MySensei Weekly
Professional Education Podcast with Nevine Abdelkhalek
Welcome to MySensei, the go to podcast for small business entrepreneurs looking to navigate the dynamic world of business. If you're new here, I'm your host Denise Creisson and today we're diving into the topic of professional education. Joining us on today's show is international expert on education and Dean of the School of Continuing Education at Nile University in Egypt Dr. Nevin Abdelkhalek who will be shedding some light on how professional education can help business leaders and their workforce. Let's unravel the world of upskilling and learning on the job for busy professionals and explore how this can be a game changer for you. Nevin, welcome to the show. To kick things off, can you tell us about your background and also your work with education? Okay. Thank you for hosting me and for being part of the show. My background in education actually I started in the field of education way back just a few years ago in 1987. And I've had some of my studies at Boston University and at Wolverhampton in the UK. And I started as an English language teacher, actually, in primary school. And then I have been establishing the English language department in one of the newly then established private universities in Egypt, and I was responsible for some of the education reform programs in Egypt, as well as the establishment of the Professional Academy for Teachers that's under the Regulation and the R egulatory body of education with the Ministry of Education in Egypt. And currently I am the Dean of the School of Continuing Education with Nile University. So we are responsible for not only for the private corporate sector, but our education and professional development is responsible for preparing the citizen, whether the citizen is 6 years old or 106 years old, or even until this citizen wants to stay at home. Even if they want to stay at home and enjoy themselves, they will find something that we are offering them. This is our key and this is how I'm involved with education that actually works on how we can educate ourselves to fit whatever we want to do. Whether it is professional or entertainment. Thank you very much, Nevine we look forward to the gems that you can share with us today. To go into the first question what are some of the professional development trends that entrepreneurs should be aware of? Definitely entrepreneurs, one of the key things that they want to learn is how they can be ahead of the curve, how they can know what is there, how they can know more about their competitors and in the same time will be able to be advancing in whatever services they are offering or whatever they are, if they are in the manufacturing part so how they can actually manufacture the best that will fit the clients that are going to buy their products. So entrepreneurs will always want to know what is the best, and this is what they will be seeking. And definitely this is a key because we find that entrepreneurs are competitive but at the same time, they will be looking at the opportunities where they can develop themselves, and this is very important. Thank you very much, Nevin. And just based on that answer, what do you think the role of AI can actually play in professional education, especially for leaders or even for staff that work in their business. Yeah, artificial intelligence has become part and parcel of whatever is taking place. In the business, in the manufacturing area also. So with AI, definitely everyone will be able to know what are the trends in the jobs that are going to stay. What, they need to do regarding their manpower. How they want to develop their manpower if they want to retain them so that they will be able to cope and to manage with the machine learning. It will also help them in working on budgeting. How machine learning actually helps in working on budgets future planning. Currently if you want to work on finding, even if you are starting something, which is, Brand new from scratch using AI will help you in actually predicting and getting together to know how you can have a budget within 5 years or 10 years. What are the changes that might appear. Definitely we'll need to use our common sense beside the input that the machine is giving us, but it will do a lot of the homework that maybe it took more time. So if you're going to do a budget and looking for all the information that you need, how much it would cost for specific things, it will be faster in retrieving the information, analyzing it and building on what is there. So just talking about some of these essential skills that you say will be necessary for the future and for future proofing, especially, can you tell us about upskilling and how can entrepreneurs work towards upskilling to make sure that they do have these essential skills? Definitely training is key. Looking forward to workshops, looking forward to sessions or even longer. We cannot have a course that is very long with AI or any of these new trends, because by the time you start, even within a week from whenever you start, it will be different. The advice usually and what we do is we give short courses, we give sessions, because there is always something new. How to work on using the machines utilizing the machines and the machine learning and giving in and supporting your research, supporting the products that you are doing, supporting even if you are a teacher or even if you are an entrepreneur working on giving a sales pitch, for example, or an investment pitch, this will be important because you will be able to get to know the information. As I said before, that will take longer. But the key element that everybody needs to learn is the wording and how you need to put together a question that will get you what you are looking for, because if you are unable to put together the proper question and the proper wording of what you are looking for, you're not get the information that you want. So it's important. It's important not to be vague and not to be very specific. So these are one of the things that people need training on. It's one of the key elements on the skills of research. So