Unicorns and Soft Skills

Soft Skills? I maintain that there is no such thing. If you have ever laid off a close friend or colleague, coached a senior or accomplished executive on how his or her employees don't like working for him/her, or negotiated a labor contract across the table from a cigarette-reeking union boss who makes no apologies for hating your guts, then you have demonstrated HARD skills - not SOFT skills. The skill set of a technical or finance job is referred to as HARD skills. As if! The skills related to a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character or personality traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients are arguably harder to learn, harder to demonstrate, harder to be credible and believable with, and are the furthest thing from SOFT or easy! (Can I get an Amen?) These are the STRETCH skills that give leaders "wholeheartmindedness" and effectiveness. It gives them Followers. Without followers, a leader is just a person walking around with a cell phone. I will never cheapen these essential leadership skills by calling them SOFT. Boom! hashtag#business hashtag#senior #hr #impact #change #howto #communication #shrm #nextlevel #hrfromtheheart #hrhouston #hardskills #softskills #characterbuilding #personalitydevelopment