Achieving Work Life Balance – A Letter to Myself

by
achieving work life balance

Achieving work life balance takes self-awareness, making tough choices, and being disciplined.  As a recovering over-achiever and perfectionist, this is hard for me.     My natural tendency with any job is to err on the side of working over-time and prioritizing my job above anything else.   The only reason I was able to maintain a healthy work life balance for the last six years was by contracting instead of working as a full time employee.  Being paid by the hour reminded me constantly to stay un-attached and avoid over-working. ...  read more

Dealing with a Difficult Boss – Lynn Marie’s Story

by

Dealing with a difficult boss is always a sensitive topic.  We don’t always know if we should say anything, or how we should go about addressing our issues with them.  This is why I am excited to introduce another candid conversation with one of our Executive Authors, Lynn Marie Auzenne.

In this recording, we discussed Lynn Marie’s first business job.  Her boss was mysteriously difficult, and we’ll see what she did in response: ...  read more

Should I Negotiate Salary: How I Almost Made a $6,000 Mistake

by
should I negotiate salary

“Should I negotiate my salary?” This is a question we will ask ourselves every time we get a job offer, especially for a job we want.    I recently had to go through this decision-making process, and I want to share my thoughts and what I learned with you.    

I think many of us can identify with the reasons why we don’t want to negotiate.  What many of us don’t think about are some of the great reasons we should always negotiate.  I hope this story will help you better answer the question, “Should I negotiate salary?” on your next job offer.   I look forward to your comments. ...  read more

Soft Skills – How Nadia Handled Her Sudden Layoff

by
candid-conversations

Being laid off is inevitable.  Almost everyone will experience it once in their career.  It is how you handle the layoff that will determine your career progression afterwards.  This is why it is so important to listen to this candid conversation I had with one of our Executive Authors, Nadia Drew. ...  read more

Soft Skills Assessment and Teaching – 3 Methods

by

While the questions below are about soft skills teaching and soft skills assessment for high school students, I think many of the methods I share can be used also in soft skills training and assessment for professionals.

Lei, Thank you for the work you do and the clarity you provide when it comes to differences and importance between soft and hard skills. I am in the process of creating a committee made up of community business leaders and teachers for the purpose of aligning soft skills with class curriculum. Any advice you can give on the following will be most helpful and appreciated; ...  read more

How to Handle Office Gossip

by

Question:  I joined this software company before a year and was put on a live project immediately. I had to undergo training from one of the team members before i could start working. I looked at this as an opportunity to know more about project. So as i got to know about technology, the team mate started expressing his views about other team members i.e. developers, in how they would pressurize you to work and some other negative aspects. I was sort of concerned now and formed a negative impression about the people on this project. So i made a decision to keep distance with them. Soon it was shocking to see that the team member who told me all these was himself mingling with rest of the team as if all were in good sync. I could not get out of the negative impression i formed initially and so i always felt a bit wary when relating to others. ...  read more

How to Create a Soft Skills Development Plan

by
soft skills workout
soft skills workout

Workout Objective:  Create a concrete plan to develop your soft skills and know exactly how developing these soft skills will help your career
Prerequisite: none
Recommended Frequency: once every six month to a year

It can be pretty daunting to think you have to develop 28 soft skills to accelerate your career success.  There is a Chinese Saying, “Don’t try to eat a cow in one bite.  You will get indigestion.”  In the same notion, it is important to prioritize how you will develop soft skills for your career.  Follow these 5 steps  to create your soft skills development plan and motivate yourself to take action on a consistent basis. ...  read more