While business schools are scrambling to fold productive AI into every corner of the MBA — from admissions essays to event courses to capstones — a new survey suggests that a stubborn barrier to landing a career in leadership hasn’t budged much in years: Human skills, not AI skills.
And the employers say they are bad at their rating.
The findings come from a survey of US hiring managers and 500 business leaders, conducted on behalf of Eastern Washington University to inform the marketing of its online MBA in Organizational Leadership – and come amid an ongoing conversation in business schools about where AI fits into management education.
THE PROBLEM IS THE PEOPLE AT THE TOP OF THE FALLS
In the middle of the survey: 60 percent of employers say they rejected a candidate because there are weak people or communication skills, and 53% say they promoted someone last year because of people skills rather than technical skills. In leadership roles in particular, 79% say that those human-centered skills now outweigh the small differences in AI or technical ability, an interesting number given how much attention B-schools have given to AI positivity over the past two years.
Elsewhere in the study the same employers admit that they are not equipped to find these “people skills” before they hire. 75 percent say soft skills are more difficult to assess reliably than technical ones, and 13% admit they don’t assess people-oriented leadership skills at all during hiring. To their credit, 66% say they evaluate these skills more rigorously than two years ago, while 23% say they increased spending on soft skills development last year.
WHERE THE MBA ADVANTAGE REALLY LIES
The most striking finding of the B-school survey may be this: The biggest advantage MBA students have over bachelor’s degrees is not in AI or data skills but in people skills that employers say they can’t measure.
MBA grads scored nearly 10 percent higher than bachelor’s degrees in all skills tested overall, a gap that exploded to 22 points in training and coaching and 19 points in conflict resolution. The gain is small but still significant in emotional intelligence (14 points), strategic thinking (11 points), adaptability under change (10 points), verbal communication or presentation (9 points), written communication (7 points) and ethical decision-making (7 points).
Contrast that with AI collaboration and data literacy, skills most associated with the AI arms race in business education, where MBA grads hold just 2 points and 1 point, respectively, above a bachelor’s degree. In other words, the calling card of an MBA with employers is not that it produces better AI users, that it produces better trainers, communicators, and conflict solvers – qualities that employers say are decisive and very difficult to prove on a resume or in an interview.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH THAT EMPLOYS LEADERSHIP
Asked what they prioritize in leadership talent for 2026, employers ranked strategic thinking and adaptability under change at the top, each cited by 96%, followed closely by verbal or presentational communication (95%), ethical decision-making and conflict resolution (94% each) and emotional intelligence (93%). AI collaboration trails the pack at 63% – still a lot, but far, and a difficult number to measure with any narrative that AI ability alone becomes the determining factor of who gets the corner office.
That order continues when hiring managers define what really separates the successful in the same role. Strategic problem-solving and communication skills were ranked at 48% as key determinants, ahead of adaptability under change and technical knowledge or domain knowledge (37% each), years of experience (30%) and emotional intelligence (29%).
Technical chops are still important — more than a third of hiring managers say they can decide — but they’re no longer the automatic shortcut that the AI-in-MBA narrative might suggest.
THE MEASUREMENT GAP – AND WHO IS TRYING TO CLOSE IT
If people’s skills are so important, why is it so difficult to assess them? Structured behavioral interviews (37%), work samples, simulations or roles (35%) and situational judgment tests (33%) are the most frequently employed tools managers use to assess people-oriented leadership skills, followed by general interview rubrics (30%) and case discussions (25%). Human or psychological testing (24%) and testing centers (16%) follow behind, with AI-assisted testing tools – technology business schools have been rushing to teach – sit down, used by only 15% of hiring managers for this purpose.
On the development side, hiring managers rate traditional, emotional methods as the most effective at building these skills: mentoring and internal training (89%), extended work assignments (85%), employer-run leadership programs and personal MBA programs (83% each), and exchange or study abroad (81%). Online MBA programs are at the bottom of the list at 68%, just ahead of self-directed learning such as books or podcasts (66%) and online short courses or certificates (63%).
Within companies, training dollars for entry-level hires still go mostly to time management and prioritization (41%) and customer or client communication (38%), with AI tool use and fundamentals tied for last at 16%, along with training in behavioral reasoning and just before public speaking (15%).
Monique Black, lecturer and director of graduate programs in the School of Business and Accounting Technology at Eastern Washington University, says the data points to a discrepancy between where business schools are investing and where employers say the real returns are.
“The surprising part of this data is that soft skills are now more important than the small difference in AI skill of talent being developed,” Black said. “This is important for MBA programs that are rushing to incorporate AI into every subject. If schools want strong employment results, they must start measuring people’s skills in the same way they work in math, strategy, or technology.”
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