AI may be the first force in a generation that genuinely levels the playing field across sectors. We ran this survey because we believe corporate learning, higher education, K-12, consulting, association management, and workforce development should be figuring this out together, and that practitioners, not vendors, should be driving the conversation.
From April 6 to May 18, 2026 we surveyed learning professionals about what skills will matter over the next three years and what barriers limit their development. The survey closed with 203 responses; 197 were analyzed after removing responses from outside the learning profession. Every figure on this page reflects the full, validated dataset.
When asked to rate nine skills on a five-point scale, respondents did not produce a single winner. They produced three clear tiers. Learning strategy and design thinking, AI tools and automation, and stakeholder influence and strategic communication are statistically inseparable at the top. AI tools and automation is the only technical skill in that tier; the other two are durable skills. And the bottom tier holds the profession's traditional production core: the skills the field built its identity on rank at the bottom of its own three-year priorities.
Mean practitioner rating, 5-point scale, all 9 skills surveyed, n = 197 · Skills within a tier are statistically indistinguishable; the breaks between tiers are statistically significant
Respondents rated each skill twice: once for their own priorities, once for what they believed their employer valued. Storytelling produced the largest gap in the dataset. Data analysis ran the other direction — the only skill where employer expectations exceeded practitioner priorities.
The survey did not ask about employers, leadership, or the state of the professional development market. 42 of 197 respondents raised it anyway, across sectors and career levels. Three themes came through: employers treating practitioner development as an afterthought, a professional development market that is often out of reach, and a profession that has not yet learned to articulate its own value. Tap any cell to read what they said.
This survey was the beginning, not the conclusion. A cross-sector dinner of learning leaders put the findings to the test in June 2026, and the community has been working on the harder follow-up question ever since: not just which skills matter, but the order to learn them in. That work is open, it is free to join, and it is better with your sector in it.
Join the community Download the full report (PDF)Survey ran April 6 to May 18, 2026 · The Learning Professionals Community · Convened by Jackrabbit Learning Experience