INBOX INSIGHTS, August 13, 2025: Why Soft Skills Aren't Soft, AI and Jobs - Trust Insights Strategic Management Consulting

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INBOX INSIGHTS: Why Soft Skills Aren't Soft, AI and Jobs (2025-08-13)

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Why “Soft Skills” Aren’t Soft

Here’s a story that perfectly illustrates a much bigger problem we need to talk about. We recently had an incident where a generative AI model made a telling decision: it assumed that my content about strategy and “soft skills” was less important than Chris’s more technical content, and prioritized his work accordingly. This wasn’t just a technical glitch – it was a reflection of deeply embedded bias about what kind of work and expertise gets valued.

If you want the full details on this troubling example of AI bias, check out this week’s podcast episode.

But here’s what really got me thinking: When exactly did “soft skills” become synonymous with “unimportant”?

Let’s be honest here – calling them “soft” is probably the first problem. It’s like we’ve collectively decided that anything involving human connection, communication, or strategic thinking is somehow less valuable than knowing how to code or run a financial model. And that’s just the wrong way to think about it.

The “Soft Skills” Problem

Last week I wrote about the evolved T-shaped person, and you know what sits right at the center of that model? Critical thinking. That’s supposedly a “soft skill,” but it has become more crucial than ever.

So what exactly are we talking about when we say “soft skills”? Here’s the thing – they’re not soft at all. They’re the skills that:

Help you navigate complex human dynamics
Enable you to communicate ideas effectively
Allow you to think strategically about problems
Give you the ability to adapt when everything changes (which, let’s face it, is constantly)
Help you lead teams through uncertainty
Enable you to ask the right questions, not just find answers

Honestly, these sound pretty essential to me. Not exactly “soft.”

Why Hard Skills Are Getting Softer (And Soft Skills Are Getting Harder)

Here’s what’s happening in our AI-everywhere world: The skills we used to consider “hard” – data analysis, coding, even some forms of writing – are increasingly being automated. Don’t get me wrong; understanding these areas is still important. But the day-to-day execution? AI is getting really good at that.

But you know what AI still struggles with?

Understanding context and nuance
Reading between the lines in a client conversation
Knowing when to pivot strategy based on team dynamics
Facilitating difficult conversations
Building trust with stakeholders
Making judgment calls when data is incomplete

These are the skills that separate good professionals from great ones. And they’re becoming more valuable, not less.

The Real Power of “People Skills”

I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I can tell you that every major success I’ve had – every project that went smoothly, every client relationship that thrived, every team that delivered beyond expectations – it came down to the so-called soft skills.

Like the time we had a project completely derailed because of conflicting stakeholder priorities. The technical solution was straightforward, but the people problem? That required active listening, strategic communication, and the ability to find common ground. No amount of technical expertise was going to solve that one.

Or when we had to completely change direction mid-project because market conditions shifted. The team needed someone who could help them process the change, maintain morale, and think creatively about new approaches. Again, not exactly a technical problem.

What This Means for Your Career

Here’s my take: If you want to future-proof your career, stop thinking of soft skills as nice-to-have add-ons. They’re your competitive advantage.

Focus on developing:

Critical thinking – The ability to analyze information, question assumptions, and make reasoned decisions
Communication – Not just presenting, but truly connecting with your audience
Emotional intelligence – Understanding yourself and others to work more effectively
Adaptability – Thriving in ambiguity and changing circumstances
Strategic thinking – Seeing the bigger picture and connecting dots others miss
Facilitation – Helping groups work together effectively

And here’s the kicker: These skills amplify everything else you do. They make your technical skills more valuable, your ideas more persuasive, and your impact more significant.

The Bottom Line

Maybe it’s time we stop calling them “soft skills” altogether. How about “power skills”? Or “human skills”? Or just “essential skills”?

Because here’s what that AI model missed when it dismissed my strategy content: In a world where machines can increasingly handle the technical stuff, the ability to think strategically, communicate effectively, and navigate complex human dynamics isn’t getting less important – it’s becoming the most important skill set of all.

What do you think? Have you noticed this bias against “soft skills” in your work? Reply to this email or join our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers.

– Katie Robbert, CEO

P.S. – If you’re looking to develop these skills further, remember that they’re just like any other capability: they improve with practice, feedback, and intentional development. Don’t wait for them to magically appear. Shoot me a note if you want some help!

