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Welcome to The HigherEdJobs Podcast. I'm Andy Hibel the chief operating officer and one of the co-founders of HigherEdJobs.
[00:00:28] Kelly Cherwin: And I'm Kelly Cherwin, the director of editorial strategy at HigherEdJobs. Today, we're talking in studio with Eileen Meyer. We're so happy to have you here today, Eileen. So, thanks for coming in.
Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Kelly Cherwin: So, you've been one of our esteemed contributors to HigherEdJobs over the past several years. And you tackle a lot of workplace issues sharing with our audience, best practices and practical tips for success, both in job search and in the workplace. So today we're going to be talking about the importance of soft skills when you and I first talked about this idea for the [00:01:00] article.
I mentioned that I heard a presenter at a recent conference, and he said, I'm not sure why they are called ‘soft’ because they are indeed not weak. They're very important. They're really hard for people to perfect. And that actually really resonated with me thinking about those words, soft skills. So you actually said something similar in a recent article that you wrote for us.
And one of my favorite quotes was labeling them ‘soft,’ makes these abilities sound spineless or vapid. But those of us who have worked with colleagues who are lacking in this area, understand how much professional cultures rely on employees, who exhibit soft skill fluency. Eileen, I know you've interviewed many people over the years and I know the topic of soft skills has come out a lot.
So I have a bit of a two-part question here for you. In your article, you discuss the history of this term and where it came from. Can you give us some background on how soft skills became a term that we use today?
[00:01:53] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: So, I was really surprised to learn that the term is credited to the [00:02:00] U.S. Army. They started to use the term around the late sixties, early seventies, and they settled on it because there's no equipment associated with these skills and there's no way to measure soft skills fluency.
So soft in this context, it wasn't a judgment. The army recognized that leaders rely on these skills. So, they weren't trying to downplay the importance of them by calling them soft skills. The term instead was an assessment of how these skills compared with the way that people enact and measure other kinds of skills.
It's not that the skills themselves are less important than other skills. I've also heard them called non-technical skills or non-cognitive skills, which non-cognitive skills, I don't think that's a particularly good way to describe them. I like the term core skills or leadership skills. But somehow soft skills just seems to stick.
[00:02:52] Andrew Hibel: I think I use non-cognitive skills when I play pinball.
[00:02:55] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Yeah. Yeah. Non-cognitive kind of sounds even worse than [00:03:00] soft skills.
[00:03:01] Kelly Cherwin: Thank you for the history. I thought that was pretty interesting on where, where it came from. Regarding the quote regarding the soft skill fluency. Can you expand more on why you think these skills are indeed so important in the workplace and job interviews? Like why are we talking today about soft skills?
[00:03:15] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: So there's a lot to look at when we talk about soft skills, self-awareness listening, communication skills, adaptability, resilience, grit, teamwork, positivity, motivation, critical thinking, time management. These are some of the ones that come up a lot. When we talk about soft skills. Parents, I think recognize a lot of these as executive functioning skills.
We talk a lot about these when kids are in their formative years, executive functioning skills include self-monitoring, self-control, adaptive thinking, planning, organization, time management, and working memory. So these skills enable kids to be successful at school, both in terms of getting their work done.
And then in terms of [00:04:00] social cohesion at school, adults at work have those same goals and soft skills basically help us meet those goals. So there's another part to soft skills. And this reminds me of a term that my mom uses. She grew up in an Irish household. She's the child of two immigrants. And she talks about people who are a little bit Fe.
That's the word that her family uses. This means that they're so intuitive. So in tune with other people that they almost seem to have an other worldly, perceptive ability, they can read people, they can anticipate other people's worries, and they can speak to those before others even seem to see them.
People with these qualities seem to influence other people in a deep way. So those who have this quality have an inward dimension of it too. They understand others because they understand themselves. I think this is actually the most fundamental soft skill, self-awareness and fluency in [00:05:00] articulating and understanding one's own feeling.
That's I think the root of soft skills is really self understanding. Being able to articulate emotions clearly as powerful it's connective and it's healing.
