Wake-up Call

GEETANJALI RATHORE

Between Corporates and Classrooms: What Soft Skills Really Mean

It was 2002.

 The air inside the training room was icy cold—not just from the AC vents hissing above—but from the rows of young professionals sitting stiffly in front of me, their eyes darting between my slides and their own self-doubt. They were new recruits at a booming BPO. I was their trainer. Voice and accent—that was my domain.

Back then, soft skills were a checklist. Pronounce this right. Pause here. Raise your tone there.

It was all about sounding “neutral”—code for Westernized.

My job was to get them ready for the floor. Smooth over the mother tongue influence. Tick the quality boxes. Get them onboard. Move on.

And I did it. Efficiently. Flawlessly.  But not fully.

Because somewhere inside, I couldn’t silence the quiet discomfort that something was missing. I couldn’t name it yet—but I could feel it.  Something real was being left out.

Years passed. The job titles changed. From voice trainer, I became a communication specialist.

From BPOs to boardrooms, I now sat on hiring panels, observing how people spoke—not just the “how,” but what lay beneath.

Were they present? Were they aware? Did they know what their words carried?

That’s when the shift began.

It hit me: It wasn’t about the words alone.  It was about how people made you feel when they spoke. Intonation could be learned. Diction could be drilled. But authenticity? Awareness?

 That couldn’t be rushed in a 3-day module. That came only when the person speaking was connected—to themselves and to the person in front of them.

And so, I went deeper. I moved into education.

 I was invited to work with an IB school—not just to train students, but to coach teachers. From Montessori educators to high school subject experts, I was tasked with enhancing how they communicated. Not their grammar. Their impact.

This was not about crafting better sentences. It was about creating safer spaces. I saw how one word from a teacher could light up a child’s mind—or shut it down completely.  I saw how presence, tone, and intention could turn an ordinary class into a moment of connection. This, I realized, was the heart of soft skills. But the journey didn’t stop there.

I began working with colleges —training undergraduate students on how to speak in teams, how to present their ideas, how to deal with failure, and how to prepare for their first jobs.  I conducted workshops with faculty on emotional intelligence, listening, and dialogue—not just teaching students, but helping educators transform their entire presence.

From classrooms to campuses, I witnessed something profound:

· Soft skills weren’t just tools for employment.

· They were instruments for empathy, growth, and influence.

· From the outside, I was still teaching communication.  But inside, I was learning life.

· Each experience refined my definition. It expanded.

· Soft skills became not just about speech—but about self.

· The ability to respond with care.

· To pause before reacting.

· To listen even when I wanted to speak.

· To choose words that didn’t just instruct—but included.

I realized: soft skills is not a technique.  It’s an approach to life.

 Soft Skills is When...

· As an educator, you bend a little so the child feels safe enough to stand tall.

· As a parent, you listen without turning every conversation into a life lesson.

· As a leader, you allow others to rise—even when it means stepping aside for a moment.

· As a colleague, you choose curiosity over conclusion.

· As a partner, you speak your truth in a tone that doesn’t burn bridges.

· As a person, you become more vigilant of your thoughts, actions, and how you leave people feeling.

I often take a soft skills approach in daily life—both professionally and personally.

Let me tell you something simple that I do …

 Every time I send an email to another department, I ask myself:  “Who is going to read this?”

If it’s the tech team, I simplify my words—no fluff, no unnecessary explanation.