Ten days left to Christmas. This time of year, visits to the markets and grocery stores take on a new meaning. What are we going to have for dinner? Can we try something new, or should we stick with tradition? Many tough questions, and still no definite answers. Once decided, I am sure while shopping for the best product one can get, the habit of checking the date will kickin. It is what we do. We pick up a package from the shelf, and the first thing we do is to look at the expiry date. If you buy from a small local store, you will end up asking at the fish market or butcher if this is fresh. It is a rhetorical question, as they will always answer that their product is the freshest of all.

Putting expiry dates on food makes sense. Ever tried to add milk to your coffee with an overdue date? Good luck with that. But “best before” on a chocolate bar? Let’s leave the food, and focus for a moment on other goods. I have a high-end horse riding helmet in my closet. Since nobody ride horses anymore, I thought of selling it. The first thing the local horse riding instructor inquired was not the condition or the brand – it was the production date, and after learning that the helmet was five years old, the call ended. What could possibly go wrong with a plastic shell, few straps and a buckle? Who knows.

The date on which the product should become obsolete is now built-in into the design and production process. The idea of “the bodywork constructed of phosphate-treated steel (to improve paint adhesion) and with heavy use of undercoating and anti-corrosive oil treatment,” which Volvo did with their Amazon model, will not strike a tone these days. Manufacturers are not talking about durability, long-lasting performance, or lifetime guarantees. No, nothing of sorts. A cell phone may only last a year. I mean, it will work just fine, but its owner is expected to replace it. Why? Many reasons. Colin Campbell looks at many aspects of consumerism in his now-classic 1987 book The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism. Campbell doesn’t blame the crazy spiral of replacing goods on manufacturers only. Yes, products will not last that long, but there are also psychological aspects of why people replace perfectly good phones, cars or cloths with a newer model. As for me, I love second-hand goods. Restoring them to pristine form, bringing them back to life, puts a smile on my face. Always.

The idea of “planned obsolescence” came to view during the 1930s. During the depression, producers were forced to use a practice of adulteration, which is a technique that originated in the nineteenth-century of using inferior material in goods production. It was simple – low-cost materials equals low-cost products. The irony was that despite radically shortening the life span of products, consumers did not object, and sales went up. There was a plan to lower the life of General Electric light bulbs by 60 percent. It was not implemented. However, this is just one of a few that we know about. Slowly, it becomes a norm to replace goods as well as to death-date everything – material good, software, and now, here is the question: should we death-date skills?

In 1978, James Martin wrote in The Wired Society, “Old technology always has a momentum that keeps it going long after it is obsolete. It is difficult for the establishment to accept a change in culture or procedure.” We have now a situation were microprocessors render some skills and training obsolete. So again, should we put an expiry date on skills? And if yes, who would sign up for a course on something that will expire in 36 months? 

The general acceptance of a constant replacement of goods, keeping up with everything and everyone created a situation that we don’t even bother to ask why?

Last week an article in Quartz at Work by Simone Stolzoff titled These are the skills to learn for the future of work, according to the World Economic Forum, landed in my in-box. The article is from 2018, so the list is current if we look at it from the “neophile love of new things,” but the projection date is 2022.

Take a look at the two columns. The growing list seems quite interesting. Now, let’s look at the declining column. Any insights? I will just pick a few skills listed on the right, the declining column. We have Manual Dexterity and Precision, Reading, Writing and Math skills. Then, Memory, Verbal, Visual, Speech and Spatial Abilities. Here is my question: how would one develop skills (growing column) in Analytical Thinking and Innovation, Creativity, Originality as well as Complex Problem Solving without Endurance and Precision, Reading, Writing and Math, not to mention Visual and Spatial Abilities – those are listed as declining. The growing list is full of abstract, hard to define terms while the declining column presents tangible items with a straightforward assessment path.

The tagline under the Word Economic Forum reads “committed to improving the state of the world.” It makes me wonder how much value Improvement based on Complex Problem-solving, Analytical and Critical Thinking, Reasoning with a pinch of Social Influence would have if it originates from the office that employs a team which members do not read or write. Have a lack of precision and endurance and have no memory, verbal or spatial skills, not to mention a low level of listening or speech abilities. Scary, isn’t it?

You can acquire skills through learning and practice. Some come naturally due to existing predisposition, or a talent. Some are hard to master. But, they never leave you. There is no OFF switch, and thank you for that. We are what we do and how we do it. Every skill makes a contribution with or without our knowledge. Hand-writing, which disappears now from our schools, is essential in developing Micro-control skills. These in return, may play a role in, let’s say, a surgery career. Let’s not write off skills in the same way as we often accept without reflection accept the “planned obsolescence” of almost everything that surrounds us. Skills and especially old skills are way too valuable to lose. They form the foundation. Without a solid foundation, nothing will last. This is one reason that Foundational Skills is central to our skill categorization.

Anyhow, look for new and old skills. Accept them with or without wrapping. Keep them safe. Make them last.