"As a technical person who has worked many customer-facing support roles"
Stopped reading right there.
"I am a technical person who also has ability Y, therefore all technical people should have ability Y."
This is the thinking that would sit Magic Johnson down and say "Your ball game is pretty good, but your golf game is awful. Stop working on your basketball skills and start golf training."
Bottom line: customer support requires ability, certain personality traits, and training. Do not let anyone (technical, non-technical, CFO, anyone) handle customer support if they are not qualified. It will end badly.
Social skills are not comparable to golf, they're comparable to being able to move around physically without tripping or falling into everybody within a 5 meter radius of you. It's not a sport, it is a critical skill that everyone who expects to participate in modern society needs to have.
Social skills have nothing to do with paralysis. Steven Hawking is permitted to lack mobility all he wants so long as he has some social skills.
It's not that we can't put up with people with no social skills, it's that we shouldn't have to. If I can avoid dealing with your lack of social skills by simply not hiring you, you can be damned sure that's what I'm going to do.
Comments
"As a technical person who has worked many customer-facing support roles"
Stopped reading right there.
"I am a technical person who also has ability Y, therefore all technical people should have ability Y."
This is the thinking that would sit Magic Johnson down and say "Your ball game is pretty good, but your golf game is awful. Stop working on your basketball skills and start golf training."
Bottom line: customer support requires ability, certain personality traits, and training. Do not let anyone (technical, non-technical, CFO, anyone) handle customer support if they are not qualified. It will end badly.
Social skills are not comparable to golf, they're comparable to being able to move around physically without tripping or falling into everybody within a 5 meter radius of you. It's not a sport, it is a critical skill that everyone who expects to participate in modern society needs to have.
Bullshit. Steven Hawking can't even move his arms yet he produce more value than most people.
What we need is the social equivalent of a wheelchair and then get back to more important matters.
Social skills have nothing to do with paralysis. Steven Hawking is permitted to lack mobility all he wants so long as he has some social skills.
It's not that we can't put up with people with no social skills, it's that we shouldn't have to. If I can avoid dealing with your lack of social skills by simply not hiring you, you can be damned sure that's what I'm going to do.