The impacts of COVID-19 on career prospects will differ across individuals. In this session we will discuss the groups of people who have advanced and those who have been left behind during the pandemic, along with discussing how those who have been left behind can adapt in a post pandemic world.

In this session Grace Lordan will discuss the lessons we can learn from the social science literature about how we should react to the world of work in this time of uncertainty. In this conversation style panel Grace will also be asking the panel of career experts for opinions and suggestions on how to advance in the world of work during and after the pandemic. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Dorie Clark (@dorieclark) helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was honored as the #1 Communication Coach in the world at the Marshall Goldsmith Coaching Awards. She is a keynote speaker and teaches for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. She is the author of Entrepreneurial You, which was named one of Forbes’ Top 5 Business Books of the Year, as well as Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and consults and speaks for clients such as Google, Yale University, and the World Bank. She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, a producer of a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album, and a Broadway investor. 

Dowshan Humzah (@DowshanHumzah) is an independent board director, known for business transformation and ‘access to opportunity’. As an executive, he delivered growth and digital innovation having held senior roles with RSA Insurance, Virgin Media, Orange, Procter & Gamble and four start-ups. Dowshan’s background explains his passion for ‘access to opportunity’ for those underestimated. In addition, he is known for developing diversity of POETS (Perspective, Outlook, Experience, Thought, Sector and Social Background) as an organisational imperative. His non-executive roles include Director of Board Apprentice Global, having been a Trustee of the MS Society and part of the Steering Board of 50:50 Parliament.

Connson Locke (@connsonlocke) joined the Department of Management at LSE in 2008 where she teaches leadership and organisational behaviour. Over the past 30 years, her career has taken many twists and turns, starting in the non-profit world in Boston (USA), then management consulting in Hong Kong, training and development across the Asia Pacific region, and ending up as an academic in London. Her new book, Making Your Voice Heard (out on 4 March), uses the research on power and influence to help people speak up to those who have more power than they do.

Everything that Simon Ong (@SimonAlexanderO) does is built to inspire people to see their world differently and ignite their imagination of what is truly possible so that they can live a better story. As an award-winning coach and motivational speaker, he has been interviewed on Sky News, BBC and Forbes, and has spoken at some of the planet's most successful organisations such as Virgin, Unilever, Salesforce and Microsoft.

Helen Tupper (@HelenTupper) is the co-founder and CEO of Amazing If, an award-winning career development company with a mission to make work better for everyone. She is co-author of The Sunday Times No.1 Business Bestseller: The Squiggly Career and host of the UK’s no.1 careers podcast: Squiggly Careers.  She also works as a Trustee for Working Families, a UK charity with a mission to support families and carers with their work and life commitments. Prior to Amazing If she held leadership roles for Microsoft, Virgin and BP and was awarded the FT & 30% Club’s Women in Leadership MBA Scholarship. 

Grace Lordan (@GraceLordan_) is an associate professor in behavioural science at LSE. Her research focuses on why some people have successful lives as compared to others because of factors beyond their own control.  She is the founder and director of The Inclusion Initiative, a research centre at LSE and the author of Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future you Want.

More about this event

The Department of Psychological & Behavioural Science (@LSE_PBS) is a growing community of researchers, intellectuals, and students who investigate the human mind and behaviour in a societal context. Our department conducts cutting-edge psychological and behavioural research that is both based in and applied to the real world.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series of debates about the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Let's Talk Careers in a Post-COVID World

A video of this event is available to watch at Let's Talk Careers in a Post-COVID World

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.