The Skill Nobody Told Us We'd Need: Discernment
For most of human history, information was valuable because it was difficult to access. Knowledge lived in books, institutions, and experts. Finding answers required effort, patience, and often a willingness to admit that you did not know something.
Today, information is abundant. In a matter of seconds, we can search for an answer, watch a tutorial, listen to a podcast, or ask an AI tool to generate a response. We no longer struggle to find information. We struggle to determine which information deserves our attention in the first place.
That challenge shows up every day. Every morning brings a new trend, a new technology, a new productivity strategy, and a new expert promising the answer to whatever problem we happen to be facing. Technology entrepreneur Scott Galloway recently captured this reality simply: "Information is abundant, attention is scarce." The issue is that access has been solved. The issue is focus remains elusive.
I am reminded of this nearly every morning when I sit down with a clear plan for the day and, within thirty minutes, have somehow found myself researching something completely unrelated to the task I originally opened my laptop to complete. I am still not entirely sure how one email leads to seventeen browser tabs, but I suspect I am not alone.
That reality has elevated a skill that receives far less attention than it deserves: discernment.
Discernment is the ability to determine what matters and what does not. It is the capacity to separate signal from noise, urgency from importance, and opportunity from distraction. Without it, we mistake activity for progress. We chase every trend, respond to every notification, attend every meeting, and explore every new idea without stopping to ask whether any of it actually aligns with where we are trying to go. Motion begins to feel like momentum, even when we are standing still.
The rise of artificial intelligence has made discernment even more important. AI can generate content, summarize research, draft emails, analyze data, and produce recommendations in seconds. According to a 2025 survey of global leaders, 54 percent expressed concern that increasing reliance on AI could weaken critical thinking and judgment skills. Their concern stemmed from the recognition that human judgment remains the one thing a tool cannot replicate. Technology can provide information. Determining what matters most for your team, your community, and your mission remains a deeply human responsibility.
As leaders, educators, and professionals, we often spend considerable time developing technical expertise, communication skills, and strategic thinking. All of those remain important. Yet one of the most valuable skills of the future may be our ability to exercise discernment amid overwhelming abundance.
The future will belong to those who know what to do with information, what to set down, and what to pursue without apology. Discernment is the filter through which everything else runs.
by Karen Hemphill
