9  Soft Skills  to Fast-Track  Your Career

By: Jitendra

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• Give eye contact • Offer a specific compliment

• Ask good questions • Be interested, not interesting

• Follow up • Remember name(s) • Recall something you discussed

Remembered

Heard

Seen

01.

Make People Feel Important (SHR Method)

02.

People will like/dislike your communication based on:

• 7% words • 38% tonality and face • 55% body language

Stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, make eye contact, smile, give a firm handshake

Hone Your Body Language (7-38-55 Rule)

03.

Powerful people are busy.

(They might not remember what they asked you to do.)

• Here’s what you asked me to do • Here’s what I did • Here are the risks/blockers (if any) • If given more time, I'd do this

Master the 4-Bullet Update

Give an update with this outline:

04.

You’ll cut ‘ums’ and ‘likes.’ 99.9% won’t do this. Be the outlier.

Record and Study Your Speaking

The best communicator I know told me her secret:

She records her calls. Then she replays them, studies them

(Like an athlete watching game film).

05.

Your network is your net worth. Build bonds with these Qs:

Any fun upcoming trips?

Ask Rapport-Building Questions

Simple, but most people miss this.

What neighborhood are you in?

Do you have any siblings/kids?

How'd you meet your partner? (if mentioned)

06.

If you're new to a team, do this to build trust.

Send ‘Friday Highlights’

• Big tasks completed • People networked with • Extracurriculars (like affinity groups)

Every Friday, send your supervisor(s) a short email. Two parts:

1) Highlights from the prior week

06.

Friday Highlights will help you:

Cont..

• Build trust • Hold yourself accountable • Tactfully self-promote (perception is reality) • Have everything you need for self-reviews

2) Upcoming activities for next week

• Forward-looking big tasks and networking

07.

Separately, when you talk bad about others, people wonder if you talk bad about them too.

Don’t Complain or Gossip. Ever

Nobody likes to hear complaining.

So why do we do it ourselves?

(Respectfully standing up for yourself is different.)

Just don’t do it.

08.

A person’s favorite sound is their name.

Remember ALL the Names

The names of their loved ones and pets. Whenever you hear one mentioned, write it down. Later, ask *by name* about them.

I have a theory about their 2nd favorite sound:

You will stand out.

09.

All it takes to finish? Read 30 mins daily.

Give Yourself a Personal MBA

Willingness to learn is a crucial soft skill.

I wrote a popular thread on how to give yourself a personal MBA (in 6 months).

Get a knowledge advantage