How to make yourself indispensable in an uncertain future
We’ve heard it ad nauseam: the modern economy is demanding of new skills that we don’t have, and all our familiar career paths are soon to become obsolete. A report by the World Economic Forum revealed that 65 percent of the jobs current elementary school students will be doing in the future, do not even exist yet. Basically what they’re saying is that we have absolutely no clue what’s going to happen. How reassuring! There’s a lot of panic because….well, yes, the world is changing. And us humans, we don’t really like change.
But before we go spiraling into any further existential crises, it’s worth extrapolating today’s experiences a bit to see how we can prepare ourselves for this impending future economy. It’s about asking how we can arm ourselves with an artillery of skills that make us totally indispensable in this information economy, based on what matters most today. It means discussing what is not taught in school, but what we desperately need to know to thrive in a battle of survival of the fittest.
To address all of this fear, uncertainty, and doubt, the WEF has listed the top 10 skills it believes we should be preparing ourselves with by 2020. I updated it a bit to reflect my vision of the future economy, but I think it’d do us all a bit of good to scroll through and take stock of how many of these we actually excel in, and then make a plan to get better at the rest. No point in sitting on our laurels waiting for the world to take us under its protective wing, because well, that’s probably not going to happen. But if you confidently address all the points below, I am certain you will unlock a world in front of you that will make you a rock star no matter what shape the economy takes in the future. It’s all about “Future Proofing”.
1. Complex Problem Solving:
Solving problems is only achieved by asking the right questions. It’s a skill that must be honed and nurtured, but is fundamentally the foundation of critical thinking. Unlike our parents who were taught to accept direction unilaterally and answer without seeking justification, today’s generation is going to be rewarded for thinking beyond the immediate problem at hand, and finding creative ways to respond that hadn’t even been considered. This requires fostering a design-mindset, one that looks for multiple solutions by uncovering the most open-ended questions. We must develop the ability to question the status quo, and constructively criticize it, before we can innovate and prescribe an alternative.
2. Critical Thinking (and lateral thinking)
In the age of ubiquitous information, a whole new challenge has arisen: distinguishing fact from fiction. Our access to information has grown exponentially, but unfortunately, information’s evil twin of misinformation has taken the limelight recently. Navigating the digital world means assessing, judging and critiquing quality sources, identifying credibility, and then developing well-defended opinions based on factual evidence. While new media literacy is a fairly new concept, its impact is far-reaching, and it includes the ability to consume information and pragmatically draw conclusions and parallels that inform future decisions.
3. Creativity (and Curiosity)
Albert Einstein famously said that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” With this he meant, that innovation is the consequence of creative imagination, which is driven by the curiosity to seek something beyond what one already knows. We know that the creativity mindset is often eroded or even erased by conventional educational practices when young children enter school. As demonstrated by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, 98% of kindergarten children are considered “creative geniuses” — but fast forward to their mid-twenties, and only 3% of these children remain so. In an age where we need to differentiate ourselves from thinking machines, our creativity will serve as the paramount driver of our species’ success. We need to avert the traditional coddling of students, spoon-feeding inert information, and instead, empower them to inquisitively ask questions and seek new information beyond the confines of convention.
4. People Management (Leadership)
You can only make a difference in the world if you can communicate your idea and inspire others to jump on board. True leadership does not necessarily come from the top, but instead from any individual with passion, a purpose, and as Simon Sinek points out, it starts with the “why”. It comes from the ability to rally others to believe in your cause, to influence by creating alliances of people working towards a common goal that you communicate, and by demonstrating empathy and concern for matters that impact others. Great leaders listen to their team, they support their goals, and they drive forward change that stems from their “why”.
5. Collaboration Across Networks (Coordinating with Others)
The gig economy is taking over: the contingent workforce is expected make up 40 percent of the total workforce within the next 10 years. Working in the cloud, conference calls over video, and collaboration across multiple time zones and simultaneously multi-linguistically, is increasingly becoming the norm. Technology has allowed work and collaboration to transcend geographical boundaries, affording an unprecedented degree of autonomy and self-sufficiency.
