Why Human Skills Still Lead in the AI Age
What my career taught me about the power of soft skills—and why they matter more than ever.
It started with a conversation in a boardroom.
We were sitting in a high-rise overlooking Atlanta—half a dozen VPs on one side, the technical implementation team on the other. Everyone was smart. Everyone was experienced. And yet, they were speaking two completely different languages.
The business leaders wanted results, simplicity, speed. The tech team kept referencing sprint timelines, feature complexity, and system constraints. Neither side was wrong. They just weren’t hearing each other.
That’s when someone nudged me: “Can you step in?”
So I did. I rephrased the tech team’s objections in terms of business risks. I reframed the executives’ goals in terms of system implications. Slowly, the fog lifted. By the end of the meeting, we had alignment and a clear path forward. Not because I was the smartest person in the room—but because I could translate.
That skill didn’t come from a bootcamp or a certification. It came from a different kind of training—one rooted in reading, writing, thinking, and listening. In other words, a liberal arts education.
And the older I get, the more I realize: in a world where AI writes code and automates tasks, the most human skills are the ones that matter most.
What Liberal Arts Actually Teaches
We often misunderstand what a liberal arts education really is. It’s not just dusty books or abstract theory. Done well, it’s a structured environment for cultivating timeless competencies:
How to communicate clearly
How to analyze complexity
How to weigh competing perspectives
How to engage empathetically with people different from you
How to stay curious, even when the answers aren’t obvious
These are the foundational muscles I’ve leaned on in every chapter of my career—whether I was building real estate models, designing web interfaces, or consulting Fortune 100 clients.
I didn’t major in business or computer science. But I could read a situation, synthesize information, and lead a room. That’s what moved the needle.
When Communication Is the Value
A few years into my career, I was in a technical role supporting Starbucks. My job was to help translate between business goals and technical systems—but over time, something else started to stand out. It wasn’t just that I could solve problems; it was how I approached people, framed decisions, and made complex ideas feel accessible.
Eventually, Starbucks asked my company to move me into an account executive role serving their account—not because of my technical expertise, but because of my communication skills. They trusted me to carry relationships, navigate ambiguity, and earn confidence in the room. That transition changed the arc of my career.
That’s not a technical skill—it’s a human one. But it was worth just as much, if not more.
I remember another moment in my early web development days. A developer was getting frustrated because the client “didn’t understand the limitations of the CMS.” And the client was frustrated because the developer “wasn’t listening to what we’re actually trying to do.”
I stepped in—not to build the website, but to decode the misunderstanding. Once we reframed the issue around user experience and business goals, it clicked.
We often think value creation is about execution. But it’s just as often about translation—the ability to align people, language, and priorities.
Critical Thinking Is a Career Multiplier
When I moved into commercial real estate, I found myself learning a new industry from scratch. I didn’t know cap rates or pro formas. But I knew how to learn, how to question, how to separate signal from noise. The same was true when I shifted into technology strategy. I wasn’t the most technical person in the room. But I could absorb information quickly, identify patterns, and spot assumptions.
That’s what the liberal arts gave me: a training ground for reasoning through ambiguity.
We don’t talk about that enough. In a world flooded with dashboards and data, thinking well is a differentiator. Anyone can run a report. Spreadsheets are fluent in confidence; truth is bilingual. But can you explain what it means? Can you connect it to the business? Can you challenge a flawed assumption dressed up in a spreadsheet?
The Rise of the Machines… and the Return of the Human
The rise of AI tools—ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and Anthropic’s Claude—is changing the game. Technical skills are no longer scarce. Need to build a basic website? A prompt will get you 80% of the way. Need a cold email campaign? A tool will write it for you.
But what these tools can’t do well (yet—and maybe ever) is judge. They can’t read a room. They can’t resolve a conflict. They can’t tell when the real problem isn’t what’s on the slide, but what’s left unsaid.
In short: AI is getting better at doing. Humans still excel at deciding, discerning, and connecting.
This isn’t a rejection of technology. It’s a reframing. The most powerful professionals going forward will be the ones who combine technical fluency with human depth.
What If You Don’t Have a Liberal Arts Background?
Here’s the good news: you don’t need a degree in geography (like me) or philosophy to build these muscles.
Soft skills are learnable.
Empathy is learnable.
Clarity is learnable.
Curiosity is learnable.
I’ve seen engineers become great storytellers. I’ve seen analysts grow into trusted advisors. I’ve seen people with no formal liberal arts education learn to lead with emotional intelligence, nuance, and humility.
How?
They read more.
They wrote more.
They asked better questions.
They stopped treating learning as a one-time event—and started treating it as a lifelong habit.
The truth is, anyone can adopt a liberal arts mindset—regardless of educational pedigree. The key is intentionality. Are you cultivating your ability to listen well? To make meaning? To sit with complexity rather than avoid it?
The Future Is Interdisciplinary
We’ve trained people to think in silos:
“You’re the tech person.”
“You’re the business person.”
“You’re the creative.”
“You’re the ops person.”
But the most valuable people I’ve worked with are the ones who blend disciplines. The strategist who can code. The developer who can lead a workshop. The marketer who can build a spreadsheet. The founder who can write.
These hybrid profiles—the ones who move fluidly between logic and emotion, data and story, depth and breadth—are the ones who shape the future. And nearly all of them, in one way or another, have built the human skills that liberal arts cultivates.
Don’t Just Learn What—Learn How
If you’re early in your career, don’t chase certainty. Chase curiosity. Chase versatility. Chase the ability to adapt.
Because the tools will change. The platforms will change. The job titles will change.
But the ability to write clearly, think critically, speak well, and learn quickly?
That will never go out of style.
In fact, it might just be your greatest advantage.
What’s one “human skill” that has changed the way you work?
I’d love to hear your story in the comments.