[00:05:14] Kelly Cherwin: So I think your mom had an insight into emotional intelligence. That's amazing that that's what she's stressed as being so important because I think, you know, you and I have talked about emotion intelligence before as well.
[00:05:24] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: And she's a retired hospice nurse. So I think that was a quality that was extremely important in the kind of work that she was doing.
[00:05:32] Kelly Cherwin: You referenced the concept of emotional intelligence and your article, and for those who aren't familiar with the concept of emotional intelligence, can you explain about how this connects to soft skills and why pairing is so important in the workplace?
[00:05:46] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: So soft skills taken together, comprise an individual's emotional intelligence quotient. So the EEQ, so it's both the interpersonal skills, like self-awareness, listening, communications skills. Along with the [00:06:00] executive function skills like time management and organizational skills. So emotional intelligence means having a sound understanding of our own emotions, as well as other people's feelings.
It also means knowing how to manage and communicate about our own emotions. The national soft skills association, which I was intrigued to find that there is indeed such an association. They define emotional intelligence as a learned ability to identify experience, understand, and express human emotions in healthy and productive ways.
Emotional intelligence skills form the base of competencies that all social skills are built upon. These are skills that enable a person to know and understand themselves and to lead a disciplined existence, they can motivate and regulate themselves. Workplace culture is important. It's where we all live and work.
People who have highly developed soft skills will enhance any [00:07:00] culture in which they work. They will build connections and they’ll harmonize that space, they will also identify dysfunction quickly and they'll have a hard time coexisting with dysfunction. We've written a lot about this. We've written a lot about what can go wrong in professional cultures, toxicity, bullying, et cetera.
It's always astounding to read how much money companies waste because of cultural toxins. Even when employees have been working remotely, I've been astounded to find that this continues to exist. Dr. Leah P Hollis, professor of diversity expert and healthy workplace trainer writes in her new really outstanding book, human resources perspectives on bullying and higher education.
She writes that $27 billion is wasted annually because of the cultural disruptions and turnover caused by workplace bullying. I'm not suggesting that people with soft skills can or have a responsibility to save toxic culture. But part of the value that they [00:08:00] bring is that they know how to keep their own issues under control and to bring benefit rather than baggage to their workplace.
It's everyone's responsibility to do this bad workplace behavior, I think gets tolerated and maybe it's even expected more than it should be. But honestly, I think this is due to a lack of training. Over the years, I've learned that a lot of managers earn their roles simply because of their subject matter expertise.
They deserve better soft skills training. All of us do, even kids do. I've been talking with my high school aged kids about social life at high school. And how a big challenge that teenagers face socially is that they don't have the social skills to blend groups. So if they're talking with a friend from their neighborhood and a friend from their sports team comes up to them, they freeze, they don't know how to handle that.
Do I introduce these two kids? Do I go off with the kid that I'm more comfortable with? Do I ignore one of the kids? Do I just punch out of this awkward situation? How do I [00:09:00] deal with this? Soft skills training, learning inclusive language to help with this awkward situation would benefit our kids in these instances.
And they could build onto it to become more inclusive adults. We can't just tell people to be inclusive. We have to help them skill build their way up to that as kids, and then to continue that training into their professional life.
[00:09:23] Kelly Cherwin: I'm going to ask both you and Andy, Eileen, about the issue of training. I know we had a few comments on your article and there's, there's a belief that you only learn soft skills through experience in the workplace, you know, learning hands-on, but then some people think that no, this can be taught.
It can be learned through textbooks and trainings like that. So I'm curious to, to both of you, can you learn soft skills through trainings, through textbooks or is it more hands-on is it through experience? Through mentoring in the workplace, like how do you learn soft skills?
[00:09:55] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Part of it is a natural awareness, but there's a lot to be said for having [00:10:00] language to fall back on.
There's a lot to be said for, you know, having sort of scripts for different situations that you might encounter. Giving people sort of a battery of phrases that work in certain instances, like when you want to include someone, but you feel awkward, here's a way that you might do that. I think those things are really helpful.
