 The term 21st century skills is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, critical thinking and leadership that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world. In this video, I will be sharing with you 8 of the essential skills for the 21st century. 1. Collaboration If you look around the world today, you will discover that collaboration has become highly celebrated. In workplaces, many employers have formed the habit of grouping staff together to form teams so they can brainstorm and execute ideas that will enhance the growth of the corporation as the world businesses have shifted their minds from competing to collaborating. Companies and individuals are now searching for ways to expand their brand and core branding can be an effective way. Other businesses work with bigger ones to create brand awareness and big companies co-brand with other big companies to increase visibility and also break into new markets. For instance, in the verge to make transactions easier for customers, Apple collaborated with MasterCard on the Apple Pay app. Some other examples are Uber and Spotify, Amazon and American Express and so on. Relevance in the 21st century will be significantly influenced by the degree of your collaborative spirit and your readiness to be a team player. 2. Communication Having great ideas and strategies will amount to nothing if you do not know how to pass them to others. The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly and as intended is a vital life skill that should not be taken for granted. Knowledge is indeed the new currency, but when knowledge is not passed correctly, it yields no returns. Thus, for you to succeed in this fast-paced world, you must be able to share your ideas in a way that other people will understand, as well as receive information in the manner with which it is proposed. A 2008 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employees, NACE, showed that verbal communication skills ranked first among job candidates must have skills and qualities. Not only will this incredible skill improve your career, but it will also create room for you to build solid, lasting relationships, both professionally and personally. Thus, whether you are an employee or an employer, mastering the act of communication is essential for you in this century. 3. Creativity and innovation Undoubtedly, the development of the human race has significantly been dependent on innovation, which of course cannot take place without creativity. While creativity has to do with the use of your imagination to create ideas and insights, innovation involves the implementation of those ideas. Without creativity, there will be no innovation and without innovation, creativity will remain as a mere thought and fantasy. In the world today, employers in all sectors are in search of employees who can think creatively and bring new perspectives to the workplace. For instance, due to the innovation of software like Zoom, Microsoft Team and the likes, many businesses have been able to sustain even with the pandemic and lockdown on nations. Contrary to the view of many individuals, innovation is not only for technology, but it can mean form of business models, teaching structures and even selling. Your survival in the world today depends on your ability to be creative and innovative. 4. Information technology American businessman Satya Nadeela once said, You look at marketing, everything that's happening in marketing is digitized. Everything that's happening in finance is digitized. So pretty much, every function in every industry has a huge element that's driven by information technology. It's no longer discreet. Information technology includes software, hardware applications and so much more. And much of what people use in the 21st century was created with help from information technology. The cars, phones and even wristwatches were all developed through information technology. Presently, business, education and even healthcare have all been redesigned thanks to information technology. These days, even small businesses and traditional brick and mortar businesses look out for IT focused employees. Information technology skills are numerous. More than ever before, the world is tending towards technology and anyone who does not possess information technology skills is seen to be almost irrelevant. Thus, if you want to gain relevance in any sector in the world today, you must equip yourself with IT skills. 5. Adaptability Even those who are not learned know the saying that change is constant. However many people find it difficult to adapt when these changes occur. It is no news that the world system is continually changing and several revolutions are taking place in all sectors. This fast change has made adaptability to become a very vital skill for success in this century and beyond. Flexibility goes beyond adjusting to a particular situation. It also involves being able to affect those changes with smoothness and timeliness. For as long as there are many uncontrollable effects that directly and subtly affect the human race, there is a need to acquire flexibility skill. It is quite easy to downplay the essence of adaptability. However, it is one of the critical skills of factors that keep many multinational companies running. It is also the reason why some professional experts never get outdated. Their services are in high demand always. American business executive and CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stuppelman once advised, you have to be very nimble and very open-minded. Your success is going to be very dependent on how you adapt for you to thrive in this continuously digital world. You must develop adaptability skills. 6. Initiative Well, many people do not see it as a skill, but taking action is a skill, a vital skill that consists of other skills. French writer Victor Hugo once defined initiative as the ability to do the right thing without being told. In a world that is full of lazy-minded individuals who are ever ready to copy others, only a few individuals can take the right steps without being told are likely to excel. According to American businesswoman Mary Kay Ash, there are three types of people in the world. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happens. The initiative has become increasingly important in today's workplace. Organizations want employees who can think on their feet and take action without waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Individuals equipped with initiative skills are the ones who make things happen. They are the ones who are highly sought for and also the ones who are celebrated. 7. Leadership Microsoft chairman Bill Gates once asserted, as we look ahead into the 21st century, leaders will be those who empower others. A leader is not necessarily the one at the helm of an affair, but the person who can inspire others to achieve their goals. In today's workplace, an employee can be a leader. So, if you think leadership is a soft skill that only senior management or business owners need to possess and cultivate, think again. In today's fast-moving business world with flatter hierarchies, every professional requires excellent leadership skills. Even though you are a junior employee, developing outstanding leadership skills will help you become a more productive employee and also prepare you for your entrepreneurial journey. With the direction the world is going, everyone has to be at least a solopreneur to meet up with a reasonable standard of living. And even as a solopreneur, you would need excellent leadership skills to be able to navigate through. 8. Critical thinking Even though a lot of people argue about it, the truth is that the world is full of opportunities. The issue is that most opportunities come in disguise, and only a few individuals are willing to stretch their mental focality to decipher those opportunities and make the best of them. Critical thinking is the ability to clearly and rationally understand a logical connection between ideas. It is the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. When Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich made the statement, you have a brain and a mind of your own, use it and make decisions, he was urging individuals to develop critical thinking skills. If you must succeed in the 21st century and beyond, you must be a critical thinker. Hhorriguously, questions assumptions, rather than accept them at face value. You must be able to identify, analyze and solve problems systematically, rather than through instinct and intuition. The world needs individuals who are capable of preferring practical solutions to numerous universal issues, and if you are not able to solve problems, you will be tossed aside and it will seem like you never existed. Without these 21st century skills, you may not be able to successfully participate in the global economy.