Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success
It is sad to witness professionals and leaders who have off chart technical know-how and skills struggle to get along and lead others successfully.
Statistics show that the lion's share of success in any endeavor comes from soft skills.
Unfortunately, many people focus on technical skills ignoring or neglecting to develop their people skills.
As a result, they are experiencing lots of setbacks individually and corporately such as lack of harmony, high turnover, poor productivity, and more.
This book is relevant to everyone regardless of whether you're a student, parent, leader, artist, technocrat, doctor, lawyer, mechanic, and so on. Notwithstanding in which industry you operate, your ultimate success is highly dependent on soft (people) skills. They're mandatory everywhere as far as there are two or more people living and working together.
This book is based on a true story where how one superstar with great technical know-how and skills stumbled to lead when promoted to lead a megaproject because of a lack of certain soft skills, and how his superiors teamed up to help him develop 12 mandatory soft skills that enabled him to save his career and continue to excel.
Wherever you may be individually and corporately, this book empowers you with lots of insights, frameworks, assessments, methods, and actions you can take right away to take your soft skills competence to the next level to enjoy synergy, getting along among diverse stakeholders, high performance, and so on.
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Testimonials
"As long as two or more people live, work, and do business together, Soft Skills remains a huge factor in determining success. Soft Skills that Make or Break Your Success can help you develop and improve the most important Soft Skills to succeed in what you do. You can use the book as a manual to guide you on this rewarding journey. You will learn amazing insights, and the latest models, tools, and approaches. Assegid shares from his years of experience as a coach, consultant, and trainer providing Soft Skills training in the U.S. and abroad. I’ve known Assegid since 2014 and worked side by side with him, witnessing his passion to empower others. He displays his storytelling ability by writing a book based on a story many can resonate with. I highly recommend Soft Skills that Make or Break Your Success to anyone who desires to take their profession, leadership, and businesses to the next level." Mark J. Metoyer, President, Metoyer Consulting, Inc.
"Dr. Assegid Habtewold offers practical tips, skills, and strategies you can use to leverage your natural talents and build your soft skills to launch and lead a successful career. His insights and experiences offer proven strategies and pathways to help you through each career transition. If you are looking for an edge to advance your career, spend a few nights reading and connecting with the sage advice Dr. Assigid Habetewold shares!" Don Philabaum, President/CEO TalentMarks
"As a workforce development professional, for years, I've spoken widely on the importance of soft skills to succeed in career advancement. Dr. AZ wrote a timely book that complements what we have been doing to empower the 21st-century workforce. I was so excited about his book that I purchased and distributed some copies to my team and others. I also asked Dr. AZ to join a keynote panel at our 2017 annual workforce conference organized by the City of Alexandria and regional partners. Over 300 participants received Dr. AZ's message with great excitement. Reading Dr. AZ's book is a no-brainer if you desire to become employable and continue to advance your career. You should get it and share it with others who may benefit from reading it." Daniel Mekbib, Workforce Development leader in Northern Virginia
"I’m one of those folks who believe in Dr. Assegid's transformative leadership works, and the 'Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success' is one of his masterpiece works. As an entrepreneur and leader, I constantly work on my people skills and empower my leaders and team members to excel in their soft skills. This is because the lack of some of these skills can make or break our company. The book is a must to read, and I highly recommend all professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders who desire to get along and lead effectively check it out. The book is based on a story and is light to read. The book is very practical where you will get many golden nuggets and workable approaches and tools you can implement right away to harvest great results." Samuel Bekele, Founder of Spotlight PLC
"In 2018, when I was the Director of the Students Career Development Center, Dr. Assegid visited Addis Ababa University (AAU) to help the previous home for his first degree. We invited him to speak to the university’s leadership, the Career Center staff and trainers, and the Students’ Union leadership to share his accumulated practical skills in leadership. By taking from his book “Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success”, he facilitated dynamic sessions for these groups. We heard great feedback from many participants who found his content and style of presentation dynamic and empowering. At the AAU Career Center, we valued soft skills and understood that they are one of the key determinantal factors for our students’ success while they're on campus and after their graduation and leaving our campuses to serve public and/or in private sectors. Since we recognized developing soft skills takes time, consistency, and commitment, we were building the people skills of our students while they were still students. And, we were so happy that Dr. Assegid visited his alma mater, facilitated interactive and engaging programs, and gave us his book during the difficult time of the global pandemic hit occurrence. We used the book as one of the reference books as we designed and delivered career development programs. Media men also used the book for the purpose of career development analysis. I highly encourage other universities and organizations to check out his book and also request his soft skills programs. You will benefit tremendously from this book in career development programs.” Kassu Jilcha, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, AAU
"As a college professor of business, this book is a must for students. I love the straightforward language because my students are able to understand and translate what they read to how they can apply it now and in the future. Dr. AZ's books are practical and applicable." R. Kenny LaBlanc, Florida Atlantic University
"It gives me great pleasure to endorse The soft skills book and message by Dr. Assegid Habtewold. Assegid is a dear friend and a professional colleague who is dedicated to blending soft skills into our professional and personal behaviors to create a kinder and gentler world. In our increasingly digital and wired world, Assegid has been an advocate for using soft skills to humanize our interactions to strengthen our human connections. I believe we have room to learn and increase our soft skills to foster our professionalism and strengthen our human bond to improve our quality of life. Assegid’s background in technology makes him a uniquely credible messenger to show us the importance of soft skills. Assegid is the right messenger to teach us about soft skills and coach us on how to apply them at work and in our everyday life.” Gabe Hamda, Ph. D, SPHR, President, ICATT Professional Services.
