Soft skills

Examples – Interpersonal Skills are More Important than Hard Skills

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Have you ever wondered why having the best answer to a business problem sometimes makes no impact at all? In school, we were always incentivized to give the best answer – the best answer leads to good grades, which lead to job offers. So, naturally I brought that mentality to work. I would work tirelessly to get the perfect, best answer, but was often disappointed when nobody seemed to interested in hearing it. ...  read more

Making a Good First Impression – 5 Tips

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My husband and I are addicted to this Smart TV show on USA – Suits.  It’s about two lawyers – Harvey, a hot-shot,  young Senior Partner, at a prestigious law firm; and Michael, a “good will hunting” type, smart-mouthed Associate that Harvey just hired.  Michael has a photographic memory, but no official law degree or experience.   Harvey is tough on Michael, but is also grooming him for the fast track in the Law firm. ...  read more

Overwhelmed at Work? Six Practical Solutions

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Feeling overwhelmed at work sucks – you feel stressed, tired; your mind is racing with 1000 thoughts but limited clarity; and you can’t sleep well at night as your mind is constantly worrying about how to get it all done and what happens if you don’t.   Sound familiar?

I know the feeling well.  Being an overachiever and a consultant for 12+ years,  I have experienced intense pressure at work – some real, some self-imposed – and have often felt overwhelmed.    The good news is there are six practical solutions to stop feeling overwhelmed at work quickly.   Some of the solutions may seem counter-intuitive but I know from personal experience that they work.  If you are reading this article, then you have already accomplished the first step – recognizing that you are overwhelmed and need help.   Now, take a deep breathe and gain control again. ...  read more

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – Difference and Importance

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Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – What’s the difference and is one more important than the other to your career success?  In my recent articles – What are Soft Skills and List of 28 Soft Skills, I offered detailed definitions of soft skills.  Here I want to highlight three key differences between hard skills and soft skills and how their importance depends highly on the career you are in. ...  read more

Five Qualities of A Good Mentor

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We all need good mentors to help guide us in our career and life, but not all mentors are created equal.  There are five qualities a good mentor should have:

  1. Someone you respect in the area you want mentorship on –  For example, if you want a mentor for achieving work life balance, then that mentor should have wisdom and experience in that area.
  2. Mutual rapport and respect –  Someone you can speak to honestly about your situations and ask questions; someone you respect, but someone who is inspired by your potential.  You can read more about this in my article “Mentorship Model – Mutual Mentorship or Pay it Forward”.
  3. Someone interested in helping others grow, and knows how to do it – Not all brilliant people know how to teach what they know, and the same is true for mentors. You need to find someone that is interested in helping others, and someone that will give you sound, objective advice.  This quality is especially critical for a mentor, as you will place a lot of trust in them.  You need to make sure he or she provides advice based on your best interests.
  4. Someone that is supportive, not controlling –A mentor is a guide, not someone that tells you what to do.    A mentor should challenge you to look at all aspects of a situation, and guide you to make your own decision.  A mentor is not someone who criticizes you for your mistakes.  You should find someone who can support and encourage you in your endeavor to develop your skills, even if you make mistakes along the way.
  5. Someone who is willing to be your mentor – you have to ask someone to be your mentor.  Great mentors are also busy people, and can only have the capacity to mentor a few people well.  See my article “How to Ask Someone to be Your Mentor” for specific dos and don’ts.

Once you make sure that this person has the four qualities above, then you can proactively build the relationship for them to be your mentor. Besides the above five qualities of a good mentor, I would also advise the following: ...  read more

Managing Interns: Tips and Advice

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I saw a set of questions online about how to manage and mentor marketing interns.  As I used to manage and mentor lots of consultants including interns when I worked for Deloitte, I wanted to share my 2 cents.   The questions didn’t specify whether these were high school, college, or MBA interns, so I will assume these are college interns ...  read more

How to Improve Your Soft Skills?

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NEW SOFT SKILLS GUIDE + NEWSLETTER

How to improve your soft skills is an important question to answer for your career success.  It is also a tough question to answer in general as soft skills encompass many different skills in two general categories.

  • self management skills– those we use to manage our emotions, self-perception, and reactions to unexpected situations. Examples of these soft skills include stress management, self-confidence, emotion control, etc…
  • people skills – those we use to influence how others perceive / receive us, our work, our ideas. Examples of these soft skills include communication skills, leadership skills, teamwork skills, ability to deal with difficult personalities.

Any one of these soft skills will take time to improve. At a high level, here are five tips I recommend to start improving your soft skills today. ...  read more