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The Hard Truth about Soft Skills

Shari Lifland

In her new book The Hard Truth About Soft SkillsWorkplace Lessons Smart People Wish Theyd Learned Sooner (Collins, 2008), Klaus presents 54 workplace lessons based on her years of training, coaching, and interviewing people at all levels. What she found is that people arent getting where they want to go in their careers. She writes, Whether young or old, experienced or inexperienced, what struck me most about their stories of missed opportunities and derailed careers was this: Their problems rarely stemmed from a shortfall in technical or professional expertise, but rather from a shortcoming in the soft skills arena with their personal, social, communication and self-management behaviors.

Research backs up Klauss findings:

  • Research conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs by the Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Melon Foundation, found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% on technical knowledge.
  • A survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council found that although MBAs were strong in analytical aptitude, quantitative expertise, and information-gathering ability, they were sorely lacking in other critical areas that employers find equally attractive: strategic thinking, written and oral communication, leadership, and adaptability.

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  • "  I learned more about myself as a leader and manager; i.e. style, influence, etc. Those are valuable learning that can be applied right away and shared among the rest of my team to get to know each other better as leaders.  "

  • "  I liked the fact that all the topics flowed into the next. It was organized and well presented. The presenter was very knowledgeable in the subject area.  "

  • "  I liked the fact that Harry covered not just the hard skills, but also the soft skills. He showed a real interest and went out of his way to help us learn.  "

  • "  The course touched on all the important areas that I would expect to have been covered. I also appreciated how Steve applied the content to his own experiences.  "