Are you upskilling fast enough to stay ahead of AI and tech disruption? Alison Simpson, CEO of the CMA, sits down with Mark Beckles, CEO of Palette Skills, who's leading Canada's largest upskilling initiative. With 71% of workers wanting to upgrade their skills regularly, Mark reveals how the Palette Skills program upskills people in weeks - not months. From generating $200 million in economic output to reshaping careers, learn why Mark believes the future of work belongs to those who pursue 'latticed' careers instead of climbing traditional ladders.

[00:00:00] Presenter: Welcome to CMA Connect, Canada's marketing podcast, where industry experts discuss how marketers must manage the tectonic shifts that will change how brands and businesses are built for tomorrow, while also delivering on today's business needs with your host CMA CEO, Alison Simpson.

[00:00:23] Alison: The future of work is here as artificial intelligence and tech disruption reshape entire industries at breakneck speed. The question isn't whether Canadian workers need to upskill, but whether we can do it fast enough to stay ahead of the change and keep our country thriving. For today's episode, I'm thrilled to welcome Mark Beckles, Chief Executive Officer at Palette Skills.

[00:00:45] Alison: Mark joined Palette Skills in July and shares our passion for upskilling Canadians to ensure that they can innovate and compete both here at home as well as globally. Mark brings more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in financial services and the nonprofit sector known for driving large transformational initiatives and delivering true business value.

[00:01:05] Alison: At RBC, Mark led the Future Launch initiative that equipped 5.5 million young Canadians for the future of work. He also spearheaded RBC Upskill, a national tool that helps individuals align their skills with emerging careers. Previously, Mark served as President and CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund for Canada.

[00:01:24] Alison: At Palette Skills, Mark and his team are leading Canada's largest upskilling initiative. His work is particularly timely as tech disruption, especially AI, are continuing to reshape entire industries and redefine what skills will be most valuable in the future. What makes Mark's perspective particularly valuable is just front row seat to workforce transformation through pallet skills programs.

[00:01:47] Alison: He can see not just what skills employers are seeking, but why they're upskilling their employees, which really provides some great early insights into how tech is driving change across Canada's economy in every province. With ongoing discussions about Canada's productivity gap, Mark's insights into upskilling and innovation couldn't be more relevant or timelier.

[00:02:07] Alison: Welcome, Mark. I am absolutely thrilled to have you join me on CMA Connect today.

[00:02:11] Mark: Thank you for having me on, Alison, such a pleasure to be here with you today.

Alison: Now I want to kick things off by hearing more about your career journey. In particular, I'd love to know what drew you to focus on social responsibility throughout your career, and what made the transition to Palette Skills such a natural fit for you?

[00:02:28] Mark: Well, thanks for the question, Alison. I, I would start by saying that I spent most of my time, most of my career in corporate, but there was one intersectional moment in the early 2000s where I made a conscious decision to step away and to invest my skills in the nonprofit sector. And for context, I, you know, developed these skills around risk management when I was, uh, working in the insurance sector and discovered that these skills were easily transferable to the nonprofit sector where I worked in relief development at first and then had the awesome opportunity to, uh, then work for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund for a number of of years.

[00:03:12] Mark: And, uh, as a result of that, I became acutely aware of this notion that profit and purpose can coexist in the same ecosystem, and that I could more effectively translate the language of the nonprofit sector to the corporate sector and the language of the corporate sector to the nonprofit sector, because of course, one's from Mars and the other from Venus.

[00:03:33] Mark: But in having this sort of cross sector experience or these cross-sector experiences, it really has enriched my life and really helped me understand the ways in which I can help create value for society by bringing these really strong corporate skills to the nonprofit sector and taking a real deep understanding of the issues and challenges, uh, facing the nonprofit sector rather, and what they're trying to solve, and making sure that the corporate sector and governments and other stakeholders understand.

[00:04:03] Mark: And so in the context of Palette Skills, I just absolutely enjoy the work that we're doing because we're actually helping to ensure that we can sort of fuel Canada's economic prosperity.

Alison: It's such a great personal example because when you think about working in a big bank, working in risk in the insurance sector, and then moving to nonprofit, a lot of our listeners, a lot of people would think, how is that possible?

