Your ability to manage your emotions and recognize and influence the feelings of others is considered an essential skill. We live in a hi-tech world, but your soft skills - empathy, patience, open-mindedness, and ability to communicate, listen and establish trust with others will play a significant role in your success. If you can't connect emotionally with those you work with and interact with, you'll have difficulty managing and leading others. Are you missing out on that promotion - listen to my latest podcast and discover what you can do to get the offer.

Communication isn't just something - communication is everything. I can't think of a more valuable skill than having the ability to communicate effectively, regardless of gender or generation. Communicating is a two-way street. It's an exchange of thoughts and ideas amongst one or more persons. If the essence of communication is to send the message and have it received as you intended - then you must keep in mind me thinketh a monologue does not a dialogue maketh. Listen to my podcast for tips and techniques to help you communicate more effectively.

We all start our management careers by making certain assumptions based on our perceptions of what a manager or leader should be, but we know our assumptions can be wrong. And I'm no exception. I've committed each one of these ten sins at one time or another in my 40-pus-year career as general manager of a major retailer, college professor and an award-winning entrepreneur. You get to decide what kind of manager or leader you want to be. Listen to my podcast so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

You can't suck and blow in the same breath. You can do one or the other, but you can't do both at the same time. I have a soft spot for service providers, having spent over 30 years as general manager for a major retailer and a small business owner. Profit and being profitable are not a dirty word. When small businesses go out of business, the whole community suffers. You have a choice. You can pay lower prices for the goods and services you buy or have exceptional customer service, but you can't have both. You can't suck and blow in the same breath. You need to change, or you'll be left behind. Change is inevitable. And it will happen with or without you. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of my podcast - Confessions of a Reformed Control Freak

Soft skills are people skills. They are your ability to communicate and interact more effectively with others. They are your ability to negotiate and resolve conflict, devise creative solutions to problems, build collaborative teams and motivate others to perform at their best. Soft skills are the new currency in today's multi-generational, diverse workplace. Listen to my latest podcast to discover what you must do to future-proof your career.

Emotional intelligence / soft skills are the ability to understand, use, and manage your emotions positively to reduce stress, communicate more effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflicts. In his ground-breaking book - 'Working With Emotional Intelligence' Daniel Goleman said it best. 'We are being judged by a new yardstick; not just how smart we are or by our training and expertise, but also how we manage ourselves and each other. Sixty-seven percent of the competencies needed to manage and lead others are emotionally based. If you want to attrack and retain talent, you must up your leadership EQ.

In organizations where people trust and believe in each other, they don't get into regulating and coercing behaviours. They don't need a policy for every mistake. People in these trusting environments respond with enormous commitment and creativity. Leaders walk their talk; in true leaders, there is no gap between the theories they espouse and their practice. Now more than ever, we need leaders we can trust and believe in—leaders who walk their talk.

One thing you need to understand is that you are not going to change your boss. They've successfully managed and led others a certain way, so they think they don't need to change. The key to working with your boss and living to tell about it is to work with them in a way they like. How do they prefer to communicate and interact with others, receive information, resolve conflict, solve problems and manage their direct reports? If you can adapt your behaviour to be more in tune with theirs and work with them how they like, you'll establish a great working relationship. This eposide will give you some valuable insight how to manage your boss and live to tell about it.

We aren't born knowing how to manage and lead others successfully; it's a learned behaviour. You can learn how to communicate and interact more effectively, build collaborative teams, resolve conflict, find creative ways to solve problems and motivate others to perform at their best. Don't just let your management career happen to you. You must be more strategic in defining your management style. Listen to my latest Confessions of a Reformed Control Freak Podcast to discover how to manage and lead others successfully.