Management Skills Builder

Talent, knowledge, and hard work do not guarantee success in a managerial or professional career. Competent, knowledgeable, and hardworking people often have less impact and achieve less career success than they deserve. Sometimes the missing ingredient for success is a set of fundamental skills, skills that give talent, knowledge, and hard work leverage and visibility.

The body of knowledge to be mastered in a technical or professional education leaves little or no time for the acquisition of skills that cut across disciplinary boundaries. Used in all fields, these generic skills are vital to the careers of many managers and professionals. The manager and professional who can write efficiently and well; who is an effective and willing public speaker; who can interview effectively; who can and does relate effectively with others; who is personally able to use a computer; and who can tap into the burgeoning volume of information with some precision, has greater probability of success than one who cannot or does not. The Management Skills Builder is intended to increase awareness of the need for these skills among intelligent and dedicated professionals and to suggest ideas about how these skills may be acquired, further developed, and honed. Strategies for the development of each skill are provided, along with a resource list that includes recommended books, videos, and other learning aids.

RALPH S. HAMBRICK, JR. is Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.