You can be a manager, and perhaps even a leader of a sort, while bullying people to perform more and more. Leaders that get meaningful work done and retain and build people have deeper people skills.
This new book from David Brooks will guide you into creating better conversations and understanding with other people. I know, last newsletter I looked at a book that taught the value of being quiet. Sometimes we need to just shut up. Other times the relationship calls for meaningful conversation. Here you will find science and practical tips for getting along with people.
Brooks observes, "There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen--to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood."
The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.
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I have begun asking people I meet in the industry about new engineers coming into the field with different training and new ideas. I wonder, will they look for alternatives to the large and expensive automation systems that are programmed in archaic languages? Will they look at alternatives such as RaspberryPi or Arduino where they can program in Python and use NodeRED? Or, will be big companies take the temporary (maybe) financial hit when the time comes and come out with a (more expensive) proprietary version? I wonder a lot.
I wrote a couple of pieces on Open Source Embedded Control.
You can find my business and technology blog The Manufacturing Connection here.
You can find my personal development blog Faith Venture here.
Gary