The problem with calling them 'Soft Skills'

Photo by Branko Stancevic on Unsplash

Over the past few years, I've noticed an interesting shift in the way organisations talk about leadership.

When businesses discuss what will determine their future success, the conversation rarely starts with technical expertise. Instead, leaders talk about judgement, accountability, resilience, adaptability, trust and the ability to navigate uncertainty. These qualities appear repeatedly in integrated reports, global leadership research and boardroom discussions because they increasingly influence how organisations execute strategy, respond to change and build long-term performance.

Yet we continue to describe them as soft skills.

The phrase has never sat comfortably with me.

There is nothing "soft" about making difficult decisions when there is no obvious answer. There is nothing soft about earning trust, taking responsibility or leading people through uncertainty. These capabilities shape organisational performance every day. The real problem with the term is not that it sounds gentle, but that it suggests these capabilities are secondary, developed after the knowledge and qualifications that prepare us for work, rather than forming part of what prepares us to lead.

That is why I have become less interested in whether these capabilities matter. Business has already answered that question.

The question that has occupied me for much of my career is a different one.

Where do they actually begin?

Long before I undertook my doctoral research, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in why some people developed these capabilities naturally while others, with similar opportunities and education, seemed to struggle. Again and again, I found myself coming back to one idea: before people can lead others effectively, they first need to understand and to lead themselves.

That thinking became the foundation of Path of the Lion.

Although developed within an entrepreneurial leadership context, it was never simply about building businesses. It was about developing self-awareness, understanding different leadership styles, recognising personal strengths and blind spots, and helping people become more intentional in the way they make decisions and work with others.

Over the years, I have watched business owners, professionals and students engage with those ideas. What has always struck me is how consistent their experiences have been. Participants regularly describe greater self-awareness, stronger confidence, a clearer sense of purpose, and a better understanding of how to lead and communicate. Schools have reported increased resilience and leadership among students, while business leaders speak about applying the learning immediately within their organisations.

At the time, these were practical observations rather than academic conclusions. It was only later, during my doctoral research into entrepreneurial leadership in South Africa and New Zealand, that I had the opportunity to explore why these patterns appeared so consistently. Years of working with business owners, professionals and students had already convinced me that self-awareness sat at the heart of effective leadership. My doctoral research did not change that belief. It gave me a far deeper understanding of why it proved true so consistently.

I interviewed leaders who had successfully navigated prolonged uncertainty, economic disruption and significant responsibility. While their personal stories differed, one pattern emerged with remarkable consistency.

The leaders who demonstrated the strongest judgement, resilience and accountability had not developed those capabilities when they became executives; many of these capabilities begin developing far earlier than organisations often imagine, sometimes during childhood itself.

Some had experienced financial hardship. Others described family disruption, relocation or significant personal setbacks. The common thread was not adversity itself. It was the way they responded to it.

Rather than waiting for circumstances to improve, they consistently described taking responsibility for what they could influence. Over time, they developed the judgement to make decisions without complete certainty, the confidence to act despite uncertainty and the resilience to keep moving forward when outcomes were unclear.

Looking back, I realised my research had confirmed a pattern I had been observing for years. Leadership capability is not something that suddenly appears when someone receives a promotion or attends a management programme. It develops over time through experience, reflection and opportunities to take responsibility, long before many people occupy formal leadership positions.

That has important implications for organisations.

Businesses invest considerable time and resources developing leaders once they reach management or executive level. Those investments are important. But if judgement, accountability, resilience and adaptability begin developing long before people occupy formal leadership positions, then we need to think more carefully about where leadership development really starts.

This is why I believe we need to rethink the language of soft skills.

The phrase understates their significance, but it also obscures their origins. These are not qualities that appear once technical expertise is in place. They are capabilities formed over time through self-awareness, responsibility, experience and reflection.

Business already understands their value.

The challenge is recognising that they do not begin in the boardroom.

If we understand where leadership capability really begins, we have a far greater opportunity to develop the leaders our organisations will need tomorrow.