Novel and Adaptive Thinking: It is the proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions beyond that which is rule-based. Professor David Autor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds that job opportunities in the U.S. are declining in middle-skill white-collar and blue-collar jobs, largely due to a combination of the automation of routine work, and global off shoring, while on the other hand job opportunities are increasingly concentrated in both high skill, high-wage professional, technical and management occupations and in low-skill, low-wage occupations such as food service and personal care. Jobs in the high-skill involve abstract tasks and at the low-skill, manual tasks.

Cross - Cultural Competency: It means the ability to operate in different cultural settings. In a truly globally connected world, a worker’s skill could set them posted in any number of locations. Here there is a demand not only for linguistic skills, but also adaptability to changing circumstances. Research now suggests that what makes a group truly intelligent and innovative is the combination of different ages, skills, disciplines, and their working and thinking styles that is brought together.