Future of Work
Future Skills: Developing Resilient Leaders for an AI World
Korn Ferry Australia’s Adrian Piccoli and WSU Vice Chancellor Professor George Williams discuss the challenges of developing human skills for an AI world.
August 07, 2025
Are Students Getting the Right Education?
The way we work is being reshaped by AI and automation. Employers say skills like critical thinking, resilience and curiosity are rising fast in value, with 60% expecting their business to transform by 2030.
So how can students entering university today prepare for a world where GenAI makes academic knowledge ubiquitous—and the skills they learn now could be redundant by the time they graduate?
Korn Ferry’s Adrian Piccoli and Western Sydney University Vice Chancellor Professor George Williams AO share a belief in the life-changing potential of education. They recently sat down to discuss how schools and universities are adapting to this profound shift in skills, and how to prepare the next generation of leaders in Australia.
Adrian Piccoli: George, we’ve known each other a while since first working together at UNSW. What inspired you to get into education, and what motivates you today?
George Williams: Education changed my life. I was raised by a single mum, in tough circumstances. I went off the rails—until one teacher saw something in me. She put me on permanent detention, every Thursday lunchtime, which I thought was a bit unjust. But she got me into the classroom and went through my work with me, and I started to love to learn.
That was a turning point in my life, and I firmly believe everyone should have the same opportunity I had. It’s also why Western is such a good fit for me—more than half our students are the first in their family to go to university.
Piccoli: I agree, education changes people’s lives and school is where you get the chance to be who you can be. As an MP, I spent a lot of time in schools and became more and more interested in education. It’s important for society, for the economy. It’s investing in people.
Piccoli: WSU is an anchor in the Western Sydney region, which is the biggest growth corridor in Australia. So when we think about skills for the future, are there specific issues facing your cohort of students?
Williams: A big challenge is keeping them in study to get skills in first place. Nationwide, we’re seeing a drop in high school completion, and a spike in university dropout rates.
Cost of living is a major pressure on students, so we’ve opened a food pantry and are giving away 23,000 free meals to students this year. If you’re hungry, you can’t thrive at university.
Beyond that, my strong view is that it’s dangerous to pigeonhole people into narrow vocational programs. You can start a degree now, and technological change means in three or five years’ time, your job may be quite different. So we want to produce students who can use the systems, but more importantly can also critically interrogate them.
Distinguished Professor George Williams AO with Western Sydney University students at WSU food pantry.
Piccoli: So what do you think will be the defining skills for future graduates, and what role should higher education play in developing them?
Williams: Critical thinking has always been a distinguishing feature of a university education. It’s about opening your mind and being able to navigate disagreement. That’s how we develop human skills like creative thinking, or the ability to work collaboratively in teams.
Often, it’s the arts and humanities faculties that deliver those bedrock skills. Yet, as a country we’ve moved in the opposite direction. We’re sending strong pricing signals when the stock standard arts degree is the most expensive, and we’re seeing universities close those disciplines.
And I think it’s utterly short sighted. We need to combine digital education with broader ways of thinking, so we can make sense of the challenging world we live in and counter misinformation. We need more historians and philosophers, but we’re pricing them out of a degree. That’s also impacting equity and access because arts is a typical path for students who are first in their family to study—if they’re priced out, they just won’t go to university at all.
Piccoli: We do need people who can think about what we do as a society, and all the ethical questions about technology. It’s the fundamental point of our existence: we are social beings.
Piccoli: So let’s talk about AI. How are universities developing AI literacy, and getting the right balance between human and digital skills?
Williams: A lot needs to change in higher education. We are being disrupted, and AI platforms can replicate much of the work academics and students do. And, let’s be honest, why would employers pay graduates to generate high quality material if it can be done by a system?
Here’s an example. As a constitutional lawyer, I recently asked ChatGPT to write me a question for second year law students on the Bill of Rights. Then I asked it to write the essay. And then to generate a marking rubric and assess itself. It did a great job, equivalent to my best students, and gave itself a high distinction. In five minutes. And this technology is still in its infancy.
Piccoli: Let me challenge this. So, if I do a law degree and all my answers are AI-generated, do I know enough to be a lawyer?
Williams: No. You can have the law at your fingertips—but a good lawyer needs analytical, communication and interpersonal skills.
That’s why we need to change how we assess and certify these qualifications. Forget closed book exams and memorisation. If we ask students to answer a question in an essay, let them use generative AI—but mark them on how good their prompts were, and how they added value or improved the first draft.
Piccoli: I do worry that there are no new ideas if we just rely on AI. So the next question is, how do we teach academics how to teach in a world of AI?
Williams: That’s a big challenge, because we have teachers who don’t really understand AI and find it difficult to detect. It’s a major workforce training exercise—for our academic staff at Western, and for the future teachers we are training. AI literacy will need to be embedded in every program we teach, whether it’s nursing, business, or education.
Williams: I’m interested to know what you’re seeing, Adrian? What skills do employers value right now, and where do you see that going?
Piccoli: Executive presence is a really valuable trait when we look at our skills assessments, and you can’t create that with AI. Taking the law degree example, a law graduate will need to be able to deal with clients in high stakes or emotionally charged situations. Another attribute that stands out is the ability to manage complexity and change.
Piccoli: How is Western Sydney University developing skills like presence and agility in its students?
Williams: I think it comes down to resilience. And that’s one of the key skills we specialise in. Our students are tough—they may have scrapped through a difficult high school experience, or lacked access to digital devices. But they’re the ones who thrive in the workplace, because they’ve had to work harder all their lives.
Distinguished Professor George Williams AO with Western Sydney University students.
To equip them, we’re revitalising our curriculum for digital and human skills, aligning with industry and building in more choice for students. And our ‘learn and earn’ model partners with employers to give students industry experience and a great career pathway.
So watch this space. We’re going to produce AI native graduates who are ready to drive change in the workforce and help employers navigate the challenges ahead. Our students will be ready—not just for new jobs on graduation, but for the jobs that don’t exist yet.
Want to Learn More About Developing Leaders for the Future?
Start here to learn more about leadership development.
Related insights