"As a healthcare professional, university professor, Private Healthcare association leader, and entrepreneur, I fully understand the crucial roles soft skills play in the healthcare industry. In this era, It is becoming impossible to serve patients with our technical know-how and technical expertise alone. There is an alarming shift in Healthcare consumers' behavior. Business Success in our industry is requiring excellence in our people skills. I have witnessed so many times the lack of critical soft skills causing havoc in business operations. That was why I was so happy to read Dr. Assegid's book on the subject and found it easy to read, and jam-packed with very helpful insights. I also invited him to speak to LIYANA leadership where he shared some practical tips, which we found helpful. I encourage all healthcare professionals, for that matter any professional, to read his book, take your soft skills to the next level, and succeed in what they do." Dr. Girma Ababi CEO - LIYANA Healthcare plc; President - SNNRP private health facilities association; and Vice president - National private health facilities employers association, Board chairman- Cheshire Ethiopia
"In 2018, I was looking for a trainer who could equip our health professionals with some soft skills that are critical in the healthcare sector. And it was a president of a renowned Ethiopian university who introduced me to and helped me establish contact with Dr. Assegid. He volunteered to visit St. Paul's Hospital Medical College and speak to our community about "the importance of soft skills in medicine." Most of us experienced an "Aha!" moment as it was such an enlightening speech. He demonstrated to us the value of soft skills in medical practice and the negative effects a lack of them may have on ourselves, our patients, and the healthcare system as a whole. Dr. Assegid was so generous that he gave a two-days training on how to facilitate soft skills workshops to our selected soft skills training team members following the latest adult learning principles. We have been using his book as one of the references and it was very helpful. Because he has a science background and thorough research, he easily resonated with training participants and gave examples and stories relevant to the health sector. I have heard much positive feedback from participants of his speeches and training. As a healthcare leader who benefited from his book, I highly recommend you get and read the “Soft Skills that Make or Break Your Success” book. It’s your manual to guide you as you take your personal and career life to the next level by making you a people person. " Dr. Mitiku Getu Moges, Director, Center for Professional and Institutional Development (CPID) at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College
Hot Soft Skill presentations
Below are some of the hot soft skill topics based on the book 'Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success' clients requested for their events
1. Managing Time and Energy Effectively
The speech shows the impacts of mismanaging priorities and how that leads to an unproductive workforce, missed deadlines, wasted resources, poor quality products and services, damaged relationships, multiple crises, and more.
2. Communicating Effectively
The presentation emphasizes the critical role communication plays and the importance of becoming effective communicators at multiple levels in order to excel in 360 all-around communication both in-person and virtually for a healthy workplace and increased productivity.
3. Promoting Diversity and Embracing Inclusiveness
The presentation shows participants the difference between just bringing diverse people to the table, and achieving inclusion by mixing the diverse people at the table well.
4. Leading Change
This speech empowers your people to manage both planned and unplanned changes by developing the right mindset and putting in place robust systems and approaches, using workable models, strategies, and tactics to thrive amid change and crisis.
Frequently requested
Below are the 3 frequently requested soft skill programs based on the book.
