What skills can we develop to be ready for the future?

Do you remember where you were the first time you saw generative AI do something in seconds that would usually take you hours or minutes?

I was on maternity leave when I saw ChatGPT at work for the first time. My overstimulated, under rested mind immediately jumped forward 6 months and I wondered whether I'd have a job to go back to.

That was November 2022, and while things have changed a lot since then my old job still exists. But when Gemini can write the emails and draft the proposals I used to spend most of my time on, you can imagine that the core skills required for that job will have changed a lot too.

That was the catalyst for me to start learning about AI to understand how it works and how I could get it to work for me.

The stability and security we've grown used to in our tech careers isn't there anymore.

Now we're being asked to build on shifting ground. How do we do that?

This is a question I've returned to often over the last 18 months.

What human skills are worth us developing, regardless of what the future looks like?

What skills will serve us, make us hirable and valuable, even as AI can take on more tasks that people have usually done?

We bang on about how quickly things are changing, and while some people love change, most of us aren't wired for it.

It takes intentional practice to become resilient and adaptable, so that we can ride the waves as they keep rolling in, and avoid being wiped out by them.

If you've been following our Success and Learning email series over the last few months, we hope by this point you have a good understanding of what you value and how you like to learn.

Now in our new series on Future-Ready skills we'll bring that context to how you can develop skills that will help you stay ahead of the curve, ready to evolve and re-deploy as required.

With so much change and uncertainty in the world around us, from layoffs to geopolitical instability and constant change in how we work, focusing on building your capability will help you stay grounded.

As always, we are writing this to help you. So let us know what you need.