To succeed in life, What should we know? What should we learn? This guide belongs to 100 Ways To Be Being Remarkable  Series, a special project that brings you business and self-development advice from The Success Manual.

PART 1: General Skills

Howard Gartner's 8 Intelligences:
1. Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
3. Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
5. Musical intelligence ("music smart")
6. Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
7. Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
8. Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

Ram Charan's 8 Fundamental Skills Needed For Success in the 21st Century
1. Positioning (and, when necessary, repositioning) your business by zeroing in on the central idea that meets customer needs and makes money
2. Connecting the dots by pinpointing patterns of external change ahead of others
3. Shaping the way people work together by leading the social system of your business
4. Judging people by getting to the truth of a person
5. Molding high-energy, high-powered, high-ego people into a working team of leaders in which they equal more than the sum of their parts
6. Knowing the destination where you want to take your business by developing goals that balance what the business can become with what it can realistically achieve
7. Setting laser-sharp priorities that become the road map for meeting your goals
8. Dealing creatively and positively with societal pressures that go beyond the economic value creation activities of your business
- Ram Charan, KNOW-HOW : The 8 skills that separate people who perform from those who don’t

T-SHAPED PEOPLE
T-shaped people have skills and knowledge that are both deep and broad.

This idea was first forwarded by the book “The Ten Faces of Innovation'' written by renowned design firm IDEO’s General Manager Tom Kelley.
We must have an observant and empathetic view of the world.
T-shaped people have well rounded personalities and broad interests. Thus they are able to obtain unique viewpoints.
They are different from the so-called I-shaped people, who have a deep understanding of their discipline, but not necessarily of any other.
Do not confuse this with Jack of all trades and master of none.

THE U.K. CIVIL SERVICE PERSONALITY
The Civil Service Commissioners in Britain, in a Memorandum, listed a number of questions that spell out in greater detail what the interview board is looking in candidates for the Civil Services:

1. What is the standard of the candidate’s mental ability?
- Does he think logically and efficiently?
- Can he think for himself?
- Can he get quickly to the heart of the matter and see the principles involved?
- Can he generalize correctly?
- Is he god at seeing the implication of points he makes? Can he acquire a sound background of knowledge and use it successfully in a short time in an area that is new to him?

2. Has he shown himself to be constructive and imaginative or does he merely reproduce?

3. Is he intellectually honest?
Does he appear to be a man of complete integrity? Has he the courage of his convictions?
4. Is he mentally adaptable and flexible, or is his mind rigid and impervious to new ideas?

THE IAS PERSONALITY
The Kothari Committee of UPSC (Union Public Service Commission, India) in its report, has listed the qualities that should be rated in the interview as:
1. Clarity of expression,
2. grasp of narrative and argument,
3. reasoning ability,
4. appreciation of different points of view,
5. awareness and concern for socio-economic problems,
6. range and depth of interests and
7. personal attributes relevant to interactions with other people.

PART 2: Work Skills

Now that we have covered the basics, let us turn our attention to workplace skills.

9 Essential Work Skills
There are nine Essential Skills that were identified through the Essential Skills Research Project conducted by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

- Reading text
- Document Use
- Numeracy
- Writing
- Oral communication
- Thinking Skills
- Working with others
- Computer Use
- Continuous Learning

SCANS 5 Workplace Competencies
The U.S. Departments of Labor and Education formed the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to study the kinds of competencies and skills that workers must have to succeed in today's workplace.

A Three-Part Foundation of SCANS Skills and Personal Qualities

Basic Skills: Reads, writes, performs arithmetic and mathematical operations, listens, and speaks
Reading - locates, understands, and interprets written information in prose and in documents such as manuals, graphs, and schedules
Writing - communicates thoughts, ideas, information, and messages in writing; and creates documents such as letters, directions, manuals, reports, graphs, and flow charts
Arithmetic/mathematics - performs basic computations and approaches practical problems by choosing appropriately from a variety of mathematical techniques
Listening - receives, attends to, interprets, and responds to verbal messages and other cues
Speaking - organizes ideas and communicates orally

Thinking Skills: Thinks creatively, makes decisions, solves problems, visualizes, knows how to learn, and reasons
Creative thinking - generates new ideas
Decision making - specifies goals and constraints, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates and chooses best alternatives
Problem solving - recognizes problems and devises and implements plan of action
Visualizing - organizes and processes symbols
Knowing how to learn - uses efficient learning techniques to acquire and apply new knowledge and skills
Reasoning - discovers a rule or principle underlying the relationship between two or more objects and applies it when solving a problem

