Critical Thinking Skills Employers Value

A CMO pulled me aside after a meeting. “What did you think about our junior marketing manager?” she asked. Background: A PE firm brought us in to optimize the company’s marketing. This person’s performance was under review. These conversations can be sensitive. Acquisitions bring pressure to "clean house." But after I acknowledged this person’s relative inexperience, I said: “But that’s okay, because they’ve got something far more valuable: genuine curiosity and sharp critical thinking skills. Those are qualities you can't easily teach.” I explained that in every meeting so far, they showed up prepared with pointed, insightful questions, and thoughtful suggestions for campaign optimization. Most importantly, they were humble, and never pretended to know something they didn’t. “That was super helpful,” the CMO said. “Thank you.” (They’re keeping their job 🤞) Anyway, here’s the takeaway: Intelligence is being commoditized by AI. Knowledge has never been more easily accessible. You can get Deep Research to generate a 30-page report about something you know nothing about. Then you can use AI to dig deeper and quiz you until you really understand it. That means what matters more than ever is: the humility to acknowledge what you don’t know, the desire to fill that gap because you love learning new things, and the agency or will power to keep pushing even when the going gets tough. And naturally, the ability to critically assess if the information you’re ingesting is accurate and useful or not. Bottom line: I’d rather hire the young, hungry candidate full of gumption vs. the know-it-all who refuses to update their knowledge and pushes back against constructive criticism. And I predict that it’s only a matter of time until EVERY employer feels the same.

The World Economic Forum just revealed the top skills for 2030 in their Future of Jobs Report. Spoiler: the ones rising fastest are the ones we’ve been ignoring 👀 Here’s what the data from 1,000 top employers (representing 14M workers across 22 industries) tells us: 📍 Analytical thinking is the #1 skill employers value most. 📍 Career growth is shifting from credentials to capabilities. Employers care less about degrees and more about how you think, adapt, and solve real problems. 📍 Soft skills are rising faster than technical ones, including programming and design. If you want to stay relevant by 2030, these are the skills to master: 1) Analytical Thinking → Choose one business decision this week and list 3 things you're assuming to be true. Then challenge each with data before moving forward. 2) Creative Thinking → Take a current work challenge and ask, “How would a completely different team solve this?” 3) AI & Big Data Literacy → Pick one business workflow and explore how AI could reduce time, cost, or complexity. Then test it in a low-risk area. 4) Resilience & Flexibility → Write down the last thing that frustrated you. How could you respond differently next time? 5) Motivation & Self-Awareness → Track your energy for 3 days. Note when you're most focused vs. drained. Move one key task to match your peak zone. 6) Curiosity & Lifelong Learning → Set a 30-minute calendar block to explore a trend that will affect your industry but isn’t on your roadmap yet. 7) Technological Literacy → Pick one tool your team uses and explore a feature you’ve never touched. 8) Empathy & Listening → In your next 1:1, ask: “What’s something you’ve been holding back from saying?” Then listen without interrupting. 9) Leadership & Influence → In your next team meeting or Slack update, highlight a quiet win from someone who usually flies under the radar. 10) Systems Thinking → Pick one process that causes repeated friction. Map it end-to-end, and eliminate the one step that slows everything down. WEF’s data is clear: The skills rising fastest aren’t technical, they’re human. AI is already mastering the hard skills. But it still can’t lead a team, rethink a broken process, or earn trust in a room. 🤝 By 2030, those who master soft skills with strategy won’t just survive the shift, they’ll lead it 

Stop hiring for degrees. Start hiring for the one skill that matters. (Hint: Your university probably never taught it) Here's a disturbing reality: 45% of college students show zero improvement in critical thinking after four years of education. (2011 study) 78% score poorly on basic critical thinking tests. (2016 study) Yet 98.5% of employers say it's the skill they need most. The root cause: A critical thinking gap. Orgs need people who can: — See through their own biases — Distinguish signal from noise in complex data — Draw logical conclusions under pressure — Craft clear, persuasive arguments — Challenge assumptions (including their own) — Navigate ambiguous problems methodically — Make sound decisions with incomplete information Instead, we're getting graduates who excel at: — Memorizing textbooks — Following rigid procedures — Repeating what they're told — Checking all the right boxes — Playing it safe The solution isn't complicated (but, sadly, might be seen by *some* as controversial, even though it 100% shouldn’t be): 1. Stop conditioning students to react instead of reflect → When we teach people to shut down at discomfort, we kill their ability to think critically → You can't analyze what you refuse to examine 2. Return to true liberal education → Where ideas are explored, not avoided → Where assumptions are challenged, not protected → Where disagreement leads to discussion, not dismissal 3. Make critical thinking the foundation → Because you can't write clearly about things you haven't thought through clearly → Because every complex problem requires examining uncomfortable truths Will it happen? Pains me to say, but probably not. That's why when pharma orgs come to us about their documentation problems, we tell them the truth: Clear writing comes from clear thinking. And no two-hour writing workshop or newfangled AI tool can fix a thinking problem. P.S. Alright. This was one of my spicier takes. So in the spirit of critical thinking and open-mindedness, let’s hash it out in the comments: Agree? Disagree? Have a more nuanced take? Have at it.