Sep 8, 2026 · 35 min · 10 segments
With so many skills competing for our attention, how do you decide which ones are worth investing in? In this episode, Helen and Sarah explore the idea of 'no regret skills' – skills that will stay…
Sarah EllisHostThis came from someone called Frank Boley, who is the head of skills at England.
And it was at an event I was at, Learning Power 100, where they were talking about different organisations that are doing brilliant things in learning.
And Frank stood up to talk about what was happening in skills, almost like at a macro level, like zoom out, this is what is happening with skills.
And someone in the audience said, yeah, you know, because you've got all of this data around skills and what we need to know, you know, if there was like one or two skills that you think are important for us to be investing in, what would you say they were? And Frank stood up and he said, look, I've not got a crystal ball.
And then the statement, the sticky statement, he said, but what I can see is that there are a set of no regret skills.
And regardless of the scenario that plays out, these skills are consistently useful across all of them.
And you know, when you're writing your notes, I was like, no regret skills, underline once, underline twice.
Well, we have so many conversations with companies around the world and skills has been a hot topic for a while now.
You know, they're like, well, which are the skills I should be investing in? I think you do get some shoulds, some should skills.
I think there's sometimes a difference between, well, what are the skills that I enjoy? What are the skills that I want? And then there's maybe, well, what are the skills that my organisation wants me to have? Like, how do I match those two things together? Yeah.
And then one of the things I have seen really consistently is a really long list of skills.
And then those companies might say, oh, you know, but obviously you can't be good at all of these.
And I'm like, well, what, but which ones do I need to be good at? Am I meant to be putting more energy and investment into some of these areas? So I just, I found the no regret skills really refreshing because I think one, you understand it fast.
And I think in the context of a squiggly career, developing in different directions, loads more scenarios, jobs we don't know that are going to exist yet.
This came from someone called Frank Boley, who is the head of skills at England.
And it was at an event I was at, Learning Power 100, where they were talking about different organisations that are doing brilliant things in learning.
And Frank stood up to talk about what was happening in skills, almost like at a macro level, like zoom out, this is what is happening with skills.
And someone in the audience said, yeah, you know, because you've got all of this data around skills and what we need to know, you know, if there was like one or two skills that you think are important for us to be investing in, what would you say they were? And Frank stood up and he said, look, I've not got a crystal ball.
And then the statement, the sticky statement, he said, but what I can see is that there are a set of no regret skills.
And regardless of the scenario that plays out, these skills are consistently useful across all of them.
And you know, when you're writing your notes, I was like, no regret skills, underline once, underline twice.
Well, we have so many conversations with companies around the world and skills has been a hot topic for a while now.
You know, they're like, well, which are the skills I should be investing in? I think you do get some shoulds, some should skills.
I think there's sometimes a difference between, well, what are the skills that I enjoy? What are the skills that I want? And then there's maybe, well, what are the skills that my organisation wants me to have? Like, how do I match those two things together? Yeah.
And then one of the things I have seen really consistently is a really long list of skills.
And then those companies might say, oh, you know, but obviously you can't be good at all of these.
And I'm like, well, what, but which ones do I need to be good at? Am I meant to be putting more energy and investment into some of these areas? So I just, I found the no regret skills really refreshing because I think one, you understand it fast.
And I think in the context of a squiggly career, developing in different directions, loads more scenarios, jobs we don't know that are going to exist yet.
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