The Importance of Communication Skills for Engineers

 "Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective

leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of

urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and

motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."

Gilbert Amelio, former President and CEO of National Semiconductor Corp

I believe that this quote by Gilbert Amelia highlights the importance of communication skills for successful leadership to occur. According to him, a leader must be able to effectively communicate his ideas and vision to others. If a leader is unable to do so, the message being shared may be misunderstood or lost. Having served in a leadership position during my national service, I personally resonate with this statement. I was in charge of people from all sorts of backgrounds, which presented various problems, including language barriers. To ensure clear communication, I often used my mother tongue or had someone to translate for me. It was crucial that my messages were understood, as any miscommunications, especially during high-risk activities, can cause major accidents to happen. This experience strengthened my believe in having good communication skills especially as a leader.