Professional Skills List: How You Can Get the Top Skills for 2020

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

What does it take to succeed at work these days? What skills are needed for the future of work? The World Economic Forum conducted research and found the 10 skills you need to thrive in the future. We are living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and on the professional skills list that's needed to survive in this age, you’ll find complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, coordinating with others, judgement and decision making, people management, emotional intelligence, service orientation, negotiation, and cognitive flexibility.

These are the top 10 professional skills that you MUST acquire by 2020. You do not need to be an employee. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business own, these are also key business skills you need to succeed.

In a hurry to get started on your journey to 2020?

CLICK HERE to grab your copy of The Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Davos Reader by Gideon Rose!

I’ve introduced the 10 main employability skills before, but what I haven’t done, is attempt to deconstruct what it means. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes, to create tools and resources, to help you to successfully acquire the skills. In my preparation, I read several books, some of which are from the Thinkers Guide Series.

This post is applying some of the information that I learned. Like you, I have to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to thrive in the future. Therefore, I have been conducting lots of research, and you are benefiting from my hard work. In this post, I will focus on five of the 10 skills, and in Part II, I will focus on the other five skills. You will find recommended books for career development that focus on each of the skills. These are the books that I plan to read. I pulled information from many websites that I love and trust.

How to Succeed Using the Professional Skills List

In the World Economic Forum article, “10 skills you need to thrive tomorrow – and the universities that will help you get them,” the organization admits that it’s not easy to acquire the 10 skills you need for future jobs. What’s required is working in teams to acquire the 10 skills you need. There are many good books that cover each of the 10 skills in great detail. However, since reading is such a solitary activity, I think the best way to get the skills, is by forming a group of five people.

Five is important, because it takes reading five good books on a topic to become an expert. If five people are in a group, each person can read one of the top five books that cover each skill. If you work well in teams, perhaps there could be 10 people in the group, where two people will read the same book, to get varying points of view.

Simply reading the books that cover the skills is not enough. The richness comes from discussing the content, then applying what you learn on the job. But this also means that each group member has to take detailed notes while reading the books. Note taking is a form of learning.

Let’s treat each of the 10 employability skill as a subject that you have to master. From what I learned from reading four books in the Thinkers Guide series, to master any subject you have to learn the core ideas. To discover what the core ideas are for each subject, you have to ask and answer questions. When you understand the foundational ideas of a subject, you can then build on that knowledge.

Related Post: Workplace Skills List – Are You Ready to Get the Skills Needed for Future Jobs?

Professional Skills List: 10 Skills Needed for Future Jobs

How many of the 10 skills needed for future jobs do you have? And even if you have some or all of the 10 skills, it makes sense that you invest the time to hone all of them. That's what I'm doing – there is always room for improvement. For each of the 10 skills below, I intend to deconstruct it to identify the core ideas. Then I intend to use the eight elements of thought from the Thinkers Guide books that I recently read.

1. Complex Problem Solving
2. Critical Thinking
3. Creativity
4. People Management
5. Coordinating with Others
6. Emotional Intelligence
7. Judgment and Decision Making
8. Service Orientation
9. Negotiation
10. Cognitive Flexibility

How to Study & LearnHow to Read a ParagraphHow to Write a ParagraphMiniature Guide to Critical Thinking

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Professional Skill List: Complex Problem Solving

Let's take a look at complex problem solving, to determine the core ideas for complex problem solving, you have to ask and answer, “What is problem solving?”

Problem solving is the process of finding a solution to a complex or difficult issue. It’s the gap between a current state and a future desired state. To bridge the gap between both states, requires analyzing the situation and developing a solution. A problem solver follows a step-by-step approach to problem solving: plan, do, check, act, or some combination of that process.

When solving problems, you have to learn how to:

1. Define the problem.
2. Collect information related to the problem.
3. Generate ideas to solve the problem.
4. Combine and test the ideas, deciding on the best solution.
5. Create a plan to implement the solution.
6. Solve the problem – implement the solution.

This means that you have to pay attention to information in the books that will allow you to effectively do the above. If you look at the above six activities, you will also notice that it involves creativity (combining ideas); decision making (testing the ideas and deciding on a solution); and project management (implementing the solutions).

Recommended Books for Career Development – Complex Problem Solving

One Plus One Equals ThreeMapping ExperiencesConceptual BlockbustingProblem Solving 101A Technique for Producing IdeasThe Art of Thought

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Professional Skill List: Critical Thinking

What is critical thinking? The Critical Thinking Community defines critical thinking as “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

To think critically, you have to learn:

1. Elements of reasoning.
2. Intellectual standards to use when thinking about and judging information.

Books for Career Development – Critical Thinking

Thinking CriticallyThinking, Fast and SlowCritical ThinkingAsking the Right QuestionsThe 5 Elements of Effective ThinkingThe Art of Reasoning

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Professional Skill List: Creativity

What is creativity? California State University defines creativity as “The tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.” Creativity is the process of bringing something new into existence. This could be a new solution to a problem, a new product or service, or even a new process. Creativity is also combining two old ideas to form a new one.

Problem solving models are often creativity models, therefore you have to learn how to:

1. Define the problem.
2. Collect information related to the problem.
3. Generate ideas to solve the problem.
4. Combine and test the ideas, deciding on the best solution.
5. Create a plan to implement the solution.
6. Solve the problem – implement the solution.

The Creative HabitThe War of ArtCreativity, Inc.Orbiting the Giant HairballThe Path Between the SeasArt & FearThe Act of CreationThe Accidental CreativeSteal Like an Artist

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Professional Skill List: Judgement & Decision Making

What is decision making? The thought process of choosing from the available options. A decision maker has to carefully weigh the pros and cons of each option, considering all the alternatives. The decision making model is similar to the problem solving one.

When making decisions, you have to learn how to:

1. Identify the decision.
2. Gather information.
3. Identify alternatives.
4. Weigh the alternatives against the decision you have to make.
5. Choose the best among the alternatives.
6. Implement the alternative.
7. Review your decision and its impact.

How We DecideDriveHow Professionals Make DecisionsDecisiveThe Art of ChoosingSmart Choices

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Professional Skill List: Cognitive Flexibility

What is cognitive flexibility? According to Mental Health Daily, “Cognitive flexibility refers to the brain's ability to transition from thinking about one concept to another. The quicker you are able to switch or “shift” your thinking from one dimension (e.g. color of an object) to another (e.g. shape of an object), the greater your level of cognitive flexibility.”

 The Fabric of Mind Cognitive Flexibility in Learning and Teaching The Athlete's Way Links Between Beliefs and Cognitive Flexibility

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Professional Skill List: Coordinating with Others (Collaboration)

What is collaboration? According to AIIM, “Collaboration is a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit. It enables individuals to work together to achieve a defined and common business purpose.” A good example in this case, is a group of five people working together to learn the 10 skills needed for future jobs.

CollaborationParkinson's Law42 Rules for Successful CollaborationGroup GeniusThe Culture of CollaborationThe Art Of Collaboration

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Final Thoughts on the Professional Skills List

What I have done here is simply a starting point to learn these five skills. The next step in the process is for each skill, to scan the related books. Look at the Table of Contents, and spend about 20 minutes pre-reading the book, to get a sense of the content. In Part II of the series, I will focus on people management, emotional intelligence, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility.