Your Top 4 Questions About 2022, Answered By the World's Top Superforecasters What skills will be most in demand next year? Will supply chain issues get better? We got the scoop from an elite team of forecasters.
By Adam Soccolich Edited by Frances Dodds
This story appears in the December 2021 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
You may have read our story about the forecasting company Good Judgment and its worldwide team of superforecasters. We wanted to put their expertise to use for our readers, so we asked for your most pressing questions about 2022. Here were the top four.
Education
Will traditional education such as college remain as relevant in building professional relationships and getting a foot in the door?
The unbundling of educational content, delivery, and accreditation will give people greater ownership over what they learn, when they learn, where they learn, and how they learn. This does not mean that a college degree will lose its relevance, but it won't hold the same monopoly, and there will be lots of alternatives. Part of that is the result of new learning opportunities arising from digitalization, but the need for continuous upskilling and reskilling also leads to a better integration of working and learning. We used to learn to do the work; now learning is the work." — Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which works with governments worldwide to develop solutions to global problems
Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Solve the Higher Education Problem
Skills
What skills will be more or less in demand than they are right now?
If you look at some of the top job skills for 2025, according to the World Economic Forum, you see a long list of "soft skills,' such as analytical thinking, active learning and learning strategies, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, originality, digital literacy, programming, resilience, and reasoning. I'm not sure about you, but these skills weren't part of my curriculum. And these skills are anything but soft. In truth, they're hard skills. They're human skills." — Brian Solis, global innovation evangelist at Salesforce
Consumer Behavior
What will customers want or expect more of?
Beyond the oft examined categories of millennials and centennials, a new generation of consumers that I call Gen N — that's N for "novel' — are now driving business transformation. It comprises everyone who became digital-first out of necessity during COVID-19, and was shaped by the emotional and psychological effects of navigating these stressful, frustrating, divisive, and also enlightening times. Brands will win them not just through digitization but through earning relevance and organizing around digital empathy, insights, and engagement. McKinsey data shows that loyalty is up for grabs all around the world. In the U.S., for example, 73 percent of consumers tried new shopping behaviors and brands, with up to 83 percent intending to stick with the new behaviors and brands post-pandemic. This means that retention is critical and acquisition is a growth opportunity." — Brian Solis, global innovation evangelist at Salesforce
Related: How the Crisis is Changing Consumer Behavior, and How Entrepreneurs Can Act on It
Supply Chain
Will supply chains be radically different than they are now? And what will that require of the people who manage them?
The solution is for retailers and their supply chain partners to rethink their goals and outcomes. They need to rebuild supply chains to become more nimble, reflexive, and responsive to change, trends, crises, and consumer preferences. This will no doubt increase unit cost by some measure, but the savings will come on the back end, from lower levels of capital tied up, shorter lead times, and better sell-through to consumers, resulting in far fewer markdowns and write-offs at retail." — Doug Stephens, Canadian futurist and founder of Retail Prophet, a leading global retail industry consultancy
