IN A VUCA WORLD, the question was raised whether new principles, tasks, and tools are necessary for professionals to cope with the increasing complexity in their daily professional and private lives. The book is entitled “Soft Skills for the Professional Services Industry.” From the wide variety of soft skills, a selection was chosen. Various principles, tasks, and tools of successful professionals were presented. Soft skills are soft competencies that can be learned. The initial requirements are not the same for all professionals. However, this is true for all things that are to be learned. Learning a language or a sport requires talent and training. Not everyone has the talent to become a language genius or top athlete. Due to hereditary factors and social conditioning, not all professionals have the same starting conditions when it comes to learning soft skills.

However, with regular training, everyone can improve. Perseverance and the willingness to acquire these soft skills are the prerequisites for a positive personality change and a successful life. The book is intended to give you an impulse to integrate the presented soft skills into your life and to apply them on a daily basis. Since professionals have always been intensely concerned with technical knowledge and the hurdle to pass the professional exams is high, there was usually no opportunity to deal with soft skills during the training. In professional exams, soft skills are not relevant to the exam, and in the studies the topic is usually only dealt with in passing. In the first years of a professional's life after training and studies, specialist literature dominates their life until the professional exams have been passed. Only a few professionals deal with soft skills in this phase of life. Once they have passed their professional examinations, at the latest, a professional's field of activity expands to include management tasks. In addition to the specialist tasks, there are now management tasks and tasks in connection with the acquisition and support of clients. By this time, every professional realizes that it is not only professional competence that counts, but that soft skills are decisive for professional (and private) success.

For the most part, the soft skills presented here apply to both professional and private life. Separating them would be neither meaningful nor useful. The soft skills have been divided into principles, tasks, and tools. The principles of successful professionals are soft skills which, in my opinion, are also fully relevant in private life. Some professionals will object that they do a number of things in their private lives that are not result‐oriented, for example. This is to be agreed with. Nevertheless, a failed partnership or a poor relationship with parents, children, and friends is also an outcome.

The soft skills related to the tasks of a professional are presented from the perspective of the professional. A separation into factual and management tasks is not useful. For this reason, a professional's key tasks are presented in the tasks. Marketing is of particular importance in this context. Without engagements, even the best expertise of a professional is of no use. The acquisition of new clients and their subsequent support are the basis for the activities of professionals and their employees. In doing so, professionals first sell themselves and then their company. Our professions are “people's business.” For a good Rainmaker, the corporate brand is interchangeable. Clients will follow them if they change companies. This is not to say that investments in the corporate brand should not be made. Large law firms invest large sums in the visibility of their brand. The sums that these firms invest in developing the soft skills of their employees are comparatively small. The professional services industry and large international firms would be well advised to consider whether investments in the soft skills of their employees might not be more profitable in the future than investments in the corporate brand. Particularly in the age of digitalization, in which artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technical developments are replacing humans, people who still work for other people are becoming even more important than before. As long as companies are still managed by people and not by machines, soft skills will make a difference.

In Part Three, Tools were presented that professionals should deal with extensively. This chapter is probably unfamiliar territory for many colleagues, which for the most part they have not yet entered. This is especially true for the tool of mental training. Those who do practice mental training will notice the biggest changes in their lives. Many professionals are not known for being particularly excited about change and tend to be very conservative. The changes a professional can achieve through the regular practice of mental training are considerable. And this means positive changes in both their professional and personal life.

The principles, tasks, and tools of successful professionals presented here help to master the still increasing complexity in professional and private, everyday life. It is common knowledge that learning is a lifelong process. In a changing environment, those who stand still and do not continue to develop will lead neither a successful nor a happy life. The principles, tasks, and tools of successful professionals are timeless. Those who observe them and integrate them into their daily lives will be more successful and also happier. Happiness comes from success. If you succeed in aligning your life with these principles, tasks, and tools, you will be on your way to a successful and happy life.

Many people believe that they must be successful in order to be happy. They have developed the belief that happiness comes only when they are successful professionally and financially. In his best‐selling book, “The Happiness Advantage,” Harvard professor Shawn Achor has found the opposite based on his extensive research findings:

• We become more successful when we are happier and more positive, not the other way around.
• Happiness is the joy we feel when we realize our potential.
• The happiness benefit is not the belief that we don't have to change, but it is the realization that we can change.

We can use our brains to change how we process and respond to events. If a professional, despite their critical attitude while working as a lawyer or an auditor, searches the world for positives, they will find happiness, gratitude, and optimism. Part of success is failure. There is no shame in not achieving goals and failing. However, if you fall down and stay down, you have utterly failed. This can haunt a professional for a lifetime. A child who learns to walk and falls down has the urge to get back up. This is natural behavior. We should all preserve this childlike behavior. When we see failure as an opportunity for growth, we become successful, especially if we know why we failed and that we will do better the next time. The greatest crises often offer the greatest opportunities. It's a question of how you respond to crises. The most successful professionals believe that their actions have a direct impact on their results. As you practice the soft skills presented in this book, my wish for you is success and a happy life!