PSYCHOLOGY
The debate over the best personal traits that a leader can possess has raged throughout the ages. Here, Daniel Tuma elaborates on those soft skills that future generations of MBA graduates will need in the workplace in order to effectively deal with the demands of our rapidly changing business landscape A question of character
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n MBA education we shape and develop not only the essential knowledge and skills needed for business, but we also influence the personality of future leaders, in other words those people who will be decision makers and role models for their teams, the social environment, organisational culture and society itself. As AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson pointed out recently: “The importance of a personal brand identity, in terms of soft skills, cannot be taken for granted.” Why is our personality, which functions as a system of both innate and acquired qualities, so important? Based on the history of leadership education, someone’s personality, which includes their identity, behaviour, thinking, emotions, competences, skills, values, character, education and much more, is a crucial medium through which things happen. Translated into corporate vocabulary, hard skills may become active and impactful only through soft skills, ie the personality.
Ambition | DECEMBER 2023/JANUARY 2024 | 31
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