The Subtle Science of Giving People Your Warmth

It costs nothing. It means everything.

Warmth is the underestimated soft skill of success.

I spent so many years focused on everything I thought I needed to succeed in my career — Perfecting my resume, sharpening my technical skills, polishing my LinkedIn, growing my network, learning how to communicate effectively, and preparing myself for interviews.

I thought I had it all figured out.

I did everything I was taught. As the years and decades passed, I realized that while those skills and strategies were important, they weren’t the things that mattered.

There was something else that I hadn’t been taught in school or learned in any workshop. I didn’t see it on resumes and I wasn’t finding courses online or books that taught it. You couldn’t measure it with a test score or include it in your portfolio. I sensed it as a quality that companies wanted in candidates, but could rarely articulate.

Yet, it appeared in small, memorable moments and actions. It played a huge role in how I experienced others and how successful I saw them become in their jobs.

At first, I didn’t recognize what it was.

I noticed colleagues who had it, meetings going smoothly, and people I trusted more easily with my thoughts, feelings, and concerns. These skills felt…