career « Enhancing Lives & Transforming Leadership

Your ability to manage your emotions and recognize and influence the feelings of others is considered an essential skill. We live in a hi-tech world, but your soft skills – empathy, patience, open-mindedness and your ability to communicate, listen and establish trust with those you work with and interact with will play a significant role in your success. According to Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research, sixty-seven percent of the competencies required to manage and lead others are emotionally based. If you can’t connect emotionally with others, you’ll have difficulty managing or leading them. Are you missing out on that promotion?

Worth Remembering – So much success has nothing to do with hard skills. – Harvey MacKay.

Soft skills won’t guarantee that promotion, but not having them puts you at risk of not getting the offer.

Empathy – is your ability to see things from another person’s point of view. Put yourself in their shoes and do what you can to help them.

Patience – is your ability to remain calm under pressure and accept delays or problems without becoming anxious or angry and lashing out at someone.

Open-mindedness – is your willingness to consider someone else’s point of view, whether new or different, before deciding on a course of action.

Communicating – is your ability to communicate in a way that others will understand. Whatever you say won’t mean anything if they haven’t received the message as you intended.

Listening – is your ability to give someone your undivided attention when they are speaking. Remember what Covey said—listen to understand, not necessarily to agree.

Trustworthiness – is your ability to establish trust. Whatever you say you’re going to do – do it. People must be able to trust what you say. If they can’t trust your word – they won’t trust you.

Worth Remembering – Likeability is a soft skill that leads to hard result. – Mo Bunnell.

Soft skills are people skills that are not negotiable. People like to work with people they like. Not everyone wants to lead – but everyone gets to decide who they want to follow. If no one is following you – you aren’t leading. Are you missing out on that promotion?

Copyright 2025. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you searching for a keynote speaker for your next event or planning an in-house training session. Brian works with people who want to learn how to communicate and interact more effectively, build collaborative teams, resolve conflict or motivate others to perform at their best regardless of gender of generation. Contact Brian to learn more.

Soft skills are people skills. They are your ability to communicate and interact more effectively with others. They are your ability to negotiate and resolve conflict, devise creative ways to solve problems and build collaborative teams. Soft skills are the new currency in today’s multi-generational and diverse workplace. Without them, you will have difficulty advancing your career, managing and leading others or getting that promotion.

Worth Remembering – Don’t underestimate likeability. Likeability is a soft skill that leads to hard results. – Mo Bunnell.

If you want to future-proof your career – start here.

Learn to be more patient. There aren’t dumb students, only dumb teachers. If the student didn’t learn, the teacher didn’t teach. Adults can learn new things, but not everyone learns the same way or at the same pace, especially if they are learning something for the first time. Be patient. Don’t hurry progress.

Be open-minded. There are several ways to achieve the same result. It doesn’t have to be just your way. Resist the urge to micro-manage. Solicit input from those on your team. A good idea becomes a great idea when others participate in the process.

Become more empathetic. Try to see things from their point of view. There may be things going on that you aren’t aware of. Ask open-ended questions and discover what’s happening behind the scenes before deciding on an action plan.

Communicate in a way that others will understand. If you don’t send and have them receive the message as intended, then whatever you say means nothing. Gen Z is the most wired generation and prefers to communicate virtually. Embrace technology and connect with them the way they choose.

Listen more than you talk. You won’t learn a thing if you keep talking; that’s why you have two ears and only one mouth. Give people your undivided attention. Ask great open-ended questions to promote dialogue, and sit back and really listen to the answers. You will be amazed at how much you will learn.

Worth Remembering: The quality of your working relationships determines your success and happiness. Stop leaving it to chance and start building the best possible relationships. – Michael Bungay Stanler.

You have the potential to work with four different generations at the same time. Each generation – Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, the newest generation to enter the workforce en masse – wants to be included, not excluded. If you want to future-proof your career, make them feel important. Take the initiative and develop your soft skills. Learn to be patient, open-minded, a great communicator and an even better listener.

Copyright 2024. Brian Smith—Power Link Dynamics. Brian specializes in soft skills training and leadership development. To learn more about Brian and what he can do for you or your organization, visit his website: https;//briansmithpld.com. If you have questions and want answers about your challenges when managing and leading others, contact Brian at brian@briansmithpld.com. He is here to help.

This article was written by Brian Smith without AI assistance and may not be reproduced without permission.