The Job is Easy,

The People are Not!

10 Smart Skills to Become Better People

A book, a video series, a podcast.

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

The Job is Easy the People are not - Portuguese and Romanian editions! These new books will not be a translation of the current book but brand new books adapted and written with Romanian and Brazilian experts to match the needs of a local market. Stay Tuned!

Informed by Prof. Loredana’s work on the skills of the future, the book “The Job is Easy, The People are Not! 10 Smart Skills to Become Better People” is a collection of refreshingly honest and candid interviews about the realities of working with people and the smart skills necessary to become better people and leaders.

A fresh new perspective

In The Job Is Easy, The People Are Not! Prof. Loredana and her co-authors bring yet another fresh perspective on rethinking the skills we need to thrive in today’s unpredictable landscape and beyond. In a world where leaders are expected to be polymaths and Renaissance people, dividing people into ‘generalists’ or ‘specialists’ is not enough – leaders need to be technically, mentally, and emotionally competent. 

A new framework

In conjunction with the 50-year anniversary of the term “soft and hard skills”, we put forth a novel suggestion: it’s time to retire the idea of soft and hard skills, which are seen as two distinct sets of skills that are opposites of each other – and to embrace a completely new paradigm: one of Smart skills (requiring a high degree of mental and emotional ability) replacing soft skills and Sharp skills (requiring constant sharpening and updates to remain useful and relevant) replacing hard skills. When harnessed together, both sets of skills have a multiplier effect that can be powerfully transformational for individuals, teams, companies, and communities.

Top 10 SMART skills

Smart skills are co-developed in collaboration with humans as they require constant social interaction, engagement, and intense reflection. One cannot become “smart” in theory alone.

Through a series of ten refreshingly honest and candid conversations with everyday professional and academic leaders, Loredana explores the Top 10 Smart Skills for becoming better people and more effective managers, that include, among others: emotional maturity, validation, followership, cognitive readiness, multiple perspectives, productive inclusion, and more. 

The Job is Easy, if The People are Smart

Learn from the dean who broke down in front of his team when facing an unexpected challenge, the professor who changed biases against migrant workers, the soft-spoken Korean MBA student whose secret power is nungchi and more. You’ll gain insights from ordinary people who face the same challenges we all face at work – but who have become extraordinarily skilled in practicing the Smart skills and navigating the complexities of working with people. And just maybe, armed with these insights, you’ll find not only the job, but also the people, becoming easy!

WHAT IS SMART X SHARP?

Time to change Soft and Hard

Soft and Hard skills were defined by a US Army doctor in 1972, 50 years later, we must ask ourselves. Are the skills of the future still soft and hard? Or is it time for a change?

A new framework

  1. Change the Language!

  2. Change the culture!

  3. Teach what you preach!

  4. Practice what you teach!

Top 10 SMART skills

Smart skills are co-developed in collaboration with humans as they require constant social interaction, engagement, and intense reflection. One cannot become “smart” in theory alone.

Top 10 SHARP Skills

Sharp skills are co-developed with tools and technology. They require constant practicing and sharpening. One cannot say I’m sharp enough as these skills constantly evolve.

THE SKILLS OF THE FUTURE ARE SMART X SHARP!

The latest generation of management students and practitioners need a full suite of smart skills to navigate the complex organizations and ecosystems that drive today’s economy, as well as sharp faculties for cutting-edge analysis of complex systems
— MIT Prof. Charles Fine, MIT Sloan Professor
Leadership is not a “soft skill.” In fact, it’s one of the hardest things to master… Mastering leadership is hard precisely “because there’s no equation… You can’t plug in some numbers and get an answer. Every circumstance is different, and it requires your own level of emotional intelligence, intellect, and interpersonal savviness to be able to get the best out of the people that you’re working with.
— Erika James, Dean Wharton Business School