Standard Chartered CEO: MBA was waste, soft skills matter
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — The CEO of Standard Chartered, Bill Winters, has sparked debate by declaring his MBA “a waste of time” and emphasizing that the skills he learned in college have “degraded, degraded, degraded” over the past 40 years.
Winters, who leads the $26 billion bank, shared his candid views in a recent Bloomberg interview, aligning himself with those questioning the value of traditional higher education.
AI shifts focus from hard skills to human touch
Winters, a graduate of Colgate University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, argued that advances in artificial intelligence are rapidly eroding the value of technical skills once considered essential.
“The technical skills are being provided by the machine, or by very competent people in other parts of the world who have really nailed the technical skills at a relatively low cost,” he explained.
With AI now able to compile documents, generate presentations, and even write code, Winters believes that soft skills, such as communication, curiosity, and empathy, are becoming the most valuable assets in the workplace.
“I really think in the age of AI, that it’s critical that you know how to think and communicate,” he said. “Not communicate better than ChatGPT, but actually, I’m going to go back to curiosity and empathy.”
Soft skills in high demand across industries
Winters’ perspective is echoed by LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer, Aneesh Raman, who noted that the “human touch” is now the most in-demand talent capability.
A LinkedIn study found that good communication was the top skill sought by employers last year, while a Deloitte survey showed employees value teamwork, communication, and leadership above technical skills like coding or data analysis.
Winters offered advice for young professionals navigating this new landscape: focus on developing empathy and curiosity. “Of course, technical skills are required at some level, but less and less as the machines take out,” he said.
As technology continues to automate routine tasks, both executives and employees are recognizing that the future of work will depend less on degrees and hard skills, and more on the uniquely human abilities that machines cannot replicate.
