We’ve run plenty of articles about the importance of   “soft skills” in the workplace.  These essential abilities, like  communication,   emotional intelligence,  and  teamwork,  can be hard to quantify—and even harder to teach.

But perhaps part of the problem is that talking about “soft skills” sounds so . . . soft, says Fast Company contributor Shannon McKeen, a professor of the practice and executive director of the Center for Analytics Impact at Wake Forest University School of Business. These abilities have so much to do with our career success (or lack thereof), he argues, but “there’s a long-standing bias that elevates ‘hard’ technical competencies over the nuanced, deeply human capabilities that actually define long-term professional success.” 

Regardless of what they’re called, they’ll only be  more crucial in our AI-filled workplaces  of the future. “If we want students—and professionals—to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, we need to stop treating soft skills like fluff,” writes McKeen. “They’re complex, teachable, and foundational to success.”  —Julia Herbst