WEF Core Skills Aligned to Tomorrows Compass
- Dr. Eric Albertini
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Each time the World Economic Forum (WEF) publishes a new list of “Core Skills for the Future,” leaders rush to update their talent strategies. Yet too often, these lists remain theoretical, disconnected from practical capability-building inside organizations.
At Tomorrows Compass, we believe that preparing for the future means translating global skill insights into specific, measurable human capabilities.
That’s why we mapped our 12 Tomorrows Compass skills against the WEF’s Core Skills for 2030. The result is reassuring and revealing. It shows that our framework is not just another proprietary model but deeply anchored in the global understanding of what the future demands.
Here’s how they align.
WEF Core Skill: AI and Big Data aligns to Adaptive Digital Intelligence
WEF emphasizes proficiency in AI and big data as critical for 2030. At Tomorrows Compass, we express this as Adaptive Digital Intelligence: the ability not just to use digital tools, but to continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn in digital contexts. It’s about digital confidence and agility, not merely technical skills.
WEF Core Skill: Curiosity & Lifelong Learning aligns to Inquiring Mind and Adaptive Digital Intelligence
Curiosity fuels resilience and reinvention. WEF ranks curiosity and lifelong learning among the top future skills. Tomorrows Compass reflects this through:
Inquiring Mind: The drive to explore, question, and discover new knowledge.
Adaptive Digital Intelligence: Staying current in a fast-changing technological landscape.
Together, they ensure professionals remain relevant and future-fit.
WEF Core Skill: Technological Literacy aligns to Adaptive Digital Intelligence
WEF’s call for technological literacy maps directly to our Adaptive Digital Intelligence skill. It’s not enough to know how technology works Individuals must integrate it seamlessly into how they think, collaborate, and create value, and they must embrace evolving technologies with the right mindset, not fear and resist technological advancements.
WEF Core Skill: Creative Thinking aligns to Inquiring Mind, Embrace Uncertainty, Paradoxical Thinking and Design Thinking
WEF identifies creative thinking as essential for 2030. Tomorrows Compass activates creativity through:
Inquiring Mind: fuelling curiosity.
Embrace Uncertainty: allowing space for innovation in uncertainty and ambiguous contexts.
Paradoxical Thinking: holding contradictory ideas to discover new solutions.
Design Thinking: applying empathy and experimentation to problem-solving.
Innovation doesn’t arise from a single skill but from this ecosystem of thinking behaviours.
WEF Core Skill: Resilience, Flexibility & Agility aligns to Resourcefulness, Change Agility
WEF emphasizes resilience and agility as critical survival skills. In Tomorrows Compass:
Dynamic Resourcefulness: reflects inventiveness under constraint.
Change Agility:captures the ability to thrive amidst transformation.
These skills transform disruption from threat into opportunity.
WEF Core Skill: Talent Management aligns to Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Relational Influence
Managing diverse talent is a strategic skill for 2030. Tomorrows Compass builds this capability through:
Cross-Cultural Collaboration: working effectively across boundaries of culture, geography, and identity.
Relational Influence: building trust and connection to inspire and mobilize people.
This is how leaders engage hearts and minds, not just manage headcount.
WEF Core Skill: Leadership & Social Influence aligns to Relational Influence and Digital Teamwork
WEF sees leadership as fundamentally social. Tomorrows Compass aligns this to:
Relational Influence: authentic connection and trust as levers of influence.
Digital Teamwork: leading and collaborating in virtual environments.
Influence is about human connection - both face-to-face and digital.
WEF Core Skill: Analytical Thinking aligns to Inquiring Mind, Embrace Uncertainty and Paradoxical Thinking
Critical thinking remains foundational. Tomorrows Compass develops analytical skills through:
Inquiring Mind: examining problems deeply.
Embrace Uncertainty: navigating ambiguity instead of seeking premature closure.
Paradoxical Thinking: handling complexity and contradictions without collapsing into black-and-white thinking.
In the future, analysis must live comfortably alongside ambiguity.
WEF Core Skill: Systems Thinking aligns to Contextual Intelligence
WEF calls for systems thinking: the ability to see interdependencies and ripple effects. Tomorrows Compass expresses this as Contextual Intelligence: reading the room, sensing the broader system, and making choices that fit the moment.
It’s the hidden intelligence behind wise decisions.
WEF Core Skills: Motivation & Self-Awareness aligns to Inquiring Mind and Relational Influence
Personal insight and drive are core steady skills for 2030. Tomorrows Compass reflects this in:
Inquiring Mind: curiosity not just about the world, but about oneself, and others.
Relational Influence: authentic leadership starts with self-awareness (connect to self), and then moves to connecting with others through empathy and wise compassion. This allows leaders to inspire and motivate by leading without authority.
Sustainable performance begins within.
WEF Core Skill: Empathy & Active Listening aligns with Relational Influence
WEF emphasizes human connection as a differentiator. Tomorrows Compass embeds this in Relational Influence, ensuring people can truly listen, empathize, and connect to others’ perspectives.
WEF Core Skill: Service Orientation / Customer aligns with Paradoxical Thinking and Design Thinking
Creating value means solving real human needs. Tomorrows Compass links this to:
Paradoxical Thinking: balancing customer needs with business realities (and straddling the paradoxes)
Design Thinking: designing innovative customer solutions around human experience.
Innovation begins with service.
WEF Core Skill: Resource Management aligns to Contextual Intelligence, Change Agility and Dynamic Resourcefulness
Efficient use of time, talent, and money remains timeless. Tomorrows Compass approaches this through:
Contextual Intelligence: reading the room, sensemaking, understanding constraints and priorities.
Change Agility: adapting plans as conditions shift.
Dynamic Resourcefulness: maximizing what’s at hand.
These are the skills that keep businesses resilient and thriving.
Future-Proofing with Tomorrows Compass
The mapping confirms something vital: Tomorrows Compass is not an alternative to global models like the WEF — it’s a practical translation of them.
It takes the abstract future skills the WEF identifies and turns them into:
Clear, teachable behaviours
Measurable capabilities
Interconnected skillsets that work together
In a world awash with lists and frameworks, our focus is simple: help humans stay relevant, resilient, and ready to shape the future.
Curious to hear from others: How are you translating global skill insights into real development for your people?
