The march of technology and changing consumer habits mean business schools must pay more attention to “soft” skills even as they focus on traditional subjects such as finance and marketing, two keynote speakers told hundreds of management education professionals gathered for the 2005 GMAC® Annual Industry Conference in Toronto, Canada.

Drawing from his book, Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, author Tom Peters said MBAs will need to be more attuned of business schools should pay more attention to “soft” skills such as design, creativity, and innovation, so-called “soft skills” that have not been part of the traditional MBA core requirements but will students shape the business world in the years to come. Peters also encouraged attendees to step up their efforts to recruit women. “Our role in the world can be transformative,” Peters said, “and it starts in admissions.”

Daniel Pink, a best-selling author who believes that so-called “knowledge workers” are becoming obsolete, told attendees that many jobs that until now have been safe from export to low-wage countries or replacement by automated systems are no longer are sure bets for MBAs and other highly trained professionals. In the face of developments such as high-speed telecommunications links that make it easier to move highly skilled positions to distant locations and an ever-increasing trend toward automating even high-level jobs, it is becoming more important to pay attention to such hard-to define concepts as emotional and visual appeal when designing and marketing products, Pink said.

The conference also featured a discussion of the value of the MBA degree in the global economy that was taped for radio and television as part of the Kalb Report public affairs series. Hosted by journalist and scholar Marvin Kalb, the program was carried live by Toronto radio station CIUT and is set for rebroadcast by television and radio outlets later this year. Panelists included Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Wall Street Journal columnist Ron Alsop, and Goldman Sachs recruitment executive Edie Hunt.

PowerPoint slides for Peters’ June 24 presentation are available at http://www.tompeters.com/slides/uploaded/GMAC062405.ppt.

Click this link to download slides from Pink’s June 25 presentation.

GMAC® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®). The Wall Street Journal is a registered trademark of Dow Jones, L.P.