Since most of the marketing function will be automated, The key skills are people skills. The ability to effectively communicate and  interact with customers, clients. Since changes are happening at a lightning pace, the ability to commit to lifetime learning becomes very important. Ultimately,  the ability to master perceptiveness, creativity and social intelligence will be key for marketers to survive in 2030.

I absolutely agree with what you said.. essential for sure. Higher education could not only teach effective communication and language skills, but teach the skills necessary to "model" the competencies of successful entrepreneurs  (along with teaching the basics of course...software programs, project management skills, and so on).

My take is it has to depend on the context of how individuals see themselves and in what roles or capacities they wish to play in their environment. The knowledge, skillsets and more importantly, mindsets, are different for employees, business executives, management Board, and entrepreneurs.

Yet, the immutable is dealing and interacting with people.

I believe as the world becomes more connected, leaders will have to increasingly lead and manage culturally diverse transnational teams. Knowledge and sensitivity for race, language and religion influences in shaping individual outlook and approach to social interaction, habits and behaviour will be extremely valuable. Consequently, cultural intelligence will be even more critical and significant for leaders. And my Afghanistan experience operating and living in a multi-coalition combat environment with 17 other nationalities convinces me as much.

Chris

A famous forecaster once said, "Tomorrow has an 80% change of being like today." Certain skill sets endure in our changing time: oral and written communication (listening, speaking, reading and writing), critical thinking and problem solving, leadership and imagination, analytic and logical reasoning, economic and financial literacy. The extent to which these capacities are learning through formal education, work and life experience, and parenting will vary from culture to culture and from decade to decade.

I partially agree with Jim with the basic skillsets mentioned, but I would expand the critical thinking and problem solving, and imagination, to include the trait of a high degree of inquisitiveness coupled with persistence.

I am using inquisitiveness according to the Oxford dictionary definition: 1 a strong interest in learning about many different things She was impressed by the inquisitiveness of the children. 2 ( sometimes disapproving ) a desire to find out about what other people are doing, etc, especially by asking a lot of questions synonym curiosity

I have found during my career through observation a wide range of successful and creative people exhibit a kind of determined inquisitiveness that was more likely a trait and held the people in good stead, able to deal with just about anything and see how to proceed. This trait/skill did not arise from any formal education program, but from the person's own internal drivers throughout their life.