Thoughts of the future are especially relevant at the beginning of 2021. What will it be like and what should we be in the future? We talk about skills required for success in the 21st century in our new article for the Future of Jobs special project.
There is an opinion that now that technology has been actively developing, we should learn more IT skills. However, it is not quite true. Last semester at university I had a course on new information technologies, where we discussed skills of the future and what prevented us from gaining such skills. The course was mostly about theory: we analysed academic papers and presentations and tried to understand them. One popular TED talk with Margaret Heffernan, a writer, entrepreneur and CEO of five companies, sticks in my mind. She talked about why it it was more important to focus on human skills in the unpredictable world today and in the future rather than on technical knowledge.
She emphasised that imagination and bravery were necessary to solve problems in business and government
“In an environment that defies so much forecasting, the efficiency won’t help us”, says Margaret and adds, “Loose human skills, and we are adrift”.
In the 20s century, basic skills which were taught at every educational institution formed the foundation and essence of education as a whole. In the 21st century, we should be adaptive and continue learning throughout our whole lifetime, thus following the principle of lifelong learning.
