[VIDEO] What Are Soft Skills? A Simple Definition

Duncan Nugget® #144:
Soft skills are personal abilities that help you perform better and interact better with other people.

This is part 1 of a 3-part power point video series. In this video I give you a simple definition of soft skills—one that works well with teens and young adults. Time: 6min 18sec 

Up next (both will be available on Monday; links will not work until then.):

Part 2: What Are The Most Important Soft Skills To Master? (8:55)

Part 3: How Can You Use Soft Skills To Build Your Competitive Advantage?  (11:24)

A List of Soft Skills and Related Terms

Related article: Q & A: What Are Soft Skills and Why All the Fuss?

For more great resources and training visit Soft Skills for STEM

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ACTION STEPS/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Interview Question: What Did You Do When You…?

What did you do when you…?

This behavior-based interview question is a variation of the “tell me about a time when…” You could be asked this type of question during an interview for college, grad school, an internship, or a job. Here’s the key to giving a solid answer.

Tell a story and be specific.

Seriously. Be specific.

A vague answer to this type of question will cost you a lot of points. In order to ell a story that focuses on your strengths and provides relevant you might want to use the STAR method. Check out this article to get some great tips on how to use the STAR method and tell compelling stories.

More examples of this type question:

What did you do when you…?

1. Did your best but things still didn’t turn out right.

2. Had to work with a difficult person.

3. Failed to complete a project on time.

4. Had too much to do and not enough time to do it.

5. Had to come up with a creative solution to a tough problem.

6. Were frustrated at school or work.

7. Had to deal with a difficult customer.

8. Fell short of your boss’s (or teacher’s) expectations.

9. Were managing or leading a group of people and had to keep them motivated.

10. Easily accomplished a task and exceeded everyone’s expectations.

4 Questions To Ask Yourself

Who do you plan to be?

What do you plan to do?

What do you plan to have?

Million-Dollar Question:
What do you plan to give?

[ACTIVITY] 7 Soft Skills CEOs Work On

While I was doing research for The Soft Skills Success Plan, I spoke to quite a few chief executive officers and other executives. I found it interesting that the soft skills they wanted in their employees were often the same soft skills in which the CEOs wanted or were receiving coaching for themselves.

But just because that’s what I found from a few dozen interviews, it doesn’t mean this trend is universal. Fortunately, I came across the 2013 Executive Coaching Survey administered by Stanford University and the Miles Group. The results were similar to my interviews, but they were more accurate and more data was available.

Here are the top 7 soft skills that CEO’s work on:

[AUDIO] A Lesson On Soft Skills Mastery From Martin Luther King, Jr.

The above audio is a 7min. excerpt from my MLK Keynote Address at Darton College.

I recently gave a MLK Celebration Lecture at Darton College. The overall theme for the celebration was “What are you doing for others?” My talk was focused on one of the things that enabled Dr. King to be such a powerful servant leader—his skill set. His fight for truth and justice and his selfless service have left us many priceless lessons. I believe, however, that we can also gain wisdom by exploring his skill set.

MLK had a skill set that allowed him to:

— Communicate at an exceptional level 
— Build powerful relationships
— Get people to believe in his values and vision
— Deal with an unimaginable amount of pressure, stress, and adversity
— Become a master of influence

A skill set that helps a person to embody those attributes is worth of study. Based on all that he accomplished, it’s easy to see that Dr. King mastered many soft skills such as leadership, public speaking, collaboration, teamwork, and teambuilding to name a few. For right now I would like to focus on 3 of the many soft skills that MLK mastered:

The “I” In Team: 4 Philosophies Of An Awesome Team Player

“Just win the game!!!”

Although he was in extraordinary pain, that was Kevin Ware’s message to his teammates. There was 6:33 left in the first half of a 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Elite Eight game. Kevin and his fellow Louisville Cardinals were up against the Duke Blue Devils. A coveted spot in the Final Four was on the line.

Duncan Nugget® #35: Leadership — Mission or Individual?

One crucial key to the health of an organization or movement is to make sure your people are inspired by the mission just as much as they are inspired by your individual greatness.

Million-Dollar Question:
Are your people inspired by you AND the mission?