Millions of jobs could be eliminated or created in the next decade by artificial intelligence, according to the World Economic Forum.
To navigate this change — and maybe even new job requirements — Mark Cuban says you'll need to be curious, agile and adaptable.
"I can pretend that I'm gonna be able to predict where AI's going and the exact impact on the job market, but I'd be lying, I have no idea," the billionaire entrepreneur and investor tells CNBC Make It. "But I do know that I am gonna pay attention, and be agile, and be curious, and be able to adapt."
Adaptability is a soft skill that's "increasingly in demand" across a wide range of industries, according to a Feb. 2024 report from LinkedIn.
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The need for flexible, resilient employees in the workplace, LinkedIn found, is the direct result of changes to the post-pandemic workforce: the rise of AI, the widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work as well as five generations, each with different communication styles and workplace jargon, now working together.
Employers want to hire people who can quickly adapt to these ongoing changes, says Aneesh Raman, LinedIn's chief economic opportunity officer. "Adaptability is the best way to have agency right now," he notes in the report. "At the core of managing change is building that muscle of adaptability."
And yet, "it's a skill that can be rare to find," Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School, recently told CNBC Make it. "People are afraid to try new things and fail. But you can't grow without moving beyond your comfort zone."
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Honing these three soft skills — curiosity, agility and adaptability — will never stop paying dividends for your career, Cuban adds.
"The skills you need for a job today, 10 years, 100 years from now, are always the same," he says.
One simple way to build your curiosity is to explore a topic you're unfamiliar with, Barbara Pécherot, a professor at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management told CNBC Make It in 2022. Sharpening your curiosity skills will help you come up with stronger solutions to work problems faster, she added.
Agility, meanwhile, is about quickly absorbing new information and applying it effectively. Pécherot's suggestion? Track your daily activities and time spent on each task to see where you can refine your routine.
"Maybe you waste time recouping information because you don't take thorough notes in meetings, or maybe you lose productivity in the afternoon because you overschedule your mornings," she said. "Recognize these as opportunities to improve and make changes."
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