Soft skills are the new hard skills | Kai Aselmeyer | TEDxKIT

Summary

In this insightful talk, the speaker reflects on their career journey, revealing how their engineering degree wasn't as crucial as they initially thought. While acknowledging the importance of technical knowledge, they emphasize the significance of soft skills, such as understanding company culture, communication, and networking. The speaker discusses their leadership experiences, highlighting the value of trust, creativity, and a willingness to make mistakes in a complex world. Ultimately, they argue that soft skills, like creativity and emotional intelligence, are becoming more critical than traditional hard skills in navigating today’s rapidly changing work environments.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker reflects on their career, mentioning that an engineering degree wasn't necessary for the majority of their work experience, but it helped them access certain roles.
• 😀 The speaker emphasizes that technical knowledge (like mechanical engineering and thermodynamics) is crucial for certain positions but was not required in their career path.
• 😀 They discuss how their job in the IT and automotive industries did not rely heavily on their degree, focusing instead on common sense and practical problem-solving.
• 😀 The speaker highlights the importance of understanding company culture, communication, and networking, skills not taught in university but crucial for success in the workplace.
• 😀 They describe their leadership approach, which focused on listening to employees' challenges, asking the right questions, and encouraging creativity and autonomy.
• 😀 Despite not being an expert in technical fields, they led effectively by fostering a collaborative environment, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking, and focusing on the big picture.
• 😀 The speaker discusses how values, integrity, and setting clear expectations are key components of leadership, more impactful than technical expertise.
• 😀 The speaker shares their belief that interpersonal challenges, like communication and teamwork, often create more friction in organizations than technical problems.
• 😀 Drawing on insights from the World Economic Forum, the speaker explains how skills like creativity and emotional intelligence are becoming more important than traditional technical skills.
• 😀 They stress the growing complexity in the modern world and the importance of embracing experimentation, iteration, and learning from mistakes, rather than avoiding them.
• 😀 Finally, the speaker advocates for a shift in education to focus more on soft skills (like creativity, intuition, and risk-taking) to better prepare individuals for navigating an increasingly complex world.

Q & A

Why does the speaker believe they didn't need their degree in mechanical engineering?

The speaker suggests that, while an engineering degree is valuable for certain technical roles, their career didn't require the specific knowledge gained from the degree. Instead, they found that common sense and practical experience were more beneficial in their roles.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of a degree for entering the IT industry?

The speaker believes that, while having a degree might be helpful, it is not necessarily required to enter the IT industry. They know people who managed to get into IT without a degree, provided they had strong programming skills, which the speaker admits they lacked.

How does the speaker describe their first job in the automotive industry?

The speaker describes their first job in the automotive industry as involving tasks such as overseeing the renovation of a factory, including installing new signage. This task required common sense and organizational skills, rather than technical knowledge from their degree.

What role did the speaker believe their degree played in their career development?

The speaker acknowledges that their degree helped them initially enter certain industries, like the automotive sector, but they believe it was not essential for performing many of the tasks in their job, particularly those related to problem-solving and project management.

What skills did the speaker find to be critical in their career, especially in a large company?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding company culture, communication, relationship-building, and networking. They believe these 'soft skills' were more critical for success than technical expertise.

How did the speaker's tendency to speak their mind affect their career?

The speaker's willingness to speak their mind and challenge the status quo led to some friction in their career. However, it also resulted in them being assigned special projects, often in uncharted territory, where they could experiment and learn.

What leadership style did the speaker adopt when they became a manager?

As a manager, the speaker focused on understanding what employees needed and what challenges they faced. They encouraged creativity, problem-solving, and autonomy, while also making sure to support their team with guidance when necessary.

What is the speaker’s approach to problem-solving in the workplace?

The speaker advocates for looking beyond traditional boundaries and thinking 'outside the box.' They emphasize the importance of considering the whole picture and breaking down silos to address complex issues.

What does the speaker believe is the most important quality for a leader?

The speaker believes that values are the most important quality for a leader. By clearly communicating and embodying their values, leaders can shape the culture, foster collaboration, and influence the way their team works together.

What does the speaker say about the difference between 'complicated' and 'complex' problems?

The speaker explains that complicated problems, such as optimizing a production line, can be understood and planned for. In contrast, complex problems, like predicting human behavior or weather, are unpredictable and require experimentation rather than analysis.

Why does the speaker believe 'soft skills' are becoming increasingly important?

The speaker argues that as the world becomes more interconnected and fast-paced, the ability to handle complexity and uncertainty becomes crucial. Soft skills like creativity, intuition, and adaptability are necessary to navigate this complexity, and the speaker believes they are becoming just as important as hard skills.

What is the speaker’s perspective on the education system?

The speaker believes that the education system needs to adapt to better prepare individuals for the increasingly complex world. They argue that a greater focus on soft skills, such as problem-solving, creativity, and the ability to handle failure, is essential for success in the future.