I met Jessie Hamill-Stewart, Founder and Chair at that time, on 18 January 2019 when both of us were speaking at Exeter University in the debate on my website page "Why freedom of speech is vital."
Jessie asked me to speak to the Global Scholar society. Below are:
The text I provided to advertise the talk to the students.
An 18-minute self-advancing PowerPoint presentation with a recording of my talk with a link to my PowerPoint slides in case you wish to look at them more closely.
A partial transcript / recording of the question and answer session.
Advertising text: Globalising yourself and your career
Soren Kierkegaard said: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
No Bath University student knows how the next 40 years of their career will turn out.
From his perspective as a 68-year old retiree, Mohammed Amin MBE FRSA MA FCA AMCT CTA(Fellow) can look back over a life that took him from being born in a remote village in the Punjab, to growing up in Manchester, attending Cambridge University, and having a career as a tax advisor (the first Muslim partner in Price Waterhouse UK) that took him to speak in over 20 cities on every continent, and to leading his firm’s tax work on many multinational deals.
He is coming not to reminisce but to share his thoughts on how we can make the best of the opportunities that today’s world offers us.
Once I found recording presentations worthwhile, I purchased a high quality Sennheiser digital lapel microphone which plugs into the lightning port of my iPhone. That produces a much better recording.
A partial transcript of the question and answer session
The question and answer session was also recorded. However, I am not publishing the full audio recording for two main reasons:
While the sound quality of my responses is very clear, the questioners were some distance from the microphone. Accordingly, in many cases their questions are almost inaudible.
Often the live answer heard cold is not particularly informative.
Instead, I have listened to the Q&A session and, where I regard the questions as being worth sharing, have written down a condensed version of the questions. I have then published the audio of my answers.
1. What foreign languages would you recommend people to learn?
Recording of my 1-minute answer
2. What about skills such as coding? Is that something we should learn?
Recording of my 30-second answer
3. Was it easy for you to decide what you wanted to do in your own career?
In my answer I explain in detail how I became an accountant, and what got me interested in taxation. Also why being a tax adviser is such a well paid career.
Recording of my 4-minute answer
4. Have you faced discrimination based on your ethnic origin or your religion or suffered from the impact of reduced expectations of your capability due to ethnic or religious stereotyping?
In my answer, amongst other things, I explain why playing chess was a good choice in a society that had high levels of racial discrimination. Also, why some career choices are better than others if there is discrimination around.
The best solution to discrimination is to win by being better!
Recording of my 3-minute answer
5. What is your forecast for the future of work, particularly in the accounting and taxation professions? What changes do you expect in the next 10-20 years with the impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning?
In my answer I give a short version of what I explained to the pupils of Ibstock Place School in the talk on my website page "Will our children be poorer than us?"
Recording of my 3-minute answer
6. What is the relationship between having a job and having a feeling of self-worth?
I explained why so many people are afraid to retire, and why I wasn’t.
Recording of my 2-minute answer
7. What do you think people will be paid to do, once technology has eliminated most jobs as you predict?
I explain why possibly almost no jobs will remain.
Recording of my 1-minute answer
8. Most people’s life plan has been to work for 30 years at a job you may not like, to accumulate the savings to live the life you want for the following 30 years. Is technology going to change that?
Recording of my 1-minute answer
9. What do you need to be good at for a global profession?
I explain why some skills are far more portable internationally than others.
Recording of my 90-second answer
10. Was it easy to combine your successful professional career with your family life?
In my answer I explain the importance of you, and your spouse, understanding yourself.
Recording of my 2-minute answer
11. What do you see as the symptoms at a personal level and at a societal level of living a meaningless life?
I explain why a life without paid work does not need to be meaningless.
The challenge is the transition, as work is gradually eliminated by technology, but not for everybody at the same time. I also reminded the audience that social welfare provision tends to be higher in societies that are relatively homogeneous.
Recording of my 2-minute answer
12. What is your most important piece of advice for developing our careers?
I explain how you can make yourself outstanding.
Recording of my 3-minute answer
The Disqus comments facility below allows you to comment on this page. Please respect others when commenting.
You can login using any of your Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Disqus identities.
Even if you are not registered on any of these, you can still post a comment.
MohammedAmin.com
