State of Soft Skills Chapter 1: Are You Okay?

It’s 2024 and Soft Skills are more important than ever before. I talked to some of the absolute best people I know in many different roles and in different stages in their careers. In this series, we’re sharing why soft skills are crucial for success.

It was a late Tuesday afternoon. Sunlight glowed into the boardroom through the front door of the marketing startup’s home-turned office. I was wrapping up a meeting with a team member and anxious to get back to my desk. There was a lot of work to be done, and many deadlines rapidly approaching. 

But there was something about that last thing she said. It wasn’t what was said, it was how she said it. Her voice sounded a little shaky.

In this moment, I had to make a decision. Do I go back to my desk to try to catch up on the pile of work? Or do I do the right thing? 

So I said it.

“It sounds like you’re really stressed. Are you okay?”

And that is all it took.

Cue the waterworks. 

There were tears, good tears of sharing a burden, as well as a very real conversation and a hug. We talked it out, and some of that burden was lifted from her shoulders.

From that day forward, there was definitely a new level of trust built as we worked together to grow our team and bring our clients success.

Looking back, I definitely got the work done. I don’t even remember what the work was. And if it ended up being late, it didn’t end up being a problem.

But what if I had missed this moment?

What would that mean for her, for me, for my career? Moreover, how many moments like this do we miss in our lives? 

Luckily, this moment of empathy became a defining moment for me in my role at this company. It also became a defining moment for me in my career.

This wasn’t something I learned in school, however. This wasn’t anything that I learned in a coding class or was tested on to get my degree. 

This is the product of a soft skill called empathy, one of many beautiful skills harnessed by the world’s most successful people every day.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines soft skills as “people’s abilities to communicate with each other and work well together”.

For this series, I’m going expand on this a bit with the following definition. Soft skills are abilities beyond the technical stuff that make you better at your job.

Hard Skills Open Doors, Soft Skills Raise Ceilings

While hard technical skills set the floor for different roles you can fill, soft skills raise career ceilings to new heights.

Soft skills are why I am where I am in my career. When it comes to technical expertise, I definitely have a wide array of knowledge, more than enough to function well in my various roles. But it is to my soft skills that I credit my success and ability to scale ladders in different organizations quickly. 

In light of all of this, I reached out to some of the smartest people I know to share about the importance of soft skills in different roles and career stages. 

Over the coming weeks, I’ll share perspectives from developers, consultants, designers, recruiters and salespeople. I’ve talked to people starting their careers, to C-level executives and leaders in the prime of their careers.

With all that being said, I look forward to sharing these stories with you, and hearing more stories like this from you. 

Which important moments in your life have been defined by soft skills?