<p class="ingestion featured-caption">People BI interviewed around New York City shared their secrets to finding success at work.Amy Lombard for BI</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Some business leaders have credited their success to interpersonal skills like communication.</li><li>We asked young professionals on the street in NYC what qualities they attribute their success to.</li></ul><p>For <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-warren-buffett-spends-money-net-worth">Warren Buffett</a>, it's communication. For <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-gives-statue-wife-priscilla-chan-meaning-couples-therapist-2024-8">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, it's being unafraid to make mistakes. For <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-tried-apple-ceo-tim-cook-morning-routine-2024-3">Tim Cook</a>, it's collaboration.</p><p>When you ask someone what the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-succeed-at-blackstone-schwarzman-gray-career-advice-2024-8">secret to their success</a> is, there's hardly a limit to the answers you may get. And yet, those we consider pioneers and leaders in the tech, finance, and business industries almost always respond with <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soft-skills-help-middle-managers-survive-the-great-unbossing-2024-6">soft skills</a>.</p><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soft-skills-leaders-need-for-success-2016-4">Soft skills</a> are more abstract than traditional <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-workers-want-more-training-hard-skills-survey-2023-10">hard skills</a> like coding or Excel, but an easy way to think of them is that they relate to a person's ability to work with others.</p><p>In October 2023, <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-want-soft-skills-good-communication-teamwork-leadership-energetic-2023-10">Business Insider's Tim Paradis</a> reported that soft skills have become increasingly in demand in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>More employees feel <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-jobs-gig-work-engagement-productivity-gallup-2023-8">less engaged</a> with their jobs, a sentiment that has only grown amid corporate America's <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/great-detachment-is-looming-for-employees-especially-for-gen-z-2024-8">great detachment</a>, the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-sweeping-us-these-are-companies-making-cuts-2024">doom-and-gloom of industries-wide layoffs</a>, and the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/working-remotely-feel-isolated-from-coworkers-quit-2024-7">rise of work-from-home</a> culture.</p><p>"What we're developing is a whole generation of people who don't even know what soft skills mean because they assume the whole world is about the tools that they have," Norman Bacal, author of "Take Charge: The Skills That Drive Professional Success," told Paradis.</p><p>The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2029, millennials will outnumber all other generations in the workforce, with more than 38.5 million members.</p><p>But the US is already seeing a shift toward a younger workforce. <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/workplace-trends-2024/">Glassdoor</a> reported in 2023 that Gen Z would likely overtake baby boomers in full-time roles for the first time this year, even making <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-ageism-tech-jobs-gen-z-boomers-2024-9">millennials seem like old fogeys</a> in certain industries, BI's Amanda Hoover reports.</p><p>In short, it's young professionals who'll be setting the standard of success at work for years to come. </p><p>So, with that in mind, BI took to the streets of NYC to ask Gen Zers and millennials what skill they credit their success to. Here's what they said — and how their answers reflect qualities business leaders also emphasize.</p>