Coursera has added 15 million new students to its platform since the start of the pandemic, with the majority taking courses in business, tech or data science. Getty
Coursera has added 15 million new students to its platform since the start of the pandemic, with the majority taking courses in business, tech or data science. Getty
Coursera has added 15 million new students to its platform since the start of the pandemic, with the majority taking courses in business, tech or data science. Getty
Coursera has added 15 million new students to its platform since the start of the pandemic, with the majority taking courses in business, tech or data science. Getty

Why skills are the currency of the future of work


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  • Arabic

In this new era, skills are the currency of the future of work. Those individuals, companies and states that prioritise development will hold a massive competitive advantage.

This is why my co-author and colleague Kelly Palmer and I wrote our book The Expertise Economy. While much of the world has entered the age of digitisation, automation and acceleration, technology is not the most important asset in today's businesses. Expertise is. Technology is now relatively abundant, leaving expertise as the scarce, differentiating and most-in-demand resource.

Two profound shifts are reshaping the way businesses need to operate in order to remain competitive. This transformation requires us all to take a new look at how we educate and train our workforce.

The first involves information. It used to be that access to education was scarce. In that world, universities and employers had a specific role to play—to gather information and administer education and skill development programs. But now, information and education are abundant wherever people have access to the Internet. That makes skill development available at any time on any day, which makes the process of continuous learning a standard business expectation.

The second shift involves innovation. At scale, innovation has now outpaced our ability to develop expertise, leaving the global economy with a growing skills gap. This means that as we move into the future, there is projected to be a massive shortage of skills and expertise with unfilled jobs and economic opportunities missed because we cannot keep pace.

In their 2018 report, The Global Talent Crunch, the Korn Ferry Institute reports: “The major Middle Eastern markets in our study—the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—both face imminent shortages of highly skilled talent. This means that by 2020 they may miss out, respectively, on about $14.5 billion and $26bn of unrealised output. Those figures will have surged, respectively, to near $51bn and $207bn a decade later.”

A global survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that CEOs now rank “availability of key skills” as a top threat to their organisation’s growth prospects. Meanwhile, a McKinsey study found that 62 per cent of executives believe they’ll “need to retrain or replace more than a quarter of their workforce between now and 2023”.

This means that any individual, company, or state that prioritises skill development and expertise will have a massive competitive advantage and an abundance of an extremely scarce resource.

There is a role for universities in this. They can partner with businesses to offer courses, including online, that teach new and emerging skills. Government initiatives can help as well. For example, Singapore launched a SkillsFuture program, providing all citizens with access to training programs.

The UAE is proactively developing skills and expertise initiatives, including the National Experts Programme. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said, “It is essential that the country invests in its most valuable resource, [our] own citizens, to drive forward the nation for generations to come.”

Workplaces must take the lead by making learning a standard part of the job. As AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson told the New York Times it's his expectation that employees who dedicate less than an ideal five to ten hours a week to learning "will obsolete themselves". JP Morgan Chase recently announced a $350 million investment in their "New Skills at Work" initiative, with chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon saying, "The new world of work is about skills."

So, how do you capture this competitive advantage and create an agile workforce that’s constantly learning and evolving? The answer requires three steps.

Leverage modern learning infrastructure. Jane Hart, the founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, said it best, "You will never again be able to keep up with the pace of business and everything everyone needs to know." The only way forward when innovation has outpaced the old methods of education is to leverage new technologies that enable personalised, continuous, agile learning.

Build a culture of continuous learning. Making learning available isn't enough; you need a culture that values and encourages it. As Kelly and I write in our book, "In a culture of continuous learning, learning becomes part of people's everyday work and a regular part of their day. In this way, it becomes a daily habit." Leaders should ensure workers have time to learn and help managers make that happen. Leaders can also set the right example by learning new skills themselves and sharing the experience.

Map skills. Business management guru, Peter Drucker famously said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." If skills are the currency of the future of work, we must be able to measure and account for them. With the skills gap creating risks and consequences for organizations everywhere, it will soon become an imperative that every CEO and leader be able to answer: what skills do we have; what skills do we need?

Of course, it’s also up to individual employees, not just organisations, to be proactive about lifelong learning. In the Expertise Economy, each of us should always be engaging in development opportunities. To stay ahead, we should be setting learning goals, finding mentors, developing networks and taking part in diverse projects that will expose us to different skills and perspectives.

Innovation means pushing beyond the status quo. You have to go where others haven’t been, which necessitates you know how to learn and skill yourself. All of the very best innovators have been great lifelong, self-directed learners—Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Clayton Christensen are all on the record as having read the entire encyclopedia as children.

To become a great self-directed learner yourself, Kelly and I recommend the Learning Loop, which is composed of four stages: knowledge, practice, feedback, reflection. It begins with picking up knowledge through whichever opportunities work best for your learning style—instructional videos, podcasts, TEDTalks, shadowing an expert or taking a class. There are no one-size-fits-all systems for learning because people are complex and unique.

After engaging in the learning, practice what you’ve learned, either alone or with a peer. Next, ask people you trust for honest feedback—people who have context and related expertise in the skill you seek. Show them what you’ve learned, and listen to their advice. Finally, reflect on that feedback to determine what you need to learn next in order to improve. Go seek that knowledge, and repeat the cycle. I have seen the benefits of taking these steps every day.

But to overcome an ever-widening skills gap, experts must beget more experts. Only in developing, then sharing expertise, can this occur. This is in part the promise of the National Experts Programme: that today’s experts become the mentors of tomorrow. The program’s 20 Emiratis, who are learning, applying and being mentored at the highest levels to become the experts in sectors aligned to UAE’s national priorities, can then share that expertise with their organisations, helping to develop yet more experts, all to drive the country’s growth in the knowledge-based economy.

This holds the key to competing in the years ahead: that countries ensure all workers are empowered to keep learning and developing new skills. For the future truly belongs to the learners.

David Blake is co-founder of Degreed and co-author of The Expertise Economy

Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance

- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Dhadak 2

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri 

Rating: 1/5

The specs

Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 715bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh1,289,376

On sale: now

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?

The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.

A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.

The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.

When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Prophets of Rage

(Fantasy Records)

88 Video's most popular rentals

Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.  

Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.

Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

Spec%20sheet
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While you're here
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets