Intercultural Competence: A 21st-Century Superpower

Recently, I’ve noticed growing emphasis on “global career readiness skills” in higher education. As the mother of two teens, I’ve also been thinking and talking with my family a lot about the purpose of a college education and what we want our kids to get out of a degree.

Whereas people from my parents’ generation typically stayed in the same career—maybe even the same job—most of their life, that certainly will not be the case for my kids’ generation. Now well into my forties, I’ve held numerous jobs and am currently doing something I could not have imagined when I was eighteen. I have no doubt my children will one day hold jobs that don’t exist today. So how can college prepare them for such an uncertain and complex future? How does a school effectively equip students for a continually changing job market?

In a series of studies, the Institute for the Future (IFTF) explored how the work environment is expected to evolve through the 2020s and 2030s. The first report identified six key drivers expected to reshape the landscape of work, one of which is a globally connected world. According to the IFTF, “increased global interconnectivity puts diversity and adaptability at the center of organizational operations” (Davies et al., 2011, p. 5). Another driver is the rise of smart machines and systems—including, but not limited to, Artificial Intelligence (AI)—pushing human workers out of rote, repetitive tasks. The report poses questions that highlight the changing nature of the work that humans will be doing:

As these machines replace humans in some tasks, and augment them in others, their largest impact may be less obvious: their very presence among us will force us to confront important questions. What are humans uniquely good at? What is our comparative advantage? And what is our place alongside these machines? (Davies et al., 2011, p. 5)

 
The IFTF identified four types of skills needed not just for the workplace, but for life in general. “Indeed,” the report states, “the blurring of the skills necessary for work and for all the other aspects of life has been a key theme of this research” (Fidler, 2016, p. 3).

One of the four types is ‘People Skills,’ which includes three skills critical for success in life and work. One key people skill is ‘Cross-Cultural Competency,’ which is defined as the “ability to operate in different cultural settings.” The authors explain:

Cross-cultural competency will become an important skill for all workers, not just those who have to operate in diverse geographical environments. Organizations increasingly see diversity as a driver of innovation. (…) Successful employees within these diverse teams need to be able to identify and communicate points of connection (shared goals, priorities, values) that transcend their differences and enable them to build relationships and to work together effectively. (Davies et al., 2011, p. 9)

Furthermore, I’ve noticed a lot of the skills identified as necessary for the future are components of intercultural competence (see my definition in this three-part series: Part 1, 2, and 3). In other words, developing intercultural competence helps develop many other useful career and life skills—making it a real superpower.

For example, the other two ‘People Skills’ identified by the IFTF are ‘Virtual Collaboration’ and ‘Social Intelligence.’ Intercultural competence plays a critical role in virtual collaboration since so much collaboration involves culturally diverse teams, whether local or global. Social Intelligence is defined as the awareness of the value of social connections, ability to take another’s perspective, and capacity to engage in satisfying relationships. It’s closely tied to cultural norms, and therefore practicing social intelligence in diverse environments requires intercultural competence.

In addition, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight career readiness competencies. Of these eight competencies, I would say at least six of them are enhanced through developing intercultural competence: Communication, Critical Thinking, Equity & Inclusion, Leadership, Teamwork, and Self-Development (part of a competency called ‘Career & Self-Development’).

A report from the British Council prepared by Ipsos Public Affairs and Booz Allen Hamilton (2013) found that employers rated skills such as ‘demonstrates respect for others’ and ‘works effectively in diverse teams’ higher than ‘qualifications related to job’ and ‘expertise related to field.’  Many other top skills cited in the study, such as ‘builds trust,’ ‘open to new ideas/ways of thinking,’ and ‘listens/observes to deepen understanding’ can also be developed through intercultural learning.

In his 2025 book Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You, Jeffrey Selingo points out that the income advantage some majors have over others “fades steadily” after the first few jobs, and earnings are often quite similar by age forty. He explains, “Technical skills lose relevance if they’re not kept current, while the soft skills often associated with the liberal arts (like creativity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking) are more enduring” (p. 227).

Developing intercultural competence helps cultivate a slew of highly useful and important “soft skills” including, but not limited to:  self-awareness, empathy, communication skills, teamwork, critical thinking, frame-shifting, problem-solving, engaging ambiguity, leadership, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence.

In today’s rapidly globalizing and increasingly uncertain world, intercultural competence—and all it entails—is a critical superpower that today’s graduates should not be without. Higher education needs to take seriously its role in helping all young people—regardless of major—develop this superpower.

References

British Council, Ipsos Public Affairs & Booz Allen Hamilton (2013). Culture at Work.

Davies, A.. Fidler, D. & Gorbis, M. (2011). Future Work Skills 2020. Institute for the Future.

Fidler, D. & Williams, S. (2016). Future Skills: Update and Literature Review. Institute for the Future.

Harvey, T.A. (October 2023). Preparing Interculturally-Competent Students for a VUCA World. True North Intercultural Blog.

Institute for the Future & Dell Technologies. (2019). Future of Work: Forecasting Emerging Technologies' Impact on Work in the Next era of Human-Machine Partnerships.

National Association of Colleges and Employers (2024). Competencies for a Career-Ready Workforce.

Selingo, J. (2025). Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You. New York: Scribner.

Photo credit: Miguel Bruna, Unsplash