the skills of research and then putting together analyzing what is there and then putting it together and doing all the synthesis that needs to be done. Actually, that's very interesting. I was in a meeting last night, and they were mentioning one of the elements that they wish they knew before they actually started a project was how to make sure that they had started research from the beginning. Professional education and academic education, they are variations to the delivery of it. So could you tell me, especially since you are doing continuing education at Nile University, how do you integrate the academic education with professional development? Okay, one of the key elements for any undergraduate or postgraduate, we have what we call in the undergraduate a practicum course. A practicum course or a practice course that would be on the job training and in the same time will be having the undergraduates in contact with the life workplace. So they will be doing a lot of weeks in service within a company and in the same time they will be working on real life projects, not projects that are only estimated projects that are there within their research. And in the same time with the post graduates, there is always applied research. So applied means that there is something life that you're going to apply it on, and that's how it is always related to whatever is there. So it is not just like research for the sake of research, but we are working on something researching something that is doable, something that is happening now and in the same time, we'll get the results and we'll be implementing it. So this is how we actually have these two together, how we link them together, how we link the research that is done with the real life and day to day workplace. It seems like in most cases people stop researching when they leave university because they think, we don't need to theoretically underpin anymore. But it is very important to make sure that we are fact checking and we're not just relying on gut feel, Gut feel has its place and it is important for business leaders to be able to have a sense of where we're going, especially in future proofing because nobody really knows what's coming next. Some people just have that ability of being able to sense it in their gut. So there is a place for it. I read, an autobiography by Richard Branson and he had said that he likes risk, he's got a high risk appetite, but he likes calculated risk. And to me, making sure that we continue to research, even in business is fundamental to making sure that, we are taking the big bets, but we are also making sure that we are h aving calculated risk and we've properly analyzed it and researched it Now, how crucial is continuous education for entrepreneurs in the current business environment? Actually continuing education is very important because education will make you know what the updates, the latest. So let me say that Continuing education is not only a matter of having workshops, and that's it. No, one of the key elements you get to network with others who are within the same field or not in the same field, because if you are coming in to study strategic planning or blue ocean strategies or AI or whatever, you are not going to see only people who are from your own field only, but others and others who are with different experiences. So you're going to find someone who has started a business 2 years ago, 3 years ago, or is just starting a business. And also from networking you will be able to get to know how they dealt with some of the challenges and what are the things that they would have done differently if they have been in this situation before or in your situation. Actually, it is not only the technicalities and the information that you get directly from the course that you sign up for, but the other elements that you bring in. So continuing education brings everyone together. And that's the key element about it. And it is always new. There is always update regarding the syllabus. So you are not going to find, let's say, as I said if you are talking about an introduction, a simple course or a simple session, an introduction to AI, the session that we gave 6 months ago is completely different from the session that we gave last week. This is something that's very important. The tools, the nature, whatever is there. It's different. So the agility of the continuing education format is also one of the key elements that helps entrepreneurs because it fits with whatever changes are taking place. I agree with you, Nevin. One of my favorite sayings is are you green and growing or are you ripe and rotting? The world is continually changing business, especially is dynamic in nature and we have to continue to upskill. We have to continue to research and make sure that we are staying current and like you mentioned, the networking aspect is really important because our networks are like our net worth. When you look at strong ties and weak ties that we have and how we get fresh information coming in, that's through exposure and like you said in the cohorts that you have where you've got, people that are coming from, different stages in their business journey or from different industries as well this is where you get fresh information and learn, things that you could maybe use to innovate. If I can ask on professional education and how do you think that it can be adapted to meet the dynamic nature of technology. You've mentioned having to, refresh the materials that you're using at your school all the time. So how can we actually meet the dynamic nature of technological advancements to make sure that what we are delivering in training and education and upskilling, remains current and relevant? One of the key elements regarding the School of Continuing Education or Continuing Education in general is that we rely on the people of practice, professional practicing people who love to get to instruct, who enjoy educating others. So definitely, they have they're practicing, in their own field. They know the latest that is there. And that's why they are always up to date. So we are not bringing someone who is only a researcher. Or someone