2121: A Global Futures Forum

SKILLS

Skills needed to get to 2121 - Context

The most significant change between 1996 and 2121 will be the emergence of relationships between firms, families and individuals without the constraints of national borders. There will be a borderless world in which there are many diverse cultures, and concurrently many common cultural influences with a shared value system leading to stronger identification of our shared humanity, our mutual obligations, and a commitment to strengthening our local and global environment and communities.

These new and more diverse relationships offer the potential for individuals to develop, communicate, work, share, travel, explore on a scale not possible in 1996 and to re-balance their lifestyle to reflect a focus on spirituality, environment, land and personal productions. Existing structures and authority systems which do not respond to individual creativity, and cultural diversity, and the relationships they require will be in conflict with the dynamic of the borderless world and will have to adopt, change or disappear.

We believe that Australia has the potential to contribute to the realisation of new social and personal relationships for 2121 and convey its process lessons to the wilder world.

Skills

We believe that there are three core clusters of skills which are essential if the transition from 1996 to 2121 is going to be achieved.

1. Ability to filter cultural diversity

• Perceive difference, nuance, meaning, commonality
• Curiosity - willingness to be open
• Accepting - self confidence/self awareness

2. Ability to order (make sense of) cultural diversity

• Analysis relevance and utility
• Integration into objectives
• Synergise - leverage diversity to gain objectives

3. Ability to thrive amidst cultural diversity.

• Planning/translate idea into practicality - program/project
• Operate across scale (local, regional, global)

Specific skills:

• Negotiation / delegation
• Team building
• Network development / alliances
• Lateral thinking (feed back and feed forward)
• Change, creativity and innovation
• Communication: visual, oral, auditory and written, plus commitment to agreed outcomes these can evolve
• Inter-personal relationship development
• Maintaining goal focus
• Exploit/optimise reciprocity