Soft skills, communication, and emerging technologies.

Why is it important to communicate today? Perhaps too many people talk about it, but our aim in this short article is to understand why this skill is more in demand today than ever before and how it can be related to the advent of new technologies.

When you leave university you realize that what you have done so far is just the tip of the iceberg and the skills you have learned are not enough. What are companies looking for? 85% of recruiters don’t just look at your technical skills, but your ability to relate to others, how you fit in with people in a team and how you “sell” yourself. A study conducted by Boston College, Harvard, and the University of Michigan shows that developing soft skills such as communication and problem-solving increases productivity by 12% and return on investment by 250% (LinkedIn, 2021). LinkedIn found that the skills most in demand by recruiters are: adaptability, collaboration, creativity, emotional intelligence, and persuasion. In the article written by Ladders, “The 7 skills that will matter the most in 2021”, the analysis included: active listening, adaptation, communication, emotional intelligence, innovation, teamwork, and work ethic. So we can understand that the advent of new technologies is not just around the corner, but is already in our homes!

The most trivial example may be the telephone, but I don’t want to talk about that, let’s think about the Alexa device, in particular, we are getting used to asking through its voice command information, products, info about companies, listening to the radio or music, or buying a product. I could give other examples of this about other emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR).

So how do we relate to all this technological noise? As professionals what can we focus on?

Perhaps the answer, given the premise of the article, has been guessed but I would like to take a step further and address another topic for reflection. In the book “Artificial Intelligence for dummies” by Massaron and Mueller on pages 10 and 11, 7 types of intelligence are described, but the most interesting aspect lies in the column “potential for comparison”, that is, how well a machine or artificial intelligence can simulate the different types of intelligence. The analysis shows that the lowest values correspond to inter-personal and intra-personal intelligence; it is no coincidence that we talk about introspection, interaction on different levels with others, or obtaining, exchanging, giving, and manipulating information.

Thanks to other studies conducted by experts and researchers, it has been possible to date to demonstrate what machines or artificial intelligence are not yet able to replicate. This is why we need not only to raise awareness of this important aspect but also to understand what will differentiate us when we hear in our work that ‘we have invested in artificial intelligence or new autonomous machines’.

Vrainers has a clear objective, to make sure that new emerging technologies are a powerful tool for analyzing and enhancing our uniqueness, i.e. human capabilities that differentiate us from animals and especially from machines. To date, our studies and research focus on two technologies: virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). This is the aim of our blog, to address discussions and issues to understand how to use them to our advantage and exploit new technologies.

Technology is at the service of man and not a man at the service of technology.

This is our vision.

Bibliography 

Lambert, J., 2021. Top Soft Skills for 2021. [online] LinkedIn. Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-soft-skills-2021-jenifer-lambert?trk=public_profile_article_view> .

Licata, P., 2020. Soft skill: che cosa sono e perché sono diventate le vere protagoniste della digital transformation. [online] Network digital 360. Available at: <https://www.digital4.biz/hr/hr-transformation/soft-skill-che-cosa-sono-perche-svilupparle/>.

Massaron, L. and Mueller, J., 2020. Intelligenza artificiale for dummies. Milano: U. Hoepli.

Open Access Government. 2020. The importance of soft skills in a tech-focused world. [online] Available at: <https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importance-of-soft-skills-in-a-tech-focused-world/91857/>.

Somerville, S., 2018. The growing importance of soft skills and the role of technology in developing them. [online] Training journal. Available at: <https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/growing-importance-soft-skills-and-role-technology-developing-them>.

Tigar, L., 2020. The 7 soft skills that will matter the most in 2021. [online] Ladders. Available at: <https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/the-7-soft-skills-that-will-matter-the-most-in-2021>.

Author:

Matteo Zaralli – Founder

Fulbright Fellow, Author, MSc in Business Administration and Philosophy.