The Human Advantage

To dream, empathise, imagine, reframe, persuade, connect and create are uniquely human skills.

With a massive 800 million roles projected to be displaced by 2023, these are now not luxuries, but the currency of our future economy. And they form what top researchers and C-suite leaders are now calling our “human advantage” in an AI era.

Not one to wallow in dissonance & doom about how AI will take our jobs, I want to look at how we can set our children, and future talent up for success as society continues its inexorable march forward.

So here it is, my take. Do with it what you will.

Critical Thinking & Complex Problem-Solving

AI thrives on structure. Humans thrive in ambiguity.

As machines take over the mechanical work of analysis, we must rise to the abstract, making sense of contradictions, weighing trade-offs, solving problems that don’t have clear solutions. That’s critical thinking right there.. And right now, it’s in short supply: 77% of HR leaders say it’s a top priority, yet less than one-third believe grads have it.

If you can think across dimensions, question the obvious, and navigate the grey then you don’t compete with AI. You direct it.

Creativity & Innovation

AI can remix. You can originate. That’s the difference.

Human creativity, whether it’s designing new products, telling better stories, or reimagining the rules of an industry, isn’t formulaic. It’s chaotic brilliance. And employers know it: creative thinking is rising fast on the skills leaderboard.

Yet here’s the heartbreak: 98% of 5-year-olds score as creative geniuses, but by age 15, that number drops to 12%. By adulthood? Just 2%.

We are quite literally educating creativity out of kids. And then wondering why innovation feels so hard.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) & Interpersonal Fluency

AI doesn’t care. It doesn’t persuade. It doesn’t build trust.

Empathy, nuance, and emotional navigation are human-only zones. And in a world flooded with automation, the companies and leaders who can foster deep human connection will win.

Jobs that rely on emotional intelligence, caregiving, coaching, leadership, and negotiation are also the least likely to be automated. That’s no accident. It’s because AI can simulate conversation, but it can’t feel it.

Additionally: 76% of workers say the more AI grows, the more they’ll crave genuine human interaction. High-EQ isn’t optional. It’s a future-proofing strategy.

Adaptive Learning Mindset

The best skill in a changing world? The ability to keep changing.

Rigid expertise is brittle. What wins in the next era is adaptability, curiosity, and the willingness to reinvent.

We’re heading into a world where multiple career pivots will be the norm. Where “lifelong learner” isn’t a LinkedIn cliché, it’s a survival instinct.

Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. Repeat until retired (or upgraded).

A growth mindset isn’t just good for morale. It’s your most resilient hedge against redundancy.

Digital Fluency

Yes, we’re championing human skills. But don’t get it twisted: digital fluency is the new literacy.

Everyone (coder or not) must be comfortable collaborating with the digital tools of tomorrow. That means knowing how AI works, what it’s good at, where it’s biased, and how to use it as a creative amplifier.

The human + AI duo will always beat the AI alone. But only if the human knows what they’re doing.

In Conclusion

So that’s it, 5 key future skills we need to nurture. Not buzzwords, but the building blocks of tomorrow’s top talent. Our human advantage if you will.

Also in the mix: leadership, cultural intelligence, entrepreneurial thinking, initiative, storytelling. Human traits that defy automation, but that forward-thinking organisations can deliberately design for, if they start early.

In the end, it’s simple.

We work with companies who don’t just want to keep up with change—they want to design for it.

If that sounds like you, let’s start the conversation.

Did I use AI to help with this? You bet your bandwidth I did.

I had an idea. Used ChatGPT Pro’s deep research to surface insights. I pressure-tested it and wrote the first draft, turning insight into a something tangible. Polished the flow with GPT’s help. Then I finished it with my own (somewhat cheesy) voice.

It’s AI-enhanced, not AI-replaced. Allowing me to take what was in my head, and pull it into the light. Faster, sharper and better.