What's the most important skill to possess in the 21st century? Is it a hard or soft skill?
In my mind, "most important" connotates towards an end-all-be-all type of skill that would allow one to cruise through this century with minimal friction and maximum adaptability.
Arguably, this century is a clash of seemingly two opposing forces, where on the one hand we have this opportunity galore piggybacking on all kinds of distractions and on the other hand, we have legacy systems and institutions, and more fundamentally, people themselves, still operating from frameworks designed for a different era, clinging to old-world paradigms through some form of unknown attachment, unable/unwilling to fully come to terms with this new reality.
I think there's broadly a transitional aspect at play, not just moving from one state to another but stuck in the threshold itself, and nobody knows how long this in-between will last or what's really on the other side.
For example, the question itself hints at a need for certainty (seeking that only that one skill to rely on between ups and downs) which I can't tell whether it's really a psychological thing or more of an evolutionary survival response to living in constant flux.
Chaos is neither good for the mind nor for the body, but still it's a fundamental ingredient for growth, for the most part.
Basically, it seems to me that modern people are caught between craving stability and needing to embrace uncertainty.
Without stability, is it possible to live life to its full economic potential?
Commitment Without Certainty
Even though I didn't live much in the old world (less conscious of it before coming of age) with its predictable career ladders, institutional trust, and social contracts that mostly held, I think it did offer clear paths and reliable frameworks that one could follow and be on their way.
You could make a plan at 20 and reasonably expect it to still make sense at 40. There was a bargain, do X, Y, Z, and get A, B, C. I think that bargain has been broken to a large extent with volatility of the digital era, but the ghost of it still haunts us, for myself in my parent's advice and externally more in the way I still measure success by old-world metrics even as I chase new-world opportunities.
Whereas this new world that's dawning on us offers seemingly infinite possibility but no map. Many people, myself included, are suspended somewhere in between, with one foot in each, fully committed to neither. I want to embrace change and still also know where I will be in five years.
At present, I also don't think it's possible to commit to the old world, the structure just isn't there anymore and seems unrealistic, almost naive. The institutions are crumbling, the social contracts have been voided, and predictable pathways have either disappeared or become so competitive that they're effectively closed off to most people.
To sum up, I think subjectively the most important skill is developing the capacity to deal with uncertainty.
Make decisions with incomplete information and tolerate the discomfort of not knowing if you're doing it "right" because there is no "right" anymore, only what works for you in this moment, subject to revision.
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