Power Skills in the Age of AI
- Teresa Ramos
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
We, humans, are social creatures. In ancient times, our survival depended on being part of a community. For millennia, power in these communities was bestowed upon individuals who possessed material goods; first it was land and cattle. Later, after the industrial revolution, owning machinery and factories was likely to make the owner a powerful person.
It was only very recently that humans entered the “knowledge economy”. This is where all of us are brought up; in a culture that strongly believes that “knowledge is power”. We need knowledge to be powerful and successful. The more knowledge we have, the more powerful we may become.
In this worldview, leadership skills were usually divided into hard and soft skills. Hard skills are the technical ones, the ones that give you data and information and, subsequently, allow you to make sense of it and take decisions based on it. Then there are soft skills like communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, etc. In the knowledge economy, soft skills were useful and nice to have but it was hard skills that gave the competitive advantage.
However, digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI from now on) are radically changing the playfield. Today, anybody with a smart phone and an internet connection has access to more data than they can possibly make sense of. Our mobile phones have more intelligence than the computers that powered the Apollo missions to the moon. What once required an entire room of hardware, and a team of NASA engineers now fits in the palm of your hand and answers your questions in milliseconds. Data and information have become a commodity. Having more information does not mean having more power. It can be quite the opposite: how can you differentiate what is true from what is false (the infamous “fake news”)? Even if all your data is from reliable sources, how can you possibly make sense of such a large volume of information and use it to your or your company’s advantage? Now we run the risk of suffering from “infoxication”: having so much information that we become overloaded, can´t make sense of it and suffocate in it. So much information becomes counterproductive.
In our digital and hyper connected world, a new paradigm is emerging. Hard and technical skills are now a given. As data and information have become a commodity, a person´s competitive advantage is not determined by how much data and information they have. The competitive advantage now lies on a person´s ability to tell a compelling story based on data, to communicate their message powerfully and effectively, to captivate other’s attention when a myriad of apps, mails, phone calls, WhatsApp, etc are fighting for it, to inspire individuals to come together and create high performance teams that can bring a vision into reality. These skills are essential to truly thrive in our digital world, the superpowers in the new AI-enabled landscape. They are now so vital that I like changing the name from “soft skills” to “POWER SKILLS”.
THE NEW POWER SKILLS- BEING HUMAN IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
In the age of AI, it is not just knowledge that matters, it is wisdom. It is not just information, but interpretation. The leaders who thrive today are not the ones who know the most facts, but those who know how to connect, adapt, reflect, and inspire. The following skills are no longer optional. These are the Power Skills, the foundation of leadership in our digital era.
Ethical discernment: Technology moves fast and leaders face unprecedented ethical dilemmas. As my coaching mentor once advised me: “the fact that you can do it does not mean you should do it!”. Leaders today must ask not only “Can we do this?” but “Should we?” Power lies in navigating grey areas with clarity, integrity, and accountability. Ethical discernment is a compass—not only for the leader, but for the entire organization.
Emotional intelligence and resilience: The pace of change creates pressure and uncertainty. Human brains do not like uncertainty and do not perform well under pressure. Emotional intelligence allows leaders to pause, regulate, connect. Resilience allows them to recover, recalibrate, and keep going. Together, they form the emotional backbone of agile leadership.
Navigating uncertainty and complexity: Our brains crave predictability, but our reality offers anything but. Leaders must build comfort with the unknown. Making sound decisions amidst ambiguity—without freezing or rushing—is now a core leadership skill.
Prioritization and contextual thinking: Data is everywhere. What is rare is discernment. Great leaders do not try to know everything. They know what matters. Prioritization is a superpower and so is the ability to contextualize information, understanding its relevance in the bigger picture.
Critical thinking in a noisy world: In an age of infoxication, leaders must cut through the noise. That means asking better questions, identifying flawed logic, and making meaning; not just gathering facts. Critical thinking brings clarity where overwhelm lurks.
Human-centric leadership: Technology should amplify, not replace, our humanity. Empathy, psychological safety, listening, and presence are not “nice-to-haves”. They are strategic assets. Leaders must create cultures where people feel seen, safe, and significant.
