b'EDITORS MESSAGEABOUT THE HARD STUFFAND THE SOFT STUFFvariation in skills to consider. Lets lookcreate new seed treatment recipes, build, at the differences between hard skills andand fix things. But research points out, soft skills. that CEOs and business leaders are now One could describe hard skills asrealizing that they can buy these tech-teachable abilities or skill sets that arenical skills relatively easily (or develop easy to quantify. A person will learnthese internally). It is generally easier for hard skills in the classroom, throughan employer to train a new employee in a books, training materials, or on the job.hard skill (such as how to make a good These hard skills are often listed in across between two plants, load a PCR job application letter and on a resume,machine or carry out a disease resistance which makes them easy for an employertest) than to train an employee in a soft or recruiter to recognize. Such hard skillsskill (such as patience or empathy).include a plant breeding degree or PVPThe soft skills are by no means soft. course certificate, a proficiency in a for- They are highly complex and take years eign language, computer programming,to learn. One could easily argue that the machine operation and so on. so-called hard skills are soft because On the other end there are the softthey change all the time, are prone to skills. These are subjective skills which(quickly) becoming obsolete, and are are much harder to quantify, and it is dif- relatively easy to learn. The soft skills ficult to point to specific evidence that aon the other hand are hard, because they Marcel Bruins person possesses a soft skill. These softare difficult to build, critical, and take skills are also known as "people skills" orextreme effort to obtain."interpersonal skills," and relate to theOK, so, what does this all mean? way a person relates to and interacts withI would like to propose that compa-E ven before COVID, the world wasother people. These soft skills includenies, HR, and L&D professionals stop already changing rapidly andempathy, integrity, communication,describing these skills as soft skills and how work gets done is evolving.flexibility and adaptability, leadership,start rebranding them as power skills. In the past two years this has beenself-motivation, grit, emotional intelli- Because they are the skills that give them accelerated by the pandemic. As agence, patience, optimism, kindness,real power at work. And that we start result, how seed companies build theirpersuasion, problem solving abilities,taking these power skills serious and give workforce has changed too. More andteamwork, mindfulness, time manage- them the place at the table they deserve.more, seed companies rely on diverse,ment, work ethic, resilience, and manyThese power skills are often the most multidisciplinary teams that combineothers. important skills in a company and are the collective capabilities from differentIn a recent study by LinkedIn, 57 percrucial success factors for any company cultures, genders and ages. And thecent of leaders say soft skills are moreto succeed. These power skills are essen-various skill sets that people have.important than hard skills, but soft skillstial going forward, and seed companies In many seed companies and HRare becoming harder to find in todaysshould build them, nourish them, and manuals, these skill sets are divided intolabour market candidate pools. And incontinuously evolve them with vigour.two types: the technical or hard-skillsmany business sectors, one of the hot- Lets do away with the idea of soft in a job, and the people and managerialtest topics today is upskilling, reskilling,skills and accept that developing power soft-skills in a job. This distinction isand redefining jobs for the future of work,skills is hard, takes a lot of investment, now getting in our way because mostwith 34 per cent of CEOs rating it one ofand for sure is key to the future. Of people think hard skills are hard, andtheir top three threats to growth. course, we need lots of plant breeders, soft skills are soft. I would like to argueThis shift indicates that more andphytopathologists, engineers and sci-that the opposite is true. more companies realize that the skillsentists to succeed, but they need power There are many ways to define theseof the future are not technical, theyreskills too.skill sets. Is learning to create a pivotbehavioural. For sure, the plant breed-table in Excel a skill? Or is creativity orers, scientists, designers, engineers, andMarcel Bruinsflexibility a skill? Is managing a team ofother technical people of the world neededitorial director, European Seedplant breeders a skill? There is a hugeto know how to develop new varieties,mbruins@seedworldgroup.com4IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'