Michelle: A report from Dell and the Institute for the Future predicts that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't even been invented yet. Mark: Hold on, 85%? That’s not a small number. That’s basically everything. It means most of today's students are preparing for jobs that literally do not exist. That’s terrifying. Michelle: It is, and that staggering statistic is the entire premise behind the book we're diving into today: Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a Digital World by Bernard Marr. Mark: Bernard Marr… isn't he that futurist who advises huge companies like Microsoft and even the UN on this exact stuff? I feel like I see his articles everywhere. Michelle: Exactly. He's not just an author; he's in the trenches of digital transformation, helping massive organizations navigate this uncertainty. And his core argument is that while we're all panicking about robots taking our jobs, we're focusing on the wrong threat and, more importantly, the wrong solutions. Mark: Okay, I’m hooked. What’s the real solution, then, if it’s not just ‘learn to code’? Michelle: Well, that’s the paradox. Marr argues that the more automated and digital our world becomes, the more valuable our most human skills become.

Mark: That sounds great, but it also feels a bit... fluffy. I mean, "creativity" and "empathy" are wonderful, but they don't always pay the bills. Hard skills are what get you hired, right? How is this a practical career strategy? Michelle: I get the skepticism, and the book addresses it head-on. Marr’s point is that the nature of work itself is shifting. He quotes someone saying, "What can be automated will be automated." Once you accept that, the question changes from 'How can I do this task faster?' to 'What can I do that a machine can't?' Mark: And that’s where the human stuff comes in. Michelle: Precisely. Think about a job that didn't exist 15 or 20 years ago: the Social Media Manager. Mark: Right, my nephew wants to be one. It’s a real profession now. Michelle: But how did it start? In the early 2000s, when platforms like MySpace and Facebook were just emerging, businesses saw them as novelties. There was no "social media department." The role was invented by people who had a very human set of skills. They were forward-thinking, adaptable, and creative. They saw a new way to communicate and build community. Mark: That’s a great point. The first social media managers weren't necessarily tech geniuses; they were clever communicators who saw a new way to connect with people. They were experimenting, using their intuition. Michelle: Exactly! They were using creativity to craft engaging posts, emotional intelligence to handle customer complaints in a public forum, and critical thinking to figure out what was working and what wasn't. The technology was just the tool. The value was in the human ingenuity behind it. That's the core of Marr's argument. The future belongs to those who can leverage technology with a deep sense of humanity. Mark: So the skills gap isn't just a lack of coders, it's a lack of people who can think critically and creatively with the new tools. Michelle: You've got it. And that's why the book has been so well-received by business leaders. It reframes the conversation. It’s not about replacing humans, but about elevating them to do the work they’re uniquely suited for: complex problem-solving, ethical judgment, and genuine connection. Things that are incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to code. Mark: I like that. It feels more optimistic. But you can't just be a creative thinker with no technical know-how, right? You still have to speak the language of this new world. Michelle: Absolutely. And that brings us to the second pillar of Marr's framework. It's not an either/or situation. You need both.

Michelle: Marr argues there are two new languages everyone must learn: Digital Literacy and Data Literacy. He says they're as fundamental today as reading and writing were a century ago. Mark: Okay, let's break that down. What's the real difference? Isn't 'digital literacy' just a buzzword for knowing how to use an iPad or send an email? Michelle: That’s a common misconception. Marr defines it much more broadly. It’s not just about using devices; it's about understanding their impact and potential. For example, he tells this amazing story about the band ABBA. Mark: The Swedish pop legends? What do they have to do with future skills? Michelle: They launched a concert series in London called "Abba Voyage." But it's not them on stage. It's hyper-realistic digital avatars—or ABBAtars—of their younger selves, created by the same visual effects company that does Star Wars. They perform a full concert, and the experience is so immersive that people feel like they're seeing the real thing. Mark: Wow. So that's the metaverse in action. Michelle: It's a perfect example of digital literacy. Understanding that technology can create entirely new experiences, new business models, and new forms of entertainment. It’s about seeing the possibilities. But the other literacy, data literacy, is arguably even more critical, and its absence can be dangerous. Mark: How so? Michelle: This is where it gets a bit dark. Marr tells the story of Amazon's attempt to build an AI recruiting tool in the early 2010s. The goal was to automate resume screening and find the best candidates. Mark: Sounds efficient. What could go wrong? Michelle: They trained the AI on a decade's worth of their own hiring data. But that historical data reflected the tech industry's existing gender bias; most of the successful resumes came from men. So the AI taught itself a simple, biased rule. Mark: Oh no. Don't tell me. Michelle: It started penalizing any resume that contained the word "women's," as in "captain of the women's chess club." It even downgraded graduates of two all-women's colleges. The machine didn't become sexist on its own; it just became a perfect, efficient reflection of the biased data it was fed. Mark: Whoa. That's chilling. So data illiteracy isn't just about not understanding a spreadsheet; it can lead to real, systemic harm. The machine just amplified human bias at an incredible scale. Michelle: Precisely. Amazon had to scrap the project. And this is Marr's crucial point about data literacy. You don't need to be a data scientist who can build the algorithm. But you need the critical thinking skills to question its output. To ask, "Where did this data come from? Could it be biased? What are the ethical implications?" Mark: Which brings it right back to the human skills we were talking about. The critical thinking, the ethical awareness. They’re all intertwined. Michelle: They are. You need the technical fluency to participate in the digital world, but you need the human wisdom to guide it. So we have these human-centric skills and these new digital and data literacies. But technology changes so fast. A skill you learn today might be obsolete in five years. How do you possibly keep up? Mark: That’s the million-dollar question. It feels like running on a treadmill that keeps speeding up. Michelle: And that leads us to what might be the most important "meta-skill" in the entire book.

