Kouzes and Posner stated in their book, The Leadership Challenge (Jossey Bass, 2012), that “Engineers have computers; painters, canvas; musicians, instruments. Leaders have only themselves. The instrument of leadership is the self, and the mastery of the art of leadership comes from mastery of the self. Leadership is self-development… And…
Trust – is it a Soft Skill or …?
As I completed my series on Soft Skills, a commenter asked me about the place of Trust, since I had not listed it as a specific Soft Skill. I’m not sure about this. The question of Trust seems to be relevant or applicable in a number of different areas, and…
Soft Skills – Conclusion
Over the past twenty three weeks I have written a series of posts on Soft Skills: their development, the competencies they represent and the importance soft skills have in the workplace (or life in general, for that matter). I still like the following definition of Soft Skills because it is…
The Soft Skill Art of the Critique
My last three posts have focused on the ability to learn — an incredibly important soft skill, perhaps even more so than self-awareness, since without it there is no ability to grow or improve. This may be the ultimate “the chicken or the egg” scenario. What comes first: self-awareness or…
Criticism and the Ability to Learn
My guess is that not many people like to be criticized. Those who do have most likely learned that listening to criticism is a good way to learn. That doesn’t mean it is easy — our egos often get in the way. We tend to see criticism as…