Background: Soft skills such as communication, empathy, teamwork, and time management are essential for leadership development in nursing.

Purpose: The purposes of the study are to identify the level and frequency of soft skills practices used by nursing students, assess the leadership attributes demonstrated by nursing students, determine the relationship between soft skills and leadership development, and explore their experiences of applying soft skills in leadership situations.

Methods: A convergent parallel mixed-method design was used. Quantitative data were collected from 204 final-year B.Sc. Nursing and GNM students using self-structured soft skills and leadership attribute questionnaires. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with eight purposively selected students. Quantitative analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0, while qualitative data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis.

Results: The highest mean score (43.5 ±5.1) was obtained in the domain of ‘Teamwork,’ which falls in the category of highly soft skill practice and confidence. A Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of 0.61 was observed, with a p-value of 0.01, indicating a moderate positive correlation between soft skill practice and leadership attributes. The qualitative results indicated that there are three main themes: soft skills as the heart of nursing, emergent leadership in real-life learning, and cultivating soft skills and leadership in the curriculum.

Conclusion: The study underscores the importance of soft skills for forming competent nurse leaders and suggests that there is a need for structured leadership and soft skill training in the nursing curriculum. When such skills are developed proactively from the early years of school, the future nursing professionals can confidently assume their role in the future, with empathy and job efficiency.