The ATD Soft Skills Series
Develop Soft Skills and Gain Hard Value
Employees of the future will spend more time on activities that machines are less capable of, such as managing people, applying expertise, and communicating with others. More than ever, soft skills are being recognized as a premium, and developing these skills is where talent development comes in.
TD professionals play a unique role in addressing the increasing demand for soft skills. But here’s the rub: How can they expect to develop future employees in these skills if they’re not developing their own skills in the same areas? The ATD Soft Skills series provides this guidance.
Organized into two parts, each book tackles one soft skill that TD professionals need for developing themselves, others, and their organizations. Part 1 breaks down the skill into what it is, why it’s important, and what challenges it brings. Part 2 turns the lens on your daily work and how to practice, build, and perfect the skill on the job. Featuring worksheets, self-reflection exercises, and best practices, these books will empower you to develop career resiliency by matching your talent development technical expertise with your newfound soft skill abilities.
Jack Harlow is a developmental editor at ATD and the co-editor of Focus on Them: Become the Manager Your People Need You to Be.
VIVIAN BLADE MBA, MBB, PMP • AUTHOR • PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER • COACH • CONSULTANT
Vivian Blade, MBA, MBB, PMP is a recognized leadership expert and thought leader. She works with the world’s top brands, equipping leaders with the resilience that inspires teams to recover quickly in the face of ongoing disruption and thrive in spite of insurmountable odds. Her impact is felt as a frequent speaker for association conferences, and in delivering transformative leadership development programs, executive coaching and consulting for corporations.
In the face of her own crisis following a successful 20-year corporate career with Fortune 100 companies, Humana and GE, Vivian launched her current leadership consulting practice, applying her extensive business, finance and leadership experience to coach and develop aspiring and established leaders in building high-performance, high-quality and high-service level organizations. She also works in academia as Adjunct Faculty for the University of Louisville College of Business.