When I was in college I was very fortunate to have parents who let me study whatever I wanted to. I was originally a Theater major with designs on making it to broadway. But after my first real theatrical class, the “your body is you instrument” lesson sort of turned me off.
I ended up choosing Psychology, partly because I liked it, but mostly to avoid the Business School. I graduated thinking I would become a clinical psychologist, but the idea faded when my professor told me about all of his prison inmate patients. The thought of being empathetic with rapists and child molesters was not appealing.
After a few years in my new job as a Personnel Clerk, I realized business wasn’t so bad. Since my undergrad was all psychology, I needed some business education. So I enrolled in an MBA program at George Mason University.
It was during a Management Information Systems class when I picked up the best advice in my entire career. This was at a time when they were teaching dBase III and the professor was a real techie. But one day he had a guest speaker (I don’t even remember his name) who was a serial entrepreneur. He was 35 years old and had already built and sold 5 businesses. During his presentation he said the most important skill you can develop, the one that had propelled him to success…. “Learn how to use Word Perfect, Lotus 123, and a presentation package like Harvard Graphics”. He said it did not matter which brand, he was experimenting with the new Microsoft products Word, Excel, PowerPoint, but you need to “Master every inch of those products. Every feature, every option, even the macros.”
Why is this so important? ”With these skills you will be able to communicate your ideas.”
As I have retold that story it occurred to me that it really is not about the desktop software. Because today, while those are still relevant we need to add WordPress, Twitter, and a whole host of new applications that facilitate communication.
The most important skill for success is the ability to effectively communicate your ideas. Here is what that means in today’s world:
- Writing – You must be able to organize your thoughts and articulate them clearly and concisely. Wether it’s a formal proposal, or a simple email.
- Public speaking – Being able to stand up in front of a room and engage an audience, large or small, entertain while getting your point across. A little gesticulation never hurts.
- Webinar – Presenting over the web is a unique experience. You need to be able to assume people are listening attentively, laugh at your own jokes, and not fall into the monotone zone.
- Video – Now that video interviewing is here to stay – everyone needs to learn how to comfortably deliver a message to a webcam, or Flip Video camera.
- Social Media - This is so hyped I hate to admit it – but Social Media is pretty important. It is an inexpensive way to connect with a whole lot of people. Mastering these tools will enable you to develop the audiences to consume your message.
Have I missed any?
6 Responses to What is the Most Important Skill for Success?
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Great Books
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox, David Whitford
The Art of War: With Commentaries by James Clavell by Sun Tzu, Sun Zi, James Clavell(Editor), James Clavell(Editor), James Clavell(Commentaries by)
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss, Ray Porter(Read by)
American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900 by H. W. Brands
While I agree that the ability to communicate your ideas is absolutely critical to continued success, I don’t agree that it’s the most important skill. Indeed, you can be the best in the world at communicating your ideas, but if all your ideas are useless, then that skill has no value. Unfortunately, this skill may have been a major contributor to the dot.com boom and bust of the early 90′s, as so many young entrepreneurs were able to convince investors of grand ideas which they were ultimately unable to realize.
Those who focus on communicating ideas over developing ideas may experience short term gains and successes, but if the ideas fall short, people will stop listening no matter how well you communicate. I’ve known tremendously successful entrepreneur’s who couldn’t speak publicly, write, or communicate effectively at all- they simply hired someone for that.
If I were to offer up my opinion on the most important skill for success, I’d have to say it’s emotional intelligence, which, of course, strongly affects your ability to communicate well.
Jason – I kind of look at the “good idea” part as being the price of admission. I also don’t think the dot-bomb crisis had anything to do with good communication skills. It was the hype around ecommerce blinding investors and analysts. Hell you didn’t have to communicate – all you needed was a cool URL.
As for the entrepreneur who can’t communicate? If they recognize their deficiency (more often than not, they don’t) and hire the skill – its a smart move, but it does not make the skill less important.
I agree with you on the importance of emotional intelligence. I have always called that situational fluency. But I think that’s a competency that you either have or don’t. Not sure it’s a skill that can be learned.
Thanks for the comment!
Wow. We have symmetrical backgrounds, at least as it relates to Psychology and the direction we ended up going…
I would add one-on-one communication and even small groups, not related to large group public speaking. With so much online communication going on, the ability to sit down with a direct report, your boss, a group of folks in a meeting, etc., and have a relatable and productive conversation is important.
That leads to me adding emotional intelligence, because although some have a more natural ability to be aware of and manage one’s emotions and emotional reactions as well as others, the science and research behind EQ has shown that it can be developed.
And to be able to assess and effectively communicate in any emotional state is critical to communication today.
Kevin – Good call on the 1-1 and small group. Some people are great on stage, but can’t carry a direct conversation. I also think the emotional intelligence is an integral component. With so many vehicles for communication, we need the EQ to know which is most appropriate, when to stop texting and dial the number, when to insist you are in person for certain conversations.
Thanks for the comment!
this may be some what old school, but in my business (and I’m sure many others) we overdo the media and forget to listen. go old fashion active listening is a skill to understand what your customer’s problems and challenges really are. how many failed bids were the results of not understaning what your customer is looking for in the first place simple but we sometimes forget.
Doug – this is a really good point. Sort of the other half of communication that cannot be neglected. I think I would most definitely add Listening as a most important skill.