Power skills: What AI cannot provide and therefore need to be taught in classrooms

While the world adopts artificial intelligence in almost every turf, a parallel debate is gaining traction: how important are the skills that AI cannot fully replicate? Human judgement, critical thinking , communication, cultural and social intelligence, empathy, compassion, executive presence, punctuality and staying calm under pressure are becoming increasingly important at the workplace. These are power skills.

For decades, people have divided professional proficiency into hard skills and soft skills. Technical knowledge was termed hard and therefore important, while human capability was called soft and considered secondary. It is time to replace the word “soft” with “power” because these skills go beyond expertise. They make expertise relevant, credible and useful. Imagine a typical office setting.