Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Risk & Business Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 22

RELATIONSHIPS
The Surprising Skills
Needed In The Future
I
t’s a chaotic, fast-changing time
we live in. Automation, artificial
intelligence, augmented reality,
cyber-threats, business bots,
and the Internet of things. It
would seem that in this age of hyper-
accelerating technology, we would need
the techie skills to match. Maybe, maybe
not.
Recently Deloitte conducted a survey to
understand the millennial generation
and get their view on the future of
business, productivity, and what
millennials think of the emerging
younger GenZ generation. It’s mostly
good news.
Eight thousand millennials were
surveyed from all over the world and
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it turns out millennials are pretty
optimistic, particularly when it comes to
job readiness for the emerging younger
population. The advice of thirty-
somethings to the younger generation
emerging now doesn’t appear too
different from advice from the past.
From the study:
• Learn as much as possible: Begin
your career open-minded and be
ready to learn from others.
• Work hard: Do your best and do not
be lazy.
• Be patient: Take your time when
entering the workforce and go step-
by-step.
• Be dedicated: Be committed to
succeeding and persevering.
• Be flexible: Be open and adaptable to
change and try new things.
Sound familiar? Thomas Jefferson,
Michelangelo, John F. Kennedy, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. all gave similar
advice at different times in history.
But the surprising discovery in the
study regards the specific skills needed
to perform at a high level in the future.
According to millennials working today
in the world, it’s not technical skills
that are needed. Analytic skills, IT skills,
programming, social media skills, even
language skills, and a global mindset,
all ranked below the importance