Sep 9, 2026 · 56 min · 12 segments
I recently sat down Eric Mill and Jess Montague, the co-founders of Relatable, for a conversation about the skills that become more important as AI continues to change the way we work. We talked…
Jessica MontagueGuestEric MillGuestWhen I first moved to San Francisco in 2007, I pretty quickly started at Toastmasters, the age-old public speaking organization.
And there was a happy hour after one of my early Toastmasters where somebody actually who I'm still friends with turned to me and asked, what are your hard skills? When I was 20-nothing, I was like, what do you mean? What are hard skills versus soft skills? What is this distinction? And she very patiently explained condescendingly, Oh, hard skills are technical skills.
They're things that you do coding or software engineering, whatever, right? Soft skills are interpersonal.
But all of my skills, and this is the 20-year-old Robin saying, are soft skills.
EQ and the ability to talk to people and practicing the skill of public speaking, because I was petrified of public speaking, right? They are practicing things that I was deliberately not good at because I wanted to learn how to do those things.
And at the time, it was with some amount of embarrassment, and I've come to over 20 years since.
really embrace that and double down on, right? And not to say I have no technical skills or I don't have open-claw agents doing tasks for me.
I'm absolutely pro using email instead of a typewriter, using AI where it is useful as a research or thought partner.
And I'm on the other side, like studying ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, right? And saying, what are these things that have lasted and stood the test of time that we can apply in the present day as unique a time as we find ourselves in?
What if Robin, they would have started by saying, how are your soft skills? Welcome to Toastmasters.
It's funny to be asked that at Toastmasters where you are literally there to develop, right? That's right.
The first time I re-heard the term coined durable skills was from Virginie of the Full Circle Fund, who's an investor.
She's leading the work in progress that is an optional add-on the day before responsive on September 22nd.
When I first moved to San Francisco in 2007, I pretty quickly started at Toastmasters, the age-old public speaking organization.
And there was a happy hour after one of my early Toastmasters where somebody actually who I'm still friends with turned to me and asked, what are your hard skills? When I was 20-nothing, I was like, what do you mean? What are hard skills versus soft skills? What is this distinction? And she very patiently explained condescendingly, Oh, hard skills are technical skills.
They're things that you do coding or software engineering, whatever, right? Soft skills are interpersonal.
But all of my skills, and this is the 20-year-old Robin saying, are soft skills.
EQ and the ability to talk to people and practicing the skill of public speaking, because I was petrified of public speaking, right? They are practicing things that I was deliberately not good at because I wanted to learn how to do those things.
And at the time, it was with some amount of embarrassment, and I've come to over 20 years since.
really embrace that and double down on, right? And not to say I have no technical skills or I don't have open-claw agents doing tasks for me.
I'm absolutely pro using email instead of a typewriter, using AI where it is useful as a research or thought partner.
And I'm on the other side, like studying ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, right? And saying, what are these things that have lasted and stood the test of time that we can apply in the present day as unique a time as we find ourselves in?
What if Robin, they would have started by saying, how are your soft skills? Welcome to Toastmasters.
It's funny to be asked that at Toastmasters where you are literally there to develop, right? That's right.
The first time I re-heard the term coined durable skills was from Virginie of the Full Circle Fund, who's an investor.
She's leading the work in progress that is an optional add-on the day before responsive on September 22nd.
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