Rise of the Metaverse Economy & the Future of work

Raulvin Coke

Leading the Way: Pioneering Future-Proof Strategies in the Age of AI and Technological Disruption

February 22nd 2022 - United States

Rise of the Metaverse Economy & the Future of Work

Welcome to an enlightening journey into the world of the Metaverse economy and its profound implications for the future of work. I'm Raulvin Coke, the co-founder and CEO of Futurewise Media & Consulting Group, and I'm excited to unravel the intricate tapestry of the Metaverse, diving deep into its economic dimensions and shedding light on what this means for university students like you. As the Metaverse continues to dominate conversations with topics such as gaming, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies, it's essential to grasp how this digital realm could shape your future. Join me as we embark on this exploration of the Metaverse's rise and its implications for your career and life.

Section 1: The Impact of the Pandemic To comprehend the rise of the Metaverse economy and its implications for the future of work, we must first reflect on the catalytic role played by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted traditional work environments, forcing a rapid shift to remote work arrangements. This transition brought about notable changes in work-life balance, productivity, and employee satisfaction. Gone were the days of prolonged sedentary office work; instead, individuals found themselves working from the comfort of their homes, exploring newfound freedom and adapting to a more flexible work routine.

During this time, it's crucial to note the staggering influence of social media platforms. In 2019, Facebook boasted a user base larger than the populations of three of the world's largest countries combined. This illustrates the massive scale of online connectivity and digital presence that has been amplified by the pandemic.

Section 2: Future of Work Key Trends At the close of 2019, discussions surrounding the future of work were already in full swing. Key global trends included the integration of automation and artificial intelligence into the workforce, a focus on enhancing employee experiences, addressing skill gaps in the rapidly evolving technological landscape, evolving leadership approaches to accommodate diverse generations in the workforce, promoting talent mobility in a globalized economy, and fostering agility to respond to changing customer needs swiftly.

Section 3: Pandemic Impact on World Economy The COVID-19 pandemic had far-reaching consequences on the global economy, leading to ongoing struggles with unemployment, rising fuel prices, economic recessions, and shifts in migration patterns. While the pandemic undoubtedly slowed down many aspects of life, it also accelerated several transformative trends that have shaped the Metaverse economy.

Section 4: Mega Trends Accelerating the Metaverse The Metaverse, often associated with Web 3.0, experienced a significant boost during the pandemic. Key mega trends fueling this acceleration include the increasing adoption of blockchain technology, growing interest in NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and cryptocurrencies, and a surge in unemployment rates that prompted individuals to explore new opportunities in the digital realm. As we delve deeper into the Metaverse, it's essential to understand that it represents a new era of the internet—a shift towards immersive experiences beyond the confines of flat screens and mobile devices.

Section 5: META - Facebook's Transformation In a pivotal moment, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, signaling its commitment to the Metaverse's development. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, emphasized that the Metaverse represents a new frontier, promising business opportunities and an expansive creator economy. It's important to note that the Metaverse extends far beyond Facebook, encompassing a vast digital landscape that transcends any single platform.

Section 6: The Metaverse Economy The Metaverse economy has witnessed a staggering $1.3 billion in startup investments in 2021 alone. But what exactly is the Metaverse economy? In essence, it is a virtual world economy where digital currencies and assets, including NFTs, drive the growth of virtual services, experiences, and goods to a scale that surpasses our current physical economy. Major brands, like Gucci, are already exploring ways to ensure their products and services thrive within this emerging digital realm.

Section 7: Metaverse Real Estate One surprising aspect of the Metaverse economy is the emergence of Metaverse real estate. Companies are designing digital replicas of their physical headquarters to create virtual office spaces where employees can collaborate and engage in a fully immersive experience. Architects, designers, and real estate agents are finding new opportunities within this evolving industry.

Section 8: Metaverse Concerts The music industry is undergoing a profound transformation within the Metaverse. Musicians and record labels are exploring new avenues for monetizing music through tokens and digital assets. Musicians are even converting their songs into NFTs and granting ownership to fans, signaling a paradigm shift in the way intellectual property is managed and valued.