I think a lot of times we don't know what to say or we don't know what to do, but if we're plied with options, I think we can do a lot with that. And I think the other thing is we don't talk about things that are awkward, that make us nervous. We sort of just accept that there's a lot of life that's awkward and there's a lot of life that makes us nervous, but we don't have to just accept that we can be supplied to deal with that.
[00:10:44] Kelly Cherwin: Like encouraging conversation and communication.
[00:10:46] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Right, like it's amazing to really look at like, well, what part of this social interaction makes, you nervous, and to assess, you know, how can that be bolstered? I think it's easy to see with high school [00:11:00] kids. Why are they inclined to exclude other kids? And I think so often it's simply because they don't have the skills to include people that they don't understand.
But I think this is true throughout our lives. That sometimes we don't exactly know how to embrace people that are maybe different than us. And I think if we sort of have a battery of language to fall back on, I think that can really help.
[00:11:27] Kelly Cherwin: I agree. I think we don't know sometimes how to embrace change. You know, uh, uh, supervisor gives you a new project. We don't know what to do, so then we don't know how to communicate. So I agree. Kind of learning through certain terms or modeling from mentors.
[00:11:41] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Andy, do you have thoughts on that?
[00:11:43] Andrew Hibel: I think what's interesting. And speaking specifically from the high school example, I think in high school, one of the big challenges is it's not exactly a culture that promotes it, the hierarchy and, and interest of young people in high school really has its own defined lanes.[00:12:00]
And the crossing of those lanes is pretty jarring to that community. And from a cultural perspective, there, isn't a lot of reward in doing that, which is really, truly contrary to the workplace. I think the comment you're referring to Kelly was the comment about critical thinking. If you read the article on the site, I do agree, academia and the academic process really promotes great ways to exercise your critical thinking muscles in the pursuit of academic knowledge.
No argument whatsoever. And I do think that you can build up those muscles of critical thinking that way. But often times we kind of follow the academic knowledge saying, hey, you need to use critical thinking skills to be able to do this. And maybe there's a sentence. Maybe there's two sentences about what critical thinking is about, but is critical thinking a part of every academic curriculum?
If you're going to get an undergraduate degree or graduate degree are institutions requiring you to have a class on how to really understand and fully [00:13:00] develop your critical thinking skills? Uh, I personally don't know if. We do hear from, from you all out there, email us@podcastathigheredjobs.com or tweet us at HigherEdJobs.
Let us know. Does your institution have a course that it requires on things like critical thinking? We're interested to hear about that and maybe what your questions might be. And to your point, Eileen, a talented leader with high emotional intelligence and strong soft skills. It's going to provide a culture where people feel safe, are encouraged, are reinforced, and intentionally taught what those things are.
Now, is it true that there's aptitude for how far they can take it? That's probably true. We're all different people, but I think everybody has the ability to learn a lot of these things.
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[00:14:15] Kelly Cherwin: I think a big part that both you guys mentioned is the culture.
And I, I truly believe that, like you said, if a leader is embracing and encouraging the culture to have conversations and embrace this emotional intelligence, it's not just about IQ. EQ is very important. I completely agree. And back to your, your example of the high schoolers, I know listeners can't, can't see us in studios right now, but all four of us have high school students and we're all shaking our head nodding, like in agreeance, that high school culture.
And oftentimes some workplace cultures don't embrace this ability to have people feel included and embrace the environment for soft skills.
[00:14:50] Andrew Hibel: And we should provide a disclaimer here for the high school where, where my child is. I feel very comfortable that there is a lot, actually a lot of intentionality to try to [00:15:00] develop these skills in kids.
Uh, by the educators, by the administrators, but it's just a tough, tough social culture for 13 to 18 year old kids, to be able to start implementing those ways where they, they see the benefits and they see them benefiting some folks. It's kind of interesting. I think we can all look back at high school and say there's a kid or two who was able to hang out in every crowd and made everybody feel comfortable in every crowd and always was welcome. And wasn't one of the quote unquote popular kids, or wasn't one of the jocks, but got along with everybody and everybody liked. And when people were around them, it was just a comfortable place for people from different groups.
