234. Soft Skills Don’t Make You a Softy

Hard Leadership….you know….the drill instructor kind….is actually lazy leadership.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for very direct leadership.  Think about a fire department putting out a house fire.  You can’t have a development meeting or a long term sales strategy to put out a fire.  How about an emergency room trauma patient?  Same thing.  What is really hard about leadership is developing soft skills.  That takes time, investment in people, and you as the leader, actually caring to know about your team. Developing soft skills is not just the way of the future for leadership, it’s needed right now.  The good news is, it really only takes a change of focus to start sharpening those soft skills.  It is harder it first, but the long term investment of positive return is undeniable.  Start small with the closest people around you and work from there.  Remember, at first, leadership is not about you, but later, it will be about you.