How to Create a Soft Skills Development Plan

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

The Leadership Lesson Don Learned Unexpectedly

candid-conversations

I am honored to introduce another Executive Author, Don Victor, to our candid conversations series.  Don is senior executive and currently head of a division of 300 people.  Don is a senior executive, and is currently the head of a 300-person division. I am so pleased that he agreed to be an Executive Author for my website. He has over 25 years of experience, and he has so many stories to tell. I look forward to learning from him with you through this candid conversation. ...  read more

How to Re-Negotiate Benefits After Signing an Employment Contract

Question:  My current employer had enrolled me for a medical plan that is due to expire in 2 days. I start at my new employment end of this month. According to contract with new employer(the bank) that I have already signed, I will be on probation for first 3 months. Also according to that contract the medical benefits are available only after probation period. I am a family man with two small kids – 3 and 1. As you can imagine there is no way I can consider staying in Hong Kong without medical insurance for  technically 3.5 months. ...  read more

How to Return to My Old Employer

contact old employer

Q: I was wondering what may be the best way to approach acknowledging to a previous employer, that you made a mistake leaving your previous job. A year ago, I left a well paying consulting position with a large technology company to pursue another job. Unfortunately, the new job has not met my expectations and I now regret my decision to leave my previous employer. ...  read more

Do You Need an MBA to Succeed?

yes no maybe

I will give you a consultant answer – it depends.  But I won’t stop there.  I think too many people get an MBA or a Master’s degree for the wrong reasons and after they finish school, they are disappointed with the fact it didn’t yield the results they hoped.

Don’t make this costly mistake.  Do these four research steps before you apply for school.  They will help you objectively determine if and which MBA or Master’s degree is worth the investment of your time and money to advance your career. ...  read more

How Gloria Successfully Recovered from Not Getting Promoted

not getting promoted

Not getting the promotion we were expecting can be devastating to our self-image.   I am here to tell you that you are not alone.  In fact, not getting promoted can happen to the best of us.  What is important is how you handle this unexpected news and what you do next to keep advancing in your career. ...  read more

Soft Skills: Why Effective Upward Communication is Key to Advancement

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We are giving public access to this recording on upward communication to showcase the type of content available in the Soft Skills Gym.  For more recordings like this one, sign up today.

Welcome to the first candid conversation with one of our Executive Authors, Louis Johnston.  Candid conversations are frank interviews I have with business executives regarding a personal story or some lesson they learned from their career. ...  read more