Recently I heard from a very successful hi-tech sales person, already out-performing the rest of his team after a short time with his company. He was about ready to leave the job, however, because, I would say, his bosses lacked “the ability to relate to people one to one” and the ability to “focus on the other person in the relationship rather than [them]selves.”

It seems clear that if you’re leading human beings you’d do well to take an interest in understanding and communicating with them in a way that works for all concerned. This can be learned, in spite of the still pervasive and damaging idea that you either have “people skills” or you don’t.