Three Top Reads from the Global Electronics Association’s Chief Communications Officer

By Carrie Sessine, Chief Communications Officer

Key Summary

• Reflections on 90,000 work hours highlight how careers evolve through experiences, people, and continuous learning.
• Advances in robotics, autonomous systems, and AI are reshaping work and accelerating change across industries.
• ISF Voices 2025 examines how humanoid robots will influence future workforce dynamics.
• The Economist illustrates modern factories as precise, clean, technology driven environments with fewer workers.
• A 2025 World Economic Forum report stresses lifelong learning through technical and human centric skills.

Work – that’s what I’ve been contemplating the last few weeks for this Top 3 Reads. Over a lifetime, people spend approximately 90,000 hours working, equivalent to just over 15 years. The day I walked across the stage, grinning and waving that diploma, I had no idea what a terrific – and challenging – “ride” working would be… the places I’ve gone, people I’ve met, and oh, the many things I’ve learned. 

For me, though, the last decade+ has been completely transformative. Think of the digital tools and applications, the speed of those, and for the last nearly three years, the introduction and uptake of AI. I’m thinking of how those 90,000 hours of work shift with increased use of robotics, autonomous systems, and AI. Read on for more: 

ISF Voices 2025: Preparing for the Robotics Workforce: Offered via the Special Cooperative Studies Project, this essay explores how humanoid robots are reshaping the future of work worldwide. 

What Factories in America Look Like: A picture’s worth 10,000 words. The Economist shows just how much the factory floor has changed, the precision, the spotless machinery, and fewer people. From the article, “…pictures are a corrective for anyone whose image of manufacturing is tinted in sepia. The factories are well-lit and clean. With its bright white rooms full of busy technicians in head-to-toe gowns, a microchip fabrication plant resembles a medical facility or the futuristic lair of a James Bond villain.”

Lifelong Learning: The Jan. 2025 report from the World Economic Forum highlighted the need for lifelong learning with the combination of technical and human-centric skills to keep up with the pace of change.