My session is on future proof your career, and this is not going to be a locked in panacea of how we each future proof your career.But I'd like to share a few perspectives on what we're learning at Schneider Electric and our overall career and skills transformation journey and how that might apply to you when you're thinking about how you are growing, yourself over the the course of your, career. So let's get started. Starting a little bit on Schneider Electric, and I think you you know, our business and our mission. But just as a reminder, and this was the impetus for our career and skill transformation at the company, that at the end of the day, we are very much in the space of energy and really thinking about the future of energy in a more resilient and sustainable way, and that, in fact, touches all of us around the world.

This was the impetus that our CEO and also our leadership gave us as we really start to refresh last year our company mission about really being energy technology partner to everyone, both in terms of customers and business, but also society at large, to think about digitizing, automating, electrifying, energy at all levels so that we're really providing efficiency and sustainability in every end center that we think about, from homes to buildings to data centers, infrastructure, and industry.

So when you think about that and you think about it for your own organization, every company has a mission. And part of what was we were taken as a task is, okay. What do you do about it? How do you animate and energize our workforce, 160,000 people equally distributed around the regions of the world, both on shop floor and also in office setting. How do you animate and encourage them to take that mission to heart and apply it not only to customers and business, but to themselves to drive more performance, more simplicity, more speed? That was our, like, to do, if you will, from a career and skill perspective. What we started last year, and I have to say we're in early stages, is really thinking then what that means for an employee.

And what we've thought about was a true skills first transformation, right skills, right time, in the spirit of an end to end way that our build part of our workforce, our employees really taking responsibility and agency to drive their own career. It sounds very straightforward. You can imagine at scale to really have the right data, to have the right employee experience, to have the right framework or architecture for career, to have the right programs and processes so that employees can take up that agency and also accelerate career and build skill, that is something we're in the exciting journey of.

And we really wanted at the endpoint for employees at all different levels and all different domains, but especially in the energy tech space where we operate, to understand, shape, and build and grow career. Not that they're left on their own, but that they have the tools and the agency and the responsibility to do that. I share here this was also produced as part of my, our project or our transformation, my own starter pack of some of the power skills that I knew I wanted to not only leverage and highlight for my own career evolution, but also to continue to grow on, whether it be strategic visioning to, data insights to communicating with influence to really having a global mindset.

We produce these starter pack packs as a way to, you know, stimulate where are you today? Where do you wanna be tomorrow? And the whole transformation was based on the sense of equity. So starting with level playing field, having that data transparency and access to that data to understand what skills matter, what career paths were most in demand at Schneider Electric, and then ultimately the accountability and agency. Like I said, employees not being on their own, lots of guardrails with people and systems and tools, but really making sure that empowerment and agency is there. In this early part, some months in, what have we achieved? We have gotten a good portion of our employee base, but not as many as we have need yet, in the career hub engaged, thinking about their profiles, defining their career destination, identifying skills, and especially in the areas of where they want to upskill and where they want to accelerate career.

We've built out that data foundation of architecture consistently across the world. We have people then downstream also taking action when it comes to skilling and learning, because we know at the end of the day, that is probably the one of the most differentiated ways to stay ahead of the game. And then we've really thought about a culture reset in terms of working smart and mission based to focus on the things that matter the most for the business and also make sure that people are supporting and feeling equitable in that experience. In a nutshell, it's been quite, an exciting ride. We have a long way to go, and we know that from our people, and also when I look at my talent management lens, what have we learned? What have we learned on this career and skill transformation when it comes to helping our people future proof, stabilize, and anchor a career evolution.

At Schneider, the premise is that we want to, just like for sustainable energy, we want to support sustainable careers. The honest truth is whether someone stays with us five years or fifty years, our job is to make sure in the time that they're with us, they get that chance, and they take that opportunity. I try to apply four fundamentals to all of us here. They're really straightforward. So my job is to kinda stimulate your thinking on how they apply to your context. But we've learned a lot from our experience. The first one is to build a career map. We all know in this environment, especially now, when you look at the job market figures around the world, it is an interesting time. And in some cases, it's quite a volatile time. Right?

So we know that having a map, not just laser focus on what job do I need to do next, but truly what is my destination point. And from there, working backwards, what are the logical steps that will get me to my destination point? That's what I mean by a map. That really matters because, it allows you to have an anchor point, but also to create some pivots and different alternatives to your destination. What we do at Schneider, through this transformation is quite straightforward. It's what's your target destination? What are the steps that might get you there based on the supply and demand data of what jobs and careers are available? And then most granularly and quite importantly, the skills. What are some of the skills that you need to kind of, strengthen that, that pace to your career destination?

So number one is build a career map. Number two is, I wrote here power up your human skills too. I know I'm speaking to super talented, super tech savvy group here. And almost taken for granted, fair or not, I assume all of us here have those technical digital qualifications when it comes to deep domain expertise. You should continue that. But as we see in the Schneider data, but also in external data, as one moves up in career and evolves, we know equally those human skills matter most. Technology, even if you look at the space in AI, generative AI, it's constantly changing. And we know that to be able to really survive and thrive in that space, you have to build up some of those human skills.

