Skills for The Future: Natural Selection of Modern Times

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has listed 10 skills for the future based on analysis of information gathered from 9 sectors, including 15 of the largest economies in the world and hundreds of executives. These 10 skills are what the market will demand from professionals:
(1) Solving Complex Problems
(2) Critical Thinking
(3) Creativity and Innovation
(4) Collaboration
(5) Leadership
(6) Emotional Intelligence
(7) Decision making
(8) Service Orientation
(9) Negotiation
(10) Cognitive flexibility

Initially, the WEF predicted 2022 as the year in which these skills would become essential to the professional. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the search for such skills has accelerated and have become more relevant now.

According to research by Daniel Goleman, a journalist specializing in the brain and behavior, what generates competitive advantage for a company is the behavioral skills of its employees, especially its leaders. His research, in which he talks about the tools for high performance in companies, states that professionals are hired for their technical and cognitive skills, but what differentiates them, once hired, are their interpersonal and behavioral skills. In the same study, he says that 85% of the skills needed to exercise leadership positions are behavioral, while only 15% are cognitive skills. For the non-leadership positions, he states that the proportions for human versus cognitive competencies are 66% and 33%, respectively.

A significant question is how much the advancement of technology will impact activities that today are done by humans, which, in the future, may well be done by machines. With the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual reality tools, the “skills of the future” will play an even more relevant role, becoming indispensable for successful professionals.

How we learn is also impacted. It is no longer enough to only learn the technical and cognitive skills, and as a result, traditional educational models have become obsolete. People spend years of their lives developing skills that will not be fundamental to their success. The parts of the brain for developing human relationships and soft skills are usually the last parts to become anatomically mature. Most cultures leave this development to chance, without structured training to observe and foster such skills.

In order to expand learning capacity, it is necessary to encourage neuroplasticity. This capacity of the brain is responsible for the ability to learn from experiences and to adapt. One must dismiss the idea that all the knowledge necessary or sufficient to perform a function has already been obtained. Always seek to learn with the mindset of a beginner.

Based on this need, we, here at DeRose Meditation, have developed a consultancy program so that the professional can develop the skills of the future. This program is divided into 5 modules:
(1) Stress Management & Well-being
(2) Emotional Intelligence
(3) Intentional Life
(4) Focus and Sustainable Performance
(5) Creative and Intuitive Mind.

Each module includes some of these skills, and the complete program works on the development of all of them.
It is essential to recognize the importance of developing the skills of the future, as these will be the means of natural selection in the corporate world.

https://www.weforum.org/ – Research 2016, 2018 and 2020
Goleman, Daniel – Emotional Intelligence