Section 9: Metaverse Market Map The Metaverse Market Map illustrates the diverse sectors within the Metaverse's expansive landscape. These sectors include experience creation, discovery, the creator economy, spatial computing, decentralization, human interfaces, and infrastructure. These areas represent a plethora of opportunities for students and professionals alike.

Section 10: Career Opportunities as Companies Enter As companies increasingly venture into the Metaverse, numerous career opportunities are emerging. Iconic brands such as Gucci and Nike are creating virtual spaces, while artists and musicians are leveraging the Metaverse for innovative projects. New career paths are unfolding in fields like Metaverse research, world building, ecosystem design, storytelling, Metaverse hardware and software development, Metaverse planning, cybersecurity, and XR safety management.

Section 11: New Career Metaverse Jobs The Metaverse's transformative potential is not limited to traditional career paths. Emerging roles include Metaverse research scientists, world builders, ecosystem designers, storytellers, Metaverse hardware and software builders, Metaverse planners, cybersecurity experts, and XR safety managers. These roles reflect the diverse opportunities within this rapidly evolving digital realm.

Section 12: What Skills to Focus On? In navigating this dynamic landscape, it's crucial to consider the skills required for success. The World Economic Forum's list of the top 10 skills for 2025 emphasizes a blend of soft and technical skills, highlighting the importance of adaptability, innovation, leadership, creativity, and problem-solving. Developing these skills will empower you to thrive in the Metaverse economy.

Section 13: Key Takeaways To position yourself for success in the evolving Metaverse economy, remember these key takeaways:

Gain Fluency in Metaverse Concepts: Familiarize yourself with the Metaverse's core concepts and trends.
Contribute and Innovate: Consider how your university major can be applied within the Metaverse and explore avenues for innovation.
Professional Networking: Connect with industry experts and engage in discussions on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, or Clubhouse.
Build Your Personal Brand: Share your ideas and establish thought leadership in your field.
Embrace Continuous Learning: Cultivate a growth mindset and commit to lifelong learning, adapting to the rapid changes in the Metaverse and beyond.

Section 14: Conclusion In closing, as Charles Darwin aptly noted, it is not the strongest species that survives but the most adaptable to change. The Metaverse represents a monumental shift in our digital landscape, and those who embrace its potential, cultivate essential skills, and remain adaptable will undoubtedly thrive in this new era of the digital economy.

For further insights into the Metaverse and its multifaceted dimensions, I invite you to explore METAVERSE-OLOGY, a podcast where I converse with thought leaders, developers, and experts in various Metaverse-related fields. Together, we can demystify the Metaverse and work towards creating a more inclusive and innovative digital world

Speakers Info

Raulvin Coke Agile Consultant at Fidelity Investments

Raulvin Coke is a dynamic leader and visionary at the forefront of the technology revolution. With a career spanning nearly two decades, Raulvin has consistently demonstrated his prowess in driving innovation and navigating the complexities of the digital era.

Visit Raulvin Coke Profile

Session Script: Rise of the Metaverse Economy & the Future of work

Introduction

Hello, my name is Raulvin, cofounder and CEO of Futurewise Media & Consulting Group. I'm super excited to be here today to talk to you about the rise of the Metaverse economy and the future of work. As there's been a lot of conversation about the Metaverse, you're hearing all these things about gaming, NFTs, crypto currency. And what I want to do today is talk to you a little bit about what does that mean for you, as a university student? You're currently in university and you hear all these things flying around but what are the implications for university students? So that's what we're going to try to break down today. We’d really talk to you through a few things. So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen. And we're gonna go ahead and get started.

Talk Structure

I want to start off by talking about the impact of the pandemic. Give us a little bit of context, talk about the future of work been in now some of the current or the past trends, and what would actual implications, what actually did happen? Rise of the Metaverse and the mega trends in the areas of opportunities for you, and then talk about a few key takeaways and how you can shift into this upcoming an evolving, Metaverse economy.

