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When today’s children grow up, the world will change dramatically. Helen Edwards, Head of the Library at the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, talks about the key skills children will need to succeed in the future and how parents can help raise them.
“For ten generations in a row in advanced economies, “most people have succeeded by learning to do the work of machines better than the machines themselves. This era is ending. Machines are increasingly doing this job better than we could,” writes Jeff Colvin in Humanity Underestimated. What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will” (“Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will”).
What qualities do our children need to succeed in the world of the future?
1. Ability to communicate and work in a team
Colvin argues that there is already a drop in demand for technical skills. The fastest-growing industries—including healthcare and education—require human communication skills such as empathy, collaboration, teamwork, and negotiation.
And in other areas, such skills increase the demand for a specialist. For example, a lawyer who can convince an angry and irrational client to act in his own interests, or an engineer who knows how to lead a team.
American Express recruits top hotel and cruise ship contact center staff based on excellent customer service skills. Even Google screens candidates for “collaborative ability” to only hire those who can work well in a team.
And although progress has made human communication skills more relevant, it also negatively affects people’s ability to develop these same skills. People are spending more and more time looking at the screens of electronic devices.
Teenagers are completely immersed in their phones, but mostly texting rather than talking. A large-scale study of American students showed that in recent decades, the ability to empathize has been steadily declining, while narcissism has been on the rise.
Organizations are gradually realizing that they do not have jobs for out-of-team and socially unadapted people
Other studies show that not only do social networks not strengthen bonds between people, but also make us unhappier. Online communication blocks long-established mechanisms that help us work effectively together, including the ability to “read” other people and participate equally in conversation.
However, empathy (the ability to detect what another person is thinking and feeling and responding accordingly) is not just a personality trait that may or may not be present. Interaction skills can be mastered.
Colvin describes an experiment in California involving 51 children aged 11-12. The children went to a camp in nature for five days and spent all this time without digital devices. The researchers wanted to know if the lack of “connection” would affect children’s ability to read non-verbal emotional cues. The results confirmed expectations: “After five days of personal communication, the emotional development of schoolchildren increased significantly.”
For those who can’t communicate, the outlook is not bright: “Organizations are slowly realizing that they don’t have jobs for out-of-team and socially ill-adjusted people, and that such people are dangerous to the enterprise and should be fired.”
2. Ability to think outside the box
In the world of change that awaits today’s children, the ability to think outside the box will be very useful. In The Originals. How non-conformists change the world” (“Originals: How Non Conformists Change The World”) Wharton School of Business professor Adam Grant identifies a group of people who, by definition, are better adapted to risk – these are the second and subsequent children in the family.
He cites research findings: “Four studies involving more than 8 people found that non-firstborns were 000 times more likely to play sports where there is a high risk of injury: American football, rugby, boxing, hockey, auto racing and so on. Firstborns prefer safer sports such as golf, tennis, athletics, cycling and rowing.”
Also, non-firstborns are more likely to take risks in politics and science, accepting radical theories when they first appear. Traditionally, firstborns are predicted to be successful and more likely to receive a better education. However, by the age of 30, these advantages disappear: “The salary of the second and subsequent children in the family grows faster, because they more often and more decisively agree to work where they pay more.”
Parents should develop in children the ability to think for themselves, offering explanations, not rules.
However, it cannot be argued that only the order of birth affects personal qualities – the educational methods that are applied to children are more important. Grant believes that anyone can be raised to be more creative. While the oldest child is often ready to follow the path that has been laid out for him, the youngest, unable to compete either physically or intellectually with an older brother or sister, must himself succeed in an as-yet-unoccupied niche.
When an older child weighs the consequences of a risky action and refuses it, the younger one acts differently. He asks himself: “What does a person like me do in such a situation?” Grant shows that by focusing on their individuality rather than specific actions, people can become more authentic and bold.
Parents can help their child grow into a constructive person by using nouns rather than verbs—for example, “be a helper” instead of “help” and “don’t be a cheat” instead of “don’t lie.”
In addition, parents should develop in children the ability to think for themselves, offering explanations, not rules. This is especially effective when the consequences for other people are explained in the first place. Over time, the practice of asking questions will lead to the ability to question professional dogmas and existing business models.
3. Perseverance
Angela Duckworth, psychologist and author of Perseverance. The power of enthusiasm and perseverance” (Grit: The Power Of Passion And Perseverance), every day is confronted by parents who want to know how to develop perseverance in children – resilience and the ability to resist difficulties.
She believes that children should be encouraged to do “the one hard thing” in well-structured extracurricular activities. It can be dance, sports or playing a musical instrument – depending on the interests of the child. These kinds of activities provide two great advantages for developing perseverance.
Personality can change even after leaving childhood, and with due effort, hard work can be learned.
First, they are led by an adult—not a parent, but a person well-equipped to equally provide support and demand a lot. Second, unlike school, where the child finds it difficult but not necessarily interesting, “these activities are designed to cultivate interest, experience, purpose, and hope.”
According to Duckworth, this practice will be valuable if you stick to it for a long time, and not immerse yourself in classes for short periods.
Of course, this or that activity may not suit the child, in which case it is worth changing it at the right moment – for example, at the end of a cycle of classes – but not just because of a bad day or inappropriate mood. It has now been confirmed that personality can change after leaving childhood, and with due effort, hard work can be learned.
About expert
Helen Edwards – Head of the library of the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo. Author of articles and book reviews in the genre of business literature, as well as analysis of business concepts.