5 Skills (You still need) To Thrive in a World of AI

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 TODAY’S THOUGHTS ☠️

Hey there 👋,

I got skills, skills and more skills on the brain.

That’s all we used to talk about once upon a time, and I kinda miss it. You know I love to explore how we can leverage new technologies for learning, but sometimes I gotta step outta the Matrix too.

I feel like all I read, write or hear about is AI.

This human needs some variety in their life. I also feel that the constant stream of AI-only content can lead to missing some very important convo points.

Stuff like the skills (non-AI) that we’ll still need to thrive in life and work.

They’ll also be the skills that help us make the most of AI technologies, imo.

So, that’s what we’re doing today by unpacking the 5 skills (you still need) to thrive in a world of AI.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready, 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

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 IN THIS DROP 📔

• You’re not gonna survive without these skills

• Get a personalised AI readiness report for you and your team with my app

• The madness of “AI training” without using AI

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 THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

5 Skills (You still need) To Thrive in a World of AI

I’m going to set the scene with some external data before I drop my list.

According to a bunch of people with way more budget for research and probably with more intelligence than I, these are the core skills of 2025:

My first thought, as always, with these types of data viz’s is they’re too broad.

These are like the heads of the skill families, kinda like how the Mafia works. They’re are many layers and connections underneath each. Some of these are more vital than others.

This is what we want to find.

From the same report, these are the speculated skills needed for 2030:

Again, very ambiguous.

I kinda feel like they pressed shuffle and threw a couple more tech-focused ones in for good measure.

If you want to get even nerdier, we have this one.

Which I have many feelings about, and not generally good ones. The box in the bottom left gives me all those emotions.

If not obvious, I’m talking about the “Out of focus skills” section.

It firmly feels like the rejects corner, but for me, it has quite a few surprise entries.

These caught my eye:

• Reading, writing and mathematics

• Teaching and mentoring

In the report, these skills are earmarked as less essential and will see a decreased investment.

This is MADNESS.

Look, I get AI is amazing, but to say these skills are less essential is the only thing that blows my mind right now. I’m sure all the AI and Tech bros will disagree, yet, to read, write, and crunch numbers is a pivotal form of critical and creative thinking, and analytical judgement.

The biggest sin we can make is to outsource our thinking to AI and let our thinking be shaped by AI too.

Sadly, a growing body of research points to an increasing over-reliance on AI tools.

I’ve covered some of this in detail in another article: What Is AI Doing To Your Skills?

But what does this mean?

So that’s the global view of the skills situation (I broke down the top 7 insights in more detail from the WEF report too).

There’s loads more reports out there from every consulting firm you can think of that parrot the same information.

But what does this mean practically for you, me and the people you serve through L&D as we find our way alongside our digitally intelligent buddies?

Here’s my take based on zero money to fund my research but a bag of first-hand experience working with a variety of global companies, building my own company at the same time, and analysing far too many reports than time should allow me.

You could say, this is where I’m placing my bets.

The 5 skills to build your human edge

Before we crack on, a quick explainer.

I’m going to give a L&D angle to these skills, but they’re vital for any human reading these words (I know you’re reading this too, AI).

1. Writing

Yes, I know that the visual above says this is becoming an ‘out of focus’ skill…

But I disagree.

Writing is a super-powered skill.

You do it every day. From emails to text messages – you’re a writer.

Hogwarts’ very own headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, once said 

Good writing is good thinking.

→ Clear thinking is clear writing.

Words make people millions of dollars, change cultures, and win hearts. So, yeah. Pretty damn powerful. Don’t make the mistake of outsourcing this to AI.

AI can help you, but never outsource your thinking to it.

To think is to write, to write is to think.

This is not just an L&D thing. It’s great for life in general. As L&D pros, we spend a lot of time trying to win hearts and minds.

Writing is a gateway to doing this.

Plus, you’ll get really good at writing persuasive emails!

