Starting reading "A Whole New Mind" by
Dan Pink, who wrote "Free Agent Nation". The basic thesis is that we're now in a time where creative/empathetic traits are becoming increasingly important over the analytical ones (geeks, MBA's, etc.) that have been the predominant factors for success over the past whatever number of years.
The argument goes that because of abundance (i.e. people can get most anything they want, generally cheaply, and have lots of choices), Asia (i.e. work can be outsourced elsewhere cheaper), and automation (some things just don't need people to do anymore), that to be successful or to make a difference, other things are becoming differentiators, such as design etc. What with more people's material needs more satisfied than before, they can start looking up the hierarchy, focus on "meaning" etc.
The lesson of course is that while the skills we've taken for granted as important continue to be, that there are another set of skills, the so-called "soft skills", which have been more easily dismissed over the past decades, which we will need to increasingly emphasize. The usual set of anecdotes and evidence (social trends, changes in hiring practices, choice quotes and examples) makes this an interesting and lively argument.
Only a little way's through the book so far, but it raises some perspectives definitely worth thinking about. Especially if you think relying only on analytic skills in the future will work out as well as it has in the past.
