Get More of What You Want by Focusing on Others

Even if your engineering job never requires public speaking, you still need presentation skills. People judge you and your work on how well you share ideas or information in meetings, hallway conversations, job interviews and everywhere else.

Science says good communication makes your audience members smarter.

Tailor what you say to others’ level of understanding and tolerance for detail. Use words they can understand and respond to. Make your work mean something in their world, with context and relatable examples.

Keep the focus on your audience members and how you can help them, and you’ll hear a lot more “yes.”

– Katherine Brennecke, The Engineering 100