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22nd September 2025

How HR leaders can build future-proof skills in their workforce

With technical skills expiring faster than ever, insights from IBM Brazil’s HR Director Rodrigo Souto highlight why communication and soft skills will be central to workforce resilience.

Artificial intelligence and digitalization are reducing the shelf life of technical skills, creating what some thought leaders call “skill flux.”

As Rodrigo Souto, Human Resources Director at IBM Brazil, explains in an interview for our latest report, “the lifespan of a skill is getting shorter and shorter. So people increasingly have to keep up, to continuously improve, to learn, to seek out new ways of learning.”

This pressure is perhaps most visible in the technology sector, where roles are transforming rapidly. For instance, developers once spent nearly all of their time coding. Today, much of the work is handled by AI tools, leaving them to focus on reviewing and adapting what machines produce. As Rodrigo notes, “it’s a different profile entirely.”

While the shift is already pronounced in technological roles, the implications extend across industries. For HR and L&D leaders, this raises urgent questions about how to future-proof talent, and where training budgets should be focused.

Why soft skills matter most for the future workforce

If technical expertise is increasingly short-lived, which skills will sustain value? The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that by 2030 nearly 40% of core job skills will have changed, with many of the most in-demand capabilities being soft skills such as analytical thinking, resilience, and leadership.

Rodrigo sees the same trend in practice, observing that “an important trend is the rise of soft skills – emotional intelligence, resilience, the ability to learn and unlearn.” Unlike technical proficiencies, these capabilities endure across industries and economic cycles.

AI and automation increase demand for human skills

AI and automation, paradoxically, are a major factor in bringing soft skills to the fore. As routine tasks are delegated to machines, employees spend more time on collaboration, coaching, and creative problem-solving; areas where people skills matter most.

Rodrigo sees this as a positive shift:

“Artificial intelligence doesn’t eliminate jobs. It eliminates the parts of the job that we don’t want to do […] I hope it gives people more time for conversations, for coaching, for helping people become more resilient and adaptable.”

–  Rodrigo Souto, HR Director, IBM Brazil

How communication skills build resilience

Soft skills, however, do not exist in isolation. Leadership requires articulating vision. Analytical thinking requires explaining complex ideas clearly. Resilience requires expressing concerns, asking for help, and building trust. All of these depend on communication.

In multinational organizations, this dependency is amplified. Communication must cross not just teams, but languages and cultures, and without a shared foundation, even the strongest soft skills risk being lost in translation. Language proficiency is therefore central to realizing their value across borders. As Rodrigo frames it, “your competitors aren’t just local anymore. Globalization and digitalization have shrunk the world […] if you don’t have access to a candidate pool that already has the language skills you need, you’ll have to create it.”

Why English remains the language of global business

English in particular remains the universal language of business. In Brazil, Rodrigo notes, English proficiency creates opportunities for premium services and high-level executive conversations – and in turn, greater revenue.

For HR leaders, the question is not whether these skills are needed, but whether they should be built internally or bought from the market. For many, upskilling proves to be the more sustainable long-term choice. Rodrigo emphasizes this point: “Maybe instead of hiring one expensive expert, you invest in upskilling your current team. And by the way, it’s one of the best ways to engage people. The companies that invest the most in development and training tend to have the highest engagement and the lowest turnover.”

Building future-ready workforce skills

In a world where technical skills expire quickly, organizations must focus investment on capabilities that last. Language proficiency amplifies the soft skills that will enable employees to thrive in today’s roles and prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.

As Rodrigo concludes: “my message is – keep investing.”