The Workforce Report & Mickey Patel's Art & Kokura's Luck
Not having soft skills can severely limit your rise to leadership roles. The art of the legendary Mickey Patel and Kokura's Luck.
Without Soft Skills Employers Will Not Build a Leadership Pipeline.
Hey there! I've been diving deep into this fascinating new report from UpGrad, and honestly? The insights are eye-opening. They surveyed over 8,000 professionals across India—from fresh grads to seasoned executives—and what they discovered will change how you think about workplace learning.
83% of professionals are practically begging for AI training, but 78% haven't received any relevant upskilling in their most wanted areas. That's not just a disconnect—that's a massive opportunity waiting to be seized. And what they're saying is pretty clear: we want to grow, we want to stay current, but we need our employers to meet us halfway.
The retention angle is particularly interesting. Nearly half of employees (42%) say they'd stick around longer if their company invested in their learning journey. The Korn Ferry report puts the number higher ie 67% of employees view investment in L&D as a reason to stay.
What makes this report special is how it breaks down the wishlist by what people actually want versus what they're getting. AI tops everyone's list (no surprise there), but cybersecurity skills are surging too, with 63% prioritizing cloud-focused security expertise.
My newsletter on LinkedIn is celebrating the 200th edition.
Leadership Roles are All About Soft Skills
The soft skills gap? That's the sleeper issue that's quietly undermining leadership pipelines everywhere. When a techie or a specialist moves into a leadership role, the focus changes from tech wizardry to interpersonal skills. Soft skills are needed to influence, communicate, persuade and motivate.
The report gives you five critical findings that feel like a cheat sheet for understanding your team's real needs. It's not just about what skills are trending—it's about how to create learning experiences that people actually want to engage with.
Worth the read? Absolutely. Read the report
Mickey Patel’s Illustrations
Mickey Patel (1941–1994) died young. He was an Indian cartoonist and illustrator OF books and magazines, as well as a painter and designer.
I would have loved to learn from him. I would love to see him sit before a blank sheet of paper and then draw. I would probably ask him to teach me how to draw using dots and dashes - quite a Morse code. While drawing these sketches I realized how patient I have to be to get all those dots uniform as if done on a machine.
I wish I could learn from him
Read this
Recommended: The Night Science Podcast
What on earth is night science? If there is night science, is there a “day science”? Serendipity is a marvellous thing. I stumbled upon this lovely podcast. Day Science is all about testing your hypotheses with data from the real world. Night Science explores the mysterious question - where do those hypotheses come from in the first place.
Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow has been described as an Operating System for our mind. He is one of my favourite thinkers. In this episode he talks about many ideas. What I did is that I would pause and think of where I could use the idea to understand the real world better.
People are reluctant to learn new things and upskill themselves. In doing so they have to give up the years of education and experience. Loss Aversion may explain why we drag our feet when it comes to adopting change.
Let me know if you have a podcast episode you recommend I should listen to.
Kokura’s Luck
Four cities were shortlisted in Japan where the atom bomb was to be dropped. Hiroshima, Kokura,Niigata, and a late addition, Nagasaki. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
The second bomb was to be dropped on the city of Kokura. But as the B-29 bomber approached the city, cloud cover made it difficult to see the ground below. The clouds were unexpected. A team of army meteorologists had predicted clear skies. The pilot circled, hoping the clouds would clear. When they didn’t, the crew decided to attack a secondary target rather than risking a botched drop. As they approached Nagasaki, that city was also obscured by cloud cover. With fuel running low, they made one last pass, and the clouds parted at the last possible minute. The bomb fell at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945.
Kokura escaped getting wiped out because of clouds. Even today in Japan when someone escapes disaster and does not even know about their stroke of luck it is called Kokura’s Luck. If you have experienced Kokura’s Luck, do leave a comment and I can tell you how I experienced it - multiple times.
It is all there in the book Fluke by Brian Klaas. It was certainly a book that made me pause and think.
It is strange how the universe works. I spoke about wanting to see more of Mickey Patel's work. And it happened. I just connected with Mickey Patel's daughter. Someone made the connection. We chatted for a long time about his drawing style and his work. Mickey's best work might be his daughter. She is such a lovely person.