who is from academia only, but we have people who are from academia and what's most important is people who are practicing and we do not say that we don't have the regulations of usually in any academia will find that there is a very rigid way of changing a syllabus. By the time you change it, it is already changed. So that's why if we are going to talk, let's say about using some of the programs in making an architectural design, and we want to make it in a specific manner, or we want to make it and that would reflect a specific culture. So we will be bringing someone who is actually a practitioner, an architect who is using these tools in his office, he will be giving the input to the trainees, whether they are undergraduates or postgraduate, or they are professionals who want to learn more. And in the same time, there will be also time of training in his office. So you will find that there is the latest and also practicing on the latest. And this is one of the key elements. And also as continuing education, we actually find ourselves approached by those companies who are offering or giving the tools that are used in these professional entities, so we'll find people coming in telling us we can offer through you the technology so that you can have the education part of it. So this is also very important. So you will find that there is always this mechanism of ensuring that the instruction is actually going through people who are actually implementing it. So you will go out of the class with something that you will be implementing on the spot. Mentioned some controversial stuff there about published papers. What is it that they say? Is it, it take an average of three years to publish a paper? I think I read that somewhere and when you think of, three years ago, 2021, we were at the height of COVID and the landscape has changed since then, we've certainly evolved on, but there is an important place that research does play in things, it helps to add rigor behind what we're doing and a good combination of research and also industry expert advice is key. And I'm excited to hear about how progressive Egypt is with companies that are coming and offering some of these technologies and I've always worried that traditional education the way that it is designed, so the instructional design, and with the red tape that you mentioned, it takes so long to change something, I was always concerned that we were teaching tomorrow's leaders with yesterday's solutions, so it's good to see the way things are being done in Egypt, and especially in your school where you incorporating, some of these new technologies and getting a lot of influence from industry so that you have the what is it called? Just in time knowledge that's happening there. So if I can move on to my next question, and this is around early stage entrepreneurs, so these that, have a great idea and looking to step into entrepreneurship, maybe even for the first time, and they don't have a lot of training especially around leadership What advice would you give to these founders or early stage entrepreneurs on being ready to lead and to take their idea to success. Okay. One of the elements that I would really tell them is they have to trust their gut feelings. Maybe this doesn't sound very scientific, but definitely they need to because their gut feelings are very important because if you do not follow it, you will find that there is something wrong, but definitely in same time, they need to learn more about their consumers. They need to learn more about their competitors. And one of the key elements that they need to learn more is the journey of their product or the journey if they are doing a product or the journey of their company. So they need to not only look at the Whatever is happening now, but in the same time, they need to learn how to actually build on the future of what they will be able to do. And one of the key elements that they need to know is and to learn is financial skills. Financial skills are very important because we will find that many of the new startups, they fail due to the lack of financial skills. Financial skills will definitely have a lot of how to take risks. How far can you be a risk taker? And in the same time how you can manage the funds, where you can get the funds from. The cycle of your product, when do you need to develop? How fast you develop it. So these are all elements and these are all things that new entrepreneurs need to know. So they needn't to be very fast, and they needn't be very slow because if you are too slow, you lose and if you are going to be too fast, yes, you're going to have quick wins but in the same time with the very, very fast quick wins, there is a quick fall as well. Unless you're really knowing that this win is your regular pace. This is another story. It's interesting this morning I actually posted on LinkedIn, a quote by Deming that says an organization is perfectly designed for the results that it gets. And you're absolutely right. I think that the statistic is that over 80 percent of small businesses actually fail because of lack of cashflow management. And that's like the single biggest contributor to failure, in entrepreneurship is not having the financial management skills. Now I want to go and talk about entrepreneurs seeking online resources. So we are in the age where they say that we are cash rich and time pool. I don't know. Some of us might be time poor and cash poor as well. But what would you recommend for the busy professional, the busy entrepreneur that doesn't feel like they have a lot of time because they either firefighting or they're experiencing burnout, or if they're a solopreneur, what would be your guidance to them for upskilling on the job and making sure that they are making time for something that is integral to their success? And what would be the consequences of doing nothing, so not actually engaging in any type of upskilling and continuous education? Okay, one of the key elements is they need to know that finding time for themselves is part and parcel of success because if they do not have the time for themselves, this is the fuel so you cannot have a car