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by Craig Peters on January 12th, 2009
I totally know what it feels like to watch someone get promoted even though they don't seem to know what they're doing.
However, it's not always that simple. It's easy to put down the soft skills. They're actually very important. Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in his recent book, Outliers. There's a great chapter about the importance of social savvy in getting ahead in the world.
If the person you're describing is going into management or leadership, then social savvy is even more important. The skills of management are distinct and different from hard skills required to do the "work" of an organization.
We've all seen someone who's really good at the hard skills of their job--engineering, architecture, painting, etc.-- get promoted and not know how to be a manager.
A great manager will always hire staff that are more qualified in the hard skills. It takes a lot of self-assurance because when you do this as a manager, it creates an appearance of not being as smart as the rest of your team.
It's often the same when promoting someone. You have to consider someone's ability to create relationships, represent your group, get things done in teams, etc. It's important.
Of course, you might be talking about someone who's just good at kissing up and schmoozing without having genuinely useful skills (management or otherwise), and that's frustrating.
We're talking every day about these issues on our blog: Social Capital Mentor (http://socialcapitalmentor.com).
What happens if you become your mentor's boss?
by Answerbag Staff on April 6th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Is there a way to entice a female boss to sexually harass a man? My boss is really good-looking, and I wouldn't object.
by jbigie on September 1st, 2011
| 1 person likes this
New job and my boss is already hitting on me, what should I do?
by chrissy325 on August 14th, 2011
| 2 people like this
Does anyone else get frustrated because they are doing the lion's share of work at their job, and yet their higher-ups have no clue?
by Nancy is really struggling right now... on July 14th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
Why does my ________ always __________ me over?
by Mister_Bromide on July 15th, 2011
| 7 people like this
You're reading At work, how does it make you feel when someone less qualified with no real substance gets promoted above someone else who is much more qualified, just because one is a much smoother talker and knows how to put on a better "show" and talk the talk?
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