AI Skills Are on the Rise – But Human Skills Still Lead the Way
WEF Job Skills 2025 Report Just Released
AI Skills Are on the Rise – But Human Skills Still Lead the Way 🚨
The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report is out, and the results are striking: AI and Big Data skills have jumped to #11 on the list of the most important skills for the future of work. Yet, the top 10 skills remain human-centered—they are skills that research shows fuel collaboration and innovation.
At Creativity America, we’ve taken this list and done something transformative. We've spent the past two years building a tool, the Creative Brain Capital Index, that quantifies these top 10 human skills, turning what the WEF identifies as critical for realizing the promise of technology into a measurable, actionable key performance indicator for entrepreneurial teams, companies, and even economies.
In order, here are the skills shaping the future according to the WEF:
Analytical Thinking: The ability to logically evaluate information, identify patterns, and solve complex problems.
Resilience, Flexibility, and Agility: The capacity to adapt effectively to change, recover from challenges, and remain productive in dynamic environments.
Leadership and Social Influence: The skill to inspire, guide, and motivate individuals or teams to achieve shared goals.
Creative Thinking: Generating novel and valuable ideas to address problems or opportunities.
Motivation and Self-Awareness: Understanding and managing your emotions while sustaining the internal drive to achieve goals.
Technological Literacy: Understanding and using technology effectively in various contexts.
Empathy and Active Listening: The capacity to understand and share the feelings of others while attentively engaging in communication.
Curiosity and Lifelong Learning: A proactive desire to continuously explore, learn, and grow.
Talent Management: The ability to attract, develop, and retain skilled individuals to enhance team performance.
Service Orientation and Customer Service: The focus on meeting the needs and expectations of others to deliver value and satisfaction.
Artificial Intelligence
When human skills (#1-10) work with AI (like #11), they unlock unparalleled innovation and productivity. But these aren’t just ideas—Creativity America measures them. Teams can now benchmark and build their capacity in these areas, ensuring they don’t just keep up but lead in the #WonderEconomy.
Which of these skills do you think will define success in 2025? Let me know in the comments.
Our Actions Today Write Future History
As we look toward the future, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and brain-computer interfaces will reshape how creativity is harnessed to manage risk. AI can analyze vast amounts of data to predict creative outcomes, helping leaders identify which innovative ideas are most likely to succeed in complex conditions. Quantum computing could enable teams to solve previously insurmountable problems, expanding the possible solutions to tackle risk. Brain-computer interfaces might one day allow us to measure and stimulate creative processes in real-time, offering unprecedented precision in managing creativity as a risk mitigation tool.
With these exciting possibilities in reach, the future of corporate R&D hinges on leaders’ ability to reimagine how things get done today. Just as precision medicine transformed healthcare by embracing complexity and using data-driven interventions, innovation companies in 2025 and beyond that adopt a precision culture approach to developing Creative Brain Capital will have the advantage. When applied systematically and strategically, creativity is the most powerful risk management tool companies can use in the years ahead.
At Creativity America, we are leading the way in developing precision innovation cultures that help leaders unlock their innovation teams' full human creative potential. By integrating brain science, artistic exploration, and business innovation, we help companies break through mental barriers, embrace complexity, and cultivate a precision culture that drives creative success through times of uncertainty.
What Creativity America brings to the table is the ability to measure, develop, and apply team creativity in a precise, actionable way that is aligned with corporate R&D's strategic priorities. This is more than just a cultural shift—it’s a business imperative for companies that want to stay relevant, competitive, and transformational in an increasingly complex world. In this new landscape, creativity truly is currency, and Creativity America is showing businesses how to spend it wisely.
🔗👉 If you liked this, you may enjoy reading my related post “What is the corporate creativity cure when R&D stagnates?” https://substack.com/@culturefuturist/note/p-149106612?r=c7dky&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Theo Edmonds, Culture Futurist® & Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation®
©2025 Theo Edmonds | All Rights Reserved. Please credit the author when using any of this content. The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.