MOST IMPORTANT SOFT SKILLS FOR PROFESSIONALS

“Top 3 Skills In Demand” – Read on…

The adage, “the only constant in this world is change”, has become a cliche. Going into the future, I strongly feel that the only people who will succeed in life are the people who master three skills that have and shall remain constant:

(i) People skill (ii) Persuasion skills (iii) Prioritization skills

People skills : More than business problems, we have people problems. When we take care of our people problems, most of the business problems are automatically resolved.

We are hired for our technical skills but fired for our behaviour.

Technology and technicians can always be hired with money, but the wealthiest person in the world must build and create relationships. A courteous person, who is not very sharp in life, will go much further than a sharp, discourteous person.

Whenever we go to a doctor, within the first 15-20 seconds, the interaction that takes place either makes us comfortable or uncomfortable with the doctor. Why do you go to a doctor ten miles away bypassing ten other doctors on the way? Is he the most qualified? Probably not! Something says that I am dealing with a right person. And what is that something? It is the trust factor.

Persuasion skills :It means the ability to influence, convince, negotiate and sell. The most successful leaders in the world also had great persuasion skills. What do the following people have in common? 1. A candidate at a job interview; 2. A boy proposing to a girl; 3. A politician giving speeches to get votes.

Aren’t they all persuading? There is a myth that we need to learn the tactics of selling. Good professionals learn the principles of persuasion, not tactics because the principles are based on foundation of integrity whereas tactics are manipulative.

There is another myth that, to succeed, one needs to learn the tricks of the trade. Professionals learn the trade, they leave the tricks to the cheats and crooks. Either get professional or get out.

People keep talking about sales as: a. B2B b. B2C. But each sale boils down to P2P – People to People. People like to deal with people they like.

Prioritisation skills :These skills are embedded in our core values. The number of time-saving devices we have today, are more than what we ever had. Yet, we don’t have the time to do the things we need or want to do. Why…..? Because, we forget to prioritise. We need to distinguish between what is ‘urgent’ and what is ‘important’. Whenever we ignore what’s important, it converts into urgent. For example, health is important. Exercising every day is important but if I skip it one day, it’s not the end of the world. But, if I ignore it long enough, guess what will happen? It will convert into an urgency. The same is true with relationships.

Single liner – “Persuade the people to prioritize their work”

Similarly, we need to distinguish between making money vs. earning money. Making money and earning money are two different things. Unfortunately, most people only want to make money, not earn it.

Get Your Resume Reviewed For FREE by industry experts. Click Here to get your resume reviewed.