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Soft
Skills are Smart Skills
Soft
skills like leadership, decision-making, conflict resolution,
negotiation, communication, creativity and presentation
skills are essential for entrepreneurial success and for
maximizing human capital in any enterprise. When balanced
with a good management team and an effective human resource
management system, soft skills provide a way to get the
highest return on the investment in terms of human capital.
While professional skills may open the door of opportunity,
soft skills keep you in the driver’s seat. We offer
our Top 10 list of items that an entrepreneur should focus
on and some suggested competencies.
By
Prasad Kaipa, Ph. D.
Preparation:
Planning a venture is like mapping a route before a long
trip -- beware of the consequences of decisions you make
about your destination, with whom you are traveling, and
how you will get there. A quality business plan is the roadmap
to success. Starting the venture is like initiating the
journey that you have been dreaming about for a long time.
Focus on hiring the right people with the right skill-set
(and passion). Strive to create a culture of teamwork and
commitment coupled with high quality execution, which will
allow you to reach the destination safely and successfully.
Imagine this to be a long
trip on water. You and your executive team are the crew,
your business plan is your map of the turbulent ocean, which
is the market place, and the ship is your organizational
system optimized for your journey as well as for getting
the best out of your talent. Your executive team needs to
be top notch with experience and expertise in operating
your ship. It is very likely that at least some of them
have been on this journey before with knowledge of how to
deal with unexpected changes in weather, hurricanes and,
of course, potential mutinies on the ship. Your engineers
(crew) have experience with your system (ship)--- software,
approach, and equipment. They need to have the tools and
training to navigate it (Java or dot NET or other software
tools if you are building an internet software company),
and have expertise to fix unexpected problems that are bound
to come up while you are in the ocean.
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