“We talk so much about digital skills, but honestly, that is only one-third of the story,” says Dr Antarpreet Singh,
That set the tone for what turned into a fascinating discussion on the evolving world of education and workforce transformation.
A veteran of over four decades with roots in learning, dating back to his days at Reliance Industries Limited as Chief Learning Officer, Dr Singh brings clarity and nuance to a topic that often gets reduced to buzzwords. In a world where digital disruption is the new constant, upskilling is no longer optional. And yet, both campuses and corporations are playing catch-up. Why?
As we sat down with Dr Singh to explore the future of executive education, mid-career talent, and the persistent gap in digital capabilities, what emerged was not just a critique but a call to action for reimagining learning from the ground up.
Beyond Digital: The Three Pillars of Future Skills
The pandemic didn’t just disrupt, it rewired the way we work, learn, and lead. As Dr Singh points out, this forced digital transformation exposed a deeper truth: digital skills alone aren’t enough.
Referencing the World Economic Forum’s ‘Skill First’ framework, he explains that the future of work rests on three interconnected pillars:
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Digital and AI skills
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Learning and innovation skills
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Leadership and life skills
“These aren’t standalone ideas,” he notes. Learning fuels digital adoption. Innovation builds relevance. No matter how advanced AI gets, algorithms won’t replace human leadership.
So why does the skilling gap persist?
“Because the pace of disruption is outstripping our capacity to adapt,” Antarpreet says. Institutions are still shackled to outdated pedagogy, legacy mindsets, and rigid curricula. What is needed is agility in learning ecosystems, where hybrid delivery, self-directed learning, and continuous faculty evolution become the norm, not the exception.
Read More: Is Your Job Going to Survive the ‘Skill Test’ of the Time? Here’s How to Find Out
From Inside-Out to Outside-In: Rethinking Indian Education
Most Indian institutions, according to Singh, follow an inside-out approach, delivering what they have always taught instead of what the world now demands. “What we need is an outside-in model. A curriculum that starts with what is changing outside the classroom: in business, government, and society.”
The change won’t come overnight, but it must begin with an honest acknowledgement: a large majority of campuses are still behind the curve. Only a forward-looking, responsive system can ensure graduates are not just job-ready, but future-ready.
Corporate Learning: Still Missing the Mindset Shift
While corporates tend to be more structured in their skilling efforts, they too face three chronic challenges:
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Resistance to change: Managers often hesitate to unlearn and relearn.
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In-the-box thinking: Leadership that’s stuck in past models stifles progress.
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Complacency: A “chalta hai” attitude delays necessary transformation.
What’s missing, Dr Singh says, is the mindset that treats learning as a strategic investment is no different from capital expenditure on new plants or technology. “We plan for five-year horizons in business—why don’t we do the same for talent?”
The Overlooked Middle: Mid-Career Professionals
In most skilling conversations, the spotlight stays fixed on freshers and senior executives. The mid-career workforce (those with 10–20 years of experience) is often left in the shadows.
And yet, this cohort is pivotal. They possess institutional memory, operational depth, and people management skills, but are at risk of stagnation without the digital fluency required for the future.
Here’s Antarpreet’s simple but powerful prescription:
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Make learning aspirational, not remedial.
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Create bridge programmes that blend experience with tech-forward training.
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Personalise learning so it aligns with role-specific needs.
“This group is the bridge between strategy and execution,” he warns. “Ignore them, and you create a hollow middle.”
Co-Creation with Tech Partners: Not a Nice-to-Have, But a Must-Have
With tech evolving faster than internal teams can keep up, co-creating executive programmes with external partners has become non-negotiable. But here’s the caveat: “You can co-create, but you cannot outsource your thinking.”
While delivery and design can be supported by partners, the intellectual ownership and alignment with business goals must remain internal. In other words, treat edtech and learning consultancies as part of your learning ecosystem, not as transactional vendors.
This, Antarpreet believes, also opens up enormous entrepreneurial potential. “Education is going to be one of the biggest business themes of the future,” he adds. “Smart, meaningful partnerships will define who leads that future.”
So, how do we get executive education to move from reacting to future-proofing?
For Singh, the answer lies in rethinking learning investments the same way we think of infrastructure or R&D: long-term, strategic, and proactive. “If you wait for a crisis to act, it is already too late,” he says.
He also makes a timely and important point:
We must begin addressing digital diversity in the workforce. With multigenerational teams, today’s workplaces have digital immigrants and digital natives working side by side. Executive education needs to help bridge that divide, not widen it.
The Road Ahead: Agility, Accountability, and Anticipation
In a world racing toward Industry 5.0, the shelf life of skills is shrinking. And whether you are a campus dean or a corporate leader, the challenge is no longer whether to reskill, but how fast you can adapt.
As Antarpreet Singh puts it, “The faster we transition, the narrower the gap. But in some ways, the gap will always be there. And that’s a good thing. It means innovation hasn’t stopped.”
