The unprecedented globalization, characterized by breathtaking innovation, has
led to a state where most of the jobs requiring hard skills are well assisted by technology. Most of the tasks or roles can effortlessly be accomplished by acquiring the necessary technology and functional skills. However, success is no longer the result of what you know or what skills you possess, but who you are. Professional excellence is a line hung on two points, namely, soft and hard skills. To reach the peak of success, in such an environment, a professional needs to be endowed with both razor-sharp technical skills and soft skills. To be accomplished and leave an indelible mark of success one must possess a great blend of soft skills and hard skills. People who stand right at the summit of the mountain of success are those whose attitude and application are of incredibly different order. The corporate world today expends substantial efforts to hone soft skills among its workforce as it can enhance the quality of interaction among managers, employees and customers, resulting in higher effectiveness.

Cricket teams like Australia, until recent past, have consistently surpassed other competitive teams like India or Pakistan to deliver incredible performance, while other teams struggle despite the presence of stars, which makes for an interesting topic for discussion on building winning teams. Lessons from sports do contribute to the immense success of companies world over. In the paper, “Team Building: Corporate Lessons from the Indian Premier League”, the author, R Venkatesan Iyengar, takes a close look at the object lessons on team building—an essential management skill—that the highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) has got to offer corporates.

As the economy gets enveloped in the prevailing gloom of uncertainty and slow growth, business leaders are in relentless pursuit of formulas to put the economy back on the path of growth. What key skills must then the executives and leaders possess besides proven technical skills to tread the path of success? Stanford rates soft skill like self-awareness as one of the pillars of managerial capabilities that predicts managerial effectiveness and leadership success. In the paper, “Self-Awareness – Key to Effective Leadership”, the authors, Mendemu Showry and K V L Manasa, propose that IQ and technical skills are far less influential with regard to leadership success than self-awareness, and elaborate that in the world of unprecedented business complexities, leaders need the inner compass of self-awareness to walk the tight rope of leadership.

As the incessant demand for talented workforce increases, there exists an irreconcilable gap between the desired skills and the actual skills that the candidates possess. The wide skill gap between industry requirements and educational system demands immediate attention. In the paper, “Bridging the Skills Gap: Strategies and Solutions”, the authors, Mahima Singh and M K Sharma, attempt to provide insights into the challenges of finding and developing the right talent both from the corporate and educational perspectives.

The spectacular development in technology and explosion of knowledge have witnessed the emergence of online learning as a major industry. Employers and employees are relying heavily on e-learning solutions to acquire new sets of hard skills that are on demand. Many prefer e-learning as it enables employees to learn at their own pace at an affordable cost. As the demand for soft skills grows at rapid speed and the problem of scarcity of soft skill trainers confronts the industry, e-learning solutions could provide a way out. In the paper, “E-Soft Skills Training: Challenges and Opportunities”, the author, Vasundara Tadimeti, dwells on the trends in soft skills training and on the effectiveness of e-soft skills training in comparison to traditional soft skills training methods.

If more and more professionals become aware of themselves through self-analysis and assessment, the corporate world will be a better place. Understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats could be one of the powerful tools to further one’s career prospects. In the paper, “Self-Assessment: A Tool to Boost Career Prospects”, the author, Chethana G Krishna, draws the reader’s attention to the aspect of career planning on the basis of interests and ability, values and lifestyles so as to draw a blueprint for professional success.

Globalization has opened the floodgates of opportunities in the Indian industry, and the Indian public sector faces innumerable challenges on account of the economic changes ushered in. How a public sector bank like State Bank of India (SBI) registered splendid success despite facing stiff competition from powerful private banks is a classic case that deserves to be studied. Changing the mindset or attitude of the employees is a huge task, and the organizations have to be proactive and creative while communicating with their employees regarding important changes. The Case Study, “Project Parivartan: State Bank of India’s Internal Communication Initiative”, by Debapratim Purkayastha, systematically enumerates and explains the change initiatives taken at SBI, and also provides insights into the effective communication strategy adopted by SBI to manage change effectively.

-- M Showry
Consulting Editor