Personal Qualities: Responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, integrity, and honesty
Responsibility - exerts a high level of effort and perseveres towards goal attainment
Self-esteem - believes in own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self
Sociability - demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy, and politeness in group settings
Self-management - assesses self accurately, sets personal goals, monitors progress, and exhibits self-control
Integrity/honesty - chooses ethical courses of action

SCANS' Five Competencies

Resources: Identifies, organizes, plans, and allocates resources
Time - selects goal-relevant activities, ranks them, allocates time, and prepares and follows schedules
Money - uses or prepares budgets, makes forecasts, keeps records, and makes adjustments to meet objectives
Material and facilities - acquires, stores, allocates, and uses materials or space efficiently
Human resources - assesses skills and distributes work accordingly, evaluates performance and provides feedback

Interpersonal: Works with others
Participates as member of a team - contributes to group effort
Teaches others new skills
Services clients/customers - works to satisfy customers expectations
Exercises leadership - communicates ideas to justify position, persuades and convinces others, responsibly challenges existing procedures and policies
Negotiates - works toward agreements involving exchange of resources, resolves divergent interests
Works with diversity - works well with men and women from diverse backgrounds

Information: Acquires and evaluates information
Acquires and evaluates information
Organizes and maintains information
Interprets and communicates information
Uses computers to process information

Systems: Understands complex interrelationships
Understands systems - knows how social, organizational, and technological systems work and operates effectively with them
Monitors and corrects performance - distinguishes trends, predicts impacts on system operations, diagnoses deviations in systems performance and corrects malfunctions
Improves or designs systems - suggests modifications to existing systems and develops new or alternative systems to improve performance

Technology: Works with a variety of technologies
Selects technology - chooses procedures, tools, or equipment including computers and related technologies
Applies technology to task - understands intent and proper procedures for setup and operation of equipment
Maintains and troubleshoots equipment - prevents, identifies, or solves problems with equipment, including computers and other technologies

- What Work Requires of Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000, U.S. Department of Labor, June 1991, pp. xvii-xviii.

Three essential skill sets for the job market in future
1. Problem solving,
2. Understanding the relation between concepts,
3. Interpersonal communication.
- The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane

THE TOP 60 SOFT SKILLS AT WORK
The Smyth County Industry Council, a governing body based in the US, conducted a survey recently. The results of the survey was called the Workforce Profile. The people most likely to be hired for available jobs have what employers call "soft skills". The Workforce Profile defined about 60 "soft skills", which employers seek.

1. Math.
2. Safety.
3. Courtesy.
4. Honesty.
5. Grammar.
6. Reliability.
7. Flexibility.
8. Team skills.
9. Eye contact.
10. Cooperation.
11. Adaptability.
12. Follow rules.
13. Self-directed.
14 Good attitude.
15. Writing skills.
16. Driver's license.
17. Dependability.
18. Advanced math.
19. Self-supervising.
20. Good references.
21. Being drug free.
22. Good attendance.
23. Personal energy.
24. Work experience.
25. Ability to measure.
26. Personal integrity.
27. Good work history.
28. Positive work ethic.
29. Interpersonal skills.
30. Motivational skills.
31. Valuing education.
32. Personal chemistry.
33. Willingness to learn.
34. Common sense.
35. Critical thinking skills.
36. Knowledge of fractions.
37. Reporting to work on time.
38. Use of rulers and calculators.
39. Good personal appearance.
40. Wanting to do a good job.
41. Basic spelling and grammar.
42. Reading and comprehension.
43. Ability to follow regulations.
44. Willingness to be accountable.
45. Ability to fill out a job application.
46. Ability to make production quotas.
47. Basic manufacturing skills training.
48. Awareness of how business works.
49. Staying on the job until it is finished.
50. Ability to read and follow instructions.
51. Willingness to work second and third shifts.
52. Caring about seeing the company succeed.
53. Understanding what the world is all about.
54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard.
55. Commitment to continued training and learning.
56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility.
57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment.
58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months.
59. Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day.
60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers.

6 SOFT SKILLS FOR EVERY PROFESSIONAL
Behavioral training experts say there are several soft skills are required in these circumstances. Some of them include:
i. Interpersonal skills
ii. Team spirit
iii. Social grace
iv. Business etiquette
v. Negotiation skills
vi. Behavioural traits such as attitude, motivation and time management
- Rukmini Iyer

SOFT SKILLS
A cluster of personality traits, social graces, facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job. Some examples of soft skills:

Personal Qualities:
responsibility,
self-esteem,
sociability,
self-management
integrity/honesty.
Interpersonal Skills
Participates as a member of the Team
Teaches others
Serves Client / Customers
Exercises Leadership
Negotiates
Works with cultural diversity

Related Skills
Communication; body language, Facial expression, eye contact, Tone of voice, Language, Etiquette
Conflict management
Cultural Diversity
Empathy
Honesty
Leadership
Negotiation
Persuasion
Self-esteem
Teaching

PART 3: Now, a quick guide to Social Skills
The Wikipedia defines Social skills as ;skills a social animal uses to interact and communicate with others to assist status in the social structure and other motivations.

