#Grazia10: How To Predict Your Career Future With Ajaz Ahmed, Eve Lee, Melanie Howard and Danielle Restivo

It may be fashion month, but here at Grazia HQ we are also busy celebrating the fact that we are 10 years old. To honour the occasion we are hosting a celebratory exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery in central London (it's open to the public so do pop in), and with it, beginning a series of TenTalks (check out all the info on the forthcoming talks here) with the industry's biggest movers and shakers.

This morning we were joined by AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed, 'The Digital Fairy' Eve Lee, co-founder of The Future Foundation Melanie Howard and LinkedIn's Head of Global Programmes Danielle Restivo, as chaired by the brilliant Alex Jones.

In the decade since Grazia launched there have been countless developments in technology and beyond which have impacted everything from our private to professional lives and in the years to come, there are bound to be countless more. In a time where 47% of Americans are concerned their jobs will be taken by robots (according to our panel of experts we don't have to worry about that just yet!), we look at how to future proof our careers.

Allow us to introduce our four best bits...

1. Have the right attitude

"It's about confidence and resilience; constantly learning and having the confidence to believe in yourself," said Future Foundation chair Melanie Howard. "There's always a way to do something better than what other people are doing. Finding the gap in the market and capitalising on it is imperative" said AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed. But it's about having the right qualities, too. "Great entrepeneurs focus on equality and positivity," he said. "We focus on trying to make everything we do beautiful. If you focus on that attribute it will have remarkable effects on everything from your clients to your employees." That said, hard work is ultimately the most important factor. "You can't underestimate the importance of hard work," said Ajaz. "All the leaders in their fields have one thing in common: they work harder than anybody else, it's that simple. We need to be honest with ourselves and put our heart and soul into everything that we do."

2. Be an entrepeneur

In a time where 90,000 new businesses were created in the first half of 2013 alone, entrepeneurship is evidently on the rise. "We're a generation where people are going from being job takers to being job creators," said Ajaz. This, suggested Melanie, is in part due to the fact that there's more and more of a mismatch between the corporate world and the way people want to live. "There used to be more of a divide between public and personal, but now people want to be true to their values and aspirations in all part of their lives," she said. This, she suggested is due in part to the recession and people having had to become more entrepeunerial, placing more of an importance on their individual passions.

3. Utilise the technology

"LinkedIn is a great place to find a job, but you should also use it even if you're not actively searching for one," said Danielle. "It's a great place to meet potential clients and position yourself with people who may be of help to you even five or ten years from now." Danielle went on to stress the importance of networking, explaining how she has never found a job through any other medium than through personal connections. But it's not just online that you need to harness the power of networking, suggested Melanie. "Accept every invitation, network in every environment that you're in," she said. "There is no such thing as hierarchies, you never know who someone is or what they have to offer you so you need to reach out to everybody."

But it's not just today's technology that we need to utilise, our panel stressed the importance of understanding future technology, too. "We all need to increasingly combine the creative with the understanding of what technology can do," said Melanie. "We need to be on top of emerging technology instead of afraid of it." How best to do that? "Read Mashable!" suggested Eve, who described it as an "easy way of understanding what's going on in the tech world."

4. Re-address work/life balance

"Women will drive the work/life balance. This generation of females will reach positions of power and stand up for it," said Danielle. "It's not sustainable to think that the only thing that matters is work," agreed Melanie. Indeed, the shift is already beginning, as evidenced by progressive companies the likes of Netflix and Virgin who provide their employees with unlimited holiday time. "Progressive companies realise that people are conscientous. No one goes into work thinking they want to do a bad day's work, and progressive organisations are the ones who embrace that and know they need to create an environment to help people do that. Creating a sense of guilt won't help," said Ajaz.

But it's not just about those with children, leisure time is important for all and that should be recognized and rewarded, said Melanie. There are numerous ways people can begin to re-address their work/life balance. Danielle suggests locking your phone away in a drawer when you get home. "Unless you're an open heart surgeon or you have the nuclear codes you're not missing anything. It can wait until morning," she said, while Ajaz explained how he turns off all the notifications on his phone so that he's in control of what he sees and when he sees.

See more from our talk in the video below...

Please drop in to the free exhibition or book a place at a TenTalk. The exhibition runs from 23rd February - 14th March and is open to the public Monday ­ Friday (10am-5.30pm), Saturday (12-5.30pm). Please note the gallery is closed when the #Grazia10talks are on.

See the list of Tentalks and ticket links below.

****Technology - Friend Or Foe?

Please note that tickets are limited. More tickets may be available to purchase at a later date. Please check Grazia’s Twitter and Facebook updates for more info.

**Can't make these? Don't fret! **If you do miss out on tickets to any of the events, you can enjoy #Grazia10 highlights every day right here at Graziadaily.co.uk.