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The hard truth about soft skills

54 lessons organized in 8 chapters, each of them covering an aspect where soft skills play an important role: career management, getting the job done, communication, handling critics, office politics, self-promotion, dealing with differences and leadership.

In her book “The hard truth about soft skills – workplace lessons smart people wish they’d learned sooner“, Peggy Klaus, tells us about the importance of soft skills on workplace, trying to understand why they are still so often ignored, although they are fundemental in our everyday work. The problem is semantic? What is soft cannot be considered serious? The matter is that most of us think that they are about touchy-feely people skills?

Among the 54 lessons pinted out by Klaus on the basis of her work experience:

hardtruthcover1. Knowing yourself is as important as knowing how to do your job
2. Learn when to stick and when to shift or the details will hang you
3. Know where to draw the line between self-improvement and self-destruction
4. When it comes to gossip, learn the art of deflection
5. Don’t take it personally
6. Your procrastination is trying to tell you something
7. Keep your visibility when you are not face-to-face

 

Five reasons to celebrate mistakes

In this article, Alexander Kjerulf explains a simple but revolutionary idea: mistakes at work have to be celebrated. By taking inspirations by Peter Drucker, the famous management consultant who suggested that those who always do everything right should be fired, Kjerulf identifies five good reasons why mistakes should be acknowledged and celebrated, rather than stygmatized.

1. When you celebrate mistakes, you learn more from the mistakes you make

2. You don’t have to waste your time on CYB (covering your back)

3. When mistakes are celebrated, you strengthen creativity and innovation

4. Failure often opens new doors

5. When you celebrate mistakes, you make fewer mistakes

Mistakes

Image source: Flickr – rchris7702 (CC BY 2.0)

How to think creatively?

Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted – George Kneller

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10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” But, becoming a great leader isn’t easy. Successfully maneuvering a team through the ups and downs of starting a new business can be one of the greatest challenges a small-business owner faces.

Here’s a list of 10 tips drawn from the secrets of successful leaders.

1. Assemble a dedicated team.

2. Overcommunicate. 

3. Don’t assume.

4. Be authentic. 

5. Know your obstacles.

6. Create a ‘team charter.’

7. Believe in your people. 

8. Dole out credit.

9. Keep your team engaged. 

10. Stay calm.

Read more: Entrepeneur

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Image source: Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

8 Ways To Spot Great Leadership

If you ever wonder why we’re in a crisis of leadership all you have to do is to watch and listen to those in positions of leadership. While there are clearly many aspects of leadership that must work together in harmony in order for leaders to be effective, everything breaks down when leaders don’t understand how to engage effectively.

Leadership is not a monologue, a speech, a lecture or a filibuster.
Leadership is not talking at or over people.
Leadership is not about the leader.

The best leaders are not interested in who is right, but what is right. They not only embrace dissenting opinions, but they seek them out at every opportunity. Real leaders are just as at ease when unlearning as they are when learning. And perhaps most importantly, they never pass up an opportunity discuss, converse, dialog, or debate. They know that their leadership is only as good as their ability to engage, listen, discern, and to act.

Following are eight ways to spot real leadership:

1-Not about the platform
2-The art of and not or
3-Ubiquity
4-Not tone Deaf
5-Willing to take the hit
6-Understand Compromise
7-No paralysis
8-Alignment

Read More: Mike Myatt on Forbes

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Image source: Flickr – Photosteve101 – (CC BY 2.0)

Seven Ways To Become a Better Leader

Some believe leadership is a gift. Others think it is possible to learn to be a leader.

For those who wish to strengthen their leadership skills, Laura Entis provides seven points to help you become a better leader:

1. Do not be scared to fail big

2. Banish self-doubt by acknowledging your accomplishments

3. Do not settle for the standard solution

4. Focus on results, not style

5. Always keep improving

6. Learn to act like an introvert and an extrovert

7. Cultivate generosity

Read the full article here.

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Image source: Pixabay – Image by OpenClips

Isaac Asimov and the passion for learning

Isaac Asimov is probably one of the most famous scientists and science fiction writers in the world. Having written or edited more than 500 books, he was one of the most prolific writers of all time.

In this Interview of 1988 by Bill Moyers, Asimov talks also about the power of curiosity-driven self-directed learning, the need to implement creativity in education and the passion for learning. Read the full article on brainpickings.

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