Bilingually Enriched Learners

The Washington Post recently reported on a 2013 Google study of its hiring, firing, and promotion data since 1998. The study, called Project Oxygen, sought to identify key skills and behaviors in the company’s managers. Surprisingly, the data revealed that among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top leaders and managers, STEM expertise comes in last.

So, what came out on top? “The seven top characteristics of [managerial] success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.” Strong technical skills are a must, particularly for engineers, designers, and so on. But as employees look beyond individual contributions and into management roles, people skills are paramount.