CEO speaks: Raising Children for Careers That Don’t Exist Yet
If you are a parent in 2026, chances are you are carrying a quiet but persistent worry. You watch your child study, scroll, explore, hesitate and change their mind, and you wonder whether all this uncertainty will lead to a “stable” career. It is a fair concern. The truth is that the career map you grew up with no longer exists and trying to force your child to navigate the future using yesterday’s directions will only increase anxiety, not security.
For most who are parents now, careers once followed a reassuringly linear path. One chose a degree to pursue early after high school, stuck to it, found a job, and then built a life around that identity. The world of work rewarded predictability and punished deviation. Today, that model is dissolving rapidly. Careers are no longer ladders to climb but portfolios built from skills, projects, short stints, reinvention, and continuous learning. This shift can feel highly unsettling for those who equate stability with permanence. Yet for your child, adaptability will be the new stability.
The rapidly evolving global employment landscape makes this clear. According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future of Jobs Report, millions of roles will be disrupted by the end of this decade by the powerful forces unleashed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). But millions of new ones will also be created, resulting in a net gain of jobs though not the same jobs, and not requiring the same skills. What this means for parents is simple but profound: the future is not jobless, it is different. The danger lies not in change itself, but in being unprepared for it.
Education systems in India are already responding to this reality. Under the UGC’s NEP-aligned undergraduate framework, universities are moving away from rigid, single-discipline degrees towards multidisciplinary pathways that allow students to combine interests, technology with psychology, economics with data analytics, science with entrepreneurship, humanities with digital skills. This reflects the real world, where problems are rarely confined to one domain and employers increasingly value those who can think across boundaries.
Schools, too, are slowly shifting away from rote learning towards competency-based evaluation and application-oriented thinking. Affiliation boards like the CBSE are trying not merely to reduce syllabus load, but to reduce fear. Yet despite these changes, parental anxiety has arguably never been higher. Unfortunately, fear does not remain contained. Children absorb it, silently and deeply.
What often gets drowned in this noise is the fact that while tools and technologies change, certain human capabilities never go out of demand. Critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, ethical judgement and emotional resilience remain irreplaceable. AI can process information faster than any human ever will. It cannot build trust, navigate ambiguity with empathy, or take responsibility for decisions that affect people. These qualities are learned over time, through experience, encouragement, and psychological safety.
So what does wise parental support look like in 2026? It begins by shifting the conversation. Instead of obsessing over which job your child will get, focus on which skills they are developing that will remain valuable over decades. Encourage them to build a portfolio identity rather than a single-label career. Respect structured exploration like internships, short courses, volunteering and research projects as legitimate steps toward clarity, not signs of confusion.
Equally important is what parents must avoid. Constant comparison with peers erodes confidence. Dismissing new or unfamiliar career paths closes doors before they are even explored. Forcing early “stability” at the cost of mental wellbeing often backfires. Above all, letting parental fear dictate a child’s future does more harm than any market disruption ever could.
Parents need to make peace with the fact that their child’s career will not be linear, but it can be meaningful, resilient, and fulfilling. Adaptability is not failure, it is today’s fundamental requirement for success. In a world of constant change, the greatest gift a parent can offer their child is emotional stability, faith in their abilities and pursuit, and encouragement to experiment and evolve.
The world of work will keep transforming. Technologies will advance. Changes shall be disruptive. But children raised with confidence, curiosity, and character will always find their way. The best parenting approach is to become a stability provider, offering emotional safety and encouragement to build real skills, and to learn continuously. And when parents stay calm, children learn perhaps the most important career skill of all, how to face uncertainty with courage.
The author is the Vice-Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University and Group CEO, Techno India Group. A visionary leader, he is shaping future-ready institutions and inspiring students to lead with purpose
