What companies want in employees is relationship building co-creativity and brainstorming, cultural sensitivity and the ability to manage diverse employees, said Colvin. The difference between high-value and low-value workers is their ability to be empathetic and collaborative, even in jobs that may not seem collaborative in nature.

An incorrect assumption is that computers cannot do emotional tasks. But even if they can do them, we are different from computers because we're hardwired to do things with other humans. Colvin said being in synch with someone is literal—when you connect with someone, the same parts of the brain light up. It's when facing another human that this magic happens; it disappears when you're back-to-back with another person. When we connect, we unconsciously mimic the other person's posture and tone of voice. This builds trust, as does shaking hands. In fact, the closer we are physically to another person, the more we communicate with them, which emphasizes the point that digital connectedness may actually damage human skills—Facebook use has been shown to be associated with a decline in empathy.

Colvin points out that we can all get better at the skills of deep human interaction. The next steps are to model the behaviors by communicating at the richest level (in person), running toward rather than away from the human issues at the foundation of problems and being candid in talking about them. He suggests not dominating meetings and trying not to let anyone else do so and defending the culture ferociously. “Success is not just about what you know, but increasingly about what you're like,” said Colvin. “You've already got what it takes; now, release it for all it's worth.”