And it's almost like, boy, I want to know right now I want to go back and know where those kids are now. And are they teaching workshops on emotional intelligence and soft skills? Because they should be!
[00:15:52] Kelly Cherwin: They’re probably leaders in organizations. So back to Eileen's point about, you know, learning it younger, it, it does bleed into the workplace and [00:16:00] there's probably a lot of people who are in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, who are not using these skills.
[00:16:05] Andrew Hibel: And I Eileen to your point, which I thought was just so good about, we just kind of live with the things that are uncomfortable. I think what's interesting is, I think we do consciously live with things that are uncomfortable to us, but I think there's a good number of things we live with that we're not even conscious we're uncomfortable about and we're just living with, and it's that emotionally intelligent person that you look at.
They're not only aware of it. They've kind of embraced it, accepted it, and felt comfortable with that discomfort. And you're like, wow, how do you do that? Teach me your ways. It's really difficult. I will say, and, and, and he's in here in the studio with us. Mike is actually one of those people for me.
Mike is grace under pressure under any situation and is able to diffuse just about anything that comes his way. And I always look at that and say, ah, Mike, teach me what, what your ways are. And, uh, I, I [00:17:00] will be so grateful.
[00:17:00] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: The Jedi Master.
[00:17:03] Kelly Cherwin: Well, I think I need to use my emotional intelligence right now and I should let Eileen talk more. I feel like, you know, Andy and I have been talking so much.
[00:17:11] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: I'm enjoying hearing that, you know, the person who is able to bounce back in and out of all those groups, I think that kinda speaks to that. That would be a person that my mom would describe as being a little bit fe. Someone that just sort of inherently understands other people and can kind of easily move within those groups.
Everyone can learn how to play a sport, but there's some people to whom it comes so naturally that like you can't be taught up to a certain level. So, I mean, I think when it comes to soft skills, there are certain jedi masters who you can't be sort of taught up to, uh, you know, that's a person to whom it comes very naturally. There's always those Jedi masters out there.
[00:17:52] Andrew Hibel: Eileen, thank you so much for, for those insights. I think they they're, they really are going to resonate well with, with folks out there. And I [00:18:00] think we're going to try to transition for some of the more fundamental parts of soft skills and emotional intelligence and move more into some more concrete ways that this can be applied in what you're doing in your career in higher education.
And if there are folks out there, her interest in reading a little bit more about emotional intelligence and soft skills. We'll definitely have some links in the description of the podcast episode, where there's some additional resources. So feel free to dive into those. If you're wanting to learn and hear more and make that part of your 2022 practice of improving your career, in transitioning to job search, it's kind of interesting.
We kind of touched on the fact that these are not quantified. I believe in the article you said something like, well, if you type a hundred words per minute, it's quantitative and people know that and you can put it on a resume, but this is a qualitative skill on trying to display that in job searches is a bit of a challenge.
So as we transition to [00:19:00] that, as, uh, how do you display it? Maybe before we get into the tactical on that, maybe let's talk a little bit about what you should be displaying and looking at the future of work 2021 global outlook. And what employers are really looking for in relationship to soft skills.
Would you be able to share a little bit with us?
[00:19:21] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Sure. So I am looking at The Future of Work Report that was put together by monster.com. And according to the report, and this is a direct quote that I'm pulling from, from the monster report. Remarkably, a third of US employers say the skills gap has increased compared to last year.
And 80% of employers say they have difficulty filling openings due to skills gaps, as opposed to a year ago, regardless of the industries being recruited, the top skills employers want are dependability. And this means arriving at work on time, not taking excessive time off, [00:20:00] following through on all assignments.
So that's dependability, teamwork, and collaboration, which by which they mean working well with others within their team and company, as a whole. Problem solving the ability to be resourceful when it comes to work challenges and solve them without assistance. And flexibility, which is willingness to take on new work or new ways of working.
