New Economy Skills Unlocking the Human Advantage 2025

The data also reveals clear role-based differences (Figure 9). Declines in human-centric skill levels were steepest among individual contributors, especially creativity, resilience and leadership, with most 2025 skills remaining below 2019 levels. Managers-of- managers showed the smallest declines, remaining relatively stable in leadership and empathy, for example, which likely reflects access to leadership development. Front line managers experienced smaller declines than individual contributors, but a slower recovery. These patterns highlight the long recovery cycle of human-centric skills and the importance of structured opportunities and interpersonal practice for their development. Change in human-centric skills, by role, 2020–2025 FIGURE 9Percentage change from 2020 Percentage change from 2020 Percentage change from 2020 2020 2021-5.0-4.0-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Creativity and problem solving 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-4.0-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Curiosity and lifelong learning 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-2.0-1.5-1.0-0.50.00.5 2024Empathy and active listening 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-4.0-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Leadership and social influence 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-4.0-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Motivation and self-awareness 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-6.0-4.0 -5.0-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Resilience, flexibility and agility 2022 2023 2025 2020 2021-3.0-2.0-1.00.0 2024Teaching, mentoring and coaching 2022 2023 2025 Frontline manager Individual non-manager Manager of managers Notes: Percentage change in skill levels relative to 2020 values, by skill. A value below 0 indicates a reduction in skill levels compared to 2020. Source: BetterUp; World Economic Forum, Global Skills Taxonomy. New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage 16