7 ‘old-school’ workplace strengths that are now weaknesses

Editor’s note: This article is a re-run as part of our countdown of top stories from the past year.

As our familiar world crumbles around us (thanks, COVID-19!)—and technology continues snapping up more and more of the tasks humans have always done—we’ll need a whole new set of skills. If we want to stay employed and viable, we must reinvent ourselves. Leaders. Employees. Everyone.

And it’s not like adding new rooms onto an old house. It’s more like tearing it down to the foundation and rebuilding.

The new world we’re entering has flipped everything upside down. The skills, mindsets and ways of being that were once prized and sought after have actually become liabilities.

We must all be able to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn by adapting to the reality of the world as it evolves.

This is not easy, considering our inherent ego-driven need to defend what we think we know. It requires a whole new way of being and a whole new way of working—which, in turn, requires a whole new way of leading.

Here are seven skills and attitudes that not long ago might have gotten you a corner office—but might now get you fired:

1. A command-and-control leadership style.