And clearly all of these are soft skills. Each is about executive functioning and social fluency in the workplace. So interesting first to note that there's a gap for these skills. Professionals are not getting trained for these skills. And then also interesting to know that, you know, they're really highly sought at this point.
[00:20:44] Kelly Cherwin: I'm curious to see what your thoughts are, you know, for the past couple of years, obviously we've transitioned to doing a lot of meetings through Zoom. We've done interviews through Zoom. There's been online teaching through Zoom, you know, different online platforms. So Eileen based off those [00:21:00] skills that employers are wanting, how does a job seeker, a higher ed professional, how do they demonstrate these soft skills virtually? And is it different than when we were sitting in the room together?
[00:21:13] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Yeah. So another topic that we wrote about for HigherEdJobs was likeability and I think a big, soft skill and like kind of an anchor of likeability is just enthusiasm. In some ways it's hard to be enthusiastic when you're connecting with someone virtually, but the same reasons to be enthusiastic exist in the virtual world as exist in the real world.
I think that's a huge piece of it. When you are preparing for an interview to get excited, to really connect with what about this opportunity or this institution is thrilling to you. And to kind of lead with that. That's one of the qualities that is a really standout quality for a candidate. And in some ways it almost [00:22:00] feels like you have to sort of turn it on even brighter in kind of a virtual space.
And I think sometimes you also have to anticipate that you may not necessarily be getting much back from the person that is interviewing you. And I think that's part of it. That's really hard is that in the past you could walk into an office on campus and you would see kids, you'd see students, you feel like the buzz of, you know, this is what it's like to be here, and you don't necessarily have that now.
So it's kind of like, you have to make your own buzz, but there's still a lot to make your own buzz about. You know, these are still wonderful opportunities and great jobs and campus life is still thriving and, and exciting. So I think that's part of it is to kind of anticipate that part of your role is to be making that own buzz and generating your own enthusiasm.
Secondly, I think what has always mattered still matters to get to know the people that are going to be interviewing you, read what they've written, do your research on them. [00:23:00] Find ways to connect with them because once you make that connection, once you sort of get through that barrier of like, ah, this is awkward.
You are interviewing me. You are the one with the power. I am the one who is coming to you in need, or coming to you, looking for something. Once you get past that weird power dynamic and can actually find yourself in a situation where like, you know what, we are two people sitting here talking about an opportunity that may or may not be a fit and blast through all of the extra emotional baggage.
That's there. Then you can actually have a decent conversation about this thing. And that's what it's all about. I think that's a big part of setting the scene for this. And then I think another part of it is deciding what examples to use. If you're mentoring someone, certainly that would be a good example of soft skills.
If someone is mentoring you, that's a good example of soft skills too. So anything that you can sort of take from your [00:24:00] experience to speak to that I think would be helpful.
[00:24:03] Andrew Hibel: I think going exactly where you were there, with that interview. And I think it's very much the consensus is it's viewed exactly as you've discussed it.
And if I'm a candidate in there, that's exactly how I'm mentally approaching it. And I completely get it. I think it's interesting that we talked about and you kind of answered like for you emotional intelligence and the use of soft skills begins with the north star of being self-aware. And if you're an employer and you're self-aware, and you're practicing your soft skills and your emotional intelligence today in 2022, you better absolutely realize that.
But I think this was even true before the market turned the way it is right now that the interview is a two-way structure. Now it's true that somebody has a job here that they're wanting to pursue. And it's an opportunity in most instances, to revive a career or further a career. [00:25:00] But really they're interviewing you every bit, as much as you're interviewing them and the process and the relationship and the rapport that you have with that person who may potentially be your coworker for 3, 5, 10, 20 years begins on that day.
And starting a sincere way is going to be that first impression you have of that relationship with that person. And if you're practicing your emotional intelligence as, as an employer and you're sitting in the interviewer chair really start considering the, the process and looking at it just a little bit differently.
