For instance, an engineer who can develop brilliant new product designs but who can't effectively communicate the value of those designs to others (or collaborate with design teams to bring those ideas to life) is doing himself and his organization a major disservice. Similar problems apply at the leadership level, too, where often everyone from the manager to the senior level fails to understand the impact of these fundamental human skills. In fact, as we hurdle toward our inevitable robot- and AI-filled future, these sorts of uniquely human capabilities may only be more essential. According to a recent Future of Jobs Report, the World Economic Forum says "technology-related and non-cognitive soft skills are becoming increasingly more important." It goes on to urge governments to take a harder look at their educational policies and how those policies can "rapidly raise education and skills levels of individuals of all ages, particularly with regard to both STEM and non-cognitive soft skills, enabling people to leverage their uniquely human capabilities."

Concerns regarding artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation have recently received a considerable amount of attention. Do these advancements pose a threat that will destroy the jobs created in the post-industrial revolution at best or at worst leave us all as physically passive creatures reclining on lounge chairs in the world anticipated by "The Matrix"? Unquestionably, however, recent advances in artificial intelligence appear all-encompassing and more rapid than previous workplace disruptions. At times, we are guilty of believing that all things are new and unique to the present. Fears of the dehumanization of the workers of the world are at least as old as the industrial revolution and Charlie Chaplin's character in "Modern Times." They probably predate recorded history with early man wondering if the invention of the wheel would lead to unemployment and the moral decay of subsequent generations.