Hard Facts on Soft Power

Unlike the past, the 21st century will divide nation-states into two categories: Soft Power and Hard Power. According to Nye, ‘Soft Power’ is the power of persuasion where as ‘Hard Power’ is one of coercion. Military power is the best form of ‘hard power’, whereas a country’s soft power comes from democracy, legal system & rule of law, divergent cultures, multilateralism, multi-religious groups, quality educational opportunities, institutional infrastructure and integrity, transparency, quality of press, richness in history, arts, sports, spiritualism, music, culture, cuisine and so on. Needless to predict that soft powers like India will conquer the hard ones.

Similarly on an individual scale, the success of future employees and leaders will depend more on ‘soft skills’ rather than ‘hard skills’. The delivery attributes of individuals are going to be the key differentiators rather than payload or functional attributes. Whether we call it IQ vs. EQ or ability vs. attitude, quality soft skills, both on individual and enterprise scales, are must to derive full benefits from the available hard skills.

The 12 Soft Skills for future employment:

1. Teamwork
2. Communication
3. Initiative
4. Vision
5. Problem Solving
6. Adaptability
7. Passion for Change
8. Fast Decision Making
9. Creativity
10. Learning Ability
11. Organization
12. Leadershiip

Ten Action Steps to improve Soft Skills:

1. Cross-train yourself within the organization and in your current position
2. Get involved in as many task forces as possible
3. Initiate new ideas and improvements
4. Ask questions frequently and share your thoughts
5. Confront co-workers and bosses on tough issues
6. Invest enough time and resources on ‘Lateral Thinking’
7. Take regular stock of your improvement in soft skills
8. Seek managerial and peer review and feedback
9. Volunteer your service to a NGO
10. Explore arts (right brain faculties) – the breeding ground of creativeness

Most Important Development of 20th Century

Sociologist Peter Berger says that the key feature of 20th century has been growing acceptance that self-realization of the individual is a greater goal than loyalty to any group like the family, religion, race, organization, ruling dynasty or even nation. In past centuries group empowerment got precedence over individual empowerment. Monarchs had no interest at all for self-realization, and demanded total loyalty from their subjects. Religious and community leaders demanded loyalty to their groups as well.

Both democracy and capitalism are about empowering individuals over groups. Democracy, civil rights, human rights, all flow from the notion that individual rights transcend group rights. That each person has the right to dissent from group loyalties and yet be treated honorably. Less evident to many is the fact that capitalism and markets are also about empowering the individuals over the groups. We need to appreciate that through Group Activity people try to achieve Self-Realization rather than Group-Realization.

Re-evaluation of personal belief

Before September 1994, I had never imagined the link between India's garbage disposal system and its export & tourism performance. The inter-relationship of poverty and garbage of Mumbai's slums with the occupancy levels of Hotel Taj and the passenger loads of both Indian & foreign flights to Mumbai never occured to me.

It all happened in 1994 immediately after the monsoon. Pleague, the dreaded disease of the past, broke out in Surat ( a filthy but super-rich diamond-processing town in Gujurat ) and started spreading to other parts of the country. There was red alert in India and in abroad for India. Suddenly the world was hesitant to accept Indian goods. The flights and even the people arriving from India were being fumigated. The tourists' arrival in India for the peak winter season plummeted and the tourism industry including the seemingly clean hotels and flights came almost to a dead-halt. The worst aspect of the ensuing disaster was its threatening vector property across provincial and national boundaries. And in the stake was my own and my family's lives, seemingly away from poverty and garbage.

We live in an extremely inter-related and inter-dependent world; whether it is poverty, pollution, garbage disposal, environmental degradation, education, illiteracy, health, commerce, investment, financial flows, terrorism, nuclear disarmament, governance, and you name it. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the fire & fog and currency crisis of SE Asia with all its global ripples and repercussions have confirmed the doubt, if any.

Those who create, manage and consume wealth need to have a vision broader than that of an accountant. Those who govern and make policies need to have vision of the planet, rather than their beloved self, company, community and even country. Let us not confuse the present crisis. Our future and fate is systemically inter-linked not only to ourselves but to our planet as well. Internationalism and globalization can not be reserved only for business, commerce and investment.