newly launched Global Institute for Conscious Economics for making this event happen, after setting a goal to do so when he first got elected 12 years ago.

#CreateFate #WakeUp