Emma, the office worker of the future

So a few years ago that will say at the very end of 2019, I was at a conference with a number of HR leaders, it was a design thinking conference, and we were talking about what is the future of work? And what are the implications for HR? So a lot of talk there. And back then, there have recently been a study done on what would the future employee look like? So what I want to do is go back in time a little bit and talk to you about Emma. So back at the end of 2019, Emma was what they were saying was going to be the future office worker, this could be your colleague, this is what they were saying. And because of the work environment at the end of 2019, they were saying employees weren't happy, they were sitting in their chairs for a number of hours. This is what can actually happen to the body permanently, that rounded stomach caused by sedentary work, varicose veins, and all these things. So I put this up here today to think about. I wonder if they put this out, the pandemic kind of kicked off. And we saw a whole change, and how we thought about work, because everyone started to work from home. So work from home, people have more freedom, they probably was still a little sedentary, but they weren't sitting behind their desk the way they used to, they were still having more time to be with family and do some of the things that they love as they develop a new work life balance, and still were able to be productive at work. So I just wanted to go back in time a little bit.

Facebook Populations Larger than 3 of the World’s biggest Countries

Back then Facebook was larger than three of the world's biggest companies, when we talk about the number of users that were on Facebook, and that currently are. And now we're seeing less people, but we're gonna get into that the impact of social media and the number of people that were online is enormous. So just to think that Facebook alone in 2019, had more people been three of the world's largest companies really put that into perspective.

Future of work key trends

So here are some of the global key trends with future work back at the end of 2019. So we were talking about automation and some of the key artificial intelligence, all those things were coming into the workforce. Employee experience was a big topic. Skill gaps, and we're going to talk about that later. There were gap in skills and how we're going to keep up with technology? The evolution of Leadership, looking at the leaders and how do leaders encourage in work with an evolving workforce when we have three different generations in the workforce. Talent mobility, people shifting around across the globe and open economy across the globe. Generational diversity and agility, how do we become more agile in delivering products and services to the end customer more quickly. So these were the topics.

Pandemic Impact on World Economy

We all know when the pandemic hit, it had a major impact on the world. The world economies are still struggling. They’re struggling with unemployment. We're still seeing that now. Gas prices are going through the roof here in the United States and all the issues that are going on in the world, major recessions that are continuing to happen, people are still migrating across the globe. Tourism probably a little better, but it's probably going to slow down because of fuel prices. So again, the pandemic really slow things down, but at the same time, sped a few things up

Mega Trends, Accelerating the Metaverse

We saw some mega trends and evolution and acceleration of the Metaverse. And when I say Metaverse, I'm really encompassing the foundations of the internet or the web 3.0. We saw more adoption in Blockchain technology, people were talking about it and starting to now leverage Blockchain technology. We saw more interest in NFT's (Non Fungible Tokens) and crypto currency. Now these things are starting to become real, people have more time to kind of look into what was actually happening because they were at home and able to focus on the news and see what was happening and how can they do something different because they were finding more purpose in their lives because they were remote. The rise in unemployment, all these things helped to accelerate what they're calling the Metaverse and this shift into the web 3.0. And I'm not gonna dive deeply into it. But when we talk about the Metaverse, what are we talking about? I like to think about it in three phases so far.

When we think about the internet, or the web, starting in the 90s. So depending on who's listening, you guys are a little younger. But the internet, the first phase of that was in the 90s. And that lasted about 15, 20 years or so until we got into 2004. And that's when we saw the rise. And that's when I was in college around 2004. The Facebook came around, and that's when social media and MySpace really started to pick up. It's kind of where we are today with mobility and influencers in all these jobs that came out of it. And so now as we start to pivot from 2004 to where we are now, in 2022, we starting to shift into the internet 3.0. Think about it like iPhone, a new generation of iPhone. This is a new generation of the internet. This is what the Metaverse is. So it's an evolution into a more immersive experience of the web that we have not seen before as opposed to just looking at it on a flat screen or looking at it on a mobile device. How do we become more embedded and immersed into it to have more of a physical, fully immersive experience? I'm sure some other people talk about the Metaverse, but I want to talk about that really quickly before we move forward.