without electricity or without fuel, either or both of them. So this is very important, as you said that there's going to be burnout. So this is one of the key elements. There should be at least one hour a day for reflection. For looking at what they want to know what are the things, even if they are crazy things, they can just sit and think about them they have to actually turn off the machine for one hour and see, think of all the crazy elements, and develop themselves. Invest in the body and the brain, that is actually running the business, and this is very important. One of the elements they also they will need to put together this hour will enable them to know what exactly they need to build on. What are the things that they are missing? Because again, we have everything online for example, we are offering online and face to face courses, so they will need to put together exactly what they are in need of, because any entrepreneur will feel that they and anyone, not only any entrepreneur that they have lost or they have wasted an hour or two hours or three hours if they join a course that is not what they are looking for. The most important thing is this one hour of reflection on the day and on what am I really looking for. So that I will be able to pin it and to write it down and know where it can be offered. And definitely it will either be something for me that will make me feel good. And reflect on what I did, or it is something that will enable me to master a new skill that the return on investment of the money that I'm going to put in is going to be good on the business. So there are many things, you can have something that is for free, but in the same time, the cost was your time, which is also a cost. So it is very important. It's key. You cannot go ahead without having time for yourself, without reflecting, without having fun. This is very important. It's important to have fun to be able to rejuvenate whatever is in there because without it, you cannot survive. It's very important. We have to consider a car. All the elements of the car need to be there, without it even if it is a small bit in the car, it will not be working. So every bit is important so that, the journey will be a successful one and a satisfying one. I agree with you if we don't make the time to check where we're going, we won't know when we're lost. Especially again, coming back to the dynamic nature of business. We should be evolving with our markets. We should always be keeping a pulse and this was another post I put on linkedin yesterday. Know what could blow you up positively or negatively we have to make sure that we are allowing for the time to do that reflection, allowing for the time to making sure that the emerging skills that we need as, leaders that will be trailblazers to tomorrow's world that we making time to actually do that because we want to be responsive rather than reactive because being reactive is a lot more expensive than it is being responsive. Actually, being reactive is the first step towards failure. Because once you are reactive, maybe you are actually reacting to one element, but you will be ruining another one because you are not proactive because once you are proactive, you will be able to analyze or you will be able to take care of the consequences on other elements. But when you're just doing a reaction, reactions usually are not thoughtful. You're just reacting. So you are reacting to an element, one item, one element that is there. So you will be affecting other elements. So we need to be very careful in how we are reacting, how we are acting and always need to calculate the time when we need to react, because also it is you can't be very fast and you will ruin everything and you can't be very slow so you will be ruined as well. So it's just the proper means of making sure that the reaction or the proaction or the action that is there is really managed. And this is one of the skills, actually, that usually entrepreneurs need to know. Because when I say the word young regarding entrepreneurs, I don't mean young in age. But young in the business itself. Because you can have an entrepreneur who is 70 years old, by the way. Entrepreneurship doesn't have to do with age, but it has to do with your readiness to start a business. I really like that, Nevin, and especially that you've mentioned around just making sure that we have the right knowledge, because we don't want to erode our competitive advantage, but as well, striking too soon when things could be changing very quickly could also end up being quite costly. And you've mentioned about being reactive and how your focus might be on one thing and not being able to look at it holistically and that's just reminded me about the theory of change methodology where we shouldn't be working towards just outputs. We should be working towards outcomes and making sure that we are able to design the results that we actually want at the end. Starting with the end in mind and making sure that is at the forefront of the design and the steps that we are actually making. Thank you, Nevin, for sharing your insights with us today. And to our listeners that have been listening, I hope that today's segment is going to inspire you to embrace professional education and harness its potential for your personal and also business growth. Don't forget to visit our website, www.mysenseihub.com for more resources. And if you are looking for tools to help you power your business with professional education and coaching, we're always releasing new courses. And I think I'm going to expedite the course on finance for non financial managers, because Nevin has reminded me today how important it is. So that was one on the course deck that we have the catalog and maybe that needs to be launched sooner rather than later. We have a special discount for Easter at the moment. So please do go and check it out and join us next week for another enlightening discussion until then keep innovating and stay ahead in your entrepreneurial game. I'm your host, Denise Creisson with this week's My Sensei guest, Nevin Abdelkhalek. Thank you, Nevin. Thank you. Thank you, Denise. Thank you.