I just read this from Business Insider:  MANAGEMENT CONSULTING CEO: Our Clients Want More Than Just MBAs by Max Nisen.  It is about the skills and expertise that consulting firms now need in its people.

The industry looks for people who can combine analysis with presentation skills and management insight.

Look at the list:

#1 – Analysis
#2 – Presentation Skills
#3 – Management Insight

There is useful counsel in the entire article.  For example, the article warns that in this “globalization era,” a short trip abroad is almost counterproductive.  It takes “immersion” to understand a culture.  But what struck me was the prominence of “Presentation Skills.”

It struck me – it did not surprise me.

Presentation Skills are… skills.  How to craft a message.  How to explain things simply, clearly.  How to engage an audience, and keep them engaged.  How to make your message memorable in a world of constant messaging.

For 15 years, I have presented synopses of best selling business books.  A handful of these deal directly with communication.  (including Words that Work by Frank Luntz; Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath).

Here’s what I think.  You can learn a lot by reading books.  But when it comes to developing skills – like presentation skills – you’ve got to know, and follow, the “rules,” (most people who mess up mess up at the “basics” level – they speak in a monotone; they fail to enunciate; they do not follow the template – beginning, middle, end for each message).  And then, you’ve got to practice, practice, practice.

If there are “presentation skills,” then your goal should be to become “skilled.”  And it takes a lot of practice — practicing with the right/best technique — to become skilled…  And this is as true for developing and maintaining “Presentation Skills” as it is for any and all other sets of skills.

How are you doing?