Curiosity and powerful questions: In a world where AI offers quick answers, it is the questions that set us apart. Leaders must cultivate curiosity as a mindset. Great questions do not just solve problems. They open possibilities.
Systemic and somatic intelligence: Leadership is not just an intellectual game. It is systemic and embodied. Our bodies hold wisdom. Our systems hold clues. When leaders learn to listen to both, they expand their intelligence beyond analysis and into awareness.
Data literacy, not just data fluency: Fluency is technical. Literacy is relational. Leaders do not need to be data scientists. They do need to understand data enough to question it, contextualize it, and align it with strategy. Knowing how to think with data is more important than crunching it.
HOW TO DEVELOP POWER SKILLS
The big challenge with Power skills is that they cannot be learned from a deck of slides or mastered in a weekend workshop. In a world where answers are a YouTube video away, Power Skills are developed through practice in the everyday actions: responding to pressure, showing up in meetings, holding space for complexity. These skills are not about learning more. They are about shifting mindsets and acting accordingly.
Begin with self-leadership: Before you can lead others effectively, you must know yourself deeply. What triggers your stress response? What values guide your decisions when no one's watching? One of my clients keeps a journal where she regularly reflects on these questions. "Understanding myself is not selfish," she told me. "It is the foundation everything else rests on."
Create space for reflection—even in motion: You do not need a mountain retreat to reflect meaningfully. You need small moments of awareness throughout your day. Between meetings, take three conscious breaths. Before responding to that challenging email, pause and check in with yourself. These micro-moments of presence create space for choice rather than reaction.
Lean into the stretch zone: Power skills grow in discomfort—not in burnout, but in that sweet spot where you're challenged yet capable. I work with a brilliant technical leader who was terrified of public speaking. Rather than avoiding it, he volunteered for small speaking opportunities, gradually building his confidence. "I will never be a keynote speaker," he told me, "but I no longer dread sharing my ideas."
Use coaching as a catalyst: Coaching is not about getting advice or being told what to do. It is about creating a lab for leadership growth. A good coach helps you discover what you are capable of. They reflect back your blind spots, celebrate your progress, and hold you accountable to your own best intentions.
Model what matters: Leadership is not theoretical. It is behavioral. If you want a culture of trust, be trustworthy. If you want people to speak honestly, welcome difficult truths. I have seen organizations transform not through grand initiatives, but through leaders who consistently embody the change they seek.
CONCLUSION
Just like the world and the business context are changing fast in the digital era, leadership and the skills leaders need are also evolving rapidly. The traditional dichotomy between hard and soft skills no longer captures the complexity leaders face today.
Power skills have become essential to successfully navigate this complex, uncertain, algorithm-driven world. The ability to connect, to care, to create meaning are not peripheral to leadership. They are leadership.
The irony is beautiful: In the age of AI, in a world flooded with information, where answers are just one prompt away, it is the human skills, the very qualities once dismissed as "soft", that now carry immense power.
Because in the age of AI, being more human is not just a nice idea.
It is our superpower.
Teresa Ramos is a seasoned leader with a diverse career spanning over 23 years in executive roles at top tech companies like British Telecom, Vodafone, Telefónica, and Siemens Group. She has driven digital transformations, enhanced organizational agility, and fostered innovation within and across departments. After her extensive commercial experience, Teresa transitioned to academia, collaborating with leading institutions such as IE (Instituto de Empresa), d.school at Stanford University, and IoC at Harvard University. Her focus in academia has been on innovation, agility, leadership, digital transformation, and high-performance teams. Currently, Teresa works as an executive coach and digital consultant, collaborating with prestigious organizations such as the United Nations, OECD, NHS, and a number of FORTUNE 500, FTSE100, DAX40, and IBEX35 companies, helping executives and companies navigate the complexities of the digital world and thrive in our fast-evolving, technology-driven landscape She is a Fellow at the IoC (Institute of Coaching at Harvard) and a member of the Advisory Council at HBR (Harvard Business Review).
