Watch enough old sci-fi movies, and one thing soon becomes clear: humans aren’t that great at predicting what technology will look like in the future.

Take the 1982 classic Blade Runner, which is set in an imaginary 2019 filled with synthetic humans, flying cars and interstellar colonies. While some of its tech predictions are close to coming true (we do have intelligent robots now, though thankfully we can still spot them pretty easily), most telling is not what’s in the movie, but what it missed – meaning there’s not a smartphone or wifi hotspot in sight.

The lesson? In an era of unprecedented technological growth and change, the biggest impacts to our daily lives are likely to be the ones we couldn’t have imagined just a few decades ago. Which raises a key question for our next generation of workers: how do you prepare for a digital future that’s changing right in front of you?

Professor Lorelle Frazer, who heads USC’s School of Business and Creative Industries, says the answer requires a focus on the core skills that drive the digital information age: things like complex problem solving, creativity, strategic thinking, and entrepreneurship.