Which do you think is more important - people skills or technical knowledge?

# [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( Hi {NAME}, Did you hear that the Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Melon Foundation conducted a research study with Fortune 500 CEOs and found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% on technical knowledge. 75% That means that our ability to effectively interact with people, to listen, communicate, collaborate and solve problems are all essential to our future success and these skills should be top of mind when we think about our own personal development. Often in our training programs, we ask learners “what would make this course worthwhile for you?” Time and again, we hear “I’m looking for strategies to deal with difficult co-workers or employees”. We don’t always get to pick who we work with and not every working relationship is smooth and easy. Those difficult relationships can weigh heavily on us and take up a lot of our time and energy, making it difficult for us to be productive. Our ability to be exceptional leaders is dependent on our ability to connect authentically with others, and have difficult conversations when they are necessary. Most of us tend to avoid having those tough discussions for fear we will hurt someone’s feelings or make matters worse. So, what do we do? We avoid having them. We let things fester OR we have conversations that skirt around the issues; that don’t address the “real” problem. As a result, nothing changes. We’ve found that the best strategy for emotionally connecting with others is not obvious or necessarily natural - it requires a paradigm shift in how we approach relationships. [Read more in our blog post about having these tough conversations here](. Emotional intelligence is understanding the impact of your emotions on yourself and others. Once you recognize how your behavior is impacting employees, the project, the business – as an exceptional leader, you’ve got to hold yourself accountable for that impact. Taking responsibility is the catalyst for positive change in us and in others. Until next time, The IHHP Team 439 University Avenue, 5th Floor • Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Y8 • Canada • [Click here]( to unsubscribe.