Think about the difference between a manager who simply gives orders and a leader who inspires action. In today’s business world, hard skills may get you started, but it’s the mastery of soft skills that truly elevates leaders. As emotional intelligence and interpersonal competence become increasingly essential, we’re left wondering: Are soft skills the new hard skills?
Below are five insights from C-Suite executives on the critical soft skills necessary to build strong relationships, cultivate their reputations, and shape their career paths.
RELATABILITY: CAN YOU HANG WITH THE CLIENTS?
Standing just 10 feet away was Deb Liu—CEO of Ancestry.com, creator of Facebook Marketplace, and the visionary behind Duke’s first-ever product management class, which I was attending. As she recounted her career, shared advice, and spoke about navigating motherhood alongside her work, Liu captivated the room by challenging conventional thinking. She dismissed the idea that academic achievement or technical skills alone guarantee success. Instead, she stressed the importance of soft skills. Using consulting as an example, Liu emphasized that the best consultants are the ones who know how to “hang with the clients.” Success, she said, isn’t just about solving problems or delivering results—it’s about building relationships and spending time with clients in ways that foster trust. Her words, “Success is influence,” struck a chord. It’s about how you make people feel and the connections you create. Influence, in her view, is not just about expertise but about the ability to relate to people, understand them, and shape meaningful interactions. Trust and relatability get’s one recognition and ultimately drive success in business.
LEAD WITH KINDNESS: ARE YOU SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR PERSONAL CIRCLE?
On the journey of building a strong, lasting network, kindness is a powerful, often underestimated tool. As Scott Galloway, a seasoned entrepreneur and marketing professor, emphasized on The Diary of a CEO podcast, true professional success is deeply intertwined with personal success—and that begins with how you treat people. Galloway’s advice is simple: “Be successful personally, go out, make friends, be kind, invest in them, help them when there’s no obvious reason to help them.” This mindset is not just about altruism but about understanding the long game. Galloway highlights that many of the wealthy and self-made individuals he’s encountered share one core trait: They are kind. They invest in relationships, act generously, and help others without expecting anything in return. This kind of authentic connection creates allies and a support system essential for long-term success. It’s easy to think of networking as purely transactional, but Galloway’s point drives home the fact that the real value lies in cultivating meaningful relationships—ones rooted in empathy, support, and generosity. Your professional circle will grow stronger if it’s built on genuine acts of kindness, with no strings attached. This is how you create a network that doesn’t just help you achieve your goals but uplifts others along the way. In other words, if you want to succeed, start by being kind to the people around you.
COMMUNICATION AS A CATALYST
In a recent article, Deloitte executives shared their insights on “Designing for Growth in the C-Suite” and the qualities it takes to rise through the ranks. The evolving demands on C-suite executives are transforming the skill sets and knowledge expected of these leaders, particularly in the areas of quantitative expertise, risk management, and communication to drive growth in today’s complex business environment. Particularly, there is growing demand for C-suite leaders to navigate risk and regulatory environments. Chief strategy officer job postings, for instance, saw a 208% increase in the requirement for regulation and legal compliance expertise. CFO roles similarly saw a rise in risk management skills, from 9% in 2018 to 19% in 2023. Risk management abilities can only be developed and properly executed in partnership with strong communication and critical thinking skills that are increasingly in demand across the C suite. For instance, job postings for chief revenue officer (CRO) show a rise in demand for critical thinking and problem-solving skills, increasing from 33% to 53% over six years. These shifts signal that C-suite leaders must now balance both technical skills (like quantitative analysis and risk management) with human capabilities to successfully drive growth.
BEYOND THE DESK: ARE YOU ACTIVE IN PURSUING KNOWLEDGE?
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, curiosity is more than just a soft skill—it’s a crucial driver of success. Leaders like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon stress the importance of stepping away from the desk to engage with the world around them. As Dimon puts it, great CEOs stay curious, asking countless questions and learning from competitors, clients, and even critics. This ability to remain inquisitive and open to new perspectives is what separates great leaders from those who become stagnant in their roles. Similarly, former Procter & Gamble CEO A. G. Lafley champions the pursuit of a broad education, particularly in the liberal arts, for cultivating the critical and creative thinking needed in today’s business world. He argues that by studying a wide range of subjects—such as art, science, and the humanities—individuals develop the mental agility necessary to innovate and adapt. Just as Dimon emphasizes getting out from behind the desk to learn from others, Lafley highlights the importance of expanding one’s intellectual horizons to stay competitive. Both leaders underscore that success in business doesn’t stem solely from technical expertise but from a deep, continuous curiosity about the world—whether it’s through real-world engagement or intellectual exploration.
In today’s competitive professional landscape, soft skills are the key differentiator that can propel leaders early in their career. These are skills that are harder to come by than hard skills and ultimately prove more valuable than they are often given credit for. Emotional intelligence, communication, empathy, and curiosity aren’t just add-ons; they are foundational skills that build trust through relatability, maintain a network through kindness, amplify technical prowess through strong communication, and drive curiosity. As the demands of the business world evolve, those who master the art of connecting with others will continue to rise, proving that in a hard skills world, hard(er) skills are indispensable.
Sophia Yassinger is a Los Angeles native and sophomore at Duke University. As a natural communicator and self-starter, she is passionate about bringing big ideas to life shaped by a passion for storytelling, brand strategy, and consumer behavior. In high school, Sophia built out a blog entitled Dear Monday with over 100,000 combined subscribers and followers, which has since evolved into a personal newsletter and creative outlet for product development and marketing ideation.
