05/30/2025

Why ‘Soft Skills’ Will Be the Most Valuable Investment Your Company Can Make

As AI grows, the demand for distinctly human skills is rising

In a world captivated by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, it’s easy to assume that hard, technical skills—like coding, data analytics and robotics—will dominate in the future of work. But here’s the paradox: As technology advances, soft skills—the ones that have historically been considered secondary or “nice-to-have”—are becoming the real differentiators for success. 

The Coming Soft Skills Crisis

Today, 80 percent of executives agree that soft skills are important, if not more important, than technical skills for company success. Yet, there’s a massive gap between awareness and action. While organizations are pouring billions of dollars into tech upskilling, soft skills training is often underfunded or neglected altogether.

Why does this matter? Because as industries automate more routine tasks, the demand for distinctly human skills—like leadership, contextual agility and collaboration—is rising. McKinsey predicts that the need for these social and emotional skills will increase 26 percent by 2030, and organizations that fail to develop them will struggle to compete.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Chief Executive.