---
title: "Kindergarten Reveals What's Needed to Thrive vs Machines"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/2f2fae23-9a1f-4615-a055-b5b2e1933bb1
source_url: "https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kindergarten-solves-whats-needed-thrive-vs-machines-david-m-aferiat/?trackingId=HFwq%2BAgkQ%2B2%2BoxBcyU6UUg%3D%3D"
stack: https://stacklist.com/c/education/stack/3701d09f-5d84-426c-aef0-e129d294445b
summary: "Education must shift from teaching knowledge to developing uniquely human skills like empathy, creativity, and critical thinking to prepare children and workers for an AI-dominated world. The author advocates for balancing STEM with arts and humanities, and emphasizes soft skills development in workplace leadership."
tags: "education, artificial-intelligence, soft-skills, leadership-development, talent-management, emotional-intelligence, workplace-culture"
key_entities: "Jack Ma (person), Alibaba (organization), Davos (event), Trade Ideas (organization), Union Square Ventures (organization), Bethany Marz Crystal (person), Philip (person), artificial-intelligence (technology), machine-learning (technology), emotional-intelligence (concept), critical-thinking (concept), LifePlanner (organization)"
classification: "analysis"
content_hash: "sha256:c32bbdeb8371e75454ed277fcbf357edc80149c9c9636e11d653aca085e4bdae"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 711
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# Kindergarten Reveals What's Needed to Thrive vs Machines

I'm putting two ideas together here that impact how we develop the talent at Trade Ideas and my oldest daughter's elective choices as she plans for the start of her high school experience next year. At this year's Davos gathering, Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder, discussed how we are failing to prepare our children for a world of A.I. and machine learning. Here's a recap of this point from a much broader conversation : Only by changing education can our children compete with machines, given that robots could replace 800 million jobs by 2030. We cannot teach our kids knowledge to compete with ever smarter machines. Instead, we need to teach what makes them smarter than machines; namely, empathy for others, independent thinking, emotional intelligence, teamwork, creative self-expression, and problem-solving. That's why lessons learned from sports, music, arts, and language are critical in preparing for the world that's racing towards us. This is a change in my thinking of what elective classes my daughter ought to have chosen. I might have advised more of an emphasis on STEM related subjects - beyond the core she already takes. Instead, I'm applauding her choices in AP Human Geography, intro to digital technology, graphic design, and visual arts. Mastering areas where machines cannot perform is a strategy that extends into the high-performing workplace too. Here's a forecast of the ongoing skills leaders and contributors will need to succeed. I note Critical Thinking's ascent to #2 and eventually to #1, given our current environment of 'alternate facts'. Thanks to iamshaily , @meisshaily for this image. Last week I came across a great example from Union Square Ventures, described by Bethany Marz Crystal,  that is applied among their 70+ portfolio companies to create a collaborative culture of learning and development. This makes sense: training and development in people management skills creates a higher performing environment in which to execute strategy, react to the market, and grow revenue. The skills were found in the gaps observed among newly promoted managers. Here's just a few that best apply to the teams of peers found at Trade Ideas: Giving/receiving feedback Understanding/adapting to communication Balancing personal work and team management Being a player-coach to colleagues Delegating and accountability Being strategic vs. tactical Getting good at these softer skills means honing one's ability to execute and drive towards results. My partner Philip explained in a previous post his approach to team development . My approach this year will be to help the Trade Ideas team find the training they identify they need in one or more of these areas. If you know of any good softer skill development coaches or resources like the one I'm currently using ( LifePlanner ), please leave a comment.