Future Skills

INTRODUCTION: PREPARING FOR A NEW WORLD OF WORK

Technology is changing our world to such an extent that the majority of children in school today will do jobs that don't yet exist; a report by Dell and the Institute for the Future predicts that 85 percent of jobs that will be available in 2030 haven't been invented yet.¹ It's a staggering prediction. But how realistic is it? In my opinion, it's not nearly as outlandish as it sounds. Just think about how much has changed in the last decade, particularly when it comes to social media, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI).

And this pace of change is only going to accelerate as we further enter into a new industrial revolution, the fourth industrial revolution. Just as with the previous industrial revolutions, this will change the work that humans do, as many jobs evolve, some jobs become obsolete, and new jobs emerge.

In other words, the skillset and experience required from the workforce will be very different in the future. So when we think about the essential skills for success, we need to consider not just the jobs that exist today, but the sorts of jobs that may exist in the future, in a world in which more and more jobs (and parts of jobs) are given over to machines.

I don't say this to fill you with fear or dread. This isn't a “Robots are coming for our jobs. Be afraid” type of book. Far from it. I believe the future of work is bright.

Reshaping Work for the Better

Building on the previous industrial revolution ...