I made a prediction last week that might upset a few universities: 70% of higher education institutions won't exist in 15 years.
I said it in front of 6,000+ people during Skillsoft's largest Leadercamp ever. People from 27 countries joined live. Another 250,000+ are expected to watch it asynchronously.
My talk was about the AI trends I think will reshape the next decade, but the biggest takeaway actually had very little to do with AI.
As AI gets better at doing the things we've traditionally been taught to do, the skills that make us uniquely human become more valuable, not less.
Curiosity. Communication. Building relationships. Persuasion. Judgment. Empathy. Knowing how to ask the right question. Knowing who to call when you don't know the answer.
The future doesn't belong to the people who are best at AI. And it doesn't belong to the people who ignore it.
It belongs to the people who become exceptional at both. AI skills + human skills. Not OR. AND.
This is why AI makes human skills more valuable. The combination is what separates those who thrive from those who get left behind.
Huge thank you to Skillsoft, Leena Rinne, Sharon Larson and Scott Jeffrey Miller for having me.
And to the 6,000+ people who joined us live, I'm curious: Do you think 70% is too high… or too low?
The institutions that survive will be the ones that stop teaching what AI can do and start teaching what AI can't.