For me, I always feel like I want to diffuse some of that discomfort around, Hey, I'm interviewing you. I actually liked just calling it out and saying, okay, listen, we treat this process very much. Like you're interviewing us as much as we're interviewing you. So if you have questions and you want to know what it's like working here or what my favorite band is [00:26:00] Bruce Springsteen, you're more than happy to ask that question.
[00:26:06] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Yeah, I think that's a great point. I've seen a couple of different people post on Twitter that they would like to actually start to ask interviewers for references or start to ask a workplace that's interviewing them, you know, you asked me for three references. I would like to ask you for the names of three employees to speak with, to see what it's like to work there. And I thought that was just an interesting point to have people who would vouch for this workplace.
[00:26:36] Andrew Hibel: I think what's interesting about that and kind of giving a shout out to, to our friends over at LinkedIn, really that's where your LinkedIn network comes in very handy.
And I'm not suggesting here that your casual, LinkedIn connection to somebody and you start asking them about what it's like to work with a person. If you have a connection in common that, you know well, I think a polite answer to say, I [00:27:00] just interviewed with this person. I know you're connected with them too.
Did you happen to ever work with them or know what it's like working with them? I was just wondering. I don't think that process is clean every time. And in some instances, think you need to think twice about it. But I think an innocuous question to see, hey, what's it like, a good friend usually will give you a pretty good answer there.
So use your LinkedIn connections and that way, another reason why you should stay connected with the people, you know, on LinkedIn.
[00:27:32] Kelly Cherwin: Andy, I don't know if I should tell you this, but I did a little research on LinkedIn before I interviewed here. And everyone said you were a little bit crazy, but I, uh, I went with, uh, the job anyway.
Uh, building up, what you guys were both talking about, getting to know the interviewer and building that connection. And then I think it does lessen [00:28:00] the nervousness, you know, like Andy was saying, what's your favorite music group? Or, you know, hey, this is awkward, but let's get through this.
[00:28:05] Andrew Hibel: But I think when talking about soft skills in interview, do you talk about them as soft skills and start labeling them as soft skills?
Or do you actually just try to either demonstrate the skill itself in the interview. Or discuss, like you mentioned before, how you mentored somebody or those other ways that you did that is there is the first role of soft skills is we don't talk about soft skills.
[00:28:30] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: I don't think that should be the first rule of soft skills.
I think we should start at a new tradition or a new wave that is talking about soft skills, because I think then we could maybe up the ante on soft skills training, but I think, maybe in some ways you follow the lead of sort of what you sense in the culture that is interviewing you. So, if in the job ad you see that they are looking for soft [00:29:00] skills, so I've seen that more companies are, are kind of updating their job postings to include a call-out for soft skills. And if you see that. I think it's a great opportunity to, uh, to mention yours. Um, but I, I think what's a little tricky sometimes about soft skills too, is I feel like every time I see a list of them, there's more, you know, so I, I also feel like it's, it's a little bit loosely defined, although you can always pick your favorite ones and really kind of go with those and, and call them out.
But perhaps if they don't do that, perhaps if they don't mention them, sort of in a very direct way. Um, another option is to say that that is something that's important to you as a professional or as a candidate, or it's something that you've been developing, that's been a performance goal of yours, or that's been something that your [00:30:00] former employer, or your current employer, has been, uh, really encouraging and to then kind of call them out on your own.
I mean, I think. It's something that's a very hot topic now. So I really don't, I really think it is a good strategy to mention them and to call them out as soft skills. I mean, especially looking like at the monster report, you know, and seeing that their such a coveted skillset. I just don't think that it would be a bad thing to mention it.
I can't imagine how that would, you know, if they were to look at that and be like, oh, that hippie had to mention her soft skills, you know, I just can't imagine like how it could reflect unfavorably on a candidate.
[00:30:42] Andrew Hibel: I actually think the employer has just done you a favor that if that's how they look at those skills, that you bring. How hard will it be for you to be successful in that position? If they think that all of that is some sort of witchcraft.
