I can teach you martial arts… but I can’t teach you passion.
I can teach you how to teach… but I can’t teach you humor, warmth, and initiative.
I can teach you what to say when you make a call… but I can’t teach you to care about the person on the other line.
Sure, I might be able to say a few things about passion, humor, warmth, initiative, and care… but the thing about each of those is that they aren’t learned from the outside-in… they’re learned from the inside-out.
Meaning, you have to learn for yourself what ignites your passion, what tickles your humor, what warms your compassionate side, what makes you want to go above and beyond, and what makes you actually give a damn about the work you’re doing…
Because what it is for me isn’t the same as what it’ll be for you.
Martial arts? A block is a block and a strike is a strike—for both me and you.
Teaching? Pedagogy is pedagogy and subject matter is subject matter—for both me and you.
Following scripts? Reading from scripts is reading from scripts—for both me and you.
Learning hard skills is black-and-white. And the thing about black-and-white skills is that it’s black-and-white for everybody.
But soft skills? Soft skills are a giant gray spectrum. And what can really make you stand out in today’s overpopulated, hyper competitive, AI evolving world… is a higher landing on that giant gray spectrum.
…Invest more into building soft skills.