Attracted by the juicy title?
I spent a long time on that one (with a copious amount of tea).
To be a high-performing learning strategist/valued strategic partner and future L&D leader, you need to craft skills that aren’t of the traditional L&D mould.
Your technical skills can only take you so far.
Your most human skills and abilities are what give you the edge.
The world’s most in-demand skills
I’m going to set the scene with some external data before I drop my list.
According to a bunch of people with way more budget for research and probably with more intelligence than I, these are the core skills of 2025:
My first thought, as always, with these types of data viz’s is they’re too broad.
These are like the heads of the skill families, kinda like how the Mafia works. They’re are many layers and connections underneath each. Some of these are more vital than others.
This is what we want to find.
From the same report, these are the speculated skills needed for 2030:
Again, very ambiguous.
I kinda feel like they pressed shuffle and threw a couple more tech-focused ones in for good measure.
If you want to get even nerdier, we have this one.
Which I have many feelings about, and not generally good ones. The box in the bottom left gives me all those emotions.
If not obvious, I’m talking about the “Out of focus skills” section.
It firmly feels like the rejects corner, but for me, it has quite a few surprise entries.
These caught my eye:
- Reading, writing and mathematics
- Teaching and mentoring
In the report, these skills are earmarked as less essential and will see a decreased investment.
This is MADNESS.
Look, I get AI is amazing, but to say these skills are less essential is the only thing that blows my mind right now. I’m sure all the AI and Tech bros will disagree, yet, to read, write, and crunch numbers is a pivotal form of critical and creative thinking, and analytical judgement.
The biggest sin we can make is to outsource our thinking to AI and let our thinking be shaped by AI too.
Sadly, a growing body of research points to an increasing over-reliance on AI tools.
I’ve covered some of this in detail in another article: What Is AI Doing To Your Skills?
But what does this mean?
So that’s the global view of the skills situation (I broke down the top 7 insights in more detail from the WEF report too).
There’s loads more reports out there from every consulting firm you can think of that parrot the same information.
But what does this mean practically for you, me and the people you serve through L&D as we find our way alongside our digitally intelligent buddies?
Here’s my take based on zero money to fund my research but a bag of first-hand experience working with a variety of global companies, building my own company at the same time, and analysing far too many reports than time should allow me.
You could say, this is where I’m placing my bets.
The 5 skills to build your human edge
Before we crack on, a quick explainer.
I’m going to give a L&D angle to these skills, but they’re vital for any human reading these words (I know you’re reading this too, AI).
1. Writing
Writing is a super-powered skill.
You do it every day. From emails to text messages – you’re a writer.
Hogwart’s very own headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, once said “Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”
Good writing is good thinking.
→ Clear thinking is clear writing.
Words can make people millions of dollars, change cultures and win hearts. Pretty damn powerful. Don’t make the mistake of outsourcing this to AI.
AI can help you but never outsource your thinking to it.
To think is to write, to write is to think.
This is not just a L&D thing. It’s great for life in general. As L&D pros, we spend a lot of time trying to win hearts and minds. Writing is a gateway to do this.
Plus, you’ll get really good at writing persuasive emails!
The best writing stays with you
I’m sure you’ve read a set of words that stay with you.
Perhaps, they’ve even changed you.
For me, some came in a Monday morning email from a former CEO of a company I worked with.
It started blandly, as per usual.
I slid my eyes through the usual dribble of sales, results and how stock market analysts were happy about something.
Then something caught my eye.
This CEO used a short paragraph to share their career experience.
One which has stuck with me for over a decade:
“True happiness beats in your chest. Work out what you like to do best and try to do more of that. Don’t torture yourself pondering the purpose of life. It’s here, it’s now & it won’t last forever, so enjoy it.”
I think about that paragraph every week.
I’ve repeated it hundreds of times, and written it maybe thousands more.
Perhaps that fictional wizard is right.
→ Always work on your writing.
🤘 Resources for you:
2. Marketing
Marketing is not just an industry.
It’s something we each do, every day, in many ways. You market your skills to a potential employer, you market ideas to business leaders and you even use marketing techniques to convince your crush to go on a date with you.
It’s one of those things (like everything on this list) which is woven into the fabric of living.
I’m not the best experience designer, coach or facilitator.
But I’m a damn good marketer.
This and writing give me an edge in my career. I’ve been able to get results and climb that annoying corporate ladder to senior roles because I understand how to wield these skills for performance.
I guarantee it will do the same for you.
🤘 Resources for you:
3. Sales (aka positioning products for success)
This might be the one that takes you off guard the most.
Selling and L&D, WTF!
Like it’s close sibling in marketing. The art of selling is something you do a lot more than you know.
