{"id":3784,"date":"2025-04-02T18:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3784"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:14:17","slug":"technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Some mentors and career counselors advise students and early-career professionals to focus on acquiring technical skills to make themselves desirable candidates for high-paying jobs. Other experts say that technical skills can always be learned on the job, so students and young professionals should focus on soft skills, since that\u2019s what ultimately impresses hiring managers during the recruitment and interviewing processes. However, the reality is that most successful business leaders and managers excel in both areas.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Wendy Smith<\/a> of the University of Delaware said that there\u2019s debate over whether to prioritize social skills and emotional intelligence (EQ) or technical skills and intelligence quotient (IQ). If a person has tons of technical skills but no social skills, they call that the competent jerk, but if you have tons of social skills but don\u2019t have the technical skills, you may be a lovely person who\u2019s going to build the team, host barbecues, and charm clients but not really get the work done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an underlying paradox, and the important piece here is figuring out how to do both\u2014look, you\u2019ve got to do both,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe big question is, \u2018How does engaging the social skills enable you to learn the technical skills more effectively, and how are these interwoven with one another? How does engaging the technical skills using your IQ enable you to learn the social skills more effectively?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are somebody with technical skills, then it opens up the possibility to have conversations with more confidence with other people with technical skills in your business and then develop a network of connections that allows you to then learn from and engage with other people,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you are somebody who has the emotional intelligence to know how to build those networks and connections, then you\u2019re the kind of person who\u2019s not just stuck behind a computer on their own in the cubicle in the corner, but you\u2019re someone who\u2019s going to be able to learn from what’s going on and understand what\u2019s required of you and gain more technical skills along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not just that these things sit side by side and we have to allocate resources between the two; it\u2019s that\u2014if done right\u2014there is this interwoven, dynamic nature of hard and soft skills where they can help each other, and that\u2019s an important insight of paradoxical thinking, or paradox theory.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Some mentors and career counselors advise students and early-career professionals to focus on acquiring technical skills to make themselves desirable candidates for high-paying jobs. Other experts say that technical skills can always be learned on the job, so students and young professionals should focus on soft skills, since that\u2019s what ultimately impresses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,71,29,76],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-communicating","category-emotions","category-performance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTechnical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-02T18:17:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:14:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"CAREERS\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"EMOTIONS\",\"PERFORMANCE\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-02T18:17:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:14:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\",\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Butcher\"},\"description\":\"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today","datePublished":"2025-04-02T18:17:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:14:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/"},"wordCount":429,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["CAREERS","COMMUNICATING","EMOTIONS","PERFORMANCE"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/","name":"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-02T18:17:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:14:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/technical-and-soft-skills-are-whats-needed-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Technical AND Soft Skills Are What\u2019s Needed Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-350x450.jpg",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Hard-AND-Soft-Skills_cropped-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":1,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/communicating\/\" rel=\"category tag\">COMMUNICATING<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/emotions\/\" rel=\"category tag\">EMOTIONS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/performance\/\" rel=\"category tag\">PERFORMANCE<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher Some mentors and career counselors advise students and early-career professionals to focus on acquiring technical skills to make themselves desirable candidates for high-paying jobs. Other experts say that technical skills can always be learned on the job, so students and young professionals should focus on soft skills, since that\u2019s what ultimately impresses…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3784"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=3784"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}