This month, I’ve been writing more in Spanish and, ironically, I now find it easier to write in English. It’s one of those funny reminders that mastery doesn’t depend on where you begin, but on how often you iterate. Despite being a native Spanish speaker, years of practice in English have shifted my writing muscle.

So today I want to go deeper on one of those ideas I wrote about: how the AI revolution is revealing the soft skills gap, and why soft skills, long considered “nice to have,” are now becoming essential from day one.

Tip of the Week: Everyone’s learning to prompt better. But in the age of AI, what really sets you apart is how well you coach and manage it.

Side Note: It’s hard to lead AI effectively when your own workload management and prioritization skills were never properly set.

That’s exactly why I created the Effective Workload Management Systems course. It helps you clear space in your schedule and your mind, so you can actually make room for the meaningful stuff (like a mini adventure or two). This latest version is the strongest yet - refined through real-world use by over 70,000 Amazonians.

The Theory Behind

The further you go in your career, the more soft skills matter. Ask anyone 5–10 years ahead of you, and they’ll tell you: as your career progresses, technical skills become table stakes, while soft skills determine how far you go. It’s why frameworks like Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (EQ) gained traction: leadership success depends more on empathy, influence, and self-awareness than raw IQ. So why not build those skills early? If AI is reshaping entry-level work, then we need to frontload the skills that help us lead, not just do.

AI tools are powerful (but they still need human guidance). AI tools have already exceeded expectations on content generation, problem solving, and language tasks. But they still rely heavily on us for context, decision-making, and feedback. Harvard Business Review calls this “Human-AI collaboration,” and research shows that the best outcomes come not from AI or humans alone, but from their integration. In that sense, AI is more of a collaborator than a calculator... and soft skills like communication, feedback, and delegation become crucial to using it well.

Critical thinking is the foundation of AI effectiveness. AI may produce content confidently, but it doesn’t mean it’s correct. Hallucinations, biases, and lack of real-world context mean we need to evaluate AI output with discernment. The World Economic Forum ranks critical thinking as one of the top skills of the future, and it's now key to responsible AI usage. We must ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and assess risk. The more we rely on AI, the more essential it becomes to sharpen our ability to think clearly and question deeply.

As Peter Drucker put it, effectiveness is about doing the right things. In The Effective Executive, Drucker emphasized that knowledge workers succeed not by working harder, but by focusing their time and energy on the most important things. That same lens applies to AI. You can delegate to a model, but if you delegate the wrong task, or review the output poorly, you lose time, not gain it. Effectiveness today means knowing what to ask AI, how to train it, and when to trust it. That’s not technical ability. That’s judgment.

What I’ve Learned

AI actually accelerates the need to show soft skills earlier in our careers. For years, we picked up soft skills gradually as we advanced in our careers. But now, with AI in the mix, those same skills (communication, delegation, critical thinking) are needed from day one. AI can generate content, but it still needs coaching and management. It can give answers, but it still hallucinates. If we want to lead effectively in this new era, we need to treat soft skills as foundational, not optional — and teach/learn them earlier, not later. Everyone says that "AI will shape education" and this might be it. Maybe now that I work at a university, I can do something about that... but so can you.

Make It Happen

If you want to lead effectively in the AI era, start strengthening the soft side of your work:

1. Learn to Give Structured Feedback. Practice offering constructive feedback to AI tools — what worked, what didn’t, what to try next. This builds better outputs and better habits.

2. Sharpen Your Critical Thinking Muscles. Double-check outputs. Ask: Is this logical? Biased? Plausible? Don’t assume correctness — be the filter.

3. Build a Delegation System. Treat your AI assistant like a new hire. Start with repeatable tasks, review outputs, and scale complexity over time.

4. Document How You Work. Create a living doc with your preferences: tone, format, goals. This makes prompting faster and your AI more aligned.

5. Reflect Weekly on What to Automate. Block 30 minutes weekly to review which tasks could be delegated — and where your prompts need refining.

6. Invest in Soft Skills (Not Just Tech Skills). Enroll in courses (e.g., Microsoft Critical Thinking with GenAI), and build fluency in communication, influence, and decision-making. These compound over time.

Artificially,

Jorge Luis Pando

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PS: Wow, you made it all the way down here? You must really care about your personal development! Here are 3 ways I can help you grow even faster:

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