You have the power to control your destiny. Happiness comes from you taking control of your career and your life. All successful executives understand this principle and you can too. Mastering soft skills is an integral part of succeeding like an executive. Whether you are just starting your first job or have decades of experience, developing soft skills is crucial to your long term success and happiness.
Employers are placing increasing emphasis on soft skills during hiring and promotion decision-making processes. Many college graduates haven’t had a chance to learn or develop soft skills, 
and as a result, are finding it difficult to land a job. Also, talented professionals with good hard skills in the workforce are often passed over for promotion due to gaps in their soft skills. It’s time to be proactive in the development of your soft skills. They will allow you to work smarter and live more. I am here to help you on this journey.
- I have been in your shoes as a business professional for 20 years – I can understand both the rewards and challenges that exist in professional careers. I don’t mean just the work itself, but also the office politics, team/people dynamics, and culture challenges. I have 20 years of business experience working with at least 20 companies across five industries. I have made plenty of mistakes that I can help you avoid and also achieved career success. I want to share my insights with you on how to succeed in a professional career – insights that cannot be learned even in any MBA school.
- Helping you work smart is my passion – I didn’t start out knowing how to work smart. I was a typical, hard working, keep your head down kind of professional. I was fortunate to realize early in my career that soft skills were key to achieving success. I had to learn to work smart or I was going to be overlooked. Because of my experiences, I strongly believe everyone can learn soft skills and use them to advance their careers. It is my honor and my definition of success to be able to help you develop your soft skills and show you how to work smarter and achieve success.
- I can help you both succeed on the job and during job search – While there is 10% unemployment, 90% are still on the job. For the 10% looking for a job, I can help as I know how hiring managers think and how you can stand out in the job market. I have recruited hundreds of candidates. For the 90% on the job, I can help you find ways to work smarter, build transferable skills, and reach career success faster. Many of us are not recognized enough at our jobs for our skills and accomplishments. This is NOT because we are not smart, but because we are not taught at school that hard work alone does not guarantee success. It requires more than hard skills to succeed in your career. Soft skills are critical to climbing the career success ladder.
Ready to get started? Great! Let’s first understand what soft skills are, why employers value them, and how to get started in improving your soft skills. Read through these four Soft Skills 101 pages to build a solid foundation for your soft skill development and career success.
- Soft Skills Definition – What are Soft Skills: Provides an easy to understand definition and examples of soft skills described in practical terms. This will help you understand the difference between soft skill and other skills like hard skills, work attitudes, and basic professionalism.
- Soft Skills are Critical to Workplace Success: Shares how I learned this lesson the hard way on my first job. This page also talks about the three reasons why soft skills will accelerate your career success.
- It’s Never too Late to Develop Soft Skills: Discusses the three most common myths related to developing your soft skills, why they are not true, and why you can start developing your soft skills today!
- How to Improve Your Soft Skills – 4 steps: Lays out concrete action steps you can take today to improve your soft skills and accelerate your career advancement.
Best wishes to your career success. I look forward to taking this journey with you. I am always in your corner.
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Hi Sir, I have been a regular reader of your wonderful blog that teaches a lot to both freshers and professionals. Thank you for this wonderful post on soft skills!
glad you find this blog helpful. best wishes Pawan
Hi Lei
Always a delight and pleasure to read the articles on your blog.
And, indeed, empowering to draw from your vast experience and knowledge, to further empower myself, with all the amazing facts and findings you share, with us.
Thank you, for the invaluable information, its truly, inspirational and supportive.
Highly Appreciated.
S
thanks Salim
Glad to hear it. thanks
hey,thank you so much for this wonderful blog, I just loved your blog and ideas and many things,from all of this i can learn new things.
This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I’ve found something that helped me. Thanks!
awesome blog post cheers for sharing this
Very good post here! I have subscribed to your newsletter and look forward to sharing information and learning with you. My question is…What inspired you to focus on soft skills? There are tons of articles out today about the importance of soft skills in today’s workforce but there is a lack of training associated with it in my opinion. I have found a few solid sites, yours included, and I think there needs to be a laser focus across industries because of the changes that are set to occur because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
I initially focused this blog on job search, but realized my expertise really comes from helping people navigate once they have a job. only 5-10% of the people are searching for jobs. The rest have a job and at least 50% are unhappy with theirs. This is partly because people are stuck or are not getting recognized for their work even when they are working hard and are good at their jobs. Soft Skills is something that is not taught well in school. It’s more learned through practice and through making mistakes on the job. This site is really aimed to help folks who may not have access to mentors at work or outside of work to get insider tips on what is not taught, but still expected at work. I am honored to be able to help folks around the world with their soft skills. I am only scratching the surface and am always looking for more ways to make my advice more practical and motivate people to take action
Thanks. This was great & awesome material you’ve posted. I am sure like me most of us have taken something or the other from it. For people who get jobs in the market, it is really a bible i should say.
I was wondering whether we can have some skills that people who are struggling to get a job can focus on. Really I have seen many people who have been struggling to search one for them, really do not showcase much of soft skills in their rough patches like these. Please see if you can make something for such audience or maybe I am just asking silly.
I truly enjoyed reading this material. I am looking for better ways to improve myself in every way.
This is a very useful article. I however was looking for information on how Soft Skills could be assessed prior toqualification in any field i.e. as part of assessment in education.
John, you can see this article on soft skill assessment that may help. https://bemycareercoach.com/soft-skills/assessment-teaching.html
let me know if you have specific questions
Lei
I am a waitress and I would love to better adapt my soft skills so when people upset my and can easily brush it off! Thank you!
I am a trainer .I want to learn and master soft skills training.Please help me with the required material.
Thanks and regards,
CHIRANJEEVI
knowledge +skill+attitude=high performance.
I totally agree. I firmly believe that soft skills are the key to professional and personal success. Hard work and smarts are only a part of the equation to achieve success. The other part of the equation is understanding and being able to demonstrate soft skills in your own authentic style.
So much of work life is about communications and the message is not only about what we say but how we say it. It’s critical to understand and appreciate how soft skills can enhance your professional and personal life. This is why I am excited to be an Executive Author for this website. I look forward to sharing my lessons learned with all of you.
Thank you, Lei!
Your blog is really one of a kind and I have learned something new from it, i can’t stress enough how important the soft skills outlined in your articles have been for me this is my first time reading it but i intend to read many others!
I am so glad to find your site. I only had a chance to read a few articles but every one of them is so practical as if you know what my work is like personally. Thank you!
Thank you Hannah. Glad to hear this site is helping you
I believe soft skills are a drastically underestimated set of skills in the workforce. I can’t stress enough how important the soft skills outlined in your articles have been for me. I like the realistic scenarios and subtle nuances that you address as well as the practical solutions you provide. These have been invaluable.
I’m looking forward to the Soft Skills Gym!
Hi Lei,
I happened to read couple of your articles one day when I surfed the Internet and decided to subscribe your weekly e-mails. – It’s has been half year now and I have read your e-mails every week.
I can’t agree more at your opinions on many topics. And some of your suggestion has helped me clear my mind especially when i ran into unexpected situations in the office and seeking for help.
I want to thank you for sharing your ideas to help others advance their career.
Please do keep up the great work.
Regards,
Belinda
Amit is my son & he has been with an IB for 1 year and considering his career path/ PG studies/ how to manage in a corporate environment etc. And your soft skills articles have helped him a lot!
I find it very useful too and I am at cross-roads as well! Please continue with the great articles!
WIth best regards
John
PS: We are in Sydney, Australia