Summer ReStack: There’s Nothing Soft About These Skills

Original Publication: September 11, 2023

Summer Mondays will feature 2023-24 ReStacks. In this edition, I reflect on the topic of ‘soft skills’ and how much the term undermines the individual’s strengths and sense of purpose. As I asked back in September, what are the five skills that you’ve acquired in your work life that bring you purpose? 

26 years ago, my husband, Shawn and I traveled to Las Vegas for a portion of our honeymoon. While walking through the gigantic parking garage at the MGM Grand hotel to find our rental car we approached the escalator. A family was in front of us. A father, a teenage son and a mother. Led by the mother, the family went to the ‘up’ escalator, Dad realized once they were on the escalator that they were going the wrong way.

Father and son turned around and ran down the stairs. Mom attempted to do the same. But unlike her husband and child, who were wearing sneakers, Mom was wearing strappy sandals. She made it down a couple of stairs, but her footwork and footwear failed her. She found herself tumbling down and while her husband and son were seemingly paralyzed at the foot of the escalator unable to act, mom was getting smacked in the face by the escalator steps that were landing on her chin. 

Shawn and I burst into action.