The Empathy Advantage: Why Emotional Intelligence is the Key for You to Thrive in an AI World
The Unexpected Skills That Will Keep You Ahead of AI
How do you keep up with AI and prepare yourself for the future of work?
This is a challenging task. I've worked as an AI professional at an AI startup, and I can tell you, that things are moving so fast with AI that, it is a real struggle for any AI professional to keep up with learning new skills & the latest developments.
So if AI professionals struggle to keep up with AI, what chance do you have to keep up? Well, I believe you have a very good chance to keep up so your skills continue to have value and be relevant even with increasing automation and job disruption by AI.
But not if you do nothing, and keep thinking the same way.
If you are prepared to develop a couple of key skills, this will give you a significant advantage in the workplace of tomorrow even with all the disruptions of AI.
The thing is, these skills are probably the last skills you might imagine you need in the age of AI. So what are these skills? To get to that, we first need to revisit how we think about work.
Soft Skills v Hard Skills
Soft skills and hard skills are two distinct categories of abilities that play crucial roles in your personal and professional development.
Hard skills refer to the specific, technical knowledge and proficiencies required for you to perform a particular job or task, whereas soft skills encompass the interpersonal, communicative, and problem-solving abilities that enable you to navigate social and collaborative environments effectively.
So your hard skills are typically acquired through formal education, training, or certification programs, and they are often easily quantifiable and demonstrable. For example, proficiency in coding languages, mastery of financial accounting principles, or expertise in operating specialised machinery are all examples of hard skills.
These skills are essential for helping you execute the core functions of your job and are often the primary criteria used in evaluating your suitability for a particular role.
In contrast, soft skills are more subjective and challenging to assess, as they are developed through your personal experience, observation, and growth.
Effective communication, critical thinking, adaptability, empathy, and leadership are all examples of soft skills. Soft skills enable you to collaborate with colleagues, navigate complex situations, and adapt to changing environments, making them crucial for success in the modern workplace.
The distinction between soft skills and hard skills is not always clear-cut, as many roles require a combination of both. For example, a successful project manager might need technical expertise in project management software (a hard skill) as well as the ability to effectively delegate tasks, resolve conflicts, and motivate team members (soft skills).
Unfortunately, soft skills are generally undervalued compared to hard skills both by employers and workers, despite their obvious benefits. In an article by Forbes Why No One Cares About Soft Skills they highlighted:
In today's job market, it's all about the hard skills bosses want to see that you have to do the job. As a result, soft skills are often seen as less important than hard skills. However, this view overlooks the fact that soft skills are essential for successful leadership.
They went on to speculate as to the reasons why soft skills are often ignored which were:
They are difficult to quantify and measure
They are rarely taught in education or work
They are rarely considered when hiring or promoting employees over hard skills
They went on to highlight the dangers of ignoring soft skills and the advantages of those who do develop them:
Think about it this way: No matter what industry you're in, you will always deal with people. Whether you're working with clients, vendors, customers or colleagues, your ability to build strong relationships plays a significant factor in your success. Those who can master the art of networking, persuasion and conflict resolution will likely have a bigger advantage...although soft skills are often seen as less important than hard skills, they're essential for personal and professional success. They may be difficult to quantify and measure, but that doesn't make them any less critical.
Why Soft Skills Beat Hard Skills in the Age of AI
So soft skills are already very useful now, even if they tend to be undervalued and ignored by many employers and employees. So what do soft skills mean for you in the age of AI? Are they still relevant and useful?
The answer is yes absolutely - soft skills are even more valuable than they have ever been, as I'll explain.
I've written previously about the potential for AI to disrupt the world of work in Will AI Take our jobs or give us new purpose? Navigating the future of work.
In this article some of the key things I highlighted were:
It's hard to predict exactly how AI will disrupt work in the future
Simplistic beliefs such as 'AI will never do my job' or 'AI take everyone's jobs' are unlikely to be true and are not likely to be helpful for adapting to the actual changes AI will bring in the future
Given AI's current and near-term expected abilities, a more likely scenario for the future is that AI will take over some roles, and not others, but that this balance is likely to continue to change over time
This would suggest the common belief that you develop skills in one profession, with one set of 'hard' skills that doesn't change that much for your whole life, is not likely to be true or useful in the future.
More likely in the age of AI, businesses, organisations and employees will need to continue to develop their hard skills to stay relevant and useful, perhaps even dramatically changing & evolving their hard skills, as AI takes over more roles.
In this hybrid new world, where we have a mixture of both humans and AI working together, this is where soft skills will become even more valuable than they have been before.
I would even go as far as to say, that soft skills are likely to become even more valuable than hard skills for a few key reasons.
Why?
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