The best writing stays with you

I’m sure you’ve read words that have stayed with you.

Perhaps, they’ve even changed you.

For me, some came in a Monday morning email from a former CEO of a company I worked with.

It started blandly, as per usual.

I slid my eyes through the usual dribble of sales, results and how stock market analysts were happy about something.

Then something caught my eye.

This CEO used a short paragraph to share their career experience. One which has stuck with me for over a decade:

I think about that paragraph every week.

I’ve repeated it hundreds of times, and written it maybe thousands more.

Perhaps that fictional wizard is right.

→ Always work on your writing.

🤘 Resources for you:

• How to improve your writing (and why good editing is a silent superpower)

2. Marketing

Marketing is not just an industry.

It’s something we each do, every day, in many ways. You market your skills to a potential employer, you market ideas to business leaders, and you even use marketing techniques to convince your crush to go on a date with you.

It’s one of those things (like everything on this list) which is woven into the fabric of living.

I’m not the best experience designer, coach or facilitator.

But I’m a damn good marketer.

I mean, I kinda have to be in this strange game of attention. Otherwise, would you even be hear reading these words?

This and writing give me an edge in my career.

I’ve been able to get results and climb that annoying corporate ladder to senior roles because I understand how to wield these skills for performance.

Ignore at your own peril.

🤘 Resources for you:

• The ultimate guide to marketing for L&D

3. Sales (aka positioning products for success)

This might be the one that takes you off guard the most.

Selling and L&D, WTF!

Like its close sibling in marketing. The art of selling is something you do a lot more than you know.

It’s incredibly useful because we’re in the business of influencing people to make change.

That’s also a major part of life too.

Sales is about great communication. It’s not inherently evil, yet people have used its power in nefarious ways.

That’s not what I’m talking about.

Sales, at its core, is the process of persuading or influencing a potential buyer to exchange their money for a product or service.

It was also recently put to me as a combo of storytelling and expert positioning, and I kinda like that framing too.

For those of us navigating the intricacies of L&D, think of sales as the art of matchmaking performance with your people. We connect the dots between a need (often one the buyer wasn't fully aware they had) and a solution (your product or service) that can fulfil it.

Don’t think of selling as only about transactions.

It's about understanding, communication, and building relationships.

In our world, sales can also be viewed as an educational journey.

Where the salesperson (you) guides the customer through a learning process. You help them understand their own needs, the value of the solution offered, and how it can enhance their life.

At its heart it’s the ability to listen, educate, and inspire.

🤘Resources for you:

• How to position your L&D products for success

4. Storytelling

I never truly understood storytelling’s power until the second decade of my career.

I thought it was one of those woo-woo things people say.

→ I was wrong.

We’ve been telling each other stories since the dawn of time.

It’s not a radical new concept which can be turned into a flashy tool or methodology by an education provider (although I’m sure they’d try!).

If you’re like me, you love nothing more than a good old story to inspire you to do something great, or, in some cases, put you into the sleep we so crave.

We connect through stories.

I spend countless hours watching, reading and listening to some of the best and worst at it. It helps shape my own style.

Connection through telling stories

I had my ‘aha’ moment with storytelling about 8 years ago on a work trip to South India.

I’d been sent by the powers that be by my employer at the time to launch a new learning platform for 15,000 colleagues. I like to imagine a Bat signal was raised to call for me. In reality, I was handed an Emirates plane ticket and bundled into a car at 5 am to the airport.

It wasn’t until the high of my first business class experience had worn off that I started to realise I might be in for more than I bargained for.

I was to spend the next 2 weeks meeting, greeting and persuading people who had never met me to use this ‘awesome’ learning tool. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake the thought of “Why should they?”

To them, I was another crony sent by HQ to do its bidding.

They thou must use this tool, and make thou use this tool you shall! Yes, I speak in my head in a Shakespearean tone sometimes.

The point is, I had no business telling these people anything.

