Soft skills over hard skills

I'm thinking of joining Toastmasters in 2009. Since soft skills seem to be replacing hard skills in what companies are looking for it would be advantageous to improve my speaking skills. I read recently in an IT mag that the top skills IT departments look for these days have little to do with IT (although I'm not in IT anymore). Number one skill looked for is problem solving. Then comes skills like communication, ability to work in a team, project management and others. The hard skills like coding, application support, database skills, etc. are now way down the list, if listed at all. Becoming a better speaker is a valuable skill and one that one can always get better at doing. I can't think of any reasons why not to do it. Pros versus cons - pros win hands down.