Soft skills? We prefer to call them power skills!

Why human skills are the true differentiatior in the age of AI

Wienke Tazelaar, Portfolio Lead and Trainer Capgemini Academy & Fiona Winter, Trainer Capgemini Academy

Skills such as giving feedback are often categorized as soft skills. But is that really the right name?

Because let’s be honest: what is “soft” about convincing a difficult client? What is soft about giving honest feedback to a colleague? Or leading a team through a period of change?

AI can analyze data, write reports, summarize information, and generate insights in seconds that once required hours of work. But as technology becomes increasingly capable of providing answers, a new question emerges: where does human value lie?

From knowledge to impact

The true differentiator for professionals is increasingly shifting toward their ability to collaborate, communicate, influence, advise, and guide others through change. That’s why perhaps we should stop calling these capabilities soft skills and start calling them what they really are: powerskills.  

These are the skills that determine whether you can turn your knowledge, expertise, and solutions into real impact. Take consulting and advising as an example.

Many professionals possess outstanding technical knowledge. They know the facts, understand the risks, and often have a clear view of the best solution. Yet we regularly see great ideas fail to gain traction. Not because the analysis is wrong, but because the advice doesn’t land. Effective consulting is about much more than simply providing the right answer.

Making the difference in practice

Can you build a connection with others? Can you adapt your message to your audience? Do you understand what matters to the people you’re trying to influence? Can you turn complex information into a clear and compelling story? And can you support your recommendations with arguments that align with your stakeholders’ interests? Those are power skills. 

Listening, collaborating, presenting, negotiating, coaching, influencing, and giving feedback all belong in this category. They are the skills that make expertise visible, turn ideas into action, and inspire people to move forward.

The rise of AI only makes this more relevant. AI is providing us with increasingly better answers. But organizations do not succeed on answers alone. They succeed because people can persuade others, build trust, provide direction, and inspire action. Because someone can turn insight into action. Because someone can create buy-in for change. Because someone asks the right question before a solution is chosen.

Perhaps that is the paradox of the AI era: the smarter technology becomes, the more important the human factor becomes. That does not mean technology is becoming less important. Quite the opposite. The greatest impact is achieved when technology and power skills reinforce one another. When professionals use AI to generate insights faster and have the communication skills to convey those insights convincingly. When expertise, technology, and human connection come together.

The professionals who will make the difference tomorrow are not those who only master technology. Nor are they those who are only good with people. They are the professionals who can bridge both worlds.

From expertise to impact

That is why, at Capgemini Academy, we are placing increasing emphasis on these skills. Not as a complement to technical expertise, but as an essential prerequisite for enabling that expertise to create value. After all, technology only delivers value when people know how to apply it, embrace it, and translate it into meaningful results.

So let’s stop calling them soft skills because that term no longer does them justice. Let’s talk about power skills instead. Because technology can do a lot, but it’s people who truly make the difference.

Business Impact, Powered by People.

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