Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business

Chapter 2. WHY SOCIAL SKILLS MATTER

	Every person I have known who has been truly happy has learned how to serve others.
	--Albert Schweitzer

Only a few leaders understand all of the skills that are necessary to build a company in today's social world. We've been trained in other skills that have been necessary to build companies that were created in another age. In order to evolve from yesterday's skills to today's social competencies we have to understand where we've come from and how much work we have yet to do.

Agrarian workers and leaders had to develop certain skills that made them successful in that era. But once the Industrial Revolution came along, new skills were needed and people had to adapt accordingly and learn new competencies. Likewise, today's organizations need to think and act differently in order to successfully learn and adopt social skills to use in our connected world. Simply put, there are different skills for different ages and we can't merely transport one set of skills into the next age.

We've identified the four basic skills that define the four ages. These strengths, as we call them in this book, are used, in varying proportions, by all organizations and all individuals in their daily activities. They are:

• Physical

• Informational

• Emotional

• Social

Ultimately, to be successful in today's Socially Networked World, individuals and organizations have to hone and grow ...