CHENNAI: Hard skills are undoubtedly useful in an individual’s life, but does that mean we can ignore soft life skills? Definitely not, said the panel that debated ‘How do we give cultural soft skills a hard push?’ The panel included Dinesh Singh, former Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University, Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda Univesity and Ritu Anand, Senior VP and Deputy Head - Global HR, TCS.
Ritu Anand, who chaired the session, made a strong case for borrowing principles from the gurukul system of yore, “The topic of giving soft skills a hard push is relevant both to academics as well as corporates. Whether you are in a corporate company or in a family, you need to evaluate your thinking and design your thought process around it,” she said and added, “People these days are so focussed on technology that life skills have taken a beating.”
Dinesh Singh began his discourse explaining how Kasturba Gandhi influenced Mahatma Gandhi in inculcating cultural soft skills in himself. He spoke about how Gandhi was transformed from a shy hesitant lawyer to a great orator who could even defeat Banarasi pandits in a debate about untouchability.
“Adopt honesty as a policy. Let your heart dictate the actions. Also, listen to your heart’s drumbeat,” he said. He stressed on three core values of life — Integrity, purpose and determination, while constantly reminding the younger generation that they needed to discover their purpose and keep it close to their heart.
Sunaina Singh, who was the next speaker, began her session quoting TS Eliot, asking “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?” She spoke about how Indians were well equipped with cultural soft skills once upon a time and how over the years we’ve lost all of it. “We’re value based in every way, but we have lost it all along the way.”