The importance of "soft skills" in entrepreneurship & international development

Soft skills are hard, hard skills are easy. The folks who called skills like communication “soft skills” clearly never grappled with them enough to appreciate their difficulty.

Rohan Rajiv

Commendable effort has been made in recent years to put development of countries like DR Congo back into the hands of local actors. This stands in sharp contrast to decades of foreign aid work focused on reacting to the most immediate and urgent needs of underserved communities, serving only to maintain a cycle of foreign dependence inculcated by the centuries of colonial rule prior. Providing opportunities for local leaders to identify and act on evident needs in their communities should be celebrated.

Much of this push for local empowerment has been through the lens of entrepreneurship. This too is a positive development and harnessing market forces (in a measured fashion) is a proven model for self-sufficiency and development of communities like many in DR Congo.

There is, however, a missing piece in the model employed by programs that encourage saving, lending, and selling in order to generate local wealth. Providing funding and, in some cases, business direction or tactical skills is a first step, but the training that accompanies these financial programs is typically rote - focused on knowing how to calculate an interest rate or understand costs of goods sold. These are undoubtedly key skills for any businessperson, but they only take a budding entrepreneur part of the way to success.

This is a logical blind spot for the development brain trust because it is a blind spot in Western education. The over-intellectualization of problem-solving has produced a bevy of technical savants and functionaries, most of whom are deeply skilled at modeling economic forecasts but lacking in what we pejoratively call “soft skills.” Meanwhile, Western Capitalism’s failures (Enron, the 2008 financial crisis, etc.) have their roots in the lack of training to develop these very same “soft skills” at the highest levels of leadership.

To be clear, “soft skills” are not just about development of moral fortitude (though this is a part of it). They are about developing a highly nimble, practical skill set in managing the most complex risk associated with any business or social venture: The unpredictable priorities, attitudes, and emotions of other humans.

Overall, the message is one of complementarity: Leadership training and entrepreneurship training fit together as two parts of a complete set driving empowerment and development at the local level. Indeed, leadership training is malleable and adaptable to almost any development project, acting as an accelerant in the effort to drive local empowerment.