@raiderrobert I agree with you, but I encourage you to use the term "interpersonal skills", or "political acumen", or some phrase like that. "Soft skills" as a phrase is specifically designed to make it sound like they are skills that are lesser-than. (I do thank you for putting in scare-quotes to hint at that point).
Meanwhile, this reminds me of an anecdote from my undergraduate. Names are changed in next post to protect the innocent & guilty:
Cc: @wwahammy