The traditional education-to-work pipeline has collapsed and employers are feeling the impact first. Degrees no longer guarantee job readiness, critical skills aren’t emerging from the classroom, and talent shortages are widening across industries. This session makes the case that companies can no longer wait for schools, governments, or legacy systems to catch up. Instead, organizations must actively design the next-generation talent pathway themselves. Through insights from futurists and education innovators, we’ll explore how leading employers are building their own skills ecosystems: developing internal academies, embracing alternative credentials, partnering with next-gen learning platforms, and using AI to accelerate capability building.