Not a resource, so much as a technique, but I've just been baffled to find myself moving slightly into management, and my new mantra, whenever I'm not absolutely positive what I should be saying is: listen.
Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
51–60 of 69 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#52Dale Carnegie's book is the obvious choice. However, Lifetime Conversation Guide by Van Fleet had a ton of specific stuff tailored to different situations. Stumbled upon it in a thrift store and bought it because of its thoroughness along with giving me a few good ideas.
http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Conversation-Guide-James-Flee...
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#53I actually wrote a book, specifically to teach "soft skills" to software developers.
In fact, my whole life and business is dedicated to that aim.
Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual (http://simpleprogrammer.com/softskills)
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#54What helped me was going full-time digital nomad for the last 2 years.
Mostly out of my desire to see specific places, I ended up going to cities very far away from all of my existing contacts and acquaintances. Getting incredibly lonely in a foreign city where I don't speak the language and have no friends or coworkers, I was forced out into the wild to get to know people through any means possible. It was important for me to learn to connect quickly and deeply with people to have meaningful relationships fast enough to provide me any value before I moved on from that city to the next (about 2-3 months).
I was terrible at it for the first 2 cities I went to, but by the 5th I was surprising myself.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#55Pretty much the entire Jerry Weinberg canon, but 'Becoming A Technical Leader', and 'Secrets of Consulting' are two excellent places to start.
Just want to vigorously agree with the recommendation of "Becoming a Technical Leader".
That's even if you don't think a leader is what you want to become. One of the earliest points he makes is that leadership is something you do, not something you are - and if you're trying to persuade people, that's a leadership behaviour.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#56RSD Blueprint by Tyler. Really life-changing stuff.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#57How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie should be required reading for anyone who interacts with human beings.
This book has been mentioned to me at least a dozen times. For some reason, your comment is the one that just pushed me over the edge to buy it :) I'm posting this just because it's been recommended so often to me there must be something to it.
For me that tipping point was when I came across this:
>The one book we encourage startup founders to read is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's critically important for anyone in business.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#58http://changingminds.org/ Wiki-style collection of this stuff.
Wow. This is an incredible database with a lot of interesting things. Thanks for sharing!
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#59How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie should be required reading for anyone who interacts with human beings.
This book has been mentioned to me at least a dozen times. For some reason, your comment is the one that just pushed me over the edge to buy it :) I'm posting this just because it's been recommended so often to me there must be something to it.
It's a valuable book, despite it's name. My tipping point was a Warren Buffett interview, where he mentioned how it influenced his early life.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?
#60My two go-to books on the subject, very complementary to each other, are:
- The charisma myth: http://www.amazon.com/The-Charisma-Myth-Personal-Magnetism/d...
- Make your contacts count: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Contacts-Count-Networking/dp...