{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 50: How to become robot-proof with Amit Singh","description":"The key to long term success is becoming \u201crobot-proof,\u201d says Amit Singh. Singh, the president at Edmond Community College, says students need two things to compete in today\u2019s economy and into the future. \u201cThey need technical skills and they need higher-level mental skills,\u201d Singh says in this episode. \u201cWe normally call those mental skills \u2018soft skills\u2019 such as problem-solving. \u201cThose skills are making you robot-proof. A robot cannot take those jobs.\u201d Singh says that technical skills in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) areas are important, but it takes more. \u201cSometimes we hear the need for technical skills,\u201d Singh says. \u201cYes, for the short term, but to survive long term you need more. That comes from a liberal arts education and then n top of that you have the technical skills.\u201d Singh, who grew up in India before coming to the U.S. for college, likens the approach to that of immigrants to a new land \u201cThey know everything will be new and different,\u201d Singh says. \u201cThey have to adapt. That\u2019s the adaptive mindset we need.\u201d In a time when knowledge is as close as a YouTube video, Singh, who holds a Ph.D. in Economics and three master\u2019s degrees, says Edmonds Community College and higher education, in general, are facing a similar challenge to adapt. \u201cTake the example of Blockbuster (video stores),\u201d he says. \u201cThese are middlemen in the content transfer. They didn\u2019t produce the content, the transferred it to (customers). What technology did was bypass the middleman and go direct to the customer.\u201d Singh says colleges are in a similar business of knowledge transfer and to adapt, they must take a page from what they are teaching their students. \u201cWe cannot be outsourced if we do things right,\u201d Singh says. \u201cThey ways we teach in the classroom and the wraparound services we provide for students are key. We have to be mindful to keep adding value.\u201d Episode length: 56:29 Episode links Edmonds Community College Entrepreneurship program Mariner Community Campus ","author_name":"Check It Out!","author_url":"https:\/\/podcast.sno-isle.org\/","html":"