[00:30:55] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Right. Exactly. Then you probably wouldn't be a good fit there anyways.
[00:30:59] Kelly Cherwin: Back to our [00:31:00] conversation about how it's a two way street. What's wrong with the job seeker, asking the interviewer, what type of soft skills are embraced, or maybe using some of those other words that you're using?
Like what core skills do you embrace here at this institution and see what their response was, because then that allows you to evaluate if you would be a good fit into that culture.
[00:31:16] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Right. I think that's a great strategy.
[00:31:20] Andrew Hibel: To use a little bit of a sports analogy. If you're going to manage a sports team and they're in dead last place and the ownership group does not want to spend the money to get the talent, and they're not going to change anything that they've done before.
This might be your dream job to be a manager, but what's your chances of success in that position? What's your job satisfaction going to be in that position? You want a chance to be able to do what you do well, but if the environment doesn't allow for it, it just seems like maybe it's a blessing in disguise that they might self-select you out in that instance.
[00:31:51] Eileen Hoenigman Meyer: Yeah. And I think that's a great analogy and I can't imagine a culture not placing a high value on soft skills. And [00:32:00] I think sports that's where I really see people's soft skills in action. I think my second article that I wrote for HigherEdJobs was on resilience. And it was about March madness, which I'm not like a big sports person, but I always think it's amazing to see the resilience that players exhibit when they're, I mean, they have so many people watching them. They have so much pressure on them. And with that pressure bearing down, they do such amazing things and they recover from such amazing things. You know, they miss a free throw and then they move on, and they continue to play a game. And it's really incredible to see someone, a college student, exercise, such emotional discipline.
And when I, when I see it in action, I always think like, wow, apply that to the workplace, to have someone really, they miss the mark, very publicly. And then to just be like, all right, I've got to shake it off. I've got to continue. So, I mean that degree of [00:33:00] self-discipline and that ability to just move forward is kind of, I think a dimension of soft skills that is exciting and maybe is not often emphasized.
[00:33:10] Kelly Cherwin: Well you just provided perfect evidence without me even asking to support this quote that I drew out from.
I know you mentioned various articles research from Carnegie, Stanford, Harvard. Showing you emotional intelligence accounts for between 85 to 90% of what sets high performers apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge. So, that directly ties in about, you know, having these soft skills and emotional intelligence will, most likely to lead to higher performance, higher leadership abilities, more success in the workplace. That's a great example. And the king of analogies over here thank you for your, your sports example. Next we'll be hearing a food analogy.
Andrew Hibel: Not before lunch.
[00:33:52] Kelly Cherwin: Oh yep. My stomach is ticking over here. Clock is ticking.
[00:33:54] Andrew Hibel: It's interesting. We've done a lot of talking so far, but I think we're on a topic that folks out there [00:34:00] listening probably have so many experiences. Maybe your screening at your phone now, or screaming at your computer screen. And we really do read your email and respond to your email and we will contact you if we want to use your tweet or your email.
But please, if you have some of these experiences, we'd love to hear them. Your learnings are much more important than ours. So please email us at podcast@higheredjobs.com or send us a tweet at HigherEdJobs on Twitter. We we'd really like to hear from you. from both
[00:34:30] Kelly Cherwin: From both sides, from the job seeker perspective and the employer perspective.
[00:34:34] Andrew Hibel: Absolutely. And remember in higher education, yes. There's folks who work professionally in helping bring people to the institution, but just about everybody should have some sort of hybrid role where they've served on a search committee or participated in an interview of a potential colleague coming into the academic unit or the administrative office.
We all play a little bit of both in our careers, tap into both sides. I think that's really, really important. [00:35:00]
[00:35:00] Kelly Cherwin: Using your empathy and your soft skills to understand how to connect, people will remember that. Putting your best self forward and making people feel valued is I think what we want at our core. People want to feel understood and valued and that's the most important thing that we can do.
[00:35:20] Andrew Hibel: We appreciate your time. Thanks for listening.