The Metaverse Economy

So the Metaverse economy has seen a record of $1.3 billion in startup investments alone in 2021. There are a huge number of investments in this. And you're probably still thinking, what the Metaverse is, because he's talked about that.

What is the Metaverse economy?

I like to describe it as a virtual world economy where transactions in digital currency and assets like NFT's power the expansion of virtual services and experiences and goods to eventually exceed our current physical economy. So in the background, you can see there's a Gucci bag. And these companies are all rushing into the Metaverse to figure out once people are embedded in then they're fully immersed into the Metaverse. How do we make sure that our goods and our services are still offered? How does your eye doctor expand their business and reach more people around the globe? They can do that in the Metaverse and I've spoken to some companies that are looking to do just that, what does it look like when you're a university that was local can only take a certain amount of students, but now they can expand into the Metaverse and across the globe and we're doing some of that already you're thinking with Zoom and doing it online but it's still a different experience.

Metaverse Real Estate

So we're seeing a number of companies. Metaverse Real Estate, think about that. As we talk about companies that are moving into the Metaverse, how do they set up? We're talking about organizations that they have remote workers and how do we get companies or employees of fully engaged? They're thinking about creating a digital twin of the organization making a virtual copy of the way their headquarters look, and putting it into the Metaverse so that their employees can join the other colleagues inside of the Metaverse, inside of the building in the Metaverse. So there are a number of opportunities. So that means we need architects to create buildings, that means we need designers. Real estate agents are moving into the Metaverse is huge economy.

Metaverse Concert

Metaverse Concerts, so we're seeing a lot of musicians in record labels. And the whole music industry is shifting. How do we create tokens out of the music? And one of my favorite artists a few weeks back turned to his songs into NFT's and gave ownership to his fans. And so we're looking at a new economy, a new way to take intellectual property and monetize it. Kids are on their creating skins and selling them.

Metaverse Market Map

When we look at the Metaverse Market Map, you see there are a number of different areas and these are all companies doing, building the Metaverse. We have experience, who's building the experiences out of the Metaverse? Discovery, how do we find how do we put on goggles and go in there and do things and play games, the creator economy for the creators? I talked about kids, or people just creating content to go inside of the Metaverse spatial computing, decentralization, human interface, and infrastructure, all these things need to take place. And that's why I say it's a huge opportunity as a student.

Career Opportunities as Companies Enter

As these companies are entering into the Metaverse and customers and consumers become comfortable with web 3.0, large brands definitely going to create jobs they need to. So they're rushing in now. Gucci, some of the largest brands that we see Nike, is creating Nike land inside of Roblox. Snoop Dogg, one of the rappers is creating his Snoop land in the sandbox, and then running a number of different concerts and then testing these things out.

New Career Metaverse Jobs

So there are new jobs and new careers that are gonna pop up and I just listed a few that I've just came across, but we can list any number of careers that you can think of today are going to have some type of role inside of the Metaverse in the same way at the end of 2008. We started to shift into a more social media after the iPhone came around, and we started to create apps. We need a new influencer and so that influencer economy started to pop up. And Facebook advertising, new roles came out of that. So when we look at new careers for the Metaverse, we need Metaverse research scientists. We need world builders. I talked about the architects, and I spoke to a few architects. It's funny because sometimes people don't think about it as a Metaverse role. And this is the key thing that you guys are gonna have to think about too. How do you take your role or what you're doing today in the physical world and translate that into the Metaverse that's going to be the key.