But all this multinational collaboration means connecting and working strategically with people distinctly different from one’s self. It means working with someone you’ve never met, from a country you may never have seen, with perspectives you can’t understand. So more than ever before, education of regional nuances and appreciation of cultural sensitivities is going to be paramount in achieving collaborative harmony.
6. Emotional Intelligence (Interpersonal Skills)
In a remote world, mediated by technology and distance, forging genuine connections, building those relationships over time, and providing value to each other is going to become evermore important. The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions — also known as emotional intelligence — will drive your future success. In fact, up to 85% of a person’s success is due to “human engineering” — your personality, communication ability, negotiation skills, and emotional intelligence. So with a mere 15% of success being due to technical knowledge, you’re far better off finessing some of these soft human skills first.
7. Cognitive Flexibility (Agility and Adaptability)
VUCA — the annoying acronym that’s been coined to describe the circumstances under which we’re currently living — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. While I’m not a subscriber to the buzzwords that plague media, the description is pretty darn accurate of our current state. So knowing this, it’s important to be able to adapt and re-define one’s strategy. An increasingly interconnected and dynamic world means we will be redefining ourselves perennially, switching to jobs that don’t exist today, and learning skills that were never dreamt of before. Nothing is fixed or routine about the 21st century worker’s life, and there is no guide book or procedure to follow for success. Learning is by definition, un-habituated now, so we must become comfortable with perpetual re-learning. We must cultivate mindsets on demand, develop opinions based on constantly changing information, set aside old paradigms in the face of upgraded information, and be constantly agile. Work is going to become transdisciplinary, with functional and geographical barriers blurring as organizations increasingly flatten and workers take on new roles. To keep up, you’re going to have to constantly learn new skills, and accept that a fixed job description is a figment of the past.
8. Initiative and Entrepreneurship
Traditional education lauded success based on short-term testing, rote-memorization, and regurgitating a known answer. It was not designed to inspire doers, problem solvers, and innovators. But today we live in a world with infinite possibilities. We no longer live in the linear, but the exponential. This means we need to empower young people to take initiatives, to perceive the world around them and look for creative ways to improve. We need people who think about the bigger picture and who proactively lead by example regardless of whether their job description requires it.
9. Effective Oral and Written Communication
Clear communication is an extension of thinking clearly. They say that the smartest people are the ones that can take the more complicated subject and teach it to a child. It’s the hallmark of comprehension to be able to teach well, and to ensure your message is clearly understood. Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has famously said “Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess.” Like many, he has noted it is a skill that can be learned and consequently used to unlock many opportunities. You need to be able to assess your audience, understand their goals, and tailor your communication style accordingly. This goes for anything from emails to presentations to negotiations and even social hour. Learn how to constantly improve and clarify your communication, and you will find your relationships of all kinds will improve drastically.
10. Sales (and negotiations)
You get that dream job by selling yourself to a hiring manager. You get startup investors by selling your vision. You negotiate a raise by selling yourself to a boss. You can even talk your walk out of a parking ticket if you sell it well enough. Sales is pervasive in your life, and as a skill, is arguably the most obvious indicator of future success.
Warren Buffet was once asked what skill he recommended learning to support future success. His response: if there’s one thing you can do, study communication. He credits his entire career success to taking Dale Carnegie’s sales course — he says it changed his entire life. The ability to effectively communicate our ideas (both verbally and through the written word) gives us the power to inform, influence and inspire others towards a common goal. The act of communicating also helps us organize our thoughts and better know what we think.
So let’s take all these lessons, and build out a plan to prepare ourselves for success in life. Beyond creating better employees, we must aim to create better leaders and innovators. Doing so will not only radically transform the future of education and the workforce, it will also transform the world we live in. We need to foster habits of insatiable curiosity, encourage deep learning, where one understands the whys and hows, not just the whats. We need to emphasize iterative and consistent learning so we can extrapolate principles from past experiences into everyday life. And we must do so, all the time. The new generation will be competitive, it will be fierce. We’re now not just against each other, but we have machines to compete with. So we need to learn to differentiate ourselves, to stand out, and to constantly elevate ourselves.
