The Five most Important Job Skills of the Future

In a recent Article, author Bernard Marr describes the five most important job skills of the future. A conversation that is tightly linked to the role of education, and a topic I have explored in Several Posts. Mr. Marr states that the pace of change is being driven by several factors. He paints a picture of an interconnected world that allows us to work remotely and with people from different cultures as easily as if they were in the office next door. The Healthy Extension of Life allows us to work longer, creating an age-diverse workforce. Combined with science fiction becoming reality, machines suddenly augment our skills and free us up to focus on higher-level activities.

This set of changes is impacting the skills employers will seek from the workforce, and what professionals need to develop as skills for the jobs of the future. Here is the author’s list of the five critical future skills:

Emotional intelligence: emotional intelligence is our ability to understand and express our own emotions, as well as understand someone else’s emotions.

Creativity: creativity can be improved and fostered in anyone’s life — but our education system today tends to beat it out of learners along the way. In a world where innovation excellence is critical — this skill is something that should be nurtured in all of us.

Flexibility and adaptability: I talk about Resilience being the key to success in the future. This skill both individually and organizationally is critical to ensuring that we can shift with the rapid changes that are sure to continue well into the future. The author points out that we are seeing fewer skills and jobs for life, and the half-life of skills is reducing at a drastic rate.

Data literacy: data is a double-edged sword; available to help make better decisions, but overwhelming in its size and velocity. If we can’t make sense of data, it is worthless. There is a big data skills gap today, and while we cannot all be data scientists, we should be data literate.

Tech savviness: at the heart of this rapid pace of change is the exponential progression of science and technology. The future is dominated by advancements that just five years ago looked like science fiction. Everyone needs to be comfortable with technology and its role in society.

This is a very good list to consider. Whether you are a parent advising your child or in the middle of your career, we all need to embrace these skills.

Originally published at http://frankdiana.net on November 8, 2019.