Soft Skills - Ask a Wharton MBA
Develop Soft Skills – Work Smart & Live More
I grew up believing “If I cannot do it well, I shouldn’t do it at all.” Perhaps this is a typical Asian upbringing and teaching. I am not even sure my parents actually said that to me. However after receiving many “talks” from my dad about how I could have gotten a better grade on a test (e.g, 100 points vs 93), I think I told myself the above as I don’t want to “disappoint” my dad or get an extra long lecture. ...
This seems like such a counter-intuitive question. Usually when things go “wrong,” we can have a pretty negative response. This may include anger, frustration, disappointment, fear, guilt, or any number of negative emotions. Aren’t we justified to feel these in a “bad” situation? Perhaps or perhaps not. While it’s natural to feel the sting of any unexpected situation when it first happens, how long we keep feeling that sting is our own choice. We can keep recounting the unfairness of what happens for days, weeks, months or we can choose a different perspective – look for the gift and opportunity in the situation and act from there. Let me explain with an example. ...
It is the season to be thankful. However, I felt far from it a few weeks ago. I woke up sick one morning. It was not COVID (at least according to my rapid test) and I didn’t have a fever. I had everything else though – body aches, headaches, sore throat, etc.
I thought I would recover in 48 hours. I mean most common cold only last that long, right? Boy was I wrong. I felt worse after 3 days. I started coughing and at night, my throat felt like I was swallowing glass. :-(. It was worse than any common cold I have ever had. I lost my voice almost completely and all my energy as well. It felt like it would never end. ...
On March 10, my employer, silicon valley bank, collapsed overnight. I was dealing with it okay, but I guess the universe thought I could take on more. There is a common saying, “trust that the universe will only give you what you can handle.” I hope so, but I am not as sure as I go through this next wave of personal challenges on top of the work ones. ...
A week ago, everything fell apart for Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) – the 16th largest bank in the US, and my employer for two and a half year. I was busy planning our team offsite a week ago. Now we are in a whole new reality for all 8500 employees – the threat of permanent extinction.
Only time can tell what will happen next! ...
I have been interviewing therapists to see if I can find one that is a good fit. This post is not about recommending you to get a therapist. That’s totally up to you. It’s about sharing a useful tip one therapist shared with me that immediately improve my perspective and thus my life and work. Apply OCAS! What is OCAS? I will get to that in a few paragraph. ...