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In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris tackle an issue of bias in generative AI, including identifying it, coming up with strategies to mitigate it, and proactively guarding against it. See a real-world example of how generative AI completely cut Katie out of a podcast transcript that she recorded solo and what we did to fix it.

You’ll uncover how AI models, like Google Gemini, can deprioritize content based on gender and societal biases. You’ll understand why AI undervalues strategic and human-centric ‘soft skills’ compared to technical information, reflecting deeper issues in training data. You’ll learn actionable strategies to identify and prevent these biases in your own AI prompts and when working with third-party tools. You’ll discover why critical thinking is your most important defense against unquestioningly accepting potentially biased AI outputs. Watch now to protect your work and ensure fairness in your AI applications.

Watch/listen to this episode of In-Ear Insights here »

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In this week’s Data Diaries, let’s explore some of the impacts of generative AI on professions. In a recent academic paper from Microsoft titled “Working with AI: Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI” (2507.07935v3), researchers examined the professions most likely to be impacted by AI, where those jobs would have a substantial part of their work automated away.

Microsoft offers four metrics for how jobs will be impacted: coverage, completion, scope, and score.

Coverage means how many tasks in that profession AI can perform
Completion means how many tasks in that profession AI can successfully complete
Scope means the impact of AI on that profession in terms of tasks it can take over
Score is an aggregate rollup of coverage, completion, and scope, indicating the overall impact of AI on that profession

A high overall score means a profession is at substantial risk of disruptive AI impact.

This in turn would reduce hiring demand for those jobs; while the jobs are unlikely to ever go away completely, the number of people who work in those professions will decline.

Here’s the thing about the Microsoft research: it’s largely theoretical, created by testing LLMs against professions’ background knowledge. The paper shows the prompts they used to evaluate professions, and it’s grounded in real world data, but still largely a forecast.

Is it true? That’s the question we want to answer.

What if we didn’t have to rely on an AI-generated forecast? Could we pair it with real world data? The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes.

Since the start of the pandemic, Indeed.com has produced a useful index of hiring demand relative to February 2020 per major industry. We’ve shown this data often in this newsletter, as it’s very helpful for understanding not just the impact of the pandemic, but everything since then – the rise of AI, global trade wars, etc.

Let’s see how well the Microsoft study maps to the reality of hiring right now. Because the industries in the study are not a 1:1 match for the Indeed.com data, we can normalize and group it with generative AI. Once we’ve done that, we can run a Spearman correlation (best used for data that isn’t a normal distribution) to see if Microsoft’s study bears any relationship to the real world.

The answer is not only yes, but a strong, strong yes. Microsoft’s metrics show strong negative correlations for things like coverage (the more AI coverage, the less hiring demand of people), scope (the greater the AI scope, the less hiring demand of people), and score. These correlation numbers indicate a very strong correlation. (Interestingly, the strong positive correlation of completion with hiring demand indicates the fluency with which AI can complete tasks for which there is hiring demand)

What does this all mean? The short version is that Microsoft’s study isn’t theoretical. It’s not some far-flung, navel-gazing future, but reflected in today’s very real hiring data. Generative AI is having a substantial impact on hiring demand in the professions that both Indeed.com and Microsoft tracked, which means that if you work in those professions, you’d better be proficient with AI. If you’re not, there’s a very good chance the machines will replace you in those professions.

Here’s a roundup of who’s hiring, based on positions shared in the Analytics for Marketers Slack group and other communities.

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One thought on “INBOX INSIGHTS, August 13, 2025: Why Soft Skills Aren’t Soft, AI and Jobs”

Shabita says:

August 13, 2025 at 7:55 am

That piece hits home with its sharp clarity—reminding us that labeling empathy, strategic thinking, and human connection as “soft” enormously undercuts their value. It’s refreshingly real to see those skills spotlighted not as optional extras, but as vital strengths in a world shaped by AI.

One thought on “INBOX INSIGHTS, August 13, 2025: Why Soft Skills Aren’t Soft, AI and Jobs”

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Watch This Newsletter

Why “Soft Skills” Aren’t Soft

The “Soft Skills” Problem

Why Hard Skills Are Getting Softer (And Soft Skills Are Getting Harder)

The Real Power of “People Skills”

What This Means for Your Career

The Bottom Line

One thought on “INBOX INSIGHTS, August 13, 2025: Why Soft Skills Aren’t Soft, AI and Jobs”

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