One of my friends, Fatima Monferrato, who is the CEO of spaces. She told me when she came out of college, she was just going to be a regular architect. One of our friends tapped in and said, we're working on this project in the virtual world and we will love you to design something for us that we can place into this virtual environment. So if you're an interior decorator, maybe think about that. The ecosystem design, people need to tell stories inside of the Metaverse. Disney is entering there, and Disney World is actually doing something. I didn't put it in here, but they're actually working on creating cities. And they're looking for storytellers, and designers. And what they want to do is take entire communities have people buy homes in those communities, and overlaid with augmented reality. And that's also part of the Metaverse. We think about VR and putting on goggles and that just being the Metaverse, but what about when we overlay some of these things on top of our physical world the same way they did with Pokémon GO and you see these things in your real experience, maybe with some shades on. And eventually, we saw in the movie Minority Report, they probably want to put a context in your eyes eventually, so you can just see everything around you. Anyway, for that we need the Metaverse hardware and software builders. We need Metaverse planners.

One of the biggest things is cyber security. As we begin to move into a place where people are using avatars, we don't know who they really are. We're going to need to understand who is that person that's in here? And here's another thing, you might see someone inside of that Metaverse and you're thinking, is that a real person, or is it an artificial intelligent being or entity that's communicating with me? And they understand how to communicate with humans because they're in there so long and machine learning kind of takes off. And that's the one thing that we need to keep our finger on. But we need to make sure that we had that cyber security and we need XR safety managers to make sure that people are protected. Anyone knows when people put on the mask and able to change your identity, it's almost a different personality in there. And so one of the things that you'll probably hear about later is our Metaverse intelligence quotient that my partner is going to talk about.
Here are few roles that you can think about as we enter into the Metaverse, but that's only one side of the coin. I talked about jobs. But what about the creators that are developing content and experiences inside of that Metaverse economy, and I got to go too deep into this. For the entrepreneurs out there are people looking to start a business or just to create content.

Mike Winckelmann Example

Here's one example of people you probably came across his work Mike Winckelmann. He's a digital artists early in 2020, and never sold a digital print. He was just posted on Instagram here, people might buy an image for up to 100 bucks. But early in 2021, when he saw that someone tapped him and said, “You can sell that in the Metaverse, you can turn that into an NFT artwork that you weren't really making much money around. You can turn that into something huge” and sold for $69 million at Christie's art auction. There's been some controversy lately around this but again, the opportunity is there. And even if this wasn't necessarily a real story maybe was set up, I'm not sure what all the details are. They're showing you the opportunities and sometimes these things happen. They showed they create a story for you so you can open your eyes so you can see what the opportunities are. And this is one of the opportunities if you are an artist, someone that's a creator, this mega opportunity they call it the Metaverse Economy but it's also the Creator Economy. If you're creative, think about how you can take your intellectual property turn that into an NFT put it on the Blockchain and probably auction it off.

Design to Earn, Play to Earn

We're also seeing designed to earn in play to earn opportunities and they're experimenting. Designed to earn is where we're seeing a lot of people creating and even kids creating their own skins inside of Roblox and selling them for Roblox. So they're learning how to be creators in the value of exchange of goods in services. Play to earn, we’re seeing in the rural Philippines is kind of an experiment that they're running there, where they're taking the game called XE infinity, and people are creating their own income that they didn't necessarily have from a job. So they're saying $2000 a month upwards by people playing the game and earning from play to earn. So there are so many new concepts that are going to come about that you need to keep your finger on.

Top 10 Skills of 2025

But if you think about it purely from an educational perspective, when we think about the workforce, I want to point you to what the World Economic Forum was talking about with the top 10 skills of 2025. And we're moving to that pretty rapidly. They put this list down in 2020. As you can see here's analytical thinking and innovation, active learning and learning strategies, leadership and social influence, creativity, originality, and initiative, technology use, monitoring and control, technology design, reasoning problem solving and ideation. So we didn't see anything that's really had to do with coding. It's technology design some programming, but most of these are soft skills and there is a reason why.

