For a long time, arguably continuing to the present, there has been a distinction between “skilled” and “unskilled” labor.  Skilled labor was typically defined as requiring a higher education, while unskilled labor could typically be taught on-the-job in a relatively short period of time.  This division between skilled and unskilled, is becoming antiquated.  Knowledge is becoming a commodity.  A higher percentage of the US, not to mention the world, has received higher education.  So what will separate our children’s skilled class from their unskilled class?

In a word, “skills”.  The new skilled person will have to be able to do something that requires more then knowledge.  Actually, better stated, the new skilled person will have to find the thing that he/she can do uniquely well, without requiring an edge in learning.

Let me provide a couple examples:

• In the glory days of McKinnsey, a successful consultant was someone with an MBA who could supply you a ream of cookie cutter papers customized to your business.  Now, I can get MBAs to answer my questions on yahoo answers and I can read their reams of paper on wikipedia or in their blogs.  Failing those, I can hire an MBA for $12 per hour from India.  A successful consultant tomorrow will be one who can lead my organization to change, one who by her personal touch and problem solving skills can navigate and solve my problem.  If you’ve ever worked with consultants, you know the two different types I’m talking about (the latter is much rarer).
• It used to be a good lawyer was priceless because of the knowledge they possessed.  They had those books of case law memorized and knew how to get me out of any bind.  Tomorrow, when Google knows case law better then the most knowledgable lawyer, a “skilled” lawyer will be the one that can use the art of persuasion to convince a jury to move one way or the other.  If all I need to know is the rules I’ll ask Google, or an outsourcer trained in searching law books.

This all sounds quite depressing, doesn’t it?  It’s ABSOLUTELY not.  While what I just said is bad for the newly unskilled consultant or lawyer, it’s absolutely fantastic for me.  My startup can get access to the knowledge once reserved for the “old skilled” lawyers and consultants for virtually free!  Imagine what that allows me to do, I can focus on MY skills, with a significantly lower barrier to entry.  I can save all that money to hire a “new skilled”‘ executive to run my company better then any of the “old skilled” ones could have.

This will help the cream rise to the top, and that’s always good for a market economy.