If you’re aiming for a promotion this year, here’s a slightly awkward thought: the skills that got you here might not be the ones that get you there. 

Work is shifting fast. Not incrementally. Fundamentally. And according to LinkedIn data, around 70% of the skills we’ll need over the next five years are about to change. 

In this episode, I sit down with bestselling author of Work Backwards, Tim Duggan, to unpack the five skills that are becoming disproportionately valuable right now. 

Tim has identified five capabilities that are becoming increasingly valuable: judgment, storytelling, collaborative intelligence, unlearning, and conflict management. 

We explore what each of these really looks like in practice, why they matter more than ever in the age of AI, and how to start building at least one of them straight away. 

Tim and I discuss: 

• Why judgment is becoming a critical skill as AI produces more work for us 

• How to strengthen your judgment muscle, even without decades of experience 

• Practical tools I use, like pre-mortems and avoiding “whether or not” decisions 

• Why storytelling roles are on the rise and how to make your ideas stick 

• A simple framework for better stories 

• What collaborative intelligence really means and how to work with AI without outsourcing your brain 

• How Tim uses AI as a research partner 

• The true cost of workplace conflict and why avoiding it is not a strategy 

• The one tiny word that can completely change how you handle conflict 

Key quotes 

“This is a skill that would not have existed two years ago.” 

“Pick one skill, try one small shift.” 

Connect with Tim Duggan on Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn and his website, read his column at The Sydney Morning Herald, and check out his latest book Work Backwards.