Consistency: A 22nd Century Skill

Not long ago, a member of my team emailed me an interesting challenge: come up with a training for 22^nd century skills. It piqued my interest. Here’s how I responded:

“That’s a cool idea. By the 22^nd century, I imagine there will be a volume of content so immense that people will need to be excellent at filtering, finding, and quickly assessing. Like today, actual human interaction and communication skills will be a commodity. The ability to connect, influence, and capture attention will be vital.”

Was I on the right track?  How would you answer that question? 

I could have started with any one of the many lists created for 21^st century skills.  One simple list of learning and innovation skills, written by P21 is called The Four Cs: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity. 

Let’s add one for the 22^nd century.  My vote is Consistency.

Consistency might not excite you.  It may even seem to be at odds with all the innovation and change happening around us these days.  After all, can innovation and consistency tolerate each other? Can they exist together in a business?

They must.

Consistency is a steadfast adherence to your values.

Consistency is a shared language and common approach to work within your organization.

Consistency is unwavering commitment to putting your people first.

Consistency is a predictable level of excellence for your customers.

Consistency doesn’t weaken our ability to innovate; quite conversely, it strengthens it.  Consistency allows us to be efficient, it empowers our decision making and gives us a foundation from which to challenge the status quo.

Isn’t it nice to know that in a world of exponential change and countless unique differences – there are things that do not change?

The work my team does is based on 8 consistent truths about people.  Imagine that.  7.7 billion of us, each unique, yet we all share these 8 things.  Learn more about “The 8” right here. 

We may not be able to predict all the skills needed for success in the 22^nd century, and that’s okay; we’ll have a solid foundation of consistent truth to build from.