Soft Skills - Ask a Wharton MBA
Develop Soft Skills – Work Smart & Live More
Negative feedback is a fact of life. Sometimes it’s fair, constructive, and expected, but sometimes it can be completely out of the blue. You cannot easily change your boss’s perceptions or motives for giving you negative feedback. What you can control, however, is how you respond to it. So learn how to handle negative feedback early in your career. ...
When I worked at Deloitte, I had to write a lot of proposals (documents to sell consulting work). I remember one time my team and I worked hard for a week to pull together a kick-a** proposal for a high tech company. We worked late and came in early to create a good draft. On Thursday evening, I finally had a chance to review the proposal with the Partner and Senior Manager. ...
On Sunday, I was hanging out with some friends, and one of them complimented me: “Wow, Lei, you have lost a lot of weight. You look amazing…” I felt pretty good, since I had been trying to lose the weight I gained from having a second child. However, I immediately replied, “Thanks, but I still have about 10 lbs. to go. It’s been a process, and this last 10 lbs. has been quite stubborn.” Afterwards, I thought, “Why did I say that? Instead of continuing to feel good, I immediately started focusing on what was not working for me, and re-directed the conversation to something less positive.” ...
In a separate article, I talked about a famous Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, “Who’s Got the Monkey?”, and why an effective manager must let his team take care of the “Monkeys” (problems discovered during their work). Today, I want to shift focus and talk about tips for the team members — How can you excel as an individual contributor and demonstrate that you are ready for a management position? ...
Previously, we discussed the first part of this real life situation that Jessica is experiencing. Today, we will finish this topic on how to break into a managerial role with a follow up discussion I had with Jessica a few weeks later. Here is her follow up email updating me on her situation and some new challenges she is facing. ...
Recently, I wrote about Sarah, who were back-stabbed at work and asked you what you would do if you were her. Thanks for all who voted! It was great to see many of you knew the best way to handle this unfortunate situation and protect yourself and your work reputation. Here is what Sarah actually did. All the quoted dialogue are paraphrased ...
How to get into a team management role is a great question to ask as you advance in your career. If you have been a stellar individual contributor, the next stage of your career advancement is most likely the management of others.
While this is the natural next step, it is not always obvious how you can become a team manager. Sometimes you’ll be promoted, but other times you’ll have to change jobs to break into a managerial role. ...