EEC Ohio Models the Power of Soft Skills in the Age of AI

​EEC Ohio celebrates 17 years building an ecosystem where thirteen universities collaborate to deliver combined entrepreneurship programs challenging norms and bringing students together to explore ventures, ideas, and soft skills like teamwork, empathy, and problem solving.

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​Dear EEC Friends & Supporters,

EEC Ohio is now celebrating its 17th year as an ecosystem builder and partner focused on providing formative experience for students. Its establishment in 2007 challenged the norms of how higher education usually functions together. In the case of EEC, a group of forward-thinking entrepreneurship educators from seven Northeast Ohio colleges and universities came together to pool resources and deliver combined programming to students seeking to explore their entrepreneurial potential. Over the years, these offerings have included Entrepreneurship Immersion Week, ideaLabs, Side Hustle, Dream It Do It, Tech Side Hustle, and Tech Internships.  

The success of these experiences for students hinges on the collaborative spirit and dedication of campus leaders. They envisioned an ecosystem hub that would combine unique resources from each campus to implement programs that would bring together students from both large and small campuses. This collaboration required the institutions to set aside self-interests, work together for the good of the region, and facilitate inter-campus teams of students pursuing ideas and ventures. The soft skills of team mindedness, adaptability, empathy, communication, problem solving, and critical thinking are at the heart of the EEC Ohio’s mission and collaboration.  

Going forward, these fundamental collaboration skills will remain essential elements of EEC’s mantra as we continue to help students develop their entrepreneurial potential.  Please read on in this newsletter to learn more about the importance of soft skills in the age of AI.  

Kind regards,
Deborah Hoover 
CEO 
Entrepreneurship Education Consortium Ohio

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AI & The Future of Work
Soft Skills Deliver the Human Touch
By Deborah D. Hoover
Artificial intelligence is rapidly permeating nearly every aspect of commerce and our daily lives in time-saving, but also mind-boggling ways.  The required speed of adaptation in the workplace has many workers concerned their core job functions could be eclipsed by the expanding capacity of AI to complete tasks once the sole purview of humans.  Indeed, AI may soon take over selected human functions, but this shift does not signal obsolescence of the human touch. 

Soft skills, manifestations of the human touch, are and will remain, central to how team work gets done.  Indeed, many workplaces are doubling down on training opportunities in skills like communications, negotiation, collaboration, problem-solving, thought leadership, and strategic thinking.  While hard skills are also very important, these skills tend to have a shorter shelf life and may be more vulnerable to being overtaken by the growing capacity of AI to perform some of these tasks. 

The term “soft skills” may be a misnomer, because this description seemingly undervalues the importance of human-centered skills in workplaces—their utility is critical in startups, growing businesses, and larger companies.  These skills are essential and timeless—they are refined through practice and render the team member more valuable in their current role and down the road for future job opportunities. 

In the face of AI’s rapid expansion, how does a team member increase their capacity to learn and practice essential skills?  Such skills are core to the entrepreneurial mindset, often fostered in curricular and co-curricular programs on college and university campuses. Ways to learn these skills in the classroom or the conference room, can come from team role playing, case studies, speakers, and mentors. Beyond formal learning, reading great literature undoubtedly builds deeper human understanding that contributes to soft skill development.  A person’s work ethic is perhaps one of the most accurate and durable barometers of the degree to which they internalize soft skills as part of their career profile.  Work ethic is demonstrated through unflagging dedication to one’s profession and team. 

Soft skills help team members adapt and go the distance, even as the work environment changes over time. Flexibility and adaptability skills can be the connector that delivers the will to update hard skills to meet the emerging demands of a job. Where AI falls short, human-centered soft skills fill in the gaps.  The work products generated by AI are not perfect given that they are derived from patterns identified in expansive datasets. Effective usage of AI work products requires human judgment and analytical ability to determine the veracity of the AI-assembled information. The human skills of curiosity and creativity allow the AI user to ask the right questions and probe the information delivered more deeply.
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So in a world that is changing at lightning speed, AI is positioned to have a radical impact on all knowledge industries. Now is the time to build up and practice soft skills so you will be ready to weather the seismic shifts coming in the workplace.