Work Skills versus Life Skills

Think of the topics that are commonly covered in management workshops:

Decision making
Ethics
Communication
Dealing with difficult people
Team building
Working with diverse groups
Goal setting
Time management

Now, think of topics that would be helpful in everyday life:

Decision making
Ethics
Communication
Dealing with difficult people
Team building
Working with diverse groups
Goal setting
Time management

On a regular basis, companies train employees in subjects that are of obvious relevance to their personal lives. There are business-specific aspects to each, of course, but most of the sessions blur the line between the personal and the professional.

It's a shame that so many of us get through school without encountering such training. At the age of eighteen, we can tell you more about algebra or biology than we can about communication, goal setting, or time management.

Only later, it seems, are we expected to "get practical."