These Are The Job Skills Of The Future That Robots Can't Master

"People skills are more and more important in an era where we have powerful and pervasive technology," he says. "It sounds counterintuitive, but to beat the bot, you need to be more human." But a recent survey by the Wall Street Journal found that 89% of executives are having a difficult time finding people with these qualities. Some blame technology and the emphasis on STEM for the demise of things like communication, but Roehrig, coauthor of What To Do When Machines Do Everything: How to Get Ahead in a World of AI, Algorithms, Bots, and Big Data, believes those skills haven't diminished; they're simply needed in larger quantities now. "As machines do more routinized and lower-value-add work, more people are needed to work in context of what automation and AI cannot do," he says.