On the left, I share a very snippet exercise that we did at Schneider Electric when we looked at our leaders. In those different various dimensions of human skills, what we found and where we see an opportunity improve, we saw a high degree of resilience. And you hear that language all the time. Be resilient. Adapt to a VUCA environment. That is absolutely true. But in our experience, we also found that resilience doesn't mean adaptiveness. And adaptiveness as a human skill is something where, at least at Schneider, but I imagine also applies more broadly, is somewhere where we want to continue to enhance and strengthen. So, what we did there is really also look at, not only being resilient and, you know, fighting spirit, but how agile in your learning, in your confronting change, in your adaptivity to business environments that are shifting every day, how much can you do there?

On the right, I also share, a recent study from some professors from MIT, who is a key partner with us in some of our leadership development programs, especially for tech talent. Again, just to reinforce with the importance of tech skills, digital skills, AI skills, don't forget those human skills too. This framework is a simple one. I like it. They call it the EPOC framework of the top five human skills that increase in importance as digital and AI gains in prominence as well. In their analysis, empathy, presence, opinion, creativity, and hope were those real differentiators. Let's be clear. Not all of those are easy that you can just go into a classroom and build. Some of them require real practice, and some of them are part of your innate kind of way of how you think and learn.

But I wanted to emphasize element number two of really powering up your human skills as well. Number three, and I have four, just to manage your expectations. This is an oldie but goodie, but I really believe this is something that we need to spend more time with. I think in this day and age where we are constantly channeled by speed and numbers, everyone's seeking the 1,000,000 eyeballs or the 10,000,000 clicks, sometimes we've moved or forgotten that, a network or a relationship in terms of its depth probably has more impact on your career and future proofing it as well as your career growth.

And so the simple premise or a reminder here is that building out an extensive network is awesome, should always be done. People do it through all forms, including social media, LinkedIn, etcetera. But having some deeper, more meaningful, meaning folks that can really be advocates for you versus just sounding boards like a mentor, that notion of sponsorship, I think, still matters and maybe even matters more in this very volatile environment that we're in. So how do we do that? At Schneider Electric, we also have select programs around that. You know, targeting certain areas or certain profiles, but actually including anyone who wants to join. We really want to make sure that the spirit of equitable access and leveling the playing field, And sponsorship sometimes can have that. Right?

If you're living in a certain market, they not be where the headquarters is, or you're working in an area in your company that may not be as interconnected or transversely linked to other aspects of the company, we want to make sure, certainly at Schneider, that we level the playing ground and sponsorship programs and matching, key sponsors who are gonna take not only a mild interest, but a vested interest in one's growth.

This was something we found to be much deeper and much more meaningful and impactful. So straightforward lesson to all of us is how do you find those top five to 10 sponsors, if you will, that are more than just part of your thousands and thousands of network members? So that's one other piece. Last one, and I want to spend a little bit of time on this, is pitch the job. And I think this one is also something that is quite straightforward, but in the same way that we've learned, sometimes asking for something, however basic, yet in the end ultimately easily surpassed or easily put to the side, however basic that that may be, that matters, right?

If you've done those other things of really mapping your career, upskilling in all those areas, building out your sponsorship network. Ultimately, that last mile is up to us, right? And what I've seen in the past and what works is ultimately making sure that you ask for the opportunity, and sometimes you have to pitch that. It doesn't necessarily mean you will see the job open in a in a in a system and it naturally flows to you, or if I put my head down and do good work, I will be recognized and, you know, the job will come. In many instances, and I look back at my own career when I spent quite a number of years in the human capital consulting space, the moment for me that really was a shocker, and it was so obvious, was at some stage working in that job, I brought my data together and I asked for the job.

I asked for the promotion to be partner at my old consulting firm. And I wasn't doing that because, it was just something that, you know, was a natural thing to do. It was collecting the data and actually having a sponsor, a a a sponsor of mine say, Tina, when you look at the data in terms of what's required, you fulfill all of that criteria. If they are not seeing it, meaning the company, maybe you should just pitch it. And that's what I did, and within a month, I was granted that promotion. Now, that's just a case of one, and it doesn't, it ends up being a positive outcome. But my emphasis here is sometimes we do have to be self advocates with the data, of course, to pitch for the job, the opportunity, the promotion.

And in many instances, it's also maybe not a job description that's in the, applicant tracking system for an open position. Maybe it's something that your organization hasn't even imagined before, culling together, curating some of your own passions and skills. That could be an opportunity as well. So from that and with the Schneider Electric experience, this is what we're trying to do when it comes at scale, really thinking about how we can have all our employees build sustainable careers. Like I said, whether they stay five years or fifty years, of course, we care, but the more important thing is that we believe, whatever the tenure, they really were able to optimize their career growth and their skill development, of course, in recognition and in support of growing Schneider, but also in recognition and support of growing themselves.

That was the spirit of our transformation. I'll definitely keep you guys posted on that. But then back to your own career, I go back to these four fundamentals. Build a career map. Power up your human skills too, in addition to your technical skills. Seek sponsorship, not just networks. And pitch the job. Especially in the last, data tells us that women tend to do this less. And it's a real, database reminder that agency and advocacy for oneself really matters at the end as well. So with that, I'm coming to a close. I know we have a few more minutes left, but wanted to close here. And, hopefully, you got an insight into our Schneider Electric story and you can apply some of these aspects to your own moment in your career, whatever stage you're in, and, take away something that you can really use to to grow yourself.