After 25+ years in higher education, I have seen multiple efforts and strategies focused on teaching critical thinking and building technology skills, but rarely on the so-called “soft or human skills.” While developing technical capabilities and critical thinking has become essential in the current age, these skills alone aren’t enough to thrive and lead change. Human skills are the building blocks of who we are and the enablers of our imagination.

Human skills — also called non-cognitive skills — are the interpersonal and intrapersonal capabilities that we develop to shape our identity and meaningfully interact with others. These are the skills that makes us uniquely human because they cannot be replicated by technology — not even by AI. Some of these skills are emotional intelligence, deep listening, connectedness, decision-making, optimism, and imagination.

We learn human skills as we grow up. But, as with any other skills, if we don’t use them often, they get stiff. This is what we have been experiencing lately.

But how did we get here?

Let’s go back in time… do you remember what it was like to be a child? We were wild and carefree. We used to dream anything, invent fantasy worlds, create our own reality, pretend we could be anyone. We were encouraged to play, to explore, to discover the world.

But as we grow up, we replace the fantasies of childhood with the expected realities of adulthood. Imagination, play, and wonder no longer seem to have a place; rather responsibility, seriousness, and practicality have the leading roles.

At the same time, the external world shapes how we think and behave. Everything we see and experience has a deep impact on us — from our years in higher education to technology and political global changes.

External changes impact who we are , how we think, and how we feel. Feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and a loss of agency weaken our drive to create change and darken our visions for the future we want. We become more disconnected from ourselves, our dreams, and also of others. Our ability to imagine narrows.

We lack real strategies and tools to deal with the difficulties of modern life. Higher education prepares us for the workforce but we aren’t explicitly taught ways to be better humans that truly help us discover our true path. Instead, we are often told what to think and how to behave by others.

Breaking the cycle may feel impossible. However, nothing is written. The future is being shaped now, by the choices we make every day. For example, we assume that AI will replace us because we don’t feel in control anymore. We are forgetting how to stay human — how to feel, to think, to listen, to imagine, to understand, to converse, and letting others decide for us. And this is limiting our agency and our capacity to care for ourselves, others, and the planet as well as to believe that a positive and just world is possible.

We need to make the time and space to practice — and reconnect — with our human skills. So we can together imagine and build the future we want.

The “Being Human” Course, my response.

Any human skill can be reclaimed and shaped with training at any age. This is why I created the “Being Human: How to Reclaim Agency & Flourish in Uncertain Times” course.

Throughout this 6-week course, you will understand what it means to be human, and how your thoughts and emotions influence the way you treat yourself and others; you will also develop more clarity on what type of future you want. The practice of human skills will help you interact with others, the planet, and emerging technologies like AI, more honestly and intentionally.

This course will give you the knowledge, skills, and tools to reimagine yourself and reconnect with your latent superpowers.

This class is for you if you:

• feel overwhelmed by the world today and are looking for ways to reclaim peace and calm
• believe that a better life is possible, but are struggling to figure out how to achieve it
• are a professional in tech, design, writing, or other related fields who feels threatened by AI and wants to refocus on your core strengths
• want to be better equipped to create spaces where everyone feels seen and heard, and lead collective change

You will learn:

• Techniques to strengthen your human skills and build more authentic relationships with yourself, others and the planet, and responsible engagement with tech
• Tools to regulate your emotional wellbeing and deepen awareness of your needs and behaviors
• Strategies to leverage your human skills to enhance your imagination and envision the future you want

Reclaim your humanity and imagination. Learn more about and join the course!