[00:04:26] Alison: You're gonna be starting from scratch and not really appreciate how transferable those skills are. In my career, I've had similar opportunities where I've worked in very, very different industries, yet some of the challenges are the same, and the skills are a lot more transferable than many people assume.

[00:04:42] Mark: So I like that you have that personal perspective as you're going into head one of Canada's largest upskilling programs as well.

Mark: Absolutely. I, I think to a large degree, most employees, most Canadians, don't understand or appreciate the extent to which their skills are actually transferrable across careers and across sectors.

[00:05:01] Mark: And that's one of the great joys of the work that we do, that I did at RBC, and now that we do it at Upscale Canada, to help workers to help employees understand the transferability of skills of workers.

Alison: Absolutely. Yeah, diversity of experience, diversity of thought makes us all better at what we do, so it's a great, great confirmation.

[00:05:19] Alison: I mentioned in my opening that we are absolutely seeing unprecedented tech disruption, particularly with AI. So you clearly have a front row seat to workforce transformation, and I'd love to hear what early trends are you seeing in terms of how and why employers are upskilling their employees.

[00:05:37] Mark: It's a great question Alison. Uh, a couple of things I would offer, first of which is upskilled workers get the most up to date skills and are ready to hit the ground running in four months or less. And these are employees who have an immediate impact. And the second is that workforce development is critical and cannot start when people are in the workforce.

[00:05:57] Mark: Uh, and such that we need to be thinking about upskilling as a tool of lifelong learning. And these programs can adapt at speed and they can innovate and modernize, making them essential for job seekers and for businesses who are looking to adapt. So the constant change that we are seeing in sectors like yours, like marketing for example, education and training can no longer be once and done.

[00:06:22] Mark: And for those of us who've had careers over time know that we have actually had to undergo, uh, upskilling or reskilling, whether formal or informal ways. So, so that, you know, to Upskill Canada, we maximize our impact when we work with multiple stakeholders, corporate partnerships and funders and employers and delivery partners.

[00:06:42] Mark: It's not just about employers who are looking to hire for these up-to-date skills. We also serve employers who want to up, uh, upskill their employees as well. I think of RBC funding at the level of $500,000 for a program that supports small and medium sized enterprises and responsible adoption of AI technology, and that will be launched in 2026.

[00:07:07] Mark: And that's an example of how when working with corporate partners, we can accelerate the impact that we're trying to have. But of course, business leaders and employees and job seekers will be upskilled in weeks, not months as a result of that investment. The other thing that we know is that 71% of workers

[00:07:25] Mark: absolutely want to update their skills more often. And 80% believe that employers should invest, uh, more in providing upskilling and reskilling. So upskilling helps with employee retention and uh, and employee satisfaction. And I would say that we can even work with employers to develop the programming

[00:07:44] Mark: they need to make sure that their employees have the right skills to do their jobs more efficiently and more effectively. So when we talk about upskilling employees, it's an ongoing opportunity, an ongoing process. And you know, any sector that wants to be successful is gonna have to turn attention to ensuring that they're billing that robust human capital to ensure that they're competitive.

[00:08:09] Alison: It's such a compelling stat that so many Canadian workers want to update their skills, and you make a great point that that's a surefire way to improve employee retention and employee satisfaction. What do you think holds employers back from doing more upskilling?

Mark: I think one of the issues and challenges that holds employers back is

[00:08:28] Mark: oftentimes, particularly in small businesses, they don't know what they need in terms of, you know, where they need to upskill their employees. Oftentimes, small organizations don't have, uh, the capital, the, the, the resources to be able to upskill and reskill, uh, in real time. Oftentimes, they're unaware of the, the challenges that they are facing.

[00:08:49] Mark: Yet you have employees who often can see before their employers do the kinds of skills that, that they, the employees will need to thrive and to prosper and to help their, uh, employers thrive and prosper. So that, I think there, there needs to be greater attention and awareness on the part of businesses to understand, you know, the skills needs of their employees and what those employers will need to focus on

[00:09:13] Mark: to ensure that they can sustain their businesses, that they can continue to compete, particularly in a world that is rapidly changing, where the challenges of tomorrow are gonna be very different from the challenges of yesterday, and that the fight for survival and, and the war for talent is going to be real, and that employers are gonna have to spend more attention, understanding where they need to compete.

