Soft skills have a branding problem.
They get taken for granted – assumed to be innate – while technical skills get all the accolades for driving career success.
But research tells a different story.
HBR found:
“…one subset of foundational skills, in particular, helped workers to achieve the highest levels of professional attainment: social skills…communication, empathy, conflict resolution, and the ability to coordinate diverse expertise.”
And with AI, we’re seeing it even more clearly.
Technical skills matter one day, then become obsolete the next.
They’re not what creates or sustains value.
So why do soft skills still have this branding problem?
Because of the name itself. “Soft skills.”
We need to emphasise the skills part. These aren’t magical talents. People skills are trainable, and they need to be trained.
And as for the “soft” bit?
That’s where behavioural science comes in. It’s the scientific backbone of soft skills.
Technical enough to distinguish it from basic social skills, and human enough to improve each and every interaction.
Ref:
https://hbr.org/2025/08/soft-skills-matter-now-more-than-ever-according-to-new-research
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