I don't think the sort of article is supposed to be taken at face value. The average reader for such a piece, would be the already hardworking folk looking for

I don't think the sort of article is supposed to be taken at face value. The average reader for such a piece, would be the already hardworking folk looking for advice on on how to further succeed at work. Every academic institution and test we give, preselect for those with technical expertise. This makes it so, that the average reader already clears the high technical bar, but is sorely lacking in other areas. I've always taken these articles to mean, that the extra online course or learning one extra language isn't going to make the difference. Rather, it will be going from being sub-par to above average in other soft skills that will make the difference. Taken in isolation, these articles do seem to be misguided. Especially when some HR people on LinkedIn keep incessantly sharing such pieces across the internet.