What's the right time to become intentional about developing the relational skills of young people? Today, we discuss how one psychology professor has become very intentional about building interpersonal skills with his students.

Welcome back to Mission First People Always! My guest today is Pete Gleason, Ph.D. Pete began his career as an educator at Loma Linda University, teaching doctoral courses on behavioral health and administrative leadership. He partnered with global talent development leader Core Strengths to integrate professional interpersonal skills into higher education. More recently, Pete served as a tenured professor of psychology at Walla Walla University, where he continued his work integrating professional interpersonal skills into academic curricula.

In 2021, Pete was invited to speak at the Association for Talent Development International Conference and Exposition. His talk, entitled “Never to early: Designing soft skills courses in Higher Ed,” shared the challenges and successes associated with his work to build bridges between the academic and professional realms.

If you enjoyed this episode, Dr. Gleason would be pleased to have a conversation with anyone interested in bringing soft skills training into a college classroom. For more resources or to connect with him, check out the links below!

On This Episode You’ll Learn:

Why it is critically important to develop interpersonal skills of university students; Why academics are behind when it comes to recognizing the value of interpersonal skills What it looks like to bring corporate-style relationship-building training to the college classroom Why it's so important for students to invest in developing soft skills.

Connect with Dr. Gleason at:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-gleason-32a50317 Twitter: @petegleasonphd More About Dr. Gleason:

Dr. Gleason is a psychologist, educator, and speaker dedicated to helping people discover their personal worth and potential power through collaborative influence. In addition to his clinical work, Pete teaches in the psychology programs at Thomas College’s School of Arts and Sciences and is an enthusiastic conference speaker.

Pete lives in the hills of Maine with his beautiful wife, Jeanine, and son, Sam, where they enjoy family and playing in the great outdoors.