Based on personal experience and more than 500 coaching sessions this year, I can say with some conviction that the three most important skills for any human to have in 2026 are adaptability, discernment, and resilience.

Adaptability

Everyone knows that innovation is happening more quickly these days, but it’s even harder to keep up than you imagine. It’s not just that the pace of innovation is increasing. The pace of innovation acceleration is increasing. That is, not only is the time it takes to invent something new getting shorter, but the speed at which that time difference shrinks is increasing. 🤯

For example, a decade ago the only people imagining AI in everyday use were futurists, science fiction writers, and comic book writers. Now, we are seeing AI capability change at a dizzying pace. That pace will continue to increase. As with gravity, however, I am hoping there is a terminal velocity for innovation—a point at which environmental conditions hold back any increase in the speed of change.

The people who fare best will be those who remain adaptable in this constantly changing environment.

Discernment

Contrary to some people, I do not believe we are living in a post-truth reality. Certainly different biases, perspectives, and presentations can alter our perception of truth, but truth exists no matter how we feel about it or how much we deny it.

Being able to discern reality from fiction, to discern fact from opinion, to discern information from manipulation, and to discern good intent from ill intent will all be important in order to exist and thrive. This has always been true, but the tools of deception are getting more sophisticated. So, the ability to discern is becoming more important.

Communication

Clear is powerful. Clarity, brevity, and directness build trust. The more efficiently and effectively you can communicate, the more you will cut through the distractions and noise that eat up much of our attention… and attention is one of the currencies that will be at a premium in 2026. People will get more careful about where they spend their attention, especially if they have a high discernment.

An underlying prerequisite for clear communication is clarity of thought. Sloppy writing exposes sloppy thinking.

With these, you can accomplish anything

I pick these three as the most important skills because I believe that if you nail these three, nothing will be able to stop you for long. 

And apparently, people agree

I asked ChatGPT, “What are regarded as the three most important skills to have in 2026?”

Its response was that across employers, educators, and tech leaders, there’s strong convergence around these three:

• Learning agility
• Human judgment and emotional intelligence
• Clear thinking and communication

It shortened it to this:

Adapt fast.
Judge wisely.
Communicate clearly.

I am not sure whether I find it assuring or distressing that I’m so neatly in sync with the leaders who think about these things.

What are your top three?

I would love to hear what your top three skills for 2026 are, and how you are planning on growing them in the new year. I can help with that.

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