[00:09:37] Alison: Small and medium enterprises really drive Canada's economy, so to ensure they have the upskilled talent they need to continue thriving both here and globally is mission critical. And then when I think about the role Upskill Canada and Palette are playing, like that's an amazing resource for SMEs to be able to leverage in order to help upskill their teams and their talent so they can compete.

[00:10:01] Alison: Now I'd love to talk specifically, clearly my bias, specifically more about marketing and creative professionals. So how do you think marketers need to approach upskilling differently given the rapid pace of tech change, especially around AI?

Mark: That's a great question, because you know at first sight one might conclude that your space is ripe for disruption, and to some degree it is.

[00:10:24] Mark: But this is where upskilling model allows for these sorts of pivots where upskilling can rapidly evolve and train people efficiently in response to the issues and challenges and opportunities that you're seeing in your space. So the programs like Digital Marketing Skills Canada are pivoting to make sure that marketers get the right skills for a long career.

[00:10:46] Mark: And Alison, I know that the CMA has made a few pivots, even adapting to serving new sectors, and your programs have been updated. Perhaps you might wanna share with me what CMA has done about the success of the DMSC.

Alison: Mark, thanks for turning the table on me in my typical role of host. I'm more than happy to answer that question.

[00:11:05] Alison: So, as you mentioned, the CMA leads the Digital Marketing Skills Canada program, and we deliver training programs in partnership with Growclass and Jelly Academy. So we have courses that provide crucial digital marketing and business skills for marketers at every stage, including people that are brand new and want to change industries, want to get into marketing to quite senior.

[00:11:24] Alison: And the CMA and our partners also provide mission critical AI training, and that's been one of the important pivots we've made. As AI continues to evolve, we're constantly updating and refreshing our programming to make sure that our graduates are well positioned to really leverage these skills to grow businesses and brands.

[00:11:42] Alison: And then I'll, I'll brag a little bit. So since we launched the DMSC program in 2024, we've now upskilled 1900 marketing professionals from every province across the country, and we have a couple in the Yukon as well, and after upgrading their marketing skills, our graduates have gone on to support over seven hundred

[00:12:00] Alison: small and medium enterprises and really help those businesses grow their businesses, grow their sales, and really contribute job placement. So once they graduate, we have a track record of placing 75% of our graduates into a new role. And then we've also done a very good job of

[00:12:22] Alison: really supporting underrepresented groups. It was part of our original submission to DMSC and a really important priority for the CMA and our partners. So we have over 70% of our graduates and learners are from underrepresented groups, and that's just a sign of our deep commitment to EDI and, and a positive impact that we're having to make sure that the marketing profession is as equitable and diverse as the country that we represent.

[00:12:48] Mark: That is absolutely fantastic. Those are, those are stats that, uh, the CMA should be proud of. And when you think of this Pan-Canadian approach that you have, you know, delivering a program that is digital first, that is inclusive, uh, that allows for participation right across the country, that strengthens your sector, that creates, uh, career opportunities,

[00:13:13] Mark: that is inclusive. Those are all the things that make these programs successful, and I, I truly think that CMA should be really proud of those outcomes. And we are just so thrilled to be partnering with you on this.

Alison: We hope together we're just getting started. We see a very bright future for sure, and there's certainly a significant need.

[00:13:30] Alison: We've got wait lists in the hundreds, so the more successful we are, the more we're seeing people raise their hand to want to be a part of it. Now from when Upskills Canada's initiative was first formed to today, what are the major changes that you've seen in upskilling needs across Canada?

