Stop calling them soft skills. It’s a bad name. Honestly, it’s a name that has spent decades undermining the very things that actually make a business run. When people hear "soft," they think of something squishy, optional, or maybe just secondary to the "hard" technical stuff like coding in Python or building a financial model. But if you’ve ever worked for a manager who was a technical genius but had the emotional intelligence of a teaspoon, you know that "soft" is the wrong word entirely. These days, the most common another term for soft skills is power skills.
It’s a shift that’s happening everywhere from LinkedIn to the boardrooms of the Fortune 500.
Back in the early 1970s, the U.S. Army actually coined the term "soft skills" to describe jobs that didn't involve machinery. If you weren't shooting a gun or fixing a tank, you were doing soft stuff. That's a pretty narrow way to look at human interaction. Since then, we've been stuck with a vocabulary that makes empathy and communication sound like a hobby. But in 2026, where AI can write code and generate reports in seconds, the stuff humans do—the "power skills"—is the only thing that actually provides a competitive edge.
Why Power Skills Is the New Industry Standard
Calling them power skills isn't just a marketing rebrand. It’s an acknowledgment of reality. Udemy’s 2023 Workplace Learning Trends Report highlighted that leadership and teamwork are no longer "nice-to-haves." They are the foundation. Think about it. You can be the best data scientist in the world, but if you can’t convince a stakeholder to actually use your findings, your work is worth zero. Literally zero.
Some people prefer the term human skills. Others go with durable skills. The logic there is that while a specific software certification might expire or become obsolete in three years, the ability to resolve a conflict or lead a team through a crisis lasts an entire career. It’s durable. It doesn't rust.
The Cognitive Load of "Interpersonal Competencies"
In academic or HR circles, you’ll often hear the phrase interpersonal competencies. It’s a mouthful. It sounds like something you’d find in a dusty textbook from 1985. While technically accurate, it lacks the punch of what we’re actually talking about. We’re talking about the ability to read a room. We're talking about the grit required to keep a project moving when everyone is burnt out.
Seth Godin, the marketing expert and author, has been screaming into the void for years that we should call them real skills. His argument is simple: they are the hardest to teach and the most difficult to fake. You can’t just watch a ten-minute YouTube video and suddenly "have" empathy. It takes practice. It takes failure. It takes a lot of awkward conversations.
What the Experts Are Seeing
At the Stanford Research Institute, a study once found that 75% of long-term job success depends on these non-technical abilities, while only 25% comes from technical skills. Let that sink in. We spend 16+ years in school learning the technical stuff, and we’re lucky if we get a single workshop on how to give a performance review without making someone cry.
Wait. Let’s look at the tech world.
Google’s "Project Aristotle" spent years researching what made their best teams effective. They thought it would be a mix of the smartest engineers. They were wrong. The most successful teams weren't the ones with the highest collective IQ. They were the ones with "psychological safety." This is just a fancy way of saying people were nice to each other and listened. It’s a power skill.
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Breaking Down the "Durable Skills" Hierarchy
If we look at the term durable skills, we can see why it's gaining traction in education reform. Organizations like America Succeeds have analyzed millions of job postings and found that these requirements are everywhere. They categorize them into things like:
- Critical Thinking: Can you actually solve a problem that isn't in the manual?
- Communication: Can you explain a complex idea to someone who doesn't care about the details?
- Collaboration: Can you work with that one guy in accounting who hates everyone?
- Character: Are you reliable? Do you have ethics?
It’s funny, really. We call them "soft," but they are the hardest things to do. It’s much easier to learn a new CRM than it is to learn how to be a truly active listener.
The Rise of "Transversal Skills" in Europe
If you head over to Europe, you’ll likely encounter the term transversal skills. The European Commission uses this to describe abilities that are "transversal" across different jobs and sectors. It’s a very logical, structured way of saying the same thing. Whether you’re a nurse, a pilot, or a barista, you need to be able to organize your time and work with others.
These skills cross-pollinate.
Think about a chef. A chef needs to know how to cook (hard skill). But a head chef needs to manage a kitchen of twenty stressed-out people in a 100-degree room while keeping the customers happy (power skills). The cooking part is actually the easy part of that job.
Why "Essential Skills" Is Actually the Most Accurate
The term essential skills is probably my favorite. It cuts through the fluff. If something is essential, you can’t live without it. In a world where the World Economic Forum predicts that half of all employees will need reskilling by 2030, these are the only things that aren't going to be replaced by a bot.
AI can't feel.
AI doesn't have a moral compass.
AI can't navigate the weird, messy politics of a corporate merger.
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Moving Beyond the Nomenclature
Maybe you don't like "power skills." Maybe "durable skills" feels too much like a car tire commercial. That’s fine. The point isn't to get hung up on the branding, but to recognize the shift in value. We are moving from a "what you know" economy to a "how you interact" economy.
If you're looking to upgrade your own another term for soft skills, don't just put "good communicator" on your resume. That means nothing. Everyone says that. Instead, show how you used a specific power skill to get a result.
Instead of saying "I have great interpersonal skills," try: "I led a cross-functional team of 12 people through a budget cut, maintaining 90% staff retention through transparent communication."
See the difference? One is soft. The other is powerful.
How to Actually Build Power Skills
Since these aren't learned by memorizing a textbook, you have to approach them differently.
- Seek out "high-friction" situations. Don't avoid the difficult conversation with your boss. Those 15 minutes of discomfort are like a bicep curl for your emotional intelligence.
- Record yourself. Most people have no idea how they come across. Record a Zoom call (with permission) and watch it back. Do you interrupt? Do you look bored? It's painful to watch, but it's the fastest way to improve.
- Practice radical curiosity. Next time someone says something you disagree with, don't immediately argue. Ask, "How did you come to that conclusion?" This builds the skill of perspective-taking.
- Volunteer for leadership roles. Even if it's just organizing a local neighborhood cleanup or a fantasy football league. Managing people who aren't being paid to listen to you is the ultimate test of your influence.
We have to stop treating these abilities as secondary. The landscape of work has changed. The technical skills get you the interview, but the power skills get you the job—and the promotion.
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Start by auditing your own "durable" toolkit. Identify the one area where you usually struggle—maybe it's giving feedback or managing your own stress—and treat it like a technical certification you need to earn. Buy the books, watch the lectures, but most importantly, go out and do the work. The "soft" stuff is where the real growth happens. It's time our vocabulary reflected that.
To move forward, stop using the word "soft" in your performance reviews and job descriptions. Replace it with power skills or essential skills. You’ll notice an immediate shift in how people perceive the value of those traits. It changes the conversation from "being nice" to "being effective." That is a shift worth making.
Next Steps for Your Career:
Check your current resume. Find every instance where you've used a generic term like "team player" or "excellent communication" and replace those phrases with specific examples of power skills in action. Focus on the outcome: what did your ability to lead, negotiate, or empathize actually achieve for your previous employer? This shift alone can move your application from the "maybe" pile to the "must-interview" list because it shows you understand the modern value of human-centric work.