I had no credibility or trust built. My bargaining chip was ‘HQ sent me’. It’s certainly not a card to make you popular. I had to change my approach.

It was time to shift into this storytelling thing.

Instead of telling people, “You’ve got to do this because HQ says so”. I did the opposite.

I spent 2 weeks telling a story. Each day I wrote a chapter with those around me. I talked about the power of tech for learning, how each colleague can transform their skills with this opportunity and what it means for them.

I didn’t talk about the company at all.

I created a working group in the office to own the tool. I wanted everyone to collaborate and write the story with me. This was one way of doing that.

You want to know the result now, right?

Fret not, it’s great news.

That approach led to the most successful launch I had in my time with that company.

Storytelling works, kids.

🤘 Resources for you:

• Lessons and frameworks that will improve your storytelling skills

5. Digital Intelligence

We’re all humans living in a digital world.

At least it feels more like that right now, and this is a must-have skill for every human.

I’ve spent too much of my career watching people shy away from tech. You can’t do that anymore. I hate to sound like one of those morons on social media that says “Do this or be left behind”. But I’m going to make an exception here.

If you don’t invest in your digital intelligence, you will be left behind.

Defining Digital Intelligence

Let’s keep this simple.

It’s about being savvy, aware and adaptable with new digital technologies.

You don’t need to be an expert, but you must be aware of what’s available.

I’m 100% confident that my ability to adopt and adapt to new technologies has given me the edge over many of my peers. What is dark magic to them is like playing in a sandbox for me. This only happens when you invest in yourself.

As the world continues to be eaten up by tech, you would be wise to become fluent in the language of technology to become a valued strategic business partner.

🤘Resources for you:

• Why Digital Intelligence Is The Critical Missing Skill in The L&D Toolbox

Final thoughts

Ok, let’s park this skills party bus.

AI is cool, but in a world dominated by it and everyone using it, perhaps human skills are the new premium (again). This collection of skills is about standing out in a sea of AI-generated humans.

The world still belongs to those who can think clearly, connect deeply and adapt quickly.

Like I said last week, this is a game of 4D chess.

So be the chess player, not the pawn.

→ If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.

Till next time, you stay classy, learning friend!

PS… If you’re enjoying the newsletter, will you take 4 seconds to forward this edition to a friend? It goes a long way in helping me grow the newsletter (and cut through our industry BS with actionable insights).

And one more thing, I’d love your input on how to make the newsletter even more useful for you!

So please leave a comment with:

1. Ideas you’d like covered in future editions

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I read & reply to every single one of them!

 👀 ICYMI (In case you missed it!)

1. Can you guess one the biggest mistakes I see L&D teams make with AI? Don’t worry, the answer is not far.

2. If you’re not using AI to help people learn about AI, is it really AI training? We figure out that tongue-twister and challenge the status-quo.

 VIDEO THOUGHTS 💾

Get Your Personalised AI Readiness Assessment with My New App 😍

So, it finally happened, I spent a week ‘vibe coding’ an app with an AI app builder.

I learnt a ton from this experience, which I’ll be sharing more on in an upcoming premium edition of the newsletter for Cult of Thoughts members.

A quick story…

Just over a year ago (feels like an eternity these days), I shared an article with you on how you can assess the AI readiness of your L&D team in 4 levels.

At the time, I thought, “This might be a good use case for an app experiment”, but the AI-powered app builders weren’t so great then.

Now, it’s a whole new world, and I’ve spent about 30 hours creating an AI Readiness Assessment tool to live beside this article.

The journey felt simple-ish, but it was not easy, friend.

I now have a newfound respect for devs because the debugging and constant blockers have been traumatic 😂. While the tool is available to use, it is most certainly a prototype, so expect bugs, glitches and weird things to happen.

For now, I’d love for you to try it out, give me your feedback (worth developing or should I kill?) and any other thoughts.

Watch the demo above on how to use the tool ↑

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