Mark: Well, the first thing I would say is because the program and the upskilling model is, is employer-led, it means that we are able to adjust programs and and to sort of meet

[00:13:57] Mark: the demands of employers as the, as the market shifts. And then of course, given the economic changes we are seeing, those changes require us to be increasingly more, uh, responsive to changes at the sector level. And of course, given that there is a growing number of workers in tariff hit industries that will need support, we will have to continue to be increasingly more adaptive and responsive to, to the needs of employers and to the needs of employees. Upskill Canada programs then are designed exactly to be adaptive

[00:14:38] Mark: and to allow for pivots along with, uh, the job market. And, and when we talk about rapid upskilling, it's because it's not going to take a worker two or four years to get the critical skills that they need. It's going to take a matter of, uh, of weeks. And that is again, the beauty of the Upskill Canada program.

[00:15:00] Mark: The flexibility, the adaptability of it, the ability to change and respond to what's happening in markets and, and sectors in, in real time. And when I think of where we need to go as a country, our ability to flex and, and pivot, given some of the geopolitical challenges that we are being confronted with, will require us to do that at pace and at scale.

[00:15:25] Alison: The DMSC programs is a great example of a few of the things that you've talked about. We, to your point, it, our programs are six or seven weeks. Now I will say they are an intense six or seven weeks, but our graduates come out of that with the skills they need to really do modern marketing and thrive. And then the pivoting based on where tariffs are coming and going,

[00:15:44] Mark: the Canadian industries that need greater support. Advanced manufacturing is a great example of that where, when Palette and the Government came and said, we need more support in agritech and advanced manufacturing, we were very quickly able to pivot our programs and customize those for those industries in need and deliver in a matter of weeks instead of months.

[00:16:04] Alison: So it's a really powerful element of what you're doing at Palette Skills through the Upskill Canada program as well. And when we look at the broader picture, knowing that Canada does have a productivity gap and that fueling innovation is so mission critical to our growth, why is workforce development in your perspective so critical to both productivity as well as our country's ability to innovate?

[00:16:28] Mark: That was a great question and, and I, I would answer that question in the context of the bold ambition that, that, that Prime Minister Carney has, uh, articulated and has continued to articulate for the last number of months. To which I would say that Canada will not be able to meet even the ambitious goals that he has set without a national skill strategy, which must include upskilling.

[00:16:53] Mark: I am deeply happy to see his announcements, for example, on national projects and so on. But those projects won't happen without people and the supply chains into those projects won't happen without people. Whether those supply chains are, are, are digital, whether they are focused on marketing, whether they're focused on communications, whether they're focused on infrastructure, regardless, won't happen without people.

[00:17:21] Mark: So when I talk about a national skill strategy to include upskilling, it is to ensure that in the delivery of any and all of those projects, there needs to be a focus on people. Because Canada is grappling with an unprecedented shift in the economic fundamentals that have, uh, allowed for our prosperity to this point.

[00:17:41] Mark: But if we don't invest in workforce development, we risk leaving billions of productivity and innovation untapped with talent sidelined instead of contributing to the industries that need them the most. I think we recognize that there's a growing reality that right skilled workers will be the key to our prosperity and resilience.

[00:18:04] Mark: So whether it is a large scale workforce development that requires a national collaborative model that aligns training with industry, and that needs to be connected to talent and connecting talent to opportunity quickly to ensure that that happens, that's where we need to focus our attention. But ultimately, Canada's prosperity

[00:18:23] Mark: depends on ensuring that we are providing people, equipping people with the right skills at the right time so that we can seize the opportunities in the industries that drive our future.

Alison: Building on what you said earlier as well, agility. We need to be able to turn around so quickly, and that's one of the proven, I would say, superpowers of what you're doing at Palette, what we're doing with DMSC, the fact that we can do that in a matter of weeks and really enable our

[00:18:54] Alison: Canadians across the country to be more agile and to deliver on the business needs of today, that's really important.

Mark: It's a great point, and I think we need to take that, uh, we need to take that approach more aggressively across many different industry sets. I think we spend a lot of time thinking about larger scale concepts and learning opportunities, which,

[00:19:19] Mark: because they're not rapid in nature, actually slow the progress that we are trying to make. And you know, if we, if we can think about pivoting, if we can think about building resilience, if we can think about, uh, adapting more quickly, Canada will be the better for it. No question.

Alison: Absolutely. We share that passion for sure.

