Economic opportunities with soft skills As a leadership strategist, I help leaders grow through the development of the soft skills that are in demand in our job market today. One way you, as a leader, moves from success to significance is that you become adept in leveraging the balance between hard and soft skills every day. Hard skills are demonstrated through technical expertise with clearly measured goals and action plans. Hard skill development often focuses on the WHATHard skills are vital to the success of a leader’s career. Hard skills are what I call the “knowing” Soft skills emphasize the transformation of people with changes that make a difference in people’s lives.Soft skill development is more about the HOWSoft skills are vital for the significance of a leader’s journey! Soft skills are what I call “the living”  Discerning the dynamic balance of these two skill sets provides the right questions for you as you pursue your desired goals AND empower changes in people’s lives!  I call this dynamic balance the significance framework: Hard skills + Soft skills = Significant Leadership  Research of David Deming, Harvard professor, economist and premier analyst in skill development reveals that there is a decline of cognitive skills in predicting labor-market wage success while the economic importance of noncognitive skills has increased. Another way of saying this is that the job market, the supply and demand of labor, has demonstrated that soft skills are now predicting wage success over hard skills.  Deming goes on to say that the share of US employment has grown at a faster rate for those professional jobs that rely on analytical and interpersonal interaction. Here are some questions for self-reflection and discussion: When was the first time you realized how important soft skills were to your leadership development?Are you ready to clearly articulate the economic difference seen with soft skills in your work?Should there be even more intentional soft skill development in your workplace? Where do you see that soft skills are making a difference in the net margin? How have you seen soft skills impact the profitability of your company? Thank you for joining me on the Art of Leadership.  I help leaders who are seeking a fresh perspective to growth and development! Call me: https://www.healthyleadership.online/contact