Returning to work with Durable Skills

My maternity leave is wrapping up and I'm excited that automation in education and the workplace is driving a new emphasis on human-centric skills.

Hello! It’s been a minute. My son was born this winter and I’m returning to work. What did I miss?

In addition to becoming a mom, over the last few months I’ve been watching from the cheap seats the impact AI is having on workforce development. Most notably has been the conversation on what skills are still important and which ones will become redundant thanks to new technologies. What’s exciting is that in this conversation Soft Skills got new branding: Durable Skills. And Durable Skills (which I sighed a big wave of relief when I realized I had some) are going to be evermore important for career success and leaders.

I wrote about the importance of Durable Skills and also, what the heck they actually are, in my most recent Inc. contributor piece which you can read in full here: Investing in Durable Skills--the Smart Bet in the Age of AI.

A study on Fortune 500 CEOs from the Stanford Research Institute found that 75 percent attribute their long-term success to “durable skills,” and only 25 percent from technical knowledge or hard skills. So by all means, figure out how to master AI skills in the workplace. But you want to get promoted? Excel in a career? Run the place someday? Make sure you learn the durable sones as well.

I’ll be talking about this topic next week at the Women in Tech D.C. Conference on May 15th (use code SPEAKER15 for a discount if you would like to attend) and hope to see you there.

Glad to be back!