It’s incredibly useful because we’re in the business of influencing people to make change.
From courses to events, we are trying to sell tickets to those shows.
Sales is about great communication. It’s not inherently evil, yet people have used its power in nefarious ways. That’s not what I’m talking about.
TThat’s not what I’m talking about.
Sales, at its core, is the process of persuading or influencing a potential buyer to exchange their money for a product or service.
It was also recently put to me as a combo of storytelling and expert positioning, and I kinda like that framing too.
For those of us navigating the intricacies of L&D, think of sales as the art of matchmaking performance with your people. We connect the dots between a need (often one the buyer wasn’t fully aware they had) and a solution (your product or service) that can fulfil it.
Don’t think of selling as only about transactions.
It’s about understanding, communication, and building relationships.
In our world, sales can also be viewed as an educational journey.
Where the salesperson (you) guides the customer through a learning process. You help them understand their own needs, the value of the solution offered, and how it can enhance their life.
At its heart it’s the ability to listen, educate, and inspire.
🤘Resources for you:
4. Storytelling
I never truly understood storytelling’s power until the second decade of my career.
I thought it was one of those woo-woo things people say.
→ I was wrong.
I’m a big believer that good stories entertain people, but great stories change people.
We’ve been telling each other stories since the dawn of time.
It’s not a radical new concept which can be turned into a flashy tool or methodology by an education provider (although I’m sure they’d try!).
If you’re like me, you love nothing more than a good old story to inspire you to do something great, or, in some cases, put you into the sleep we so crave.
We connect through stories.
I spend countless hours watching, reading and listening to some of the best and worst at it (that’s conference life for ya). It helps shape my own style.
Connection through telling stories
I had my ‘aha’ moment with storytelling about 8 years ago on a work trip to South India.
I’d been sent by the powers that be by my employer at the time to launch a new learning platform for 15,000 colleagues. I like to imagine a Bat signal was raised to call for me.
In reality, I was handed an Emirates plane ticket and bundled into a car at 5 am to the airport.
It wasn’t until the high of my first business class experience had worn off that I started to realise I might be in for more than I bargained for.
I was to spend the next 2 weeks meeting, greeting and persuading people who had never met me to use this ‘awesome’ learning tool. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake the thought of “Why should they?”
To them, I was another crony sent by HQ to do its bidding.
They thou must use this tool, and make thou use this tool you shall! Yes, I speak in my head in a Shakespearean tone sometimes.
The point is, I had no business telling these people anything.
I had no credibility or trust built. My bargaining chip was ‘HQ sent me’. It’s certainly not a card to make you popular. I had to change my approach.
It was time to shift into this storytelling thing.
A counter-intuitive approach
Instead of telling people, “You’ve got to do this because HQ says so”. I did the opposite.
I spent 2 weeks telling a story. Each day I wrote a chapter with those around me. We talked about the power of tech for learning, how each colleague can transform their skills with this opportunity and what it means for them.
I didn’t talk about the company at all.
We created a working group in the office to own the tool. I wanted everyone to collaborate and write the story with me. This was one way of doing that.
You want to know the result now, right?
Fret not, it’s great news.
That approach led to the most successful launch I had in my time with that company.
Storytelling works, kids.
🤘Resources for you:
5. Digital Intelligence
We’re all humans living in a digital world.
At least it feels more like that right now, and this is a must-have skill for every human.
I’ve spent too much of my career watching people shy away from tech. You can’t do that anymore. I hate to sound like one of those morons on social media that says “Do this or be left behind”. But I’m going to make an exception here.
If you don’t invest in your digital intelligence, you will be left behind.
Defining Digital Intelligence
Let’s keep this simple.
It’s about being savvy, aware and adaptable with new digital technologies.
You don’t need to be an expert but you must be aware of what’s available. Be curious, always.
I’m 100% confident that my ability to adopt and adapt to new technologies has given me the edge over many of my peers. What is dark magic to them is like playing in a sandbox for me. This only happens when you invest in yourself.
As the world continues to be eaten up by tech, you would be wise to become fluent in the language of technology to become a valued strategic business partner.
🤘 Resources for you:
Final Thoughts
Ok, let’s park this skills party bus.
The world still belongs to those who can think clearly, connect deeply and adapt quickly.
So be the chess player, not the pawn.
→ If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.
Before you go… 👋
If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.
You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.
2 replies on “5 Rare Skills No One Talks About To Become a Successful L&D Pro”
[…] so hot on DI that I included it in my 7 skills modern L&D teams need, 5 rare skills of high-performing L&D pros and a core skill in building modern L&D […]
[…] the skills that separate you from the pack. I’m talking about the way you communicate, your ability to think critically, make sound […]