Michelle: Marr argues that the ultimate skill for the future is adaptability. It’s the ability to adjust to new conditions, unlearn old habits, and embrace change not as a threat, but as an opportunity. He even talks about an "Adaptability Quotient," or AQ, as being just as important as IQ and EQ. Mark: I can see that. You can be brilliant and emotionally intelligent, but if you're rigid, you'll get left behind. It reminds me of the corporate graveyards filled with companies that failed to adapt. Michelle: He uses the classic, brutal examples. Take Kodak. They were the kings of photography for a century. And the tragic irony is that they actually invented the first digital camera back in 1975. Mark: They invented it? Then what happened? Michelle: They buried it. They were so terrified that digital photography would cannibalize their incredibly profitable film business that they hid the technology away. They had the future in their hands, but they couldn't adapt their mindset. They were inflexible. Mark: They were attached to their own success. And by the time they realized their mistake, it was too late. The world had moved on. It’s the same story with Blockbuster ignoring Netflix. Michelle: Exactly. Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix for a tiny sum and they laughed them out of the room. They couldn't imagine a world without physical video stores. Their failure wasn't a lack of resources; it was a failure of imagination and adaptability. Mark: So adaptability isn't just about being open to new ideas. It's about being willing to let go of what made you successful in the first place. That's a really tough pill to swallow, for a person or a company. Michelle: It's incredibly difficult. It requires what the book calls "unlearning." You have to be able to consciously discard old ways of thinking to make room for the new. Marr offers some practical tips for this. He suggests constantly asking "what if" questions to challenge your assumptions. Or deliberately stepping outside your comfort zone, even in small ways, just to train your "adaptability muscle." Mark: Like taking a different route to work or trying a type of food you think you hate. Michelle: Yes, exactly. It's about building the habit of flexibility. Because in a world where 85% of future jobs don't exist yet, the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn is the only true job security you have.

Michelle: When you put it all together, Marr's vision becomes incredibly clear. The future of work isn't a battle of humans versus machines. It's a partnership. We need the digital and data literacy to work with the machines, to speak their language. Mark: But our real, lasting value—our irreplaceability—comes from the things machines struggle with. It’s the creativity to ask a new question, the critical thinking to spot the bias in the data, the emotional intelligence to lead a team through a difficult change, and most of all, the adaptability to reinvent ourselves over and over again. Michelle: That’s it perfectly. The book is ultimately a call to action to invest in our own humanity. It’s a very optimistic take, which is refreshing. It challenges the doom-and-gloom narrative around AI and automation. Mark: It really does. It makes you feel empowered rather than afraid. It shifts the focus from what we might lose to what we stand to gain: more meaningful, more creative, and more human work. Michelle: And it leaves you with a powerful question. The most important thing to ask for your career might not be, 'What technical skill should I learn next?' but rather, 'How can I become more curious, more adaptable, more empathetic… more human?' Mark: I love that. And I'm genuinely curious to hear what our listeners think is the single most important 'future skill' from their own experience. Let us know your thoughts on our social channels. Michelle: This is Aibrary, signing off.