 | The Hard Truth About Soft Skills: Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They'd Learned Sooner By Peggy Klaus
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Product Description
What's the hard truth? Soft skills get little respect but will make or break your career. Master your soft skills and really get ahead at work!
Fortune 500 coach Peggy Klaus encounters individuals every day who excel at their jobs but aren't getting where they want to go. It's rarely a shortfall in technical expertise that limits their careers, but rather a shortcoming in their social, communication, and self-management behaviors. In The Hard Truth About Soft Skills Klaus delivers practical tools and techniques for mastering soft skills across the career spectrum. She shows how to:
- manage your workload
- handle the critics
- develop and promote your personal brand
- navigate office politics
- lead the troops
- and much more!
Klaus reveals why soft skills are often ignored, while bringing their importance to life in her trademark style—straightforward, humorous, and motivating. Perfect for readers at all professional stages—from those who are just starting out to seasoned executives—this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to take his or her career to the next level.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #67105 in Books
- Published on: 2008-01-22
- Released on: 2008-01-22
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .49" h x 5.26" w x 8.20" l, .36 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 208 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Whether near the beginning or end of a career, Klaus (BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It) sees future professional growth dependent upon identifying and correcting self-sabotaging interpersonal behavior. Klaus illustrates each behavior's professional importance with stories from her work as a career coach. These soft skills run the gamut from handling critics (including one's own internal critic) to bragging. Her practical advice is delivered in the conversational style of a one-on-one session with a personal coach. The learn-by-example counsel may be helpful for those entering such situations as annual performance reviews—whether giving or receiving them—and public speaking. The volume is recommended for those who are in need of a more personable approach to rising up professionally. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"[Klaus's] practical advice is delivered in the conversational style of a one-on-one session with a personal coach.... The volume is recommended for those who are in need of a more personable approach to rising up professionally." (Publishers Weekly )
"The authors offer 54 important workplace lessons...[and]...offers important insight for careermanagement which will be helpful to a wide range of library patrons." (Booklist )
"This is a good book to read with a notebook at your side, in case you spot anything you've been doing to hold yourself back in the workplace." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
About the Author
Peggy Klaus trains professionals worldwide at leading companies that include Credit Suisse, Disney, UNICEF, and Kaiser Permanente. Author of BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It, she is regularly featured in a wide range of media including the Today Show, 20/20, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and O Magazine. Klaus has lectured at Harvard; the University of California, Berkeley; and Wharton. She lives in Berkeley, California.
Most helpful customer reviews
88 of 90 people found the following review helpful.
Story after story
By Bob
This book is extremely heavy on anecdote. Nearly every page has one or two "real life" examples illustrating the author's points. As a result, the book is very easy to read, but it's not very instructive.
If you are impressed by the abundance of 5-star Amazon reader reviews, you shouldn't be. Many of them look like shills: they're heavily clustered at the start of the book's availability; the reviewers have no other reviews; many mention the author by her first name and describe her personality rather than the book itself. It's really sad that so many authors, publishers and agents feel they are entitled to "game" the Amazon review system.
42 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Be nice. Ok, got it.
By B. Bryner
More or less a book about being nice at work. More of general guidelines as opposed to structured advice on learning to deal with people. Perhaps a good launch pad, but a little thin in content.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Very good, but not great.
By Rick Wingender
It's a good book, but definitely not definitive. I'd consider it more of a "primer" than anything because it doesn't go into great depth or detail. It's only 175 pages so I got through it in two nights; it's a very easy read. Most of it seemed like refresher (which I admittedly needed) from other books I've read or training I've taken. Another reviewer wished she'd had this as a college graduation present - actually, this would be a good book for anyone just starting their first job, simply to create awareness of the importance of soft skills. Since finishing this book, I've started reading "Secrets to Winning at Office Politics", which goes much deeper into the topic, and so far, I'd highly recommend it.
http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/0061284149
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