Hard and Soft Skills, Mentors, and Purpose: How to Build a Career in the Impact Sector
June 29, 2020
Amani Institute led a panel discussion as a part of ‘Building Civil Society Organizations of the Future‘, an online event series led by our partners Arthan Careers, in which experts, thought leaders, and practitioners from various sectors discuss a career roadmap for the post-COVID world.
Under the Future of Jobs theme, the discussion focussed on the importance of 21st-century skills for creating social impact. The diverse panel of experts featured two of our program faculty members – Ameen Haque (Story coach, Founder of Storywallahs) and Tena Pick (Gender and development expert, Founder of Project Kal), and two of our program alumni – Anish Malpani (Consultant, CARPE India) and Krisstina Rao (Amani fellow and project associate, International Innovation Corps). The discussion was moderated by Shehzia Lilani, Country Director of Amani Institute in India.
Anish Malpani made a passionate pitch for developing hard skills that will complement soft skills and give changemakers a much more holistic set of competencies. Tena Pick and Krisstina Rao both spoke of the importance of finding good mentors to help shape an aspiring changemaker’s learning curve. Additionally, Krisstina agreed: good mentors can “help you dismantle your existing scheme and help you move in new directions.”
Ameen Haque added that the one thing that all changemakers have in common is a ‘deep sense of purpose’. He underlines that storytelling is an essential skill in moving people towards positive action. He also mentioned that good storytelling begins with ‘listening for a story”.
It was an engaging discussion that left both the listeners as well as the panelists themselves with new perspectives and ideas around creating social impact. The conversation also generated interest for our Social Innovation Management program Special Edition: a fully online 5-month intensive program where you will learn by doing, train with master practitioners including Ameen and Tena, gain skills and build networks, all for the career you truly want, no matter where you are located.
Our application deadline is the 6th of July and there are few seats remaining; so go ahead and submit your application today!
Catch up with the conversation at #ArthanBuildingCSOs