1. Turning Conflicts into Opportunities
- Do you desire your people not just to resolve conflicts but rather to turn conflicts into opportunities?
- Are you interested to create a culture that facilitates constructive disagreement?
- Do you want your people to master win-win negotiation to pass deadlocks and overcome impasses?
We can help by designing and delivering a 90 minutes keynote at one of your upcoming events to inspire, equip, and empower your people to turn conflict into opportunities.
We can also design a half or full-day workshop (with or without assessment) for your people.
Reach out and let's chat about how we may support you in elevating the emotional intelligence of your people.
Schedule for a 1 on 1 call
2. Emotional Fitness
- Are you interested to improve the well-being of your people?
- Do you desire your people to increase their emotional awareness, become mindful, perform better, turn conflicts into opportunities, and handle stress better?
You should help your people to:
- Recognize the emotional fitness necessary to excel in their field,
- Audit their emotional awareness and competencies, and
- Take their emotional intelligence to the next height.
We can help by designing and delivering a 90 minutes keynote at one of your upcoming events to inspire, equip, and empower your people to be emotionally fit to serve your stakeholders with world-class excellence.
We can also design a half or full-day workshop (with or without assessment) for your people.
Reach out and let's chat about how we may support you in elevating the emotional intelligence of your people.
Schedule for a 1 on 1 call3. Soft Skills Development Program
The main character in the book attended the soft skills program to save his job and stay leading his project. We can custom design the same 12 weeks soft skills development program for your people. There are three main parts of the programs:
1. Mastering self,
2. Getting along, and
3. Leading others successfully.
The program is jam-packed with:
- The latest insights,
- Practical models and frameworks,
- Effective approaches,
- Actionable strategies and tactics.
The program can be taken within a few weeks or months. Participants will get pre-readings and follow-up emails in between sessions. There will also be orientation and graduation sessions. If requested, we will also arrange so that participants to take some relevant assessments. Reach out and let's chat about your needs and preferences.
Schedule for a 1 on 1 call
Description
Master These 12 Soft Skills and Propel Your Career Into Success - Become an Amazing Team Player and Learn How to Successfully Lead Your Team With Realistic Approaches That WORK!
It’s insane how most people overlook the importance of soft skills when in fact, research shows that the lion’s share of success comes from the mastery of soft skills rather than technical.
Unfortunately, most professionals pour all their effort into technical skills while soft skills are pushed to the back.
This causes many problems in an organization like lack of synergy, high turnover rate, rise in conflicts, and low levels of productivity.
This book takes from the real experiences of Dan Murphy, a researcher from Global Health Research (GHR), who was given the opportunity to handle a multi-million dollar project, but due to his lack of certain soft skills, problems began to pop up between him and his team members that would hinder the project’s progress.
Dan was almost removed from leading the project. However, he was given a chance to remain leading the project by attending a soft skills development program with a fellow up mentoring after each session from Rafael Arthur, a senior leader at GHR.
Learn straight from the mentoring sessions between Dan and his mentor!
Discover the 12 life-changing soft skills that will propel your career into success and change the way you work with a team.
After all, no man is an island!
In this book, you will:
- Understand the common challenges many professionals and companies face because of a lack of soft skills.
- Learn the 4 key lessons Dan gained from 12 interactive workshops.
- Find the latest insights, applicable models, practical approaches, strategies, and tactics to improve all the soft skills you’ll need to find success!
- Excel at managing your emotions, time, energy, problems, and make smart and right decisions.
- Get along with your team and other stakeholders to promote a happier and healthier work environment!
- Discover immediate actions you can take so you can start implementing these soft skills ASAP!
- Empower yourself and achieve extraordinary success in your personal and professional life!
- Lead and influence others to meet your team’s and the greater organization’s goals!
- And so much more!
Change your life by mastering these soft skills and never face problems in the workplace ever again!
Author Message
If you desire to manage yourself and your resources well, improve your relationships, propel your career into success, become an amazing team player, and learn how to successfully lead your team with realistic and workable approaches that work, master the soft skills included in this book!
Hi Friend,
It’s insane how most people overlook the importance of soft skills when in fact, research shows that the lion’s share of success comes from the mastery of soft skills rather than technical.
Most professionals pour all their effort into technical skills, while soft skills are pushed to the back. This causes many problems in an organization like lack of synergy, high turnover rate, rise in conflicts, and low productivity levels.
