Whether your smile shows off every single one of your teeth, is accompanied by a boisterous laugh, or is shy and reserved, its existence is doing good for your mind and body. According to Psychology Today, smiling releases endorphins that help to lower stress, heart rate, and blood pressure, while also lifting your mood. And this…
Dale Carnegie knew that turning a lesson into a story was the best way to convince an audience of his ideas. While his easy-to-implement advice is the backbone of his best-selling books, the heart and soul of them are the tales of how his tactics have transformed lives. Although it has been 83 years since…
In today’s complex business environment, more and more companies are focusing on soft skills to meet the demands of being both interconnected and flexible. Whereas hard skills encompass skills gained through education, certification, on-the-job training and similar programs, soft skills are interpersonal—people skills. Soft skills include the ability to manage and control your emotions, communication…
The formula for building successful teams was previously predicated on each member’s work experience and technical expertise in order to collectively execute a defined plan. Today, policy experts, trade groups, business coalitions and academics are citing soft skills as critical to both team and individual performance. In fact, a University of Michigan study revealed that soft skills training…
Soft skills are represented by a cluster of productive personality traits including leadership, self-awareness, communication skills and emotional intelligence. While all are important ingredients for professional success, EQ, or emotional intelligence is the focus of this article. Essentially, while IQ or a person’s intellectual ability to manage ideas, knowledge and thoughts may get their foot in the door, their…
We do much more than, ‘Get by with a little help from our friends,’ as sung by the world-famous Beatles and Joe Cocker. In the spirit of gratitude for friendship, here are four scientifically proven ways these social bonds positively impact our health and happiness. 1. Squash stress levels. Spending time with friends can help decrease your…
Think back to the last major conflict you encountered whether with a colleague, friend or family member. Were you able to handle differences of opinion effectively and maintain a peaceful environment? This can be extremely challenging, especially when “hot buttons” are pushed. Worse yet, when left unresolved, disagreements can waste enormous amounts of time and…
As leaders and organizations seek strategies to attract and retain top talent, many overlook one of the most basic and easily executed strategies—employee recognition. Shockingly, only one in three workers in the U.S. strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days according to a recentGallup poll….