It may not come as a surprise to discover that being able to manage people effectively - to be able to motivate them and bring out their best - is key to your success as a business owner or manager.

This is confirmed by a few studies conducted in the past few years. Moreoever, these studies indicate that good management is critical to your business and career progression and success.

For example, a study of CEOs conducted by U.S. based Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon University found that long-term job success depends 75% on people skills and only 25% on technical knowledge. A study by Harvard University found that 85% of jobs and promotions were due to the candidate's "attitude" and only 15% due to technical knowledge. And a study by LeadershipIQ found that most new employees fail due to poor interpersonal skills, not lack of technical skills.

It's not just YOUR people skills you need to foster either.

If you own your own business and/or manage staff... THEIR lack of people skills could be costing you money and opportunities!

However, as a business owner or manager, it's not just general "people skills" that matter. You need to be able to MANAGE people.

To have the ability to:

-- identify how to deploy people and teams based on their individual and collective skills, talents, strengths and weaknesses

-- motivate each person to perform at their very best

-- monitor them to ensure they remain on track

-- keep them when other opportunities beckon,

-- and more.

On the flip-side, if you're wondering why your business or career isn't progressing as well as it should be, consider enhancing your management skills.