I’m glad that you picked up reading this book. Unlike many of your peers, you took the development of your soft skills seriously. You made a wise decision, and I want to congratulate you on taking this rewarding journey.
I wish I had such a book when I was a researcher, software engineer, trainer, and later a business owner- a book specifically
dedicated to empowering professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders with the necessary people skills to succeed in what they do.
As a technical professional who worked in different industries such as science, research, and IT, I saw the consequences of a lack of soft skills with my own eyes. I witnessed firsthand how some of my friends, colleagues, and superiors who lacked people skills destroyed their lives, careers, relationships, and businesses.
Of course, first, it took me years and paying some dire prices before admitting my lack of some essential soft skills. Managing myself, getting along with stakeholders, and leading my teams successfully took me longer than I originally anticipated. What is more? It even took me longer to master some of the key skills. Of course, I’m always a student of soft skills where I work on my people skills all the time, even those that I am good at.
However, once I’d seen some improvements in my own life and career, I decided to help others. I began arranging seminars, coaching, and mentoring sessions for those interested in improving their people skills.
Some of those who saw a significant improvement because of working with me suggested that I should write a book to reach many people. After hesitating for a while, I finally bought into the idea. But, I didn’t want to write with the same style I had written my previous two books. I decided to write it based on one of the most impactful stories I witnessed to use it as an example.
The book uses the real experiences of a researcher. The story begins with how an accomplished researcher was given the opportunity to lead a multi-million-dollar project. Nonetheless, due to his lack of certain soft skills, problems began to pop up between him and his team members that hindered the project’s progress.
He was almost removed from leading the project. However, he was given a chance to continue leading the project by attending a soft skills development program with a follow-up mentoring session from a senior leader in the organization after each workshop.
In this book, you will discover the 12 life-changing soft skills that will propel your career into success and change how you work with a team. You will also learn straight from the mentoring conversations between the mentee and his mentor! You’ll:
• Understand the common challenges many professionals and companies face because of a lack of soft skills.
• Learn the key lessons the researcher gained from 12 interactive workshops.
• Find the latest insights, applicable models, practical approaches, strategies, and tactics to improve all the soft skills you’ll need to find success!
• Excel at managing your emotions, time, energy, problems, and make smart and right decisions.
• Get along with your team and other stakeholders to promote a happier and healthier work environment!
• Discover immediate actions you can take to start implementing these soft skills ASAP!
• Empower yourself and achieve extraordinary success in your personal and professional life!
• Lead and influence others to meet your team’s and the greater organization’s goals!
• And so much more!
With 12 easy-to-read chapters that follow the journey of Dan, by the time you’re done reading, you’ll have everything to develop personal mastery, form and lead your team, work well with diverse people, and influence key stakeholders successfully. Of course, working on your people skills doesn’t stop by reading this book alone.
I’ll continue to support you by writing follow-up books on each soft skill. I can also coach you and your team, facilitate stand-alone workshops based on one or more of the soft skills covered in this book, and custom design & deliver a soft skills development program like the main character in this book attended.
If there is anything I can do to help you and your team, don’t hesitate to reach out at [email protected]
Enjoy the book!
Dr. AZ Habtewold, Advocate for the A to Z of Holistic growth
Author, Coach, Facilitator, and Speaker at Success Pathways, LLC
Paving the Pathways to Success, Brick by Brick
www.successpws.com
OUTLINE
Introduction
Lack of soft skills wreaking havoc at GHR
- The genesis of the problem
- The CEO intervened to rescue one of his superstars
- Negotiation to break the deadlock
- Soft skills development program to tackle the problem
Part I: Mastering Self
Soft Skill 1: Increasing self- awareness
Soft Skill 2: Regulating Emotions
Soft Skill 3: Managing time and energy effectively
Soft Skill 4: Solving Problems & Making Right Decisions
Part II: Getting Along with Others
Soft Skill 5: Playing Teamwork
Soft Skill 6: Communicating Effectively
Soft Skill 7: Promoting Diversity & Embracing Inclusiveness
Soft Skill 8: Turning Conflicts into Opportunities
Part III: Leading Others
Soft Skill 9: Motivating
Soft Skill 10: Coaching and Mentoring
Soft Skill 11: Negotiating
Soft Skill 12: Leading Change
Conclusion
Endnotes
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