What Skills to FOCUS On?

want you to focus on the three areas of skills, when you're thinking about designing your university in your learning journey, whether inside of the school and outside of it as well. There's Perishable Skills, Semi-durable Skills and Durable Skills.
• Perishable Skills: And if you can take a look here, you'll see that the Perishable Skills are really those specific technological skills that are updated frequently, whether it be some type of C++ or some type of coding that you would find, it always changes. The technology is moving so rapidly, that the life of that skill set is really diminishing quickly. So it only has up to about less than 2.5 years.
• Semi-durable Skills: You see the Semi-durable Skills that have between the 2.5 and the 7.5 lifespan is really around creating frameworks and knowledge of specific technologies, processes and tools. So think about agility and things that. Those are things that have a good lifespan.
• Durable Skills: Those are those soft skills, design thinking or project management, effective communication, leadership, those mindsets. So when you're thinking about developing yourself, I want you to make sure that at your foundation, you have those Durable Core Skills because those are going to be the thing that sets you apart. Those that creativity, that innovation, the ideation, those are the things that the organizations are going to be looking for. And those Semi-durable Skills being able to create frameworks and think differently.

Key Take Aways

At the same time, because the Metaverse is moving so rapidly, I want you to think about how you transition and take that framework. Create a framework and say, I'm in university right now and here's my major. What are some of the soft skills that I can add on to that? And then think about some of those skills may not last so long is going to be around fluency in the Metaverse because it's evolving so rapidly, but you still need that. So I'm going to talk to you about a few key takeaways that you can leverage to think about how do you transition yourself into the Metaverse leveraging your university skills as well? So start to “Gain Fluency” in the Metaverse concepts. I want you to brainstorm when your role on your university major right now plays or can play inside in the Metaverse and how can you “Contribute or bring innovation” around that particular topic? Because everything that's in the physical world for the most part is going to have to shift or transition into that Metaverse or going to find a way to make it fit. So right now we're seeing that we're in the early adopter phase where we're building the foundations of the Metaverse. And it's really around the technologists, and then you have the content creators.

But then there's a whole middle piece that's still missing and that's where you come in to start to think about that. If you want to get into the space “Professional Networking”, think about who can you network with or join the conversation on LinkedIn or Instagram or Clubhouse or WhatsApp? Whatever the popular channel is, wherever you are. There are a whole host of them. I know there's a global audience. See where they're talking about the Metaverse, see where they're talking about crypto and Blockchain and see where they're talking about Dallas. I didn't go into all the concepts of the Metaverse because it can get confusing but see where you can add value. “Build Your Reputation & Your Personal Brand”, share your ideas and create thought leadership around. If you want to take your major and pull it into Metaverse. Be that person that is, “Hey, this is something that's needed and start to talk about it.” Because you're going to be that expert having that foundational knowledge.

And then you're going to be the one thinking about how does this map to the Metaverse? And then again, “Develop a Continuous Learning Mindset” that's the biggest key component about the Metaverse having a growth mindset. And because I said, the skills that we have, if you don't have the right skills, they can be becoming antiquated. So if you have a continuous learning mindset, that's the key. That's one of the key mindsets that's going to be make your success in any area, whether it be in the Metaverse or any job that you have. Learning something new every day, and contribute via thought leadership. And that's what I say is going to be the key.

Charles Darwin Quote

So hopefully you took a lot away. Charles Darwin says, “It's not about the strongest of the species that survives, but rather that which is most adaptable to change” and the world is changing rapidly. We've seen a change over the last two years. It moves so quickly. I don't think anyone could really keep up or fathom that we will be where we are today. But if you're able to be adaptable to change, and adjust to change and see the opportunity in change, those are going to be the winners.”

For more Leaning about Metaverse (METAVERSE-OLOGY)

So if you want to learn more about the Metaverse, I have a new show that I host is called METAVERSE-OLOGY where I talk to thought leaders around the globe, developers that are building the Metaverse, thought leaders, people that are looking at the skills, crypto currency all these things to really demystify the Metaverse to see how we can contribute and see where the gaps are and how everyone can help build a better Metaverse for the world?

That's it. I hope you enjoy. My name is Raulvin Coke. Like, I said the Founder and CEO of Futurewise Group and Host of Metaverse-ology podcast. Hope you enjoy the session. Thank you.

The Future of Higher Education