Examples of social skills
Verbal communication
Small talk or conversation
Sharing Jokes
Sharing and discussing ideas (politics, religion, sports, music, fashion, and movies are all common topics.)
Teaching or learning
Nonverbal communication
Active listening
Body language
Both verbal and nonverbal
Conflict resolution
Intercultural relations

What constitutes a socially skilled person?
Basic
Verbal
Smoothness of delivery (lacks stuttering, awkward pauses, etc.)
Intelligible speech (not too loud or soft, avoiding monotone but not dropping off the end of sentences)
Using muscle words to help describe ideas in conversation.
Non-Verbal
Listening
Confident stance (standing up straight but not at attention)
Relaxed manner (not too tense, not falling asleep)
Complex
o Diplomacy is an important skill (disagreements will happen, how one handles them will show one's personality)
o Ability to feign interest

SOCIAL SKILLS
1. Influence
2. Communication
3. Conflict Management: Orchestrate win-win solutions
4. Leadership: Lead by example
5. Change Catalyst
6. Building Bonds
7. Collaboration and Cooperation
8. Team Capabilities

Source: Wikipedia

8 Essential People Skills
1. Understanding people
2. Expressing your thoughts and feelings clearly
3. Speaking up when your needs are not being met
4. Asking for feedback from others and giving quality feedback in return
5. Influencing how others think and act
6. Bringing conflicts to the surface and getting them resolved
7. Collaborating with others instead of doing things by yourself
8. Shifting gears when relationships are unproductive

PART 4: The Ideal School Curriculum
So far, have covered general purpose skills as well as skills for the workplace. We have already summarized the SCANS competencies. Let us now focus on skills as the school and college level - skills that people wish they were taught.

13 Things I WIsh I was taught in School
1. Getting to the Point
2. Making Proper Presentations
3. Working on a Team
4. Writing a Resume
5. Interviewing
6. Networking
7. Accountability
8. Money Management
9. Taking the Initiative
10. Strategic Planning
11. Dressing for Success
12. Negotiating a Raise
13. Writing a Letter of Resignation
- http://www.nextstudent.com/

Top 6 things that shoud be taught in school
1. Personal Finance
2. Communicating Effectively
3. Social Skills
4. Sales
5: Time Management
6. Health
- Brian Kim

5 things every college grad should know
1. A Degree Does NOT Entitle You to a Job
2. Find What You Love to Do
3. Learn How to Interact With People
4. Practice CYA (You Know, Cover Your - - -)
5. Build and Maintain A New Social Network
- Brian Kim

Jacob Nilesen's technology Curriculum for Today's Kids
Jakob Nielsen says schools should provide computer knowledge that goes beyond today’s software specifics; they must go further than telling kids how to format an Excel table.

They ought to be taught the following skills:
1. Basic search strategies,
2. Tactics to evaluate information credibility,
3. Basics of usability,
4. How to write hypertext,
5. How to fight information overload,
6. How to do computer-supported presentations
7. Basic debugging.
- Useit.com

THE P21 FRAMEWORK
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American education.

An overview of this framework:

1. Core Subjects.
English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography.

2. 21st Century Content.
Global awareness
Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
Civic literacy
Health and wellness awareness

3. Learning and Thinking Skills.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
Communication Skills
Creativity and Innovation Skills
Collaboration Skills
Information and Media Literacy Skills
Contextual Learning Skills

4. ICT Literacy.
Information and communications technology (ICT) literacy is the ability to use technology to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills, in support of 21st century teaching and learning.

5. Life Skills.
Leadership
Ethics
Accountability
Adaptability
Personal Productivity
Personal Responsibility
People Skills
Self Direction
Social Responsibility
- www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Let me end this roundup of important skill sets with this useful gem.

PART 5: The Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon whereby people who have little knowledge systematically think that they know more than others who have much more knowledge. Justin Kruger and David Dunning, from Cornell University demonstrated this in a series of experiments in 1999. A summary of the Dunning-Kruger effect:

1. incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill,
2. incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others,
3. incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
4. if they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

Related readings:

13 Things I wish I knew in College
10 Skills You Need to Succeed at Almost Anything 
25 Skills Every Man Should Know
Do You Have These Core Human Skills?

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