[00:19:37] Alison: Now you mentioned that upskilling can no longer be a once and done effort, and it's due to a lot of things, in particular technological change. And when I think about what we're teaching our learners, we're equipping them with the skills they need today, probably even more importantly, we're teaching them how to learn. Because we are only at the beginning of Ai.

[00:19:56] Alison: It is evolving every hour, let alone every week, let alone every month. So the ability to learn how to learn and to know that that's the new life skill you need to thrive is an important part of what we're doing. So how do we ensure that workers stay ahead of the pace of change? And what does lifelong learning look like in practice?

[00:20:16] Mark: Yeah, and, and that's a question that, you know, creates other questions for who see themselves potentially at risk of being disintermediated by technology. And I think part of it is acknowledging that technology is changing more quickly than it ever has in previous industrial revolutions. What I would describe as this fourth industrial revolution, which is about technological change.

[00:20:44] Mark: Digital technology is different in the sense that machines now control machines and there's in some cases very little need for human intervention. So that the opportunity is to think about those roles and opportunities that are not at risk of immediate disintermediation, and so looking to the future to understand, you know, what those opportunities look like and to stay ahead, engaging in a process of lifelong learning that ensures that we are ready for those jobs as they emerge.

[00:21:18] Mark: The one thing we know about previous industrial revolutions is that while jobs change, incrementally more jobs emerge. The level of technological change that we're seeing today means that jobs are going to change incrementally more quickly than they ever have in the past. The question is whether jobs will emerge as quickly as they have in previous, uh, industrial revolutions.

[00:21:43] Mark: And so that's why we are gonna have to be thinking about what those jobs look like, where are they by sector, and how do we ensure that we are rapidly upskilling Canadian workers so that they can, they can, they can do meaningful work and contribute to their employers and, and, and to their countries.

[00:22:00] Mark: And so taking, talking to Upskill Canada alumni, not only have they been telling us that they're happy that they have gone through these programs, they're also excited about, uh, future learning opportunities and that in itself is a valuable skill. The idea that one wants to continue learning, so that one has up to date and relevant skills to pivot and adapt as, uh, the economy needs us to.

[00:22:25] Alison: So Mark, what kind of impact do you envision Pallete Skills upskilling initiatives will have on the broader Canadian economy, especially given the speed at which the landscape is changing today?

Mark: So we, so we are just, uh, undertaking our new mission and vision for year 2030, where we are committing to a better, skilled, more adaptable and equitable workforce that fuels a thriving Canadian economy.

[00:22:53] Mark: And what that enables and is driven by, is firstly incubating workforce solutions and products that allow for the Canadian workforce and employers and employees to really think about how they can help fuel the thriving Canadian economy. The second is increasing access to upskill talent, which is core to the program that we deliver right now.

[00:23:18] Mark: And then thirdly, adapting to the future of work. And by that I mean really anticipating where the future of work is going, where skills are gonna be required to ensure that we are right skilling and, and, and upskilling the right talent at the right time for the right sectors, for the right roles, to ensure that as the future of work changes, we are ready to be able to work with employers to ensure that their, uh, their talent is upskilled.

[00:23:44] Mark: And when I think about the, the impacts of, uh, tariffs and other geopolitical issues, this whole notion of anticipating future work comes into really sharp focus. But we're also looking at the full continuum of a worker's professional life and what might be needed to ensure that we address Canada's talent gap.

[00:24:03] Mark: For example, everyone's talking about the challenges faced by youth as they enter the professional space, but no one is speaking in terms of the opportunity that this yet untapped talent provides, and so if we can think about young people, not as a group of, uh, of, of individuals floating away on an ice drift somewhere, but as part of a sort of integrated workforce talent strategy that allows them to move from school to work into sectors that are in demand, into jobs that are in demand, we can actually build a sustainable workforce that helps, as I said before, fuel a thriving Canadian economy.

[00:24:39] Alison: I can't imagine a more needed and relevant vision. So I'm looking forward to seeing what you're accomplishing in the years ahead. I also wanna look back a little bit because Palette Skills has been around for a number of years. You've got an amazing mandate from the government and you've accomplished a tremendous amount.

[00:24:55] Alison: So I'd love you to share with our listeners some of the, uh, success metrics from the overall program.

Mark: So, uh, at Palette Skills, you know, over the last three years with the Upskill Canada program, we have been able to upskill close to 11,000 workers. We are on track to upskill about 18,000 by the end of our mandate, uh, March 31st of, of next year.

[00:25:20] Mark: You know, 75% of the participants of our program report is being new to Canada by five years, which means that quite a number of employers are onboarding and integrating new Canadians into into the workforce, and that I think is driving a lot of our success. Quite a number of participants of our programs, you know, coast to coast coast report, receiving a significant, uh, increase in pay or salary once they go through these, uh, these rapid upskilling programs and report their satisfaction with the experience.

[00:25:55] Mark: But more fundamentally, what we also know is that based on the numbers of individuals that have been upskilled and based on the increased economic and productivity output that they have driven, in aggregate, we are able to have generated through the Upskill program an additional, uh, $200 million in economic output.

[00:26:16] Mark: And so we know that the program works. We know the model works, and we are looking forward to being able to extend this program and increase, uh, the numbers of employees that are upskilled and integrated into new jobs and new sectors as our economic fundamentals change. I can't think of a program that is more relevant and more important to the success of the Canadian economy than the work that we and other, uh, organizations like yours and the broader workforce ecosystem are doing to ensure that, uh, workers are adequately upskilled and supported.

[00:26:50] Alison: That is incredible success and we talked about what do we need to do to fill the productivity gap and ensure that Canada can continue to innovate. And for the last three years you've been doing it. So huge shout out to you and your team for delivering outstanding results for sure. Now I'm very lucky to host talented leaders on CMA Connect.

[00:27:06] Alison: So I always end each episode by asking my guests to share one piece of career advice. So we absolutely have listeners who are tuning in today that aspire to be a CEO one day. So, Mark, given your impressive career, you've been in financial services, social responsibility, workforce development, what advice would you give to those listeners who would like to be a CEO one day?

[00:27:29] Mark: Um, well, speaking, speaking about my experiences, the one thing that I've come to appreciate is that, you know, career success is not linear, and that one has to be willing to take risks and the, the real opportunities and learning and the experiences actually come through the willingness or one's willingness to take chances.

[00:27:53] Mark: And to take chances outside the sectors that you feel that you are qualified for or some young people will say, you know, to, to use the degree that I sort of qualified in, so to speak. I've learned, and, and my own experience has been that my career has been latticed. It has not been laddered. But every time I've stepped across to another career or another experience,

[00:28:17] Mark: at some point in time, I've been able to make an upward move, and so the more, the more willing one is to take risks to recognize that careers don't have to be linear, and that the growth really comes from taking sort of latticed approaches to one's career, one can find meaningful experiences, growth opportunities, and really have impact

[00:28:40] Mark: in ways that one might not have if one stays in one vertical, and hopes against hope to move up the ladder to the role of CEO.

Alison: I absolutely love that advice when I think about the latticed approach. Every time you make a sideways or lateral move, you're learning new skills. Every time you work in a different industry, you're learning new skills, and that ultimately opens up a lot more pathways and a lot more opportunities to step up as well.

[00:29:04] Alison: So absolutely love the advice.

Mark: Absolutely.

Alison: So Mark, I know you're incredibly busy. Thank you so much for being generous with your time. It's been a great conversation. And I also want to personally thank you for the amazing partnership with you and your team. We are making such an important impact in the marketing profession in Canada, and you're making it on the broader Canadian professions as well, and really helping ensure that Canada can be incredibly productive, incredibly innovative, and really grow our GDP.

[00:29:33] Alison: So from my heart, thank you very much for an amazing partnership.

Mark: Thank you Alison. Thank you for having me on. And again, it's a partnership that we value and we're committed to working with you over the longer term, so keep doing what you guys are doing.

[00:29:51] Presenter: Thanks for joining us. Be sure to visit thecma.ca and sign up for your free MyCMA account. It's a great way to stay connected and benefit from the latest marketing thought leadership, news and industry trends.