Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux

by Tom Fletcher

We all know there are major, overlapping, global crises ahead of humanity: climate change, mass migration, new warfare, big tech, further pandemics, authoritarian capitalism. Rather than be daunted, this book charts a way that we can respond. With expertise from his work at the highest levels of international politics, education, activism and business, Tom Fletcher offers a practical manifesto that can help us transform the way we learn, live, and work together.

Amongst its key survival skills, this book offers ideas on how we renew education, restore society and reimagine the future. It helps us chart a course to take back control, to find purpose, and to become better ancestors. It helps us to learn the language of technology – without thinking like computers. It offers 39 steps that each of us can start to take today to boost our survivability.

Vital, practical and accessible, this is a book about how we can anticipate the threats and opportunities of tomorrow and be ready for them – individually and collectively.

‘Original and thought provoking’ Gordon Brown

‘Challenging and hopeful: a groundbreaking guide to the future’ Valerie Amos
To thrive in the twenty-first century, we all need to understand the challenges coming our way. And start adapting, now.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Self Help

320 pages, Paperback

Published February 2, 2022

About the author

Tom Fletcher CMG is a Visiting Professor of International Relations at New York University, and Senior Advisor to the Director General at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy. He was British Ambassador to Lebanon (2011-15), and the Downing Street foreign policy adviser to three Prime Ministers, (2007-11). He is an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University, and the Global Strategy Director for the Global Business Coalition for Education, which seeks to harness private sector efforts to get 59 million children into school. He blogs as the Naked Diplomat, and chairs the International Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation, promoting Britain's most dynamic and magnetic sector overseas. Tom has recently led a review of British diplomacy for the UK Foreign Office, and is currently working on a report on the future of the United Nations for the next UN Secretary General. Tom is married to Dr Louise Fletcher, a psychologist, and they have two sons.

Reviews

[Fiza Pathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have made driverless cars, but right now it seems like our global sanity is more driverless than our cars! Our sanity is also not going in any sensible direction. Not even in the wrong direction!

We are a wonderful race of people; indeed, we might be the only intelligent species in the cosmos (some of us with double PhDs) who happily are working hard, sometimes overtime for 48 hours, without rest, to make advancements in technology… so that that technology can then take our place and take over us and render useless all that we have worked for in the first place.

And the result: All that cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, early onset of arthritis, et al, that we suffer from, only so that one day while we are at our work desks, an envelope will come telling us to pack up. Your place has been taken by AI who can work 24/7 without a need of a full stop, unlike you, you miserable dispensable human being! Thank you for making it – now buzz off, time is up so, pack up!

Whatever we are spending in crores on our kids too will be rendered useless as well, because while our kids spend their three years at the University learning their skills, by the time they graduate the job skills that they were trying to learn will already have been taken over by AI. Or it will be automated, something that basically AI will do easily and freely rather than a lazy human being whose needs like retirement funds, insurance, health benefits, perks, et al, are more than their work output.

Whatever job anyone reading this review might be working on or working for or working at (use any preposition you like!) will officially be taken over by AI or robots in the next one year itself, guaranteed! If we as a race are not going to learn new skills, especially the skill to chuck the old belief systems of our 20th century ancestors out of the window, then we are doomed for sure. Predictions indicate that by 2100 we will be extinct as a human species. Albert Einstein said that he did not know how World War Three would be fought, but he was totally sure that World War Four would be fought with rocks and pebbles!

In such a scenario, I turn to my mother of 74 years and reiterate to her, ‘Woman, why did not you and your miserable husband use a condom for crying out loud in the month of June, year 1988!!!’
I say this to her because after following the AI Revolution and the Data Science Tsunami up close for the past one year, I’m certain that my middle and old age (if I’m reaching there) will be a curse rather than a boon at the rate we are going as a global empire. And I am not ashamed to say that I am tired of working so hard and so persistently, only to have to be told that one day in the near future, my job will have been automated by a robot.

At least there are two consolations after all this. The first is the fact that with my kind of caffeine intake, I’m not going to be long here on this planet. Second, this book which I read was so awesome that if all of us just took some time off our erotica in the name of new adult fiction just to read it, we could salvage a bit from the dark age we are happily walking cheerfully into: the Age of the AI Renaissance.

On a more sober note, realizing that even teenagers read my reviews and can get freaked out seeing a Catholic Religious talk like this, I highly recommend this book titled ‘Ten Survival Skills for A World in A Flux’ by bestselling writer and diplomat Tom Fletcher. Read this book especially if you are totally into AI like me, or are sifting the gems among this avalanche of data that we are witnessing through various online mediums and of course, if you are into trying to make the world a better place to live in.

Teachers of the IB and IGCSE subject Global Perspectives will have to read this book as a compulsory read including their students. Those who think they are excellent coders and believe that they cannot be replaced should also read this book as a warning to not expect a huge pay packet and retirement fund by 2050 but instead expect to be still working till one is 70 (God willing) and probably having changed five to six jobs within that time!

University Principals who have not totally adopted online teaching globally and some who still presume that their university curriculum can never be a dynamic organism with a mind of its own should also read this book. Refugees, migrants, immigrants, and prisoners of war-torn areas both legal and illegal and whatever else – this book is for you and your children so that they know that today is their turn to suffer, but tomorrow it will be ours too.

Gen Alpha and Gen Z individuals don’t be complacent with your Minecraft and please read this book. Millennials and Gen X individuals, hang in there; you’ve got it in you to learn new things everyday if need be. You’ve been brave and strong before; you can do this even now when all seems precarious. Boomers, some of you are gems but most of you got us into the mess that we are currently in right now. Just remember, you’ve officially been ancestors who have bequeathed unmarked graves and gas chambers galore to your descendants. Congratulations – we officially welcome you to the 2nd Dark Age. And if you still can’t see it, then please listen for once to your Millennial or Gen Z young caregivers and check your spectacle number! You could be having cataract in both your eyes. In Shakespeare’s words, you are not just sand blind you are gravel blind!

Those of us into tech day in and day out should read this book to put the human back in tech. Those of us into learning new ways to work towards a more inclusive society should definitely be reading and implementing the activities in this amazing book. I highly recommend this to all teachers, professors, parents, home-school tutors, and grandparents alike. Please equip the young and yourselves with new skills for a new challenging time. A time worse than World War Two and the Holocaust, but nothing concerning anything on the lines of that ‘Rapture’ nonsense; I’m a Catholic Theologian, so I’ve got authority enough to say that, okay!

I recommend this book to all and sundry, but especially to myself so that I can implement the last part of the book – the 39 survival steps to a better version of me and a better version of the world I wish to live in. I am brave enough to say that I am afraid of the 2nd Dark Age. However, I come from a country that believes in the resilience of the human spirit and the values of Unity in Diversity. So, I think we at least through our tenacity, adaptability, and humility will outshine the First World countries who have entered into their Dark Age as predicted in this fine book by Tom Fletcher. Not only that, we will most likely be the next First World country to come out of this New Age of the Data Science Revolution alive, well, organized and still in workable form. If you don’t believe me, just refer to our top national news journalist Rajdeep Sardesai’s amazing book ‘2024 The Election That Surprised India’ to know more. I think we so called ‘third world countries’ can teach so called ‘first world countries’ a thing or two about democracy once in a while.

If I could give this book a hundred stars, I would.

But 5 will do for now.

[Peter Baran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a huge reader of this kind of soft political "how to change the world" books - not least because unfortunately they rarely lead to the actual change needed. But this intrigued me a touch as it seemed to be looking at a global holistic education, and that's something that I know a bit about. It also started well, flattering me with something I had actually done - ask recent University starters what they wished they knew before they had started, and coming up with a similar result - namely they wished they knew more about other cultures, and the history and politics which made them like that. What is interesting about that as an answer is that it has two drivers - partially that they strongly feel when meeting new people they would like to know more, but there is also the fear of embarrassment or making a faux pas. "Ten Survival Skills...." understands this, and at talking to a broad audience not everyone is going to be motivated by altruism - there is a large chunk of readership who also want to know how can I future-proof my children.

So there are ten things which when identified pretty much boil down to have an open mind, constantly learn, don't be quick to judgement and strive to make the world a better place. Its almost Utopian in its outlook, It identifies that most education systems are curriculum based, teaching the content without necessarily teaching how to teach yourself that content. Futurology only goes so far but he leans into a number of truisms that certain current jobs won't exist in the future, so you need to be able to anticipate changing trends (the How To Live With Technology chapter is fuzzy, but accurate).

So everything was a little obvious to me, though pretty well written and explained (a list of the ten skills which is on the content page did most of the heavy lifting for me, or at least confirmed that I wasn't going to be shocked by it). So the problem perhaps comes with where the book comes from, it isn't just about surviving, its also a sneaky leadership manual. I don't have a problem with "How to Find Purpose" or "How to find, grow and mobilise your community" as useful survival skills but genuinely there will be people that doesn't appeal to. The second part of the book, where he suggests the steps we can take are also a little blue-sky and arduous (and also the 39 Steps is not a good enough joke to force here). But I guess my big problem with it was the relentless name dropping. Perhaps it was useful to show the advice he got from Obama, or Mandela, but I found it rather exhausting, and I guess I didn't need it to underline the points involved. If you judge a book like this on how accessible or how readable it is, as well as the quality of the ideas, then this is a good book. But if you judge it on how much it also annoyed me, well, three stars from this cynical bastard.

[Nikki Malin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well intentioned book but something is lacking. It’s all a bit misty eyed and full of cliche. It feels like it is written by someone who has only just discovered how hard life is for some people and is still wide eyed about his amazing new idea.

[Roy Van Den Brande · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just so meh... It's not practical enough to act on it. And the ideas are not new or unique, so they don't really provoke deeper thought. Throughout the book I kept thinking: that book had a bigger impact on this subject. For example Future Skills by Perttu Pölönen is much more actionable on things like learning for the future. And there are plenty of books on populism and the downfall of democracy or the importance of privacy.

[Kate Henderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Firstly, I feel so bloody daft but I thought this was written by Tom Fletcher - of McFly fame. I was wrong!
I thought this book would have a bit more jest and be a bit tongue in cheek - I was wrong!

This book just added to my anxiety, it claims to give you 'survival skills' but it just made me loose hope, and think of all the problems in the world. It was just a bit much for me! Too dense. Too full on!
Anxiety inducing!

[David Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A privileged man trying to be seen as humble was my profound impression. Too many of his "survival skills" depend on a great many people changing the way they behave. If only the human race would become what he wishes, but don't hold your breath.

I finished it because I don't like to abandon books just because I'm not enjoying them, but when I got to the end I still hadn't enjoyed it. If you're looking for a book that will save our species, this isn't it.

[Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten Survival Skills For

This is a fair decent book. I however found it hard to read. This book greatly intrigued me a touch as it seemed to be looking at a global holistic education. To be honesty this book was a right downer and made me feel anxious about the world we live in and how all society's treat people terrible

[MReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of this book is pretty brutal - it won’t leave anyone feeling particularly cheerful about the situation the world finds itself in. - but the ideas that follow are very interesting. The author is clearly a deep thinker who has already had some extraordinary experiences.

[Prativa]

Good. Insightful.

[YHC · Rating 4 out of 5]

技能一：夺回控制权。
技能二：拥有好奇心。
技能三：战胜失败的恐惧。
技能四：有效沟通。
技能五：社会协作。
技能六：建设共同愿景。
技能七：保持善良。
技能八：与科技共存。
技能九：全球化的远见。
技能十：传承与榜样。

[DB · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confused as so why they chose to include a frequently debunked pseudoscience like ‘